Tech Brew Ride Home

More tech layoffs, and why I’m suggesting we might only be in the early innings of this tech retrenchment. Big Wall Street banks are coming for PayPal and Apple Pay. TikTok might be putting it’s thumb on the scales to favor certain content. Would you pay $42 a month for a ChatGPT Pro plan? And how far has Apple Silicon come, exactly. Sponsors: Radial.llc/ride (Listener!) MeetFabric.com/ride Links: Spotify to trim 6% of workforce in latest tech layoffs (Reuters) Elliott Management Takes Big Stake in Salesforce (WSJ) Banks Plan Payment Wallet to Compete With PayPal, Apple Pay (WSJ) TikTok’s Secret ‘Heating’ Button Can Make Anyone Go Viral (Forbes) ChatGPT users report $42 a month pricing for ‘pro’ access but no official announcement yet (The Verge) Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) review: the core count grows (The Verge) Buy tickets for the comedy show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now Alphabet has monster layoffs to announce. How much of it is about getting Google ready to battle OpenAI? More Twitter bans, but this time, the bans are for all 3rd party clients. The big executive shakeup at Netflix. Genesis officially files for bankruptcy, and in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, the reasons why the humble pizza box is one of the worst designed products in existence. Sponsors: The Pegasus Investment Round! Email [email protected] (Listener ad!) NFTTallinn.com and code RIDE for 10% of all tickets! (Listener ad!) Links: Google to Cut 12,000 Jobs in 6% Reduction of Global Workforce (Bloomberg) Twitter’s new developer terms ban third-party clients (Engadget) Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to step down as chief executive (FT) Crypto Lender Genesis Files for Bankruptcy as Crisis Spreads (Bloomberg) Google Calls In Help From Larry Page and Sergey Brin for A.I. Fight (NYTimes) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How Amazon Became Ordinary (Ritholtz.com) Who Owns the Generative AI Platform? (a16z) The Steam Deck wasn’t born ready, but it’s ready now (The Verge) A WIRED compendium (The Future, Now and Then) You Don’t Know How Bad the Pizza Box Is (The Atlantic) Brian's Episode on the Metacast podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Genesis finally on the verge of bankruptcy? Instagram wants you to take a break… from Instagram… and they’re even giving you tools to do so. Frowny-face for Amazon for shutting down the AmazonSmile program. Wikipedia gets a big redesign. Some numbers on where the investor dollars are going right now, and is San Francisco back, baby? Maybe cause I’m coming to visit. Sponsors: LayerDesks.com/ride, code ride for 10% off (listener sponsor!) Links: Genesis creditors negotiating prepackaged bankruptcy: Sources (The Block) Crypto Media Outlet CoinDesk Taps Bankers for Potential Sale (WSJ) Instagram’s new ‘Quiet Mode’ helps you take a break from the app (TechCrunch) Amazon to close charitable program AmazonSmile (The Hill) Wikipedia gets its first makeover in over a decade… and it’s fairly subtle (TechCrunch) Apple to Expand Smart-Home Lineup, Taking On Amazon and Google (Bloomberg) Web 3 Startup Funding Q4 Drop (Crunchbase) New AngelList Data Shows Startup Fundraising Pain in Second Half of 2022 (Newcomer) It looks like people are actually moving back to San Francisco (really) (Vox) Tweet on LA startup investment numbers (@emollick) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The original HomePod is basically back, even though it’s not the original cause it’s been updated. Apple’s AR/VR plans continue to be maddeningly confusing, at least to me. Microsoft has announced huge layoffs. Does even the AI revolution require human moderators working in boiler-room like conditions? And I guess we have all the specs for those new Galaxy phones about to be announced. Links: Apple announces revamped full-size HomePod two years after discontinuing original (The Verge) Apple Delays AR Glasses, Plans Cheaper Mixed-Reality Headset (Bloomberg) Full memo: Microsoft to cut 10k jobs, about 5% of workforce, and take $1.2B restructuring charge (GeekWire) Exclusive: OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic (Time) Galaxy S23 spec leak leaves few surprises ahead of February launch (The Verge) Twitter Manager: Daily Revenue Has Dropped 40%, 500 Top Advertisers Have Left (The Information) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Macs and New M2 chips from Santa Tim this morning. Microsoft has made its Azure OpenAI Service generally available. But will lawsuits slow down the AI revolution? Is Google about to reveal its own AirTag-like product? And the law of if it’s too good to be true, it probably is, continues to hold, at least when it comes to hard drives for sale on Amazon. Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Apple Announces New MacBook Pros With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips, Up to 96GB RAM, 8K HDMI, Wi-Fi 6E, and More (MacRumors) Apple Unveils M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips With 20% Faster CPU and More (MacRumors) Microsoft to Add ChatGPT to Azure Cloud Services ‘Soon’ (Bloomberg) Microsoft Plans to Build OpenAI Capabilities Into All Products (WSJ) Getty Images is suing the creators of AI art tool Stable Diffusion for scraping its content (The Verge) AI art tools Stable Diffusion and Midjourney targeted with copyright lawsuit (The Verge) Google reportedly working on AirTag-like location trackers (The Verge) Why the Heck Is Amazon Selling These Fake 16 Terabyte Portable SSD Drives? (ReviewGeek) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our big AI discussion with @ReamBraden and @swyx. Shawn just posted this new essay drawing on what we discussed here: Every Google vs OpenAI Argument, Dissected Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The SEC just officially labeled two crypto lending programs as unregistered securities? Is the regulatory tsunami beginning? Did Tim Cook actually ask Apple to cut his pay? Did the nascent industry of carbon capture just take its first steps? And in the longreads, I go in depth to explain that weird OpenAI/Microsoft deal. It’s complicated. Links: SEC charges Gemini and Genesis with unregistered securities offering (The Block) Apple’s Tim Cook Takes Rare CEO Pay Cut After Pushback (Bloomberg) Climate Startup Removes Carbon From Open Air in Industry First (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Microsoft + OpenAI: Inside Tech’s Hottest Romance (The Information) Is Microsoft about to get the deal of the century? Or is Sam Altman unloading OpenAI at just the right time? (Gary Marcus) Robert Tinney’s Visions Of The Future (DocPop) Dungeons & Dragons content creators are fighting to protect their livelihoods (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Apple finally ready to bring touchscreens to Macs? Sam Bankman Fried has a Substack. Apple Maps courts businesses. Is Twitter going to auction off user handles? And what tech publication that I quote from all the time has been using AI to write entire articles for months now? Links: Apple Is Working on Adding Touch Screens to Macs in Major Turnabout (Bloomberg) Sam Bankman-Fried sticks to his script (Axios) Apple Maps’ business listings are about to get more detailed with launch of ‘Apple Business Connect’ (TechCrunch) Twitter Said to Consider Selling User Names to Boost Revenue (NYTimes) Carta lays off 10% as CTO lawsuit looms (TechCrunch) CNET IS QUIETLY PUBLISHING ENTIRE ARTICLES GENERATED BY AI (The Byte/Futurism) OpenAI begins piloting ChatGPT Professional, a premium version of its viral chatbot (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yet another software snafu with the airlines this morning. Apple’s about to do its own screens, its own modems, what is left? Twitter makes a change that they’ve tried to make several times before. Why all the interesting raises are in AI right now. And what to expect from the Surface Duo 3. Sponsors: Zocdoc.com/techmeme Links: U.S. air travel rumbles back to life after FAA computer outage (Reuters) Apple to Begin Making In-House Screens in 2024 in Shift Away From Samsung (Bloomberg) Twitter defaults to a For You page now, just like TikTok (The Verge) DeepL, the AI-based language translator, raises over $100M at a $1B+ valuation (TechCrunch) Microsoft scraps plans for dual-screen Surface Duo 3, pivots to new foldable screen design (Windows Central) Samsung confirms February 1st Unpacked, its first in-person event in three years (The Verge) Tickets to the comedy show at SF Sketchfest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, now there’s VALL-E, a text to speech technology that could fully replace me as this podcast narrator. It looks like Microsoft wants to do everything just short of buying OpenAI entirely. More layoffs at Coinbase. Why the whole 5G interfering with airplanes thing still isn’t resolved. And not everything that says it’s ChatGPT, is really ChatGPT. Sponsors: RefundsPro.com Links: Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio (ArsTechnica) Microsoft eyes $10 billion bet on ChatGPT (Semafor) Buy with Prime, which brings Prime to third-party sites, officially launches in U.S. on Jan. 31 (TechCrunch) Coinbase to slash 20% of workforce in second major round of job cuts (CNBC) FAA giving airlines another year to fix altimeters that can’t handle 5G signals (Ars Technica) Sketchy ChatGPT App Soars Up App Store Charts, Charges $7.99 Weekly Subscription (MacRumors) YouTube Experiment 1 YouTube Experiment 2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Gurman tells us when Apple’s “Reality Pro” headset will be announced, made available to developers, and made available to consumers. Valve’s Steam gaming platform is breaking records. John Deere will let you repair your hundred-thousand-dollar smart tractor. A literal ThinkPad for smartphones. And why one big buzzword was largely missing from CES this year. Sponsors: Bombas.com/techmeme, code techmeme at checkout Zocdoc.com/techmeme Links: Apple Will Talk Up Its Mixed-Reality Headset in 2023 But Not Much Else (Bloomberg) Steam hits 10 million concurrent in-game players in record-breaking weekend (The Verge) Deere & Co. will allow farmers to repair their own equipment (Reuters) Insurer Beazley launches first catastrophe bond for cyber threats (FT) The Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola is a ThinkPad owner’s dream (The Verge) Where was 5G at CES? (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI is raising more money. Apple’s headset launch might be delayed to the summer. But no worries, cause HTC unveiled their 099 Vive XR Elite headset to beat them to the punch. And that leads us into the CES wrapup for day two, including, the most interesting two laptops I’ve seen in a very long time. A true smarthome solution if you care about power. And the new electric trucks that have turned my head. Sponsors: RefundsPro.com Links: ChatGPT Creator in Investor Talks at $29 Billion Valuation (WSJ) Kuo: Apple's Mixed-Reality Headset Likely to Debut at Spring Media Event or WWDC (MacRumors) HTC Vive XR Elite: Another Mixed-Reality Headset Arriving Ahead of Apple (CNET) Lenovo’s new Yoga Book 9i laptop has a second screen above its screen (The Verge) OLED plus E Ink: Lenovo’s ThinkBook Twist is halfway to my dream laptop (The Verge) Coming soon: smart homes where the electricity isn’t so dumb (The Verge) Ram 1500 Revolution brings muscle car energy — and tons of gimmicks — to EV truck race (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon’s layoffs are bigger than we thought. Meta’s new fines in Europe could be a way, way bigger deal than you might think. Apple is brining AI narrators to audiobooks. And a roundup of cool CES stuff. Sony and Honda have a new electric car brand. The first truly wireless TV. And a solar powered watch band means you might never need to charge it. Links: Amazon Layoffs to Hit Over 18,000 Workers, the Most in Recent Tech Wave (WSJ) €390M fine strikes blow to Meta’s ad-fueled business model (Politico) Death of the narrator? Apple unveils suite of AI-voiced audiobooks (The Guardian) Bankruptcy judge rules that Earn account assets belong to Celsius (Axios) CES Roundup: Sony and Honda just announced their new electric car brand, Afeela (The Verge) iOttie Velox Elite is an actively cooled MagSafe car charger to prevent overheating (Apple Insider) LG’s latest Signature OLED TV receives all of its audio and video wirelessly (The Verge) I'm thinking of ditching my Apple Watch for this solar and body heat-powered band (TechRadar) Shower pods are here to turn your bathroom into a spa (The Verge) Samsung Display’s latest foldable concept can both slide and fold (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Microsoft gonna steal one on Google by bring ChatGPT to Bing search? What is Bonk, the new crypto coin posting monster gains this week? Is Apple bringing MagSafe charging to everyone, even Android users? Roku is launching its own TV sets. And how you could get a check in the mail from Tim Apple for those wonky keyboards. Sponsors: Upside App and promocode RIDEHOME Links: Microsoft and OpenAI Working on ChatGPT-Powered Bing in Challenge to Google (The Information) Salesforce to cut 10% of workforce in latest tech layoffs (Reuters) Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ to Fraud, Conspiracy Charges (CoinDesk) Shiba Inu-Themed BONK Tokens Are Yielding Nearly 1,000% for Solana Liquidity Providers (CoinDesk) Nvidia upgrades GeForce Now with RTX 4080 performance for premium users (TechCrunch) Wireless Power Consortium works with Apple on next generation ‘Qi2’ standard based on MagSafe (9to5Mac) Qi2: How Apple might finally harness MagSafe by giving it away (The Verge) Roku does the obvious thing and announces its own TV line (The Verge) MacBook owners have two months to claim up to $395 over butterfly keyboard woes (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CES kicks off with Intel detailing it’s new 13th gen chips for laptops. A big PyTorch warning. Why that whole Southwest Airlines mess happened. Layoffs are a problem for tech startups, but the number of tech workers is still growing in a healthy way. And pour one out for 3G technology. Sponsors: MeetFabric.com/ride RocketMoney.com/ride Links: Intel’s 13th Gen mobile processors include the first 24-core laptop CPU (The Verge) PyTorch discloses malicious dependency chain compromise over holidays (BleepingComputer) Southwest Meltdown Shows Airlines Need Tighter Software Integration (WSJ) Gemini’s Cameron Winklevoss Slams Crypto Exec Barry Silbert Over Frozen Funds (Bloomberg) Tech Layoffs Are Happening Faster Than at Any Time During the Pandemic (WSJ) As Silicon Valley Retrenches, a Tech Talent Shift Accelerates (NYTimes) Startups End a Bruising 2022, Stare Down Another Challenging Year (WSJ) Farewell to 3G (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wait, why are Alameda-linked wallets coming back to life all of the sudden? If you do things with a DAO that are technically allowed by the DAO, can that still be market manipulation? What if Amazon or somebody else created an ESPN for the streaming era? The most successful publicly traded tech stock of this miserable year. And somebody tell Mark Zuckerberg about what you can really do with modern avatar technology. Links: Alameda Research wallets swap several crypto tokens for bitcoin (The Block) U.S. charges fraud in Mango crypto manipulation case (Reuters) Crypto Trader’s Fraud Charges Show DeFi Isn’t Outside the Law (Bloomberg) Amazon Has Discussed a Stand-Alone Sports App as Andy Jassy Doubles Down on Prime Video (The Information) Tech stocks got whacked in 2022 — but one server maker soared almost 90%, beating all its peers (CNBC) ABBA’s successful avatar show in London offers a glimpse at a daring new direction for live music (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not an exchange blowing up, but is one of the biggest crypto projects in recent years losing developers and maybe entering a death spiral? More supply chain worries for Apple in China. More concerns about the accuracy and efficacy of our new AI bot overlords. And heads up about the new tech hotness from China. Say hello to Temu. It might be responsible for some of the presents you unwrapped recently. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Solana’s Top NFT Projects DeGods and Y00ts to Migrate Chains (CoinDesk) Apple’s business under growing threat from China’s Covid wave (Financial Times) Study finds AI assistants help developers produce code that's more likely to be buggy (The Register) IRS Delays $600 Tax Reporting Rule for Venmo, Etsy Sellers (Bloomberg) American Bargain Hunters Flock to a New Online Platform Forged in China (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBF is in the US just in time to see two of his lieutenants have flipped on him to the Feds. Twitter rolls out Cashtags that are actually useful. ChatGPT lead to a “code red” at Google. Justice is coming for those expiring car warranty robo callers. And, surprise, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Two Bankman-Fried colleagues plead guilty to fraud (Washington Post) Twitter adds BTC and ETH price indexes to search function (CoinTelegraph) A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business (NYTimes) YouTube Paying Roughly $2 Billion a Year for NFL Sunday Ticket (WSJ) FCC proposes record $300 million fine against auto warranty robocall campaign (CyberScoop) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis (NYTimes) How the algorithm tipped the balance in Ukraine (Washington Post) Bob Gottlieb Is the Last of the Publishing Giants The 91-year-old editor waits for his 87-year-old star writer, Robert Caro, to turn in his book. (Vulture) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new prediction for 2023, the sports streaming wars. What’s with all the weirdness going on with Anker’s security cameras? Is Apple going to cancel the iPhone SE? Is the Google/Facebook ad duopoly over? And an interesting raise for a deepfake startup. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome InternetSociety.org/techmeme Links: Google’s YouTube in Talks for Rights to NFL Sunday Ticket (WSJ) Anker’s Eufy breaks its silence on security cam security (The Verge) Kuo: Apple to Cancel or Postpone 2024 iPhone SE 4 (MacRumors) Slow fade for Google and Meta's ad dominance (Axios) OpenAI releases Point-E, an AI that generates 3D models (TechCrunch) ‘South Park’ Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone Land $20 Million in Funding for Their Deepfake VFX Studio (Variety) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon settles two EU antitrust cases. An old crypto mystery resurfaces and dormant wallets spring back to life. TikTok will tell you why they recommended that video. Is growth at Mastadon a flood or a trickle? And Coinbase is now worth less than Doge. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Microsoft's Worklab Podcast Links: Amazon Agrees to Settle EU Antitrust Cases, Avoiding Fines (WSJ) Bitcoin Addresses Tied to Defunct Canadian Crypto Exchange QuadrigaCX Wake Up (CoinDesk) TikTok’s new feature will tell you why a particular video appeared in your For You feed (TechCrunch) Apple to start making MacBooks in Vietnam by mid-2023 (NikkeiAsia) Netflix’s Ad-Supported Tier Was Its Least Popular Plan, Analytics Firm Estimates (WSJ) More than two million users have flocked to Mastodon since Elon Musk took over Twitter (The Verge) Magna to Buy Veoneer Vehicle Safety Unit for $1.5 Billion (Bloomberg) Silicon Valley start-ups race for debt deals in funding crunch (FT) Coinbase’s Value Is $1 Billion Below ‘Joke’ Token Dogecoin’s (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I dunno. Is Elon not the head of Twitter anymore? He posted a poll, people voted for him to step down. Who knows? I’ll give you the tick tock of what went down this weekend. ? Apple has canceled work on an M2 “extreme” chip. Google goes all in on encrypting Gmail. Why is everyone all in on encryption all of the sudden? And don’t worry, Meta is still all in on the metaverse. Sponsors: Masterclass.com/ride ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Twitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors (The Verge) Google is letting businesses try out client-side encryption for Gmail (The Verge) Binance.US to Buy Voyager Assets in $1.022 Billion Deal (Bloomberg) Bankman-Fried is ready to ‘face the music,’ prison official says (Washington Post) Apple Scales Back High-End Mac Pro Plans, Weighs Production Move to Asia (Bloomberg) Facebook’s Meta Will Devote 20% of Costs to Metaverse Next Year (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emergency bonus episode! Is this the moment for Twitter alternatives? T2.social is one of them and the founder of that project, @gabor, joins us to kick it all around. So does our friend Alex Kantrowitz from @BigTechnology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk has once again proven that the flesh is weak because there’s a new Twitter controversy and I can’t help but tell you about it. Is it a good look when the accounting firm writing reports to prove crypto companies are solvent says it will no longer work with crypto companies? Is Netflix’s ad-supported tier not signing up as many eyeballs as advertisers hoped? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Twitter suspends Mastodon’s account and bans links to Mastodon servers (TechCrunch) Twitter suspends journalists who have been covering Elon Musk and the company (NBCNews) Accountant That Vetted Binance Reserves Halts Crypto Work (Bloomberg) Netflix lets advertisers take their money back after missing viewership targets (Digiday) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Spotify’s grand plan to monetize developers via its open source Backstage project (TechCrunch) YouTube Stars Cash In Video Rights for Millions of Dollars (WSJ) ChatGPT and the Imagenet moment (Ben Evans) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ll get into the whole Twitter banning private jet tracking accounts thing, but use that to explain how and even if we’re going to cover this whole Elon/Twitter story going forward. Is mobile gaming the latest domino to fall in this year of “line also goes down?” A new consortium hopes to make mapping data better. And let me introduce you to the Battery Belt, every bit as important as the whole onshoring the chip industry trend. Links: Twitter Suspends the Accounts Tracking Musk’s Jet and The Man Behind It (Bloomberg) Twitter Suspends Over 25 Accounts That Track Billionaires’ Private Planes (NYTimes) Elon Musk offloads another $3.6bn of Tesla stock (FT) FTX Investor Impact: Timeline of Realized Cryptocurrency Gains and Losses Shows FTX Hit Investor Wallets Less Than Previous Crises (Chainalysis) 2022 will go down as the worst year for U.S. IPOs since 1990. (Axios Pro Rata) Mobile games market to decline for first time in over a decade (FT) Creating the ultimate smart map with new map data initiative launched by Linux Foundation (VentureBeat) 1 big thing: The "battery belt" widens (Axios) The electric car Battery Belt is reshaping America’s heartland (Axios) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple is going to allow third-party app stores, but only in Europe for now. Your Tesla is now a full-fledged gaming rig. Instagram is testing a full-fledged BeReal clone. Has Twitter stopped paying its bills? And there is now actual US legislation to ban TikTok. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Apple to Allow Outside App Stores in Overhaul Spurred by EU Laws (Bloomberg) Tesla’s latest update adds Steam games and Apple Music (The Verge) Musk Shakes Up Twitter’s Legal Team as He Looks to Cut More Costs (NYTimes) Twitter is considering forcing users to let the company sell their data and phone numbers to advertisers, in potential breach of Apple rules (Insider) Binance CEO Zhao Warns Bumpy Road Ahead in Message to His Staff (Bloomberg) Instagram Challenges BeReal and Adds Notes Short-Message Feature (WSJ) Lawmakers unveil bipartisan bill that aims to ban TikTok in the U.S. (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBF is under arrest. The Feds have charged him. The SEC has charged him. The CFTC has charged him. CZ continues to try to reassure Binance users over withdrawals. I think it’s time I update you on the health I’m seeing of the Twitter platform. And what is “open source” intelligence and why is the US behind in this modern type of spycraft? Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Federal prosecutors, SEC unveil charges against Sam Bankman-Fried (Washington Post) FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas after U.S. files criminal charges (CNBC) Jim Edwards thread summarizing the SEC complaint Binance CEO addresses USDC outflows: 'feel free to withdraw any other stablecoin' (The Block) AI art apps are cluttering the App Store’s Top Charts following Lensa AI’s success (TechCrunch) Elon says Twitter will remove all legacy verifications ‘in a few months’ (TechCrunch) Radeon 7900 XTX and XT review: Faster, hotter, and cheaper than the RTX 4080 (ArsTechnica) Rise of Open-Source Intelligence Tests U.S. Spies (WSJ) Tickets to my comedy show at the end of January in San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xiaomi has released its newest flagship smartphones. A bunch of worrying headlines surrounding Binance. Twitter Blue is back. Have scientists finally made a major breakthrough in fusion energy tech? And why Google is hesitant to release its answer to ChatGPT. Masterclass.com/ride Links: The Xiaomi 13 series launches as true Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 darling (Android Police) Binance Is Trying to Calm Investors, but Its Finances Remain a Mystery (WSJ) 'Abnormal' Altcoin Trading on Binance 'Just Market Behavior,' Says CEO (Decrypt) US Prosecutors Look to Charge Binance, Executives on Possible Money Laundering Violations: Reuters (Coindesk) Twitter Blue to Relaunch Monday, With Blue Check Mark, Higher iOS Price, Company Says (CNET) US Says Scientists Make Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Energy (Bloomberg) The New Chatbots Could Change the World. Can You Trust Them? (NYTimes) Why Google Missed ChatGPT (Big Technology) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What were the biggest stories of 2022? What will be the biggest tech stories of 2023? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is going to make the situation in the gaming industry downright chaotic. The FTC has sued to block Microsoft's $69B Activision Blizzard acquisition. Sam Bankman Fried says he’s going to testify, under oath, before Congress. Why the salute emoji is hands down the symbol of the year 2022. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Links: Twin complaints signal new FTC strategy to rein in tech industry (Washington Post) FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to testify at U.S. House hearing on Tuesday (CNBC) We Couldn’t Have Made It Through This Year Without the Saluting Emoji (Rolling Stone) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How AI That Powers Chatbots and Search Queries Could Discover New Drugs (WSJ) The Hype Around Esports Is Fading as Investors and Sponsors Dry Up (Bloomberg) Programmable Ink (InkAndSwitch) How CoinDesk’s FTX scoop left a hole in its corporate overlord (The Verge) Enter the wind tunnel (Driving Conformity) 36 Hours - Wellington, New Zealand (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple is going back all in on privacy in a big way with Advanced Data Protection. I’ll explain. Did Sam Bankman-Fried also kill Terra and Luna? A look at those magic avatars from Lensa that everyone is using for their profile picture all of the sudden. And the winner for the most post-pandemic product goes to Dyson. Sponsors: Cyborg.co/ride Get 90% off RexMD with our exclusive link -> RexMD.com/ride Links: Apple Plans New Encryption System to Ward Off Hackers and Protect iCloud Data (WSJ) @matthew_d_green's twitter thread on Apple's new encryption push FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Is Said to Face Market Manipulation Inquiry (NYTimes) Coinbase CEO Sees Revenue Falling 50% or More on Crypto Rout (Bloomberg) AI selfies — and their critics — are taking the internet by storm (Washington Post) Ask these questions before you make your Lensa Magic Avatars (TechRadar) Dyson's Air Purifying Headphones Will Cost $949 (Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an attempt to keep their acquisition of Activision… active, Microsoft wants to bring Call of Duty to the Nintendo Switch. That time SBF tried to give Taylor Swift $100M. She said no, apparently. You don’t have to give Telegram your phone number anymore. Mark Gurman rumor dump about the scaled back ambitions of the Apple Car. And yes. ChatGPT probably has Google over the classic innovator’s dilemma barrel. Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Microsoft says it will bring Call of Duty to Nintendo (Washington Post) FTX held talks with Taylor Swift over $100mn sponsorship deal (FT) Tim Cook says Apple will use chips built in the U.S. at Arizona factory (CNBC) Telegram drops SIM requirement for sign-ups, adds Global Auto-Delete timers (9to5Google) SpaceX unveils ‘Starshield,’ a military variation of Starlink satellites (CNBC) Twitter’s Rivals Try to Capitalize on Musk-Induced Chaos (NYTimes) Apple Scales Back Self-Driving Car and Delays Debut Until 2026 (Bloomberg) Google Faces a Serious Threat From ChatGPT (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the government investigating Neuralink for animal cruelty? Why is Microsoft increasing prices for Xbox games? How much does it cost every time you ask ChatGPT a question? Is Meta really going to stop allowing you to post news links, or is this a bluff? And is that Arizona chip plant becoming a bigger deal every day? Sponsors: Masterworks.com/ride* Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Elon Musk’s Neuralink is reportedly facing a federal probe on animal welfare grounds (The Verge) Exclusive: Musk’s Neuralink faces federal probe, employee backlash over animal tests (Reuters) Google Pixel 7 just got a bunch of exciting features — here’s what’s new (Tom's Guide) Microsoft Raising Prices on New, First-Party Games Built for Xbox Series X|S to $70 in 2023 (IGN) @sama's Tweets about ChatGPT Google Search brings continuous scrolling to desktop (The Verge) Facebook threatens to ban news from platform if U.S. bill passes (MarketWatch) TSMC triples Arizona chip investment to $40bn (FT) Our podcast TikTok account: techmeme_ride_home * “net returns” refers to the annualized internal rate of return net of all fees and costs, calculated from the offering closing date to the sale date. IRR may not be indicative of Masterworks paintings not yet sold and past performance is not indicative of future results. See important Reg A disclosures: Masterworks.com/cd Masterworks’ offerings are filed with the SEC, view all past and current offerings here: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=masterworks&match=&filenum=&State=&Country=&SIC=&myowner=exclude&action=getcompany Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maybe put the breaks on an early release of that Apple AR/VR headset. And maybe pump the breaks on the AI excitement as Stack Overflow temporarily bans users from sharing responses generated by ChatGPT. A security issue at Rackspace. Are the Winkivii in trouble? And why has Sam Bankman Fried not been arrested yet? Sponsors: LetsTalkInTouch.com Hover.com/ride for 10% off Links: Kuo: Apple Headset Shipments Potentially Delayed Until Second Half of 2023 (MacRumors) Foxconn sees COVID-hit China plant back at full output in late Dec-early Jan -source (Reuters) Rackspace rocked by ‘security incident’ that has taken out hosted Exchange services (The Register) AI-generated answers temporarily banned on coding Q&A site Stack Overflow (The Verge) Crypto broker Genesis owes Winklevoss exchange’s customers $900mn (Financial Times) Why Hasn’t Sam Bankman-Fried Been Arrested Yet? (Intelligencer) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Gurman has details on Apple ramping up development of its mixed-reality headset, targeting a launch next year. Elon has had to block his friend Ye from Twitter. Future is shutting down. Airplane mode might be a thing of the past soon. Is Nikola Tesla’s dream of wireless electrical transmission about to be a reality? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Apple Renames Mixed-Reality Software ‘xrOS’ in Sign Headset Is Approaching (Bloomberg) Kanye West isn’t buying Parler after all (TechCrunch) Andreessen Horowitz's buzzy tech publication Future is shutting down (Insider) Payments giant Stripe jumps into Web3 with tool that helps companies turn cash to crypto (Fortune Crypto) AWS launches Application Composer, a low-code tool for building serverless apps (TechCrunch) No more airplane mode? EU to allow calls on flights (BBC News) Silicon Valley startup beaming electricity wirelessly raises $30 million (Reuters) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Generative AI: autocomplete for everything (Noahpinion) Your Creativity Won’t Save Your Job From AI (The Atlantic) The Grown-Up Art of Andor (The New Republic) A French Village’s Radical Vision of a Good Life with Alzheimer’s (New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A summary of last night’s Sam Bankman Fried show. Elon visits Tim Cook and maybe they buried the hatchet? Now OpenAI has released a chat bot. Neuralink says it’s going to start implanting into humans very soon. And Arizona is gonna get the good stuff when it comes to chips. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: FTX Missing Billions Remain Mystery After Bankman-Fried Grilling (Bloomberg) Elon Musk Meets With Apple CEO Tim Cook Amid Claims of Twitter App Store Dispute [Updated] (MacRumors) Musk at Twitter has 'huge work' ahead to comply with EU rules, warns bloc (TechCrunch) While everyone waits for GPT-4, OpenAI is still fixing its predecessor (MIT Technology Review) Musk’s Neuralink Hopes to Implant Computer in Human Brain in Six Months (Bloomberg) Disney Made a Movie Quality AI Tool That Automatically Makes Actors Look Younger (or Older) (Gizmodo) TSMC Plans to Make More Advanced Chips in US at Urging of Apple (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Covid lockdown at that Foxconn factory has lifted. The surprising strength of the smartwatch sector. The surprising failure of the Kindle Scribe. Gorilla Glass Victus 2. And Sony has an actual new idea for the Metaverse. Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Links: China’s Zhengzhou, home to world’s largest iPhone factory, ends Covid lockdown. Other cities do the same (CNN Business) India Becomes Biggest Smartwatch Market in Q3 2022 (Counterpoint) Amazon Security Lake is a standards-based data lake for security data (TechCrunch) Amazon Kindle Scribe review: absolutely adequate (The Verge) Apple Music reveals top music in 2022 and listener charts (AP News) Gorilla Glass Victus 2 could save your big phone from disastrous falls on concrete (TechRadar) Sony is getting into the metaverse with a new motion-tracking system (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon says he’s willing to go to war with Apple. Why now? Is Apple really threatening Twitter’s status in the App Store, as he claims? Where, exactly, is the money for Binance’s crypto recovery fund coming from? Amazon wants kids to get in on the generative AI game. And with all the explosion of AI tools, why aren’t we seeing more adoption of AI for the very tangible and very important use case of medical imaging? Sponsors: ZenGo.com/ride and code: ride Links: Elon Musk Claims Apple Has 'Mostly Stopped' Offering Ads on Twitter and Is Making Moderation Demands (MacRumors) Why some tech CEOs are rooting for Musk (Platformer) Twitter’s $5bn-a-year business hit as Elon Musk clashes with advertisers (Financial Times) Binance clarifies initial $1 billion recovery fund deposit came from own assets (The Block) Amazon’s Create With Alexa generates unique animated children’s stories on Echo Show (Engadget) Google partners with med tech company to develop AI breast cancer screening tools (The Verge) Special Series Part 3: AI Could Transform Medical Imaging — So Why Don’t We See It More? (Crunchbase News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All of the protests erupting in China have, not only a definite tech angle, but might have been triggered by those lockdowns at that Foxconn factory. BlockFi officially files for bankruptcy. Binance attempts to prove its reserves. How to message yourself on WhatsApp. And how Minecraft might have led to a major new breakthrough in AI. Sponsors: LetsTalkInTouch.com Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Twitter grapples with Chinese spam obscuring news of protests (Washington Post) US Bans Huawei, ZTE Telecom Equipment on Data-Security Risk (Bloomberg) Crypto Lender BlockFi Filing for Bankruptcy and Conducting Major Layoffs as FTX Contagion Claims Another: Source (Decrypt) Binance releases proof-of-reserves system, starting with bitcoin (The Block) WhatsApp rolls out a feature that makes it easier to message yourself (WhatsApp) A bot that watched 70,000 hours of Minecraft could unlock AI’s next big thing (MIT Technology Review) Special Series Launch: The Promises And Perils Of A Decade Of AI Funding (Crunchbase News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out the extensive paper on LEO satellites and Internet from space at InternetSociety.org/techmeme Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actual rioting happening at the major Foxconn factory that produces iPhones. Microsoft fully embraces Linux. Advertisers continue to flee from Twitter. What if your wifi router and mesh network was actually a fashionable home décor choice? And surprise! The weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Violent Protests Erupt at Apple’s Main iPhone Plant in China (Bloomberg) Windows Subsystem for Linux generally available via Microsoft Store (BleepingComputer) Advertisers are dropping Twitter. Musk can’t afford to lose any more. (Washington Post) Nest Wifi Pro review: better, faster, shinier (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The Tiny and Nightmarishly Efficient Future of Drone Warfare (The Atlantic) Robert Iger Returns to Disney Facing Radically Different Streaming Landscape (WSJ) America has an earthquake early-warning system now — on your phone (Washington Post) The Weird-Looking, Fuel-Efficient Planes You Could Be Flying in One Day (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The contagion in crypto continues to teeter on a knife’s edge. Why were Sam Bankman Fried’s parents allegedly buying property in the Bahamas? Elon says Twitter is hiring again. Turns out the Alexa deathwatch is very real. And is Apple really the privacy company, or just like everybody else when it comes to ads? Sponsors: InternetSociety.org/techmeme RocketMoney.com/ride Links: Crypto Brokerage Genesis Is Said to Warn of Bankruptcy Without Funding (Bloomberg) Hedge funds left with billions stranded on FTX (FT) Exclusive: Bankman-Fried's FTX, parents bought Bahamas property worth $121 million (Reuters) Elon Musk says Twitter is done with layoffs and ready to hire again (The Verge) Amazon is gutting its voice assistant, Alexa. Employees describe a division in crisis and huge losses on 'a wasted opportunity.' (Insider) Apple Says Your iPhone's Usage Data is Anonymous, but New Tests Say That's Not True (Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruh roh. Storm clouds gathering in crypto land again. This time it’s DCG and Genesis. The shocking CEO revolving door over at Disney. The surprising return of SwiftKey. What you missed this weekend in Twitter. And you’ve heard of Stable Diffusion; let me introduce you to Unstable Diffusion. Stable Diffusion but for porn. Sponsors: LetsTalkInTouch.com Masterclass.com/ride ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Grayscale won’t share proof of reserves, citing ‘security concerns’ (The Block) Grayscale refuses to share proof of reserves due to ‘security concerns’ as shares trade at a 45% discount to bitcoin (CNBC) Disney Shocker: Bob Iger Returning as CEO, Bob Chapek Exits (The Hollywood Reporter) SwiftKey is unexpectedly back on iOS (The Verge) Twitter’s Broken Its Copyright Strike System, Users Are Uploading Full Movies (Forbes) Kite is saying farewell (Kite.com) Meet Unstable Diffusion, the group trying to monetize AI porn generators (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great Anil Dash joined us to talk about... well, what do you think we talked about? But also, a broader discussion about the crazy year that the tech industry has had. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m here with you all as we wait for the end of Twitter together. Unless it doesn’t die. In which case, I dunno. Masa Son is actually personally in hock to the Vision Fund now that all its investments have gone pear shaped. A weird end of an era for Facebook. It’s not about status updates anymore. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Hundreds of employees say no to being part of Elon Musk’s ‘extremely hardcore’ Twitter (The Verge) Tweet thread on why @peterclowes left Twitter Masayoshi Son owes $4.7bn to SoftBank following tech rout (FT) End of an Era: Facebook Takes Sexuality, Religion, Address, and Politics Off of Your Profile (Gizmodo) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Tweet thread from @MosquitoCapital on the many ways Twitter could break Nvidia RTX 4080 review: performance, for a price (The Verge) 1Password wants to ditch passwords without locking you in to one platform (Fast Company) Why Big Tech Is Throwing $1 Billion at Sucking CO2 From the Air (CNET) My Mastodon handle: @[email protected] Sign up for Post: https://post.news/?r=zXrzh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The guy who handled the Enron bankruptcy says FTX is the worst he’s ever seen. Xbox gets full Discord integration. Apple’s plans for Major League Soccer are revealed. Evernote finds a forever home. A new Deepfake detector from Intel and supercomputing in the cloud from Microsoft and Nvidia. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Medcline.com/techmeme Links: New FTX Boss Condemns Management of the Crypto Exchange During Sam Bankman-Fried's Tenure (CoinDesk) Built-in Discord voice chat is now rolling out to all Xbox users (Engadget) Apple Kicks Off Major League Soccer Plans With Pricing & Launch Details (Deadline) Bending Spoons acquires Evernote, marking the end of an era (TechCrunch) Google rolls out new features across Maps, Search and Shopping (TechCrunch) Intel unveils real-time deepfake detector, claims 96% accuracy rate (VentureBeat) Cloud computing: Microsoft and Nvidia are building a 'massive' AI supercomputer. Here's why (ZDNet) Microsoft and Nvidia team up to build massive cloud AI supercomputer (SiliconRepublic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip. DuckDuckGo’s App Tracking blocker but for Android, the latest headlines from the two stories you know we have to hit, and what if I told you there’s a new startup that wants to do for home appliances, what Tesla did for automobiles? Sponsors: Akamai.com/techmeme Kinsta.com Links: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 gives us a glimpse of 2023’s Android flagships (The Verge) DuckDuckGo’s App Tracking Protection beta is now available to all Android users (The Verge) Netflix's new feature lets subscribers kick devices off their accounts (TechCrunch) Musk issues ultimatum to staff: Commit to ‘hardcore’ Twitter or take severance (Washington Post) Induction cooking heats up with a $20M cash injection for Impulse (TechCrunch) Protocol, the tech-news focused website, will shutter and lay off its entire staff (CNN Business) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you tell Elon he doesn’t know what he’s doing, you could get fired. Matt Levine looks into the abyss of the FTX balance sheet and finds the abyss staring back at him. Is the Alexa platform in danger? Nike still believes in NFTs. And what it’s actually like to use Apple’s Emergency SOS feature. Sponsors: Hover.com/ride for 10% off Split.io/techmeme Links: Musk Publicly Punishes Twitter Engineers Who Call Him Out Online (Bloomberg) Is Elon Musk’s Twitter about to fall out of the GDPR’s one-stop shop? (TechCrunch) FTX’s Balance Sheet Was Bad (Bloomberg) Amazon Is Said to Plan to Lay Off Thousands of Employees (NYTimes) Nike to Open Its Own Virtual Sneaker Store and Trading Platform (Bloomberg) Nike Launches Web3 Platform Offering Virtual Apparel and Other NFT-Based Products (CryptoNews) Here’s what it’s like to use Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twitter still lives, at least at the time of this writing. But thousands more contractors have been laid off. CZ wants to start a fund to save crypto projects. Paging Jonah Hill to play SBF in the movie that Michael Lewis is shopping around Hollywood. Meta is exiting the Portal business. And a big review of the Meta Quest Pro is just downright befuddling. Sponsors: LadderLife.com/ride Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Twitter reportedly cut thousands of contractors without warning (The Verge) SpaceX just bought a big ad campaign on Twitter for Starlink (CNBC) Binance Starts Recovery Fund for Crypto Projects Facing Liquidity Crisis (CoinDesk) Exclusive: Jeff Bezos says he will give most of his money to charity (CNN Business) Nearly half of Meta job cuts were in tech, reorg underway - execs say (Reuters) Meta Quest Pro review: get me out of here (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just two big stories, as it’s been all week, but instead of ONLY giving you the latest, I want to try to sum up where I think we’re at as this week ends. What, I think, in the end, actually happened with FTX. And are we SURE Elon isn’t trying to tank Twitter on purpose? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Sam Bankman-Fried steps down as FTX CEO as his crypto exchange files for bankruptcy (CNBC) FTX US Warns of Trading Halt Hours After Bankman-Fried Says It's '100% Liquid' (CoinDesk) Crypto Lender BlockFi Pauses Withdrawals in Wake of FTX Collapse (CoinDesk) Does Twitter Have Any Employees Left Who Remember That The Company Is Under A Strict Consent Decree With The FTC? (TechDirt) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Basically everything on Amazon has become an ad (Vox) Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold? (Bloomberg) Matter is here, but it’s still a long road to the simple smart home (The Verge) Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is designed to be “antiviral” (UXCollective) Unfollow? Block? And who gets custody of the WhatsApp groups? How to break up in the digital age (The Guardian) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More twists and turns in the FTX, SBF, CZ saga as the entire crypto sector continues to get rocked. I’d love to tell you what is going on with Twitter’s whole checkmark saga, but I don’t know, Elon doesn’t know, and frankly, by the time you hear this, it’s likely to have changed anyway. GitHub is getting into the voice assistant game. And Amazon becomes the first company to LOSE a Trillion dollars in valuation. Sponsors: Akamai.com/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Binance Walks Away From Deal to Rescue FTX (WSJ) SBF Tweet Storm This Morning FTX’s Collapse Spurs $10 Billion Drop in Decentralized Finance (Bloomberg) Twitter begins to roll out, then kills, grey checkmarks for high-profile accounts (TechCrunch) Apple will spend $450 million with Globalstar and others to enable emergency satellite texting (CNBC) ‘Hey, GitHub!’ will let programmers code with just their voice (The Verge) Amazon Becomes World’s First Public Company to Lose $1 Trillion in Market Value (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices