Techmeme Ride Home

I said Elon’s name five times in front of a mirror and the whole Elon/Twitter headlines came flooding back into our lives. Forbes alleges that they’ve caught TikTok doing the thing that everybody fears. What if I told you there was a third huge AI raise story to round out this week? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Documents detail plans to gut Twitter’s workforce (Washington Post) Twitter Tumbles as US Weighs Security Reviews for Musk Deals (Bloomberg) TikTok Parent ByteDance Planned To Use TikTok To Monitor The Physical Location Of Specific American Citizens (Forbes) OpenAI, Valued at Nearly $20 Billion, in Advanced Talks with Microsoft For More Funding (The Information) Snap plunges more than 25% on third-quarter revenue miss (CNBC) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? (MIT Technology Review) How Gamers Beat NFTs (Bloomberg) The Hottest App Right Now? One Where Teens Have to Say Nice Things

The big Solana challenger had a terrible first day of trading. Previews of the new Thunderbolt standard. Reviews of the new Raptor Lake chips. Uber takes a page out of the New York City taxi playbook. And the first hands-on, quasi-review of Meta’s high end VR headset. Sponsors: Zengo.com/ride and code ride Split.io/techmeme Links: Aptos Token Plummets 40% After APT Airdrop for 'Early Network Participants' (Decrypt) Android 13 (Go edition) announced with Material You, Google Play System Updates, and more (9to5Google) The next generation of Thunderbolt seems nice but less necessary than ever (The Verge) Intel Core i9-13900K review: an AMD Zen 4 beater (The Verge) Uber rolls out ad business to reach more riders (FT) I Tried the $1,500 Quest Pro and Saw the Best of the Metaverse (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix actually beat on earnings and customer additions. Why their pivot to ads might actually be in line with their long-term strategy. Yesterday’s iPad releases were even more complicated, and stranger, frankly, than I told you. Bluesky is still plugging away on decentralized social media. And another monster interesting raise in the AI space. Links: Netflix adds more than 2.4 million subscribers, reveals details about password-sharing crackdown (CNBC) The New Netflix Age Has Arrived (Puck/Julia Alexander) The iPad’s erratic odyssey continues (Jason Snell/Six Colors) Jack Dorsey-Founded Bluesky Unveils Roadmap for Decentralized Social Networks (Decrypt) AI content platform Jasper raises $125M at a $1.5B valuation (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New iPad Pros and new Apple TV 4ks. Meta walks away from the Giphy acquisition. Layoffs at Microsoft. High attrition at Amazon. Mobileye is probably going to IPO at a significant discount than people hoped? And why I’ve been telling you that the energy in Silicon Valley is switching to AI startups. Sponsors: Merge Conflict Podcast Links: Apple introduces next-generation iPad Pro, supercharged by the M2 chip (Apple Newsroom) Apple announces new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with M2 chip, Apple Pencil hover feature (9to5Mac) Apple Announces 10th-Generation iPad With Complete Redesign, 10.9-Inch Display, USB-C, and More (MacRumors) Meta gets final order to sell Giphy from UK antitrust watchdog (TechCrunch) Microsoft becomes latest tech firm to cut staff (Axios) Exclusive: Amazon’s attrition costs $8 billion annually according to leaked documents. And it gets worse. (Engadget) Intel Eyes Significantly Lower Valuation in IPO of Mobileye Unit (WSJ) Stability AI Raises Seed Round at $1 Billion Valu

Looks like Ye, née Kanye West, is going to try to buy the social network Parler. A look at the Chinese export controls that could potentially force American executives to choose between their jobs and their American citizenship. Wait until you hear about the Mango Markets exploit. And what do you think is the global population of robots, right now? Today? Sponsors: RocketMoney.com/ride Links: Kanye West is buying ‘free speech platform’ Parler (The Verge) Kanye West to buy social media app Parler (The Verge) Decentralized Solana-based trading platform Mango reportedly hit by $100 million exploit (Fortune) Biden declares economic war on the Chinese semiconductor industry (Noahpinion) With New Crackdown, Biden Wages Global Campaign on Chinese Technology (NYTimes) American Executives in Limbo at Chinese Chip Companies After U.S. Ban (WSJ) Meet the Army of Robots Coming to Fill In for Scarce Workers (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We now know how much Netflix with Ads will cost; we think we know how many ads they have to show us to make up for the lost revenue. What is unclear is if people will watch that many ads. It looks like Zuck lied to us about having legs in the Metaverse. Something something, eventually every company becomes a bank. I’m talking about the Apple savings account. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/techmeme with code TECHMEME Links: Netflix’s ad tier will cost $6.99 a month and launch in November (The Verge) Meta Avatar Legs Demo ‘Created By Motion Capture’, Not Live VR (UploadVR) Facebook's Legs Video Was A Lie (Kotaku) Apple Card to Offer Savings Account for Daily Cash (MacRumors) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: WhatsApp is now a spammers’ paradise in India (Rest of World) The GIF Is on Its Deathbed (The Atlantic) Can Kickstarter’s new CEO help the company get its mojo back? (Fast Company)

Signal is phasing out SMS and MMS. Microsoft is sunsetting Microsoft Office branding. The SEC is poised to officially ban some Chinese hardware. Is AR not living up to its promise as a tool for soldiers on the battlefield? And would you ghostwrite tweets for prominent venture capitalists? There’s good money in it. Sponsors: Merge Conflict Podcast Links: Signal will remove support for SMS text messages on Android (BleepingComputer) Microsoft Office will become Microsoft 365 in major brand overhaul (The Verge) FCC poised to ban all U.S. sales of new Huawei and ZTE equipment (Axios) Microsoft’s Army Goggles Left US Soldiers With Nausea, Headaches in Test (Bloomberg) TikTok Parent ByteDance Sets Sights on Spotify With Music-Streaming Expansion (WSJ) I made $200,000 last year ghostwriting tweets for superstar VCs. It takes me 5 hours a week. Here's how I found my clients and built a booming side hustle from scratch. (Insider) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Only two big stories really. We break down yesterday’s Meta VR event, including the new high end Quest Pro. But did Zuck show us anything that will get anyone excited about the Metaverse yet? And Microsoft’s Surface event had a lot of Surface refreshes, but was the big news actually their integration of DALL-E 2 with a new Designer app? The productivity space is hot… Sponsors: TED Tech Podcast Links: The Meta Quest Pro costs $1,499 and ships October 25th (The Verge) What happened to the virtual reality gaming revolution? (Ars Technica) It’s painful how hellbent Mark Zuckerberg is on convincing us that VR is a thing (TechCrunch) Zuckerberg’s $1,499 Headsets Won’t Help Meta (Bloomberg) Surface Pro 9 lets you pick between Intel or Arm 5G and new color options (The Verge) Microsoft's (barely) refreshed Surface Laptop 5 starts at $1,000 (Engadget) Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 Plus ships with an RTX 3060 for $4,299 (The Verge) Microsoft brings DALL-E 2 to the masses with Designer and Image Creator 

A whole bunch of things, including a major US bank getting into crypto custody, paying for Google cloud with crypto, Chromebooks made for gaming, the lack of anyone in the current slate of virtual worlds, the return of the cable bundle example 100, and did you know your Apple AirTags only last a year? Sponsors: Masterworks.com/ride Medcline.com/techmeme Links: America’s Oldest Bank, BNY Mellon, Will Hold That Crypto Now (WSJ) Google selects Coinbase to take cloud payments with cryptocurrencies and will use its custody tool (CNBC) Chips, canvases, and chats: Google Workspace’s plan to crush Office (The Verge) Google is trying to make Chromebooks built for cloud gaming (Engadget) It's Lonely in the Metaverse: DappRadar Data Suggests Decentraland Has 38 ‘Daily Active’ Users in $1.3B Ecosystem (CoinDesk) You Hated Your Cable Package. Your Streaming Services Are Bringing It Back. (WSJ) ‘The Owner of This iPhone Was in a Severe Car Crash’—or Just on a Roller Coaster (WSJ) How to change the AirTa

There’s another huge crypto hack and I’ll give you two guesses as to what folks think the culprit is. The Twitter/Elon trial is officially paused. Meta can’t get its own developers to use their metaverse products. Maybe my dream of Death Star style anklebots is over. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Wealthfront.com/techmeme Links: Binance-linked blockchain hit by $570 million crypto hack (Reuters) The Elon Musk vs. Twitter trial is on hold until October 28th (The Verge) Meta’s flagship metaverse app is too buggy and employees are barely using it, says exec in charge (The Verge) Amazon Abandons Home Delivery Robot Tests in Latest Cost Cuts (Bloomberg) Samsung Details GDDR7 and 1,000-Layer V-NAND Plans (Tom's Hardware) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Even After $100 Billion, Self-Driving Cars Are Going Nowhere (Bloomberg) The Illustrated Stable Diffusion (Jay Alammar) Swiss Dropout Worth $14 Billion Moves Startup Away From Porn (Bloomberg) The Next Big Battle Betw

All the headlines from the Made By Google event. Elon sure wants to avoid being deposed. Why a guilty verdict for Uber’s former Chief Security Officer could have broader ramifications in the tech world. And the new text to video AI systems, this time, from Google. Sponsors: Titan.com/ride Ted Tech Podcast Links: Google unveils Pixel 7 Pro with Tensor G2 processor, 5x telephoto, starts at $899 (9to5Google) Google gets serious about wearables with the Pixel Watch (TechCrunch) Elon Musk’s deposition delayed as he wrangles with Twitter over deal (Financial Times) Former Uber Security Chief Found Guilty of Hiding Hack From Authorities (NYTimes) Former Uber security chief convicted of covering up 2016 data breach (Washington Post) Google answers Meta’s video-generating AI with its own, dubbed Imagen Video (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yes, we’ll get into the whole Twitter/Elon thing. Seems he wants the original deal again… or does he? Tesla is removing more sensors from their cars. The hugely problematic launch of Overwatch 2. And the tech angle to that whole Chess cheating scandal. Links: Musk Revives $44 Billion Twitter Bid, Aiming to Avoid Trial (Bloomberg) Elon Musk says Twitter will eventually be part of ‘X, the everything app’ (MarketWatch) Musk offers to proceed with Twitter deal (Axios) Lawyers Lose Out on Millions in Twitter-Musk Legal Fees (Bloomberg) Tesla is now building Model 3 and Model Y vehicles without ultrasonic sensors (TechCrunch) DDoS attack on 'Overwatch 2' servers prevents fans from playing the game on launch day (Engadget) Chess Investigation Finds That U.S. Grandmaster ‘Likely Cheated’ More Than 100 Times (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The EU has made USB-C the charging port law of the land. Xiaomi’s new flagship smartphone with a 200MP camera. New Google Nest things. Is YouTube trying new ways to get you to pay up for Premium. And the big new robotics push in the world of… checks notes… retail pharmacy. Links: EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024 (MacRumors) Xiaomi’s 12T Pro launches with high-resolution 200-megapixel camera (The Verge) Google debuts new Nest Doorbell Wired, Nest Wifi Pro and launches fully new Google Home app preview (ZDNet) YouTube is asking some users to purchase a Premium subscription to watch in 4K (TechCrunch) Meta launches AI software tools to ease switching between Nvidia, AMD chips (Reuters) Walgreens Turns to Prescription-Filling Robots to Free Up Pharmacists (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kim Kardashian has settled with the SEC over crypto promotion on social media. I continue to Wonder if, aside from TikTok, the biggest threat to Zuckerberg’s metaverse plans is actually Sony. The Supreme Court is gonna hear cases that could pierce the veil of Section 230. And the other social media law from Texas that Silicon Valley is fighting tooth and nail. Links: Kim Kardashian pays over $1 million to settle SEC charges linked to a crypto promo on her Instagram (CNBC) Celsius Network founder withdrew $10mn ahead of bankruptcy (FT) Sony Betting Big on Next VR Headset With Increased Production Plan (Bloomberg) Social Media Company Liability Draws Supreme Court Scrutiny (Bloomberg) Texas Social-Media Law on Web Censorship Upheld by Federal Appeals Court (Bloomberg) Tech companies are gaming out responses to the Texas social media law (Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NFT Struggles, Google Stadia And New Kindles with @aidanfitzryan and @ArtSabintsev Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Google is abandoning a major project, maybe it’s biggest cancellation ever. More cutbacks at Meta. Though one tech company is gonna test the IPO waters soon. Be a fly on the wall as Elon talks to everyone in Silicon Valley about maybe buying Twitter. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Google is shutting down Stadia (The Verge) Meta to Cut Headcount for First Time, Slash Budgets Across Teams (Bloomberg) TripActions reportedly files to go public at $12 billion valuation (TechCrunch) Jack Dorsey tried to get Elon Musk on Twitter’s board but directors were too ‘risk averse,’ texts reveal (CNBC) Elon Musk’s Text Exchanges Show Twitter Deal Going Off The Rails (Big Technology) How Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Parag Agrawal cratered the Twitter deal, in texts (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Google is trying to reinvent search — by being more than a search engine (The Verge) Twitter Is in This Mess Because Jack Dorsey Was

Meta takes down an app that tried to strip out the cruft from Instagram (but also the ads). Bunch of new Maps features from Google. All the headlines from yesterday’s Amazon event, including a Kindle you can write on. And text to image generators are cool. But you know what’s really cool, text to video generators. Sponsors: Titan.com/ride Links: The OG App promised an ad-free Instagram feed then got pulled from App Store (TechCrunch) The 11 biggest announcements at Amazon’s hardware launch event (The Verge) Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing (The Verge) Here are all of the new features and updates coming to Google Maps (TechCrunch) SWIFT Partners With Crypto Data Provider Chainlink on Cross-Chain Protocol in TradFi Play (CoinDesk) Meta’s new text-to-video AI generator is like DALL-E for video (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On second thought, Apple is pulling back on iPhone production which suggests demand is not what they anticipated. Intel’s new 13th-Gen chips and new low-end GPU. Checking on the Elon/Twitter trial and the NFT market. And what to expect from this week’s Tesla AI event. Links: Apple Ditches iPhone Production Increase After Demand Falters (Bloomberg) The latest iPadOS 16 beta brings Stage Manager to older iPad Pro models (Engadget) Intel’s 13th Gen processors arrive October 20th with $589 flagship Core i9-13900K (The Verge) Intel Arc A770 graphics card to launch October 12 for $329 (PCGamer) NFT Trading Volumes Collapse 97% From January Peak (Bloomberg) Twitter says Elon Musk’s own data scientists did not back up bots claims (Financial Times) Turnstile is Cloudflare’s latest attempt to rid the web of CAPTCHAs (The Verge) How To Watch Tesla’s AI Day (Forbes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Bankman-Fried finally scoops up Voyager’s assets. Meta says Russia has launched the biggest disinformation campaign of the war. Nreal has finally brough the first real contender for the AR wars to American shores for the first time. And would you consider a Metaverse white paper from the sci-fi writer than inspired the very notion of a Metaverse? Sponsors: Online.UC.edu Masterworks.com/ride ** Links: Crypto Exchange FTX Wins Bankrupt Firm Voyager’s Assets (Bloomberg) ‘Smash and grab’: Meta uncovers Russia's ‘largest and most complex’ info op since the war began (Protocol) Meta makes it easier to switch between Facebook and Instagram accounts (CNBC) Nreal’s $379 AR glasses launch in the US today (The Verge) If you still miss Google Reader, Substack has a new web-based RSS client (The Verge) Walmart enters the metaverse with Roblox experiences aimed at younger shoppers (CNBC) Neal Stephenson’s Lamina1 drops white paper on building the open metaverse (GamesBeat) **Net est. returns for al

UK police make an arrest many believe is related to those recent Uber and Rockstar hacks. Will the iPhone get a design overhaul next year? Cloudflare’s interesting new Zero Trust SIM. Maybe the first copyright for that new AI Art stuff? And why AI is allowing Darth Vader’s voice to live on forever. Sponsors: Medcline.com/techmeme ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: UK Police arrests teen believed to be behind Uber, Rockstar hacks (BleepingComputer) One Week with the iPhone 14 Pro Max: Apple’s Not-So-Dynamic Island (Bloomberg) Cloudflare launches an eSIM to secure mobile devices (TechCrunch) TikTok Seen Moving Toward U.S. Security Deal, but Hurdles Remain (NYTimes) Artist receives first known US copyright registration for latent diffusion AI art (ArsTechnica) James Earl Jones Steps Back From Voicing Darth Vader, Signs Off on Using Archived Recordings to Recreate Voice With A.I. (Variety) Darth Vader’s Voice Emanated From War-Torn Ukraine (Variety) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap