Tech Brew Ride Home - Fri. 01/21 – Intel Bringing Silicon Back (To Ohio)

Episode Date: January 21, 2022

The trend of re-onshoring silicon production domestically and Intel’s turnaround plans collide in a way that is very good for Ohio. Twitter will let you NFT-up your profile picture. Google’s doing the AR headset thing too. That Apple education discount has gotten harder to spoof. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: DeVry.edu/engineering EditorX.com Links: Exclusive: Intel Reveals Plans for Massive New Ohio Factory, Fighting the Chip Shortage Stateside (Time) Twitter Embraces NFTs With New Profile-Picture Feature (WSJ) GOOGLE IS BUILDING AN AR HEADSET (The Verge) Netflix Falls Short of Q4 Subscriber Target, Stock Tumbles on Weak Forecast (Variety) We regret to inform you that Apple now verifies anyone asking for educational discounts (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How Did ID.me Get Between You and Your Identity? (Bloomberg Businessweek) The SPAC Ship Is Sinking. Investors Want Their Money Back. (WSJ) THE INSIDE STORY OF IBEER, THE UNDERDOG BEER APP THAT MADE MILLIONS (MelMagazine) The Rise of A.I. Fighter Pilots (The New Yorker) How Tumblr Became Popular for Being Obsolete (The New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Friday, January 21st, 2022. I'm Brian McCullough today. The trend of re-onshoring Silicon production domestically and Intel's turnaround plans collide in a way that's very good for Ohio. Twitter will let you NFT up your profile picture. Google's doing the AR headset thing too. That Apple education

discount has gotten harder to get. And of course, the weekend long read suggestions. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Intel has announced a commitment of $20 billion to build at least two semiconductor fabrication plants on a 1,000-acre site in Ohio by 2025, employing at least 3,000 people in the town of New Albany. Quoting time. The chipmaker says it will build at least two semiconductor fabrication plants or fabs on the 1,000-acre site, where Intel will research, develop, and manufacture its most cutting-edge computer chips employing at least 3,000 people. Construction will begin this year and the plant should be operational by 2025, the company said. Intel's announcement is the largest private sector investment in Ohio history and a bright spot

in what has been a dismal few decades for manufacturing in Ohio and the Midwest. Big employers like General Motors laid off thousands as factory jobs relocated to the U.S. south and overseas. But as automation drives efficiency in factories, creating technical rather than assembly line jobs, Ohio is trying to mount a manufacturing comeback. Our expectation is that this becomes the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told Time, the company has the option to eventually expand to 2,000 acres and up to eight fabs. We helped to establish the Silicon Valley, he said. Now we're going to do

the Silicon Heartland, end quote. So a couple things. Obviously, this is part of the trend we've been discussing of onshoreing or I guess reshoring silicon manufacturing as a strategic bulwark as much as anything else. But also, this looks to be part of Intel's overall turnaround plan to become a sort of TSM-style dealer of silicon to all parties. This so-called megafab could become a $100 billion investment before all is said and done. Twitter is going to let iOS users of its blue subscription service use NFTs as as hexagon-shaped profile pictures. Quoting the Wall Street Journal.

By launching NFT Profile Pictures, Twitter is positioning itself as the social network for the discovery, conversation, and education around NFT, blockchain and crypto technology, said Esther Crawford, the company's product lead for the effort. NFTs, whose popularity has surged over the past year, have been sold mainly on platforms with less of a mainstream audience. NFT profile pictures will be clearly distinguishable, appearing as hexagons rather than the standard circles across the social app, the company said.

Users can tap on the hexagonal pictures to see more information about the digital pieces of art. For now, only Twitter blue subscribers using Apple's iOS devices will be able to upload NFT profile pictures, Twitter said. We know that for many people, their first experience of NFTs will happen on Twitter with this feature and with the conversations that are taking place on the platform, Ms. Crawford said. The introduction of NFT profile pictures is Twitter's first crypto technology launch since the company in November unveiled Twitter crypto, a unit, quote, focused on crypto blockchains and other decentralized technologies, end quote. Everybody doing NFTs. Everybody doing AR. Can you tell I'm still making my way through

that Beatles documentary? Sources are telling the verge that Google's not going to miss out on the AR game and is actively developing an AR headset that could launch in 2024. powered by a custom processor resembling ski goggles on your head, and also no need for an external power connection. This effort is being called Project Iris internally, quote. Like forthcoming headsets from meta and Apple, Google's device uses outward-facing cameras to blend computer graphics with a video feed of the real world, creating a more immersive, mixed reality experience than existing AR glasses from the likes of Snap and Magic Leap. Early prototypes being developed at a facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, resemble a pair of ski goggles, and don't

require a tethered connection to an external power source. Google's headset is still early in development without a clearly defined go-to-market strategy, which indicates that the 2024 target year may be more aspirational than set in stone. The hardware is powered by a custom Google processor like its newest Google Pixel smartphone and runs on Android, though recent job listings indicate that a unique OS is in the works. Given power constraints, Google's strategy is use its data centers to remotely render some graphics and beam them into the headset via an internet connection. I'm told that the pixel team is involved in some of the hardware pieces, but it's unclear if the headset will ultimately be pixel branded. The name Google Glass is

almost certainly off the table thanks to the early blowback, remember Glasshole, and the fact that it technically still exists as an enterprise product. Project Iris marks a return to a hardware a category that Google has a long and checkered history in. It started with the splashy, ill-fated debut of Google Glass in 2012, and then a multi-year effort to sell VR headsets quietly fizzled out in 2019. Google has since been noticeably silent about its hardware aspirations in the space, instead choosing to focus on software features like lens, its visual search engine, and AR directions in Google Maps. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg has bet his company on AR and VR and VR hiring thousands and rebranding from Facebook to meta. Metaverse has become an inescapable buzzword, and Apple is

reading its own mixed reality headset for as soon as later this year, end quote. Yes, remember Tango, Google Glass, AR elements, what was it, Google Cardboard, or am I confusing that with what Nintendo did with the Switch? Anyway, insert your own joke here, something along the lines of what Will Aramis tweeted, quote, Google introducing Glass, everyone wants this, everyone, Google eight years later. Okay, how about now? Not going to dwell on this too long, but Netflix kicked off tech earnings season last night, and it wasn't good. Netflix reported Q4 revenue of $7.71 billion, up 16% year over year, net income of $607 million, $222 paid subscribers, and $30 billion in 2021 revenue, which was up 19%. But the stock is absolutely getting crushed right.

now down 25% on essentially weak guidance in acquiring new customers going forward. So I guess the degree to keep your eye on this is the degree to which you have your eye on how post-COVID times might be affecting specific companies. See the stocks of Peloton and Zoom for further edification in this regard. I guess Netflix is probably going to have to crack down harder on you sharing your logins with your sister to make up some of that revenue rate. But what this next story presupposes is that the free ride for Apple's education discounts is coming to an end as well, as the Verge titled their piece, I regret to inform you that Apple now verifies anyone asking for educational discounts. Quote, Apple has introduced a new verification process in the U.S. to ensure that customers who want to benefit from its discounted education pricing are actually involved in education.

It's not clear exactly when its policy changed, but at some point this month, Some Reddit users noticed that Apple's education pricing page was updated to note that customers will now be checked by Unidays, a third-party verification service. As well as requiring Unidays, Apple is also placing new limits on how many items you can buy with an education discount. Apple track reports that users are limited to one desktop computer, one Mac Mini, one laptop, two iPads, and two accessories per year. Given that's more than any student teacher or educational staff member is likely to purchase

for themselves in a given year, the limit seems to. to be in place to stop them from acting as an illicit discount broker for all their non-education friends. Although the change removes a loophole that was previously ridiculously easy to exploit, apparently Apple didn't even require customers to have a dot edu email address, there's surprisingly little outcry over on Reddit, with some pointing out that Apple's first party discounts are often beaten by third-party retailers during the back-to-school season, end quote. But also, I guess, you know, getting your grandma's on iPad with that student discount those days, I guess, are over.

Time for the weekend long read suggestions. And first up, given that story from yesterday about the IRS and that biometrics company, ID.Me, or I guess it's probably IDMe, I wanted to learn more about the company. So from Bloomberg Businessweek, let me share with you what I found out. Quote, for most people creating an ID.combe account is a hassle-free process. ID me combines data from the phone you're using, selfies you're asked to send, and scans of government documents to verify you are who you say you are. Once you've done that, goes Hall's pitch. You'll be able to do everything online from banking to accessing your health records and checking into a hotel

room without constantly being asked for credentials and passwords. It's a process that millions of Americans are poised to become familiar with this tax filing season. Eventually, every U.S. citizen could be armed with an ID.comi digital passport. Hall's vision has attracted to $275.5 million in investments from the likes of Alphabet, Morgan Stanley, and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Prentzker. It's won votes of confidence not only from the 27 states that have hired IDME during the pandemic, but also from the U.S. Department of Labor, which last year awarded it $1 billion to modernize state computer systems. The IRS, too, used IDME to help people register for monthly child tax credit payments introduced last July. But the company's tightening national grip

also raises no shortage of troubling questions starting with. Should we be entrusting private companies with a responsibility that would naturally fall on governments, such as verifying the identities of their own citizens? Just as we probably don't want Amazon or Facebook controlling access to our tax records or a government lifeline, when things go wrong, it isn't clear we should want ID me to be everywhere we want to be, end quote. Next, since this topic comes up on the Twitter space we're going to release tomorrow from the Wall Street Journal, a look at how SPAC-mania from just a year ago has not only calmed down, it's literally underwater. Quote, SPACs, sometimes called blank check firms, begin as shell companies.

They raise money from investors, then list on a stock exchange. Their sole purpose is to hunt for a private company to merge with and take public. Because the company going public is merging with an existing publicly traded entity, it can make business projections and skirt some of the other regulations associated with IPOs. After regulators approve the deal, the company going public replaces the SPAC in the stock market. Upstart companies of all stripes clamored to participate, enamored with the pool of eager investors who were ready to back them, and enticed by celebrity SPAC creators and bankers who meant money when they complete deals.

The company behind Dog Toy Subscription Service Barkbox did a SPAC merger, so did the personal finance app SOFI technologies. Office sharing company WeWork found a SPAC after its planned IPO infamously blew up, electric vehicle battery makers, flying taxi startups, self-driving car companies, and a seemingly never-ending parade of biotech names all jumped into the fray. Now the hype is giving way to reality. Like so many investment fads, what at first seemed like a way to earn easy money, has revealed itself to be full of potential perils. The threat of tighter regulation is looming, and high-profile stumbles by some companies that went public via SPACs have taught investors some harsh lessons. It turns out investing in unproven upstarts isn't for everyone, and with interest

rates looking likely to rise in coming months, all sorts of speculative investments from technology stocks to Bitcoin are getting hit, end quote. And continuing to show my work here, I was thinking about the creator of Wordle, declining to monetize his creation, and that led me down a rabbit hole that led me to the story of the developer who created that early iPhone app I beard. Do you remember that one? Quoting Mel Magazine. Whatever the reason for its sustained popularity at nearly three bucks a download, I beer created a serious pile of cash for Sheridan and his team at Hotrix.

The amount of money that was coming in was just so over the top. During our heyday, we were making $10,000 to $20,000 a day, he says, and we went all out. We always rented exclusive spots like this place in Barcelona that was $6,000 a month. The next thing you know, we were going to antique stores and buying things to fill the house. It really just unwinded from there. The app's sudden massive popularity and that lifestyle, coupled with all the publicity and stress that comes with it, is an avalanche that can destroy people, he continues.

And when you have a problem with alcohol, all those problems are exacerbated, end quote. Today, Sheridan, now 52, lives on a farm in Spain where he tends to his family and creates mobile apps for magicians. It's a niche market, he says. Everybody knows everybody, so there's less of the stress and drama that big money brings. I originally quit doing magic because I had anxiety issues, and couldn't perform anymore, so now I get to continue inventing and being creative while serving the needs of an industry I love," end quote. All of which is to say, Sheridan is more than happy with where he landed. I, Beer is the burp that grew bigger than me, he concludes, I'm glad to be hiding out with my family and fruit trees. I feel a lot more comfortable doing this than having to deal with

an app that looks like a beer, end quote. And finally, two from the New Yorker this week. I think I've shared a long read about something similar in the past, but the first New Yorker piece looks at the efforts to create AI fighter pilots so that human pilots don't have to be in planes. Of course, that might also mean that humans are no longer there with their fingers on the trigger. Quote, algorithms are already good at flying planes. The first autopilot system, which involved connecting a gyroscope to the wings and tail of a plane, debuted in 1914, about a decade after the Wright brothers took flight. And a number of current military technologies such as underwater mine detectors and laser-guided bombs are autonomous once they are launched by humans.

But few aspects of warfare are as complex as aerial combat. Paul Schifelry, the vice president of flight research at Kalspan, the company that's modifying the L-39 for DARPA, said, quote, the dogfight is probably the most dynamic flight profile in aviation period, end quote. A fighter plane equipped with artificial intelligence could eventually execute tighter turns, take greater risks, and get off better shots than human pilots. But the objective of the ACE program is to transform a pilot's role not to remove it entirely. As DARPA envisions it, the AI will fly the plane in partnership with the pilot who will remain in the loop, monitoring what the AI is doing and intervening when necessary. According to the agency's

Strategic Technology Office, a fighter jet with autonomous features will allow pilots to become battle managers directing squads of unmanned aircraft like a football coach who chooses team members and then positions them on the field to run plays, end quote. And also, finally, look, every generation gets its geocities, or it's MySpace, that early social network where when you were 12, you first manifested all of your hopes and dreams and maybe built out your identity. But now, Tumblr is becoming that for a new generation, except Tumblr is still kind of there. You just have to go back to it. And as people are realizing that, are they slowly returning to it, or is it a new generation that is discovering Tumblr for the first time?

Tumblr is something like an Atlantis of social networks. Once prominent, innovative, and shining on equal footing with any other social media company, it sank under the waves as it underwent several ownership transfers in the 2010s, but it might be rising once more. Tumblr's very status as a relic of the internet, easily forgotten, unobtrusively designed, more or less unchanged from a decade ago is making it appealing to prodigal users as well as new ones. Tumblr CEO Jeff Dinoffreo told me recently that 48% of its active users and 61% of its new ones are Generation Z. That's the same demographic that Facebook and Instagram are concerned about losing. According to the leaked Facebook papers, the company, now known as Meta, estimates that teenage Facebook users are likely to drop

by almost half in the next two years. What makes Tumblr obsolete for the moment are the same things that lend it an enduring appeal. The fact that it maintains a following should remind us that we use social media services by choice. No platform or feature is an inevitability. As Katrina Tippismana, the student told me, quote, people say stuff like, I wish we could still use Tumblr. You can. It's there. It's there. End quote. All right. Our first regular Twitter space of the year is going to drop tomorrow, a deep dive into the state of Venture capital and the startup ecosystem. Generally, as we begin the year 2022, enjoy that.

Talk to you on Monday.