Tech Brew Ride Home - Fri. 08/16 – Epic Saga Conclusion?

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

The Epic saga has reached a sort of conclusion. Epic saga. See what I did there? That California AI safety bill has been pruned a bit. You can now add you California drivers license to your smartphone wallet. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Fortnite Maker Epic Games Challenges Apple’s Dominance With New iOS App Store (Wired) California weakens bill to prevent AI disasters before final vote, taking advice from Anthropic (TechCrunch) Exclusive: Apple, Google wallets to carry California driver's licenses (Axios) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Inside the Snowflake-Databricks Rivalry, and Why Both Fear Microsoft (Bloomberg) The Little Streamer That Could (NYTimes) Your Air Conditioner Is Lying to You (The Atlantic) 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 TechMeme right home for Friday, August 16th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today. The Epic saga has reached a sort of conclusion.

Epic saga. See what I did there? That California AI safety bill has been pruned back a bit. You can now add your California driver's license to your smartphone wallet. And of course, the weekend long-read suggestions. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Another long-running saga has reached a sort of conclusion. Epic has officially launched its Epic Games store on iOS in the EU.

offering its games, of course, including Fortnite, but also saying it plans to start onboarding third-party devs games, starting in December, quoting Wired. The launch, the most dramatic outcome of a series of new EU tech rules passed over the last year, imports the long-standing rivalry between Epic and Apple onto European soil. Epic says its App Store will take a maximum 12% commission on sales, undercutting Apple's App Store, where fees can reach up to 30%. The Epic Games Store says Max von Thune, Europe director at the Open Markets Institute, has a, quote, good chance at taking a chunky bite out of Apple's highly lucrative app store business, end quote. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney hailed the arrival of the Epic Games store to iOS as a way to fix the, quote, largely broken mobile gaming industry.

Quote, competition wouldn't crush Apple's app store, he said. It would force Apple to compete with better prices and with better features and better promotions and better marketing deals and less advertising, end quote. Epic is making use of a new EU regulation known as the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which forces tech giants to make changes to give rivals more access to their closely guarded communities of users. In Apple's case, that means the company has to allow alternative app stores onto European devices. The European example shows that this kind of regulation can have teeth and can succeed,

Sweeney said, adding that this can be a template for other regulators. Apple has changed its business terms for European developers four times this year as it attempts to dodge EU fines for failing to comply with the DMA, penalties that could amount to up to 10% of Apple's global revenue while implying that alternative app stores are a security disaster waiting to happen. To others, the arrival of the Epic Game Store on iOS is a sign that the EU can force tech giants to change. The alternative app store could become the most visible way for showing how competition can work. Andreas Schwab, a member of the European Parliament who helped draft the DMA, tells Wired,

alternative app stores prove, quote, the DMA can stimulate competition and thereby bring down prices for consumers, Schwab adds. The epic development is a blow to Apple's hegemony in iOS apps. 16 years ago, the company launched its App Store marketplace, described by Wired at the time as a defining moment in the history of personal computing. Apple grew that business to generate $1.1 trillion in sales in 2020. It is now one of the company's main drivers of revenue. Yet over the years, the developers making iOS apps slowly started to turn against the company. First, developers graded against

the commission, 30% at its peak, that Apple took from some in-app payments. There were the privacy changes, specifically the Ask App Not to Track option, which cut into apps advertising revenue, translating to an estimated $12 billion hit to Facebook alone. Finally, there were the rules about what developers could and could not submit to the App Store. App Up. that included links to the company's website, for example, were not allowed. Epic has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees fighting Apple in court, Sweeney said. That, he added, is on top of the loss revenue incurred when Apple banned Fortnite from its app store in 2020. Yet Sweeney said he thought all the expense was worthwhile. There's really no price that isn't

worth paying for freedom for all developers in the future of gaming, he said. The Epic Games store launched globally on PC and Mac in 2018. The launch of its iOS version means the company's European users can now also visit epic. Download to get the Epic Game Store for their phones, which can be used in turn to download iPhone apps. Still, iOS installation is a cumbersome 15-step process, according to Epic, including what the company calls scare screens and dead ends. Epic claims Apple has made the user experience, quote, intentionally poor quality to disincentivize the alternative app store's use. Sweeney had some stinging words for Apple, quote, they could have made an awesome open platform out of iOS, he said, they just chose to make it a horrible one because they still think they're going to get away

with this. He criticized Apple's terms that penalized developers that list on both Apple's App Store and alternative app stores like Epic's. For that reason, quote, almost all of the 250 top mobile game developers have told Epic they will not list their app on the Epic Games store, according to Steve Allison, Vice President and General Manager of the Epic Games Store, end quote. Remember that AI safety bill making its way through the legislative piping in California that some folks in the AI community were worried about. Looks like they're a little bit less worried now, quoting TechCrunch. California's bill to prevent AI disasters, SB 1047, has faced significant opposition from many parties in Silicon Valley. Today, California's

lawmakers bent slightly to that pressure, adding in several amendments suggested by AI firm Anthropic and other opponents. On Thursday, the bill passed through California's Appropriations Committee, a major step toward becoming law, with several key changes, Senator Wiener, office told TechCrunch, we accepted a number of very reasonable amendments proposed, and I believe we've addressed the core concerns expressed by Anthropic and many others in the industry, said Senator Wiener in a statement to TechCrunch. These amendments build on significant changes to SB 1047 I made previously to accommodate the unique needs of the open source community, which is an important source of innovation, end quote. SB. 1047 still aims to prevent large AI

systems from killing lots of people or causing cyber-sorty. security events that cost over $500 million by holding developers liable. However, the bill now grants California's government less power to hold AI labs to account. Most notably, the bill no longer allows California's Attorney General to sue AI companies for negligent safety practices before a catastrophic event has occurred. This was a suggestion from Anthropic. Instead, California's Attorney General can seek injunctive relief requesting a company cease a certain operation it finds dangerous and can still sue an AI developer if its model does cause a catastrophic event. Further, SB 1047 no longer creates the Frontier Model Division, a new government agency

formerly included in the bill. However, the bill still creates the Board of Frontier Models, the core of the FMD, and places them inside the existing government operations agency. In fact, the board is bigger now with nine people instead of five. The Board of Frontier models will still set compute thresholds for covered models, issue safety guidance and issue regulations for auditors. Senator Wiener also amended SB 1047 so that AI Labs no longer need to submit certifications of safety test results under penalty of perjury. Now these AI labs are simply requested to submit public statements outlining their safety

practices, but the bill no longer imposes any criminal liability. SB 1047 also now includes more lenient language around how developers ensure AI models are safe. Now the bill requires developers to provide, quote, reasonable care AI models do not pose a significant risk of causing catastrophe instead of the reasonable assurance the bill required before, end quote. Another California story for you, the state of California has announced support for adding driver's licenses or state IDs to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Quoting Axios, the virtual wallet capabilities which are set to roll out in the coming weeks

will allow users to add and access California's driver's licenses and ID cards on their iPhones, Apple Watch, and Android devices similar to credit cards. They will be authorized for use in TSA screenings, select apps, and select businesses such as Circle K. Participating airports in the state include SFO, SJC, and LAX. The new format, which Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce Thursday, is part of the DMV's broader mobile driver's license pilot, which launched last year. Californians who add a driver's license to their Apple or Google Wallets must still carry their physical ID card as required by law.

The state's pilot program is currently limited to 1.5 million participants. Over 500,000 people have already added a driver's license or ID to the California DMV wallet app, which debuted as part of the pilot last year. California is the latest in a string of states that have turned to MDL programs in the last few years. Proponents, which include the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and the Secure Technology Alliance, say MDL protects users from identity theft and fraud while limiting the amount of information shared in a transaction or screen. At least 5 million Americans have registered for state mobile ID programs nationwide, according to public records obtained by government technology. Louisiana, Colorado, and Arizona, have the highest number of registrations. But privacy experts and civil rights groups, including the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, warn that while digital IDs

have their advantages, concerns about data privacy and surveillance can't be ignored. Without proper safeguards, it could allow for tracking of everyday activities and give private companies and government agency ID holders data without consent, they argue. The National Immigration Law Center and Surveillance Resistance Lab have also released fact sheets detailing outsized risks for immigrants, whose information they say could become more easily accessible to U.S. immigration and customs enforcement. The DMV has said it does not permanently retain personal data other than the MDL user's phone number and an encrypted photo of their license or ID card. It promises that usage is not tracked and that no data leaves a device without the user's consent, end quote.

Time for the weekend long read suggestions. First up from Bloomberg, interviews with more than 48 people who have detailed the burgeoning, snowflake, and data bricks rivalry, as both companies are jockeying to be the dominant platform to organize AI data. Quote, the employees describe a growing sense that massive cloud infrastructure providers, particularly Microsoft, present the largest looming threats to their business. businesses. Each firm was founded in the early 2010s and initially had separate niches in the wide area of data software. They referred businesses to one another, and Databricks's marketing team even used Snowflake for analytics. But the relationship broke down in recent years as each

company released overlapping products. Snowflake expanded quicker and in 2021 had the largest ever software initial public offering. Databricks is now one of the world's highest valued startups and an IPO is highly anticipated. Once considered the little brother, Databricks has played the public antagonists with pugnacious marketing and sales tactics. Snowmelt is a not-so-sutely named initiative within the firm to take business from Snowflake, especially in its home court of data warehousing, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. While hard to know how much is due to its combative style, something is working for Databricks. Unlike most other large software companies, its revenue growth is accelerating, according to an investor presentation in June. Recurring sales

were expected to hit $2.4 billion in July with the company's relatively new warehousing product, which most directly competes with Snowflake, contributing more than $400 million. Investors have rewarded Databricks with a $43 billion valuation aligned with where the stock market currently values Snowflake at $42.5 billion. In recent weeks, Databricks has reached out to existing investors to get detailed ownership records, often seen as a precursor to an IPO filing, according to a person familiar with the matter, end quote. And I think I've shared a long read about them before, but worth noting that Tooby, the free streamer, has absolutely become a major player in the streaming wars in recent years.

Quoting the New York Times, Toobie has exploded in popularity over the last 18 months, establishing itself as one of the most popular streaming outfits in the United States. It now consistently outranks Peacock, Max, Paramount Plus, and Apple TV Plus in total viewing time, according to Nielsen, and is drawing even with Disney Plus, Only YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu are still ahead of Tobe. The streaming service, which is owned by the Fox Corporation, runs a different business model from those competitors. In addition to being free, with revenue coming from advertising,

it doesn't require an account to use, making it more similar to services like Roku and Pluto, and it comfortably commands more engagement from those peers, according to Nielsen. Fox bought Tobey for $440 million in 2020, the media company's effort to move into streaming. It has since become something of a favorite for Lackland Murdoch, Fox's chief executive, who often touts its growth to investors and earnings calls. We're like the little engine, and it's just getting better and better. Angelai sued, Tooby's chief executive said, its sudden rise has come as something of a shock to many competitors as well as investors.

Unlike its biggest rivals, which allocate huge budgets for original programs or premium sports rights like the NFL or NBA, Tubi's library contains tens of thousands of older shows and movies, many of them seem to have been collected from the bargain bin. Some popular programs on the service include the 1970s procedural Colombo, and in early 2000s UPM sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris. Horror, Thriller, and True Crime programs also do particularly well, executive said. Tubi also has reruns of older network programming like Empire and Scandal. Tooby makes some original shows and movies, but often add a low budget. One recent example, Slay, a Tooby original movie released this year that features a biker bar and a battle between drag queen.

and vampires. We have rejected the notion that quality comes from budget size or critical acclaim. Ms. Soud said, or as Mr. Parlepiano put it, Tubby viewers are, quote, not embarrassed to say they're spending their time watching Velasa Paster instead of the biggest show on HBO. Velasapaster, by the way, was a 2017 horror comedy movie made on a $35,000 budget that has been streaming on Tubby since 2020. Rich Greenfield and analysts at Lightshed Partners said that consumers have become increasingly tolerant of commercials on streaming, and Tubeby's popularity boils down to one thing. People love free. Another analyst, Tim Nolan of Mark Carey, said that he was caught off guard by the sudden success

of Tubeby along with other free streaming services. They seem to be largely venues for people to try to find random old things that they wouldn't have normally thought to watch, he said. In many households, they have replaced the TV set that people would just leave on all the time. Now they put on Tubey and leave it on, end quote. And finally, this is end of summer theme. I figure a large percentage of you out there like me have window air conditioning units in at least some of the rooms of your house. Ever wonder, like I have, what that energy saver or efficiency mode button actually does? Ever wonder why somehow it seems to do nothing at all at best, or make the room uncomfortably warm at worst? Yeah, the Atlantic has investigated, and it's likely just a gimmick.

quote. There's not a standardized definition of this eco mode or energy saver mode, Jordan Clark, an HVAC system expert at Ohio State University told me when I reached out to him in desperation. He confirmed my hunch that the details vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some models might merely switch off the fan as required and leave it at that. He suspects that others also slow down the rate at which they cool a room. That could make an air conditioner more efficient, he told me, while limiting the total amount of heat it can remove. Given 2024 is particularly frequent and intense heat waves, your window unit may end up struggling to reach the set point that you want, he said. This is probably not the time when you would want to put it into that eco mode.

The key moment in the money-savoring of America's ACs seems to have arrived in the fall of 2013 when manufacturers had to meet new criteria for their room air conditioners to receive an Energy Star certification. You may see that program's rectangular logo, a selling point that signals higher efficiency and lower bills on some of your appliances. Each new Energy Star certified AC would have to include an extra efficient operating mode, according to the updated rules, and that mode would have to be engaged automatically whenever the appliance was switched on. This latter point was important, and energy saver mode wouldn't just be present in all Energy Star ACs. It would be the default. The point here was to cut back on AC energy consumption,

but the rules themselves only went so far. They said that when an air conditioner was operating in Energy Saver mode, its fan would have to be shut off, for the most part, unless its compressor was also active. In a unit's normal cooling mode, the fan might be left on even when it isn't doing anything to cool the room. This may save a bit of money, but it's pretty small potatoes because the fan accounts for just a small proportion of an AC unit's energy consumption. Beyond that, manufacturers had leeway to determine other details of how a money-saver mode might work. We tried to build in a little bit of flexibility. Amanda Stevens, who was then the EPA's product manager for Energy Star Home Appliances, told me she's now at Eversource and energy provider in New England. I asked Stevens why if MoneySaver mode really did improve efficiency at little or no cost to thermal comfort,

she and the EPA hadn't pushed harder so that it would be the only mode available on air conditioners. It's a valid question, she said, end quote. Once again, no weekend bonus episodes for you this weekend, but there should be one coming next week. Hot brat summer is almost over. I guess I was taking advantage of that, not doing all the bonus episodes I normally do. squeeze the last bits of life out of summer if you can, unless you're listening to me right now in Australia. Yes, I'm talking to you, Aussie listener. What's winter like down there?

Not actually cold, but just not horribly hot. I don't know. I need to go down there someday. Talk to you on Monday.