Whopper of a Week 📧
Let's talk about content. Amazon is spending a lot of money on The Rings of Power and... it's fine. But it should be great. I'm emo about it, but less so than Sauron, the Dark Lord, is emo about a lot of things in the show. Given what Disney did to The Acolyte (which, to be clear, was warranted), I'm worried they're going to cancel the show before Tom Bombadil can tie up any loose ends. But at least that would free up some money for Amazon to pay for more sports content, I guess?
While I'm spending Big Tech money, I think Apple should lure Howard Stern away from Sirius to make a real effort to get back to the top of podcasting. It might even require less than they ultimately have to pay George Clooney and Brad Pitt to be okay with the rug pull they did on Wolfs.
It definitely will be less than they ultimately will have to pay OpenAI to use ChatGPT within Apple Intelligence. "No money is changing hands" – except for these wads of cash to invest in a company in which you currently get no equity and which they'll use to pay for the bills you rack up from ChatGPT usage. But hey, maybe one day you'll get equity? Or at least uncapped profit potential at a company with no path to profits as of yet.
Related: does Microsoft have an AI problem on its hands? Certainly it seems like they have a growing 'AI PC' problem on their hands.
Still, it's better than the problem Snap has on its hands. Which, in turn, is better than the problem Xitter has on its hands. There's a Pickles and In-N-Out joke in here somewhere, but I can't quite get to it... Now I'm craving a burger. 🍔
Some Thoughts...
🔐 Telegram Will Start Moderating Private Chats – The service is not just changing its tune, it's changing its terms, as Mai Sato was able to capture via The Wayback Machine. Gone? "All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them." Telegram will now very much respond to requests related to those chats, it seems, as founder Pavel Durov has changed his tune as well after his "misguided" arrest. Interesting to see how many crypto-related sites in particular are up-in-arms about this – which makes sense given how that space is central to Telegram's actual business. "Jail changes a man," quips Alex Heath. [The Verge]
📲 Everything to Expect at Apple’s iPhone 16 Event – Mark Gurman isn't expecting any surprises as this is basically just a recap of everything that has been rumored to date: iPhones 16 in new colors (with more RAM for AI – though not much more, until next year), iPhones 16 Pro with slightly larger screens (and in Gold/Bronze/Zune), better cameras (as always), a new camera button (featuring actual shutter button placement), new low and mid-range AirPods that are more 'Pro'-like (no new actual Pros yet and new Maxs are coming but perhaps not yet), Apple Watch Series 10 (ten year anniversary) will be slightly redesigned for a slimmer case and larger screen, Apple Watch Ultra 3 will be basically same same as Ultra 2 (which was basically the same as Ultra 1). So the only surprise element left is likely the software. Maybe some new Apple Intelligence functionality to show off (but still likely launching later)? [Bloomberg 🔒]
🎲 Tide Rising For ‘Ocean’s 14’? – Can you believe it has been 17 years since Ocean's 13 was released? It's so long ago that it was pre-Oasis breakup. Like that band, the photogenic band of criminals is getting back together, it seems. Though part of my brain immediately wonders if this isn't some sort of publicity stunt to garner buzz for George Clooney and Brad Pitt's upcoming Wolfs movie – which may need it now, essentially going straight-to-Apple TV+. After all, the script has been done for years, it seems? Still, talking to All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger seems like a big deal – as he was also rumored to be talking about the next James Bond film just last month. Are we really going to go with "Ocean's 14" though? The branding feels almost iPhone-like at this point.. [Deadline]
🧵 Threads is Trading Trust for Growth – Ben Werd thinks that because Threads has an influencer program, it's leading people to naturally distrust any popular content surfaced there – something he stumbled into when one of his posts went viral. That may be true, but I also read it as more proof that one strength of the system (and key difference from Twitter), the responses, are also often a weakness. Because people know that replies surface content to new folks, they respond to things they normally would not – and often with nonsensical or just plain annoying replies that add nothing. If you have a post that goes viral, this is obviously exacerbated. It's just a really weird system. One that Meta needs a solution for as they continue to scale or toxicity will take over, fast. Just like that other place... [Werd I/O]
💬 Apple Clears WeChat Update – The idea that Apple was going to pull WeChat, which has something like 1.4B users, out of the App Store was always comical. Yes, they'd like them to play by their rules and run all payments through Apple's rails, but they can only really ask nicely. There's no stick behind the demand, only carrots will work. The question is if WeChat gets more favorable terms out of Apple, do those spread to other apps and services? And if Apple isn't transparent about any such arrangement, regulators are going to have a field day. [Bloomberg 🔒]
Some Analysis...
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
As An Aside...
- Interesting that a new Apple Store in Sweden is having a grand opening on September 20, wonder if there's a product that may launch that day... Mainly I'm happy to see a new store in Scandanavia, they're so hard to find up there![MacRumors]
- I'm shocked, shocked that some passengers are showing up at San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport thinking they're showing up at San Francisco International Airport or vice versa. How could anyone possibly be confused by that? At least SFO has the better logo. [SFist]
- Who is Paramount's actual daddy? The same guy who is David Ellison's daddy, as it turns out. Larry will own "77.5% of National Amusements through a trust and series of corporations" which means he's the new Shari Redstone. Hopefully an Ellison family succession doesn't unfold as the Redstone one did – or as the Murdoch one is currently. Sorry, a Succession. [Bloomberg Law 🔒]
- Don't feel badly for Redstone though, as she's getting a $180M severance package on top of the money she's getting paid for her shares. [Fortune]
- The vultures seem to be circling Intel as Qualcomm, seeing a wounded animal below, is trying to swoop in to buy the part of the the design business, specifically the part that designs the chips for PCs, which Qualcomm is obviously entering in a major way with the help of Microsoft. 'Wintel' isn’t just over, it’s being stabbed in the back, it seems. Kudos to Reuters for absolutely owning ‘Intel in Trouble’ beat of late. [Reuters]
- Intel is also considering a sale of at least part of its remaining stake in Mobileye – even though that stock is down over 70% this year. [Bloomberg 🔒]
- Meanwhile, the entire financial fiasco is a major headache for President Biden CHIPS Act, which touted Intel as the centerpiece (and, as such, largest recipient) of the program. Intel, of course, would like some of that money now, but the government, of course, wants to see if Intel can execute on, well, anything as they try to right the ship... [Bloomberg 🔒]
- TSMC, it should be noted, seems to be having decidedly less issues in building out their own new American chip facilities, noting that the test yields at their Arizona plant are in-line with what they get in Taiwan (in comparable facilities). [Bloomberg 🔒]
- In this interview, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida makes it clear that a huge path forward for the company is to focus on IP that they fully own, which sounds a lot like Disney. [Financial Times 🔒]
- Years after Apple bought Beats, it remains fascinating how differently they operate the company from a strategy perspective. Whereas Apple obviously loves to be super secretive about new products until the moment they launch, Beats will put their stuff out there in the world via athletes or other celebrities, months ahead of their release. Here's Shohei Ohtani rocking some Powerbeats Pro 2 due in 2025. Osborne Effect be damned! [MacRumors]
- If elected, Donald Trump will appoint Elon Musk to lead an "Efficiency Commission" that will save "trillions of dollars". In completely and utterly unrelated news, Xitter remains unable to turn a profit despite (because of) being cut to the bone and may soon break under its debt load. [NYT]
A Golden Oldie...
M.G. Siegler
And I Quote...
"I was like, 'Oh, fuck, AI is going to take over the world.'"
-- Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, talking about the epiphany he had about AI – a decade ago, he says. That has led to the company pivoting to "Agentforce" – which is a truly awful name, but essentially means they're all-in on AI and specifically, agents, which everyone has been talking about for months at this point, but without having to utter the phrase "Agentforce".