The Inner Ring

The Spyglass Paid Tier

Members of The Inner Ring receive a column in their inbox on a regular basis as well as full access to all previous columns and analysis below.

Membership is $10/month or $100/year

š‘— Join š‘— | āŒ¾ Upgrade āŒ¾
Forget the Fate of Chrome, Focus on the Fate of the Browser
In debating what undoubtedly wonā€™t happen, weā€™re looking past some key things that are -- and mightā€¦
Has Apple ā€œFinally Cracked Itā€?
Apple Television... now, thatā€™s a name I havenā€™t heard in a long timeā€¦
The Vision Pro Starts to Come Into Focus
Weā€™re starting to cook with fire. Iā€™m writing this about the Vision Pro, in the Vision Pro. Which I really only did for a post or two for the novelty of it right after the deviceā€™s initial release. But now Iā€™m doing it because itā€™s actually a good way to
The Race for AI Independence
Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft all wish to break away from each other. As does OpenAI. With everyone needing to break free from NVIDIA.
Apple Admits the Obvious
Thereā€™s no topping the iPhone. As a business, there may never be.
PaidPals
Elon Musk will battle with Trump eventually. As Peter Thiel can attest.
Tim Apple, Engage!
Apple seems poised to appeal to Donald Trump on their EU issuesā€¦
Can Barbie Break Netflix?
More pressure is applied to Netflixā€™s anti-movie-theater stanceā€¦
Do You Feel In Charge?
On bending the knee to Donald Trumpā€¦
October 2024
Apple Claps Back
Apple Intelligence is about to be an ā€œevery dayā€ product, so it needs to be the ā€œbestā€, fast
The War of the AI Roses
Microsoft and OpenAI increasingly make strange bedfellowsā€¦
Microsoftā€™s Awkward AI
Thereā€™s a Copilot for thatā€¦
Apple Becomes the Pupil
Snap and Meta teach Apple a lessonā€¦
September 2024
The Art of the OpenAI Deal
Thinking through their numbers and those deal termsā€¦
Apple Knew Where the Puck Was Going, But Meta Skated There
Metaā€™s ā€œOrionā€ points to the vision of an Apple ā€œVisorā€ā€¦
Should Microsoft Ride in to Save Intel?
Appleā€™s old white knight can mount that steed againā€¦
Does Microsoft Have an AI Problem?
Itā€™s early, but there sure is a lot of smoke billowingā€¦
Apple Should Sign Howard Stern and Launch ā€˜Podcasts+ā€™
They may not care about podcasting, but they *do* care about Servicesā€¦
August 2024
ESPNā€™s Path to Be *the* Streaming Sports Bundle
Itā€™s not exactly ā€œclearā€, as Amazon may battle them along the wayā€¦
Google Isnā€™t Lazy, Itā€™s Timid. As It Sadly Must Be.
Provocative soundbites aside, itā€™s obvious why Google isnā€™t OpenAIā€¦
Dear Zuck
This shit is embarrassingā€¦
July 2024
Never Tweet Your Heroes
Also maybe never tweet, period.
Backing the Winner
Attention VCs: going for Trump is no longer the contrarian betā€¦
How to Scale Paramount
Can Skydance finally, actually bridge Silicon Valley and Hollywood?
Almost All A.I. Investments are Going to Zero
Seemingly every investor I talk to these days is struggling with the same basic thing: they believe AI is going to be one of the most transformative technologies of the past several decades ā€“ and perhaps ever ā€“ but they have almost no idea how to invest in the space. And yet
June 2024
Being Too Early Is Worse Than Being Late
Amazon owned the AI assistant space -- until the space changed
Of Tadpoles and Tentpoles
A 10 step plan to save the movie theater business
Can Microsoft Build ā€˜Apple Intelligenceā€™ in Reverse?
The countdown to ā€˜Microsoft Intelligenceā€™ feels on. Sorry, OpenAI.
Did Apple Just End AIā€™s First Era?
AIā€™s performance arms race yields to the product arms raceā€¦
People at a Premium
AI will change Hollywood -- for the better
Can NVIDIA Become Intel Faster Than Everyone Becomes NVIDIA?
As money pours into AI, can NVIDIA stay ahead?
May 2024
Will OpenAI Bite the Microsoft Hand That Feeds?
A sense of tension between the two sides is inescapable
Ready or Not, Here Apple AI Comes
Will slow but not fully steady win the race?
The Overwhelming Chaos of AI is Underwhelming
The AI madness needs to settle to reach its potential -- and it will
Without Real Time Information, Threads is Pointless
Unleash the feeds
OpenAI Changes the Vocal Computing Game!
No sarcasm, just enthusiasm for GPT-4o
Apple Invents a Laptop with a Touchscreen
The new iPad Pro is awesome. And a bit silly.
Wonā€™t Get Fooled Again
Some decidedly unhelpful thoughts about investing in AI startupsā€¦
April 2024
Oh, the Humanity of Vision Pro
Apple really should have released the Vision Pro as a dev kit
Is AI Spend the New Streaming Spend?
Wall Street loves to reward arms race spending -- until they donā€™t.
The ā€˜Going Directā€™ Bullshit Debate
Itā€™s driven by AI and itā€™s all PR anywayā€¦