Signal: Smothering Smoldering Sora 📧
No sooner do I write about the notion of celebrities joining Sora does Jake Paul disclose that he's actually been advising them on the product and launch. It makes sense given his background and experience as a Vine OG, but the more interesting disclosure if that he might have some sort of name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal with them. Unclear if any money is trading hands yet or if it's in place for the future if/when they start to monetize (or if his stake in OpenAI is enough compensation)?
Also note Mark Cuban using the network to automatically promote his Cost Plus Drugs at the end of every video he's placed in. It's the wild west out there right now, hopefully these types of deals don't smother the smoldering service.
M.G. Siegler
Two Takes...
🏀 Apple Finally Fulfilling the Immersive Vision Pro Promise – Apparently coming in early 2026: NBA games shot in the 'Apple Immersive' format and viewable on the Vision Pro. Well, just a few games for one team, the Los Angeles Lakers, it seems. Still, it's a start. And a good one as it doesn't sound like it's limited (as it has been) to a few minutes of footage after the fact, but entire games – live. It would be sort of wild if Apple pulls this off, but I say that mainly because it will have been two years since the launch of the Vision Pro and the best we've gotten to date in terms of sports are these short few minute highlights. So I assumed something about this was impossible. Clearly not. And clearly Apple should have held the Vision Pro until they could do this – if it's anything like the (short, but truly awesome) Metallica concert – talk about a selling point! If they can scale it to the entire NBA, and then other sports (like for their MLB partnership and soon – F1), they could actually sell Vision Pros. Wild concept, I know! [TechRadar]
🍪 Making Intel Great Again – Hopefully it's a good sign that the company is doing a big PR push around their new 'Fab 52' producing the new 'Panther Lake' chips built using the new '18A' process. The performance charts still have no axes labels and there are no production yields percentages to share but hey... more steel than the Eiffel Tower, more concrete than Burj Khalifa, EUV machines the size of Winnebagos! It would be awesome to see Intel succeed here, but I'm still skeptical until proven otherwise. 18A basically just seems like a way to prove to the industry that 14A can work if anyone wants to bring their TSMC business home (well, metaphorically, since TSMC also has US plants now too, of course). The key seemingly remains the pressure from the Trump administration to bolster the business in which they own a 10% stake. You hear that, Microsoft? Tim Cook? Wild times. Can we please just get a better name than 'Intel Core Ultra Series 3' for the Panther Lake chips? This is the company of 'Intel Inside' and 'Pentium'. At least make Intel's marketing great again? [NYT]
Asides...
- OpenAI would like the EU to remember that Google, Microsoft, and Apple are Big Tech™ that must be watched, while they're a startup. A $500B startup. Microsoft especially must love reading this. [Bloomberg 🔒]
- This comes as Meta and Apple are apparently close to settling their get-fined-daily issues with the DMA in the EU. [FT 🔒]
- Dia, the AI web browser which has become my browser of choice – and was also just acquired – is now open for everyone using a Mac. [MacRumors]
- Instagram is thinking about an app for TVs, which should hit in 2040 if their iPad app is any indication. [Bloomberg 🔒]
- Fun read as to why the judge dismissed Drake's defamation case against Kendrick Lamar. Basically, "you asked for it" – quite literally. The real issue, of course, is just how big "Not Like Us", became – I mean, it was the focal point of a Super Bowl halftime show! Like someone brought a nuclear bomb to a knife fight. [NYT]
- The trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms looks promising – sort of a more comedic take on Westeros. Almost Deadwood vibes. Only six episodes which are apparently just 30 minutes each. And yes, George R. R. Martin has signed off on all of them, which has been an issue in the past... [THR]
I Spy...
What's this? An actually good rebrand? That never happens! Easier though when your old logo is a goofy cartoon crocodile with a trademark on his arm and on the actual mark. This is very clever, it's the product and the animal. Not scary, but also not goofy. Cute.
Below, members of The Inner Ring will find thoughts on:
• The Race to Build 'Colossus 2'
• Meta's Oddly Aggressive AI PR Approach
• Apple's Watch Re-Org
• Amazon Shoves Ads In Your Face
• and more...