Tech Brew Ride Home - Mon. 09/09 – The iPhone 16 Event

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

All the headlines from today’s iPhone event. It IS interesting the degree to which Elon’s various businesses have potential synergy. The Times digs into the content on Telegram and says, it ain’t pretty. And e-bikes seem to be back. In London, at least, anyway. Links: Apple Announces iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max with Larger Displays, New Camera Control, and More (MacRumors) Apple announces iPhone 16: camera button, new colors, AI features (9to5Mac) AirPods Pro 2 adds ‘clinical grade’ hearing aid feature (9to5Mac) Musk’s xAI Has Discussed Deal for Share of Future Tesla Revenue (WSJ) How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists (NYTimes) London e-bike boom leads to clashes with councils (Financial Times) 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 Monday, September 9th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. All the headlines from today's iPhone event. It is interesting, the degree to which Elon's various businesses have potential synergies.

The Times digs into the content on Telegram and says, yeah, it ain't pretty. And e-bikes seem to be back in London, at least. Anyway, here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Let's do it. They started out with the Apple Watch today. It's got a new design. It's called the Series 10. Looks a lot like the Series 9, but has a bigger display and a thinner design. They claim that the display is actually slightly bigger than the Apple Watch Ultra, though. 30% more screen area than the Series 9.

They went on and on about how a bigger screen allows you to see more and do more on a watch. It's got a wide-angle OLED display that they say emits more light. The display updates once a second in always-on mode, which is up from once a minute, apparently. There are new aluminum finishes and a new glossy black color. On the thinness tip, they say it's 10% thinner, but there's a bigger charging coil that they say lets you get up to 80% of a charge in 30 minutes. There's also a titanium model, which weighs 20% less than the stainless steel series 9. Colors are natural gold and dark slate gray. Translations have come natively to the Apple Watch, so there's some AI right there. On the health tip, The Series 10 can detect sleep apnea. That's pretty big news. Get ready, sleep study doctors, you're about to get busy because apparently, according to Apple, 80% of people who have sleep apnea right now don't know they have it. Somehow Apple is detecting sleep apnea using the accelerometer. If they detect apnea, they'll give you a detailed night-by-night report that you then give to your doctor.

They expect clearance for this from the FDA and other countries soon, with availability in more than 150 countries. Apnea notifications will also be available on Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches. What else? There's a new depth app when you're swimming, seeing how far below the surface you are, also a water temperature sensor. Man, they put all the sensors in these things at this point. There's new watch band styles, of course, and the new watch starts at 399, pre-ordered today, available September 20th. As for the Ultra, it is the Apple Ultra 2. There is a new finish called satin black, though, with a titanium-millanese loop band, which looks, frankly, amazing, like something out of a Batman movie. The Ultra 2 still starts at 799, available September 20th.

Then it was on to maybe bigger news, the new AirPods 4, which get an H2 chip. They say this leads to a massive improvement in audio quality. Machine learning allows you to do things like nod yes and shake your head no to respond to Siri prompts. The new charging case is their smallest ever with 30 hours of battery life. There's also a completely second model of the AirPods 4, which does have active noise cancellation. Also a new open ear design. Active noise canceling, transparency mode, adaptive audio. Are you slightly confused about what the different features the two AirPods 4 have, like how to decide between them? I know I am, and I just wrote that up what they said, a mere seconds after they said it. I'm still kind of unclear about the difference. But

AirPods 4 start at $129. If you go with the active noise canceling, AirPods 4 model, it's $179, pre-order today, available September 20th. Also, the AirPods Max got a brief mention, new colors, USBC charging, $549, pre-ordered today, available September 20th. But wait, back to the AirPods, because, again, talking about confusion, remember, there are AirPods Pro as well. So, the pro are not new, but they are getting new hearing protection, which is on by default, which automatically reduces loud sounds when you're wearing them. You could wear them, say, to a loud concert, for example, and not have your eardrums get blown out. They also have developed a clinically validated hearing loss detection program that you run via your pros and your phone. This is an aid of the fact that

AirPod's 2 can now be used as a clinical grade hearing aid. After you run that hearing loss tests that I just mentioned, you can turn on hearing assistance when you're wearing the AirPods Pro 2. So think about this. AirPods Pro are now basically over-the-counter clinical grade hearing aids. Apple expects to receive clearance from the FDA about this soon, and it will come as part of a software update coming to AirPods Pro 2 and iOS 18 this fall. So am I getting that right? If you already have AirPods Pro 2, you will get hearing aids, gratis. Then it was on to the iPhones. Designed from the ground up. for Apple Intelligence, they said. iPhone 16 gets a vibrant new look, which celebrates color,

they say. It looks on first blush, like just, I don't know, way richer, more vibrant colors, like they went back to the 1980s and got a bit of glow up, and oh, thus the name for the event. There's a new ceramic glass shield that they say is 50% tougher than previous generations. 2,000 nits of brightness in bright areas. The sizes of the screen are 6.1 inch for the iPhone 16, 6.7 inch, for the plus. And both of these phones are getting the action button. It's just that they're now calling it something different. They're calling it the camera control. You can adjust the camera by sliding your finger back and forth on the action button, a camera control, and there's a new A18 chip inside, which is where the Apple Intelligence Goodness is going to burst forth from.

They say the A18 chip has 2x faster neural engines, 17% more memory bandwidth. They say it's 30% faster GPU than the iPhone 15 can deliver the same performance with 30% less power. It's got a five-core desktop class GPU, 40% faster, but using 35% less power. As for Apple Intelligence, they sort of just did a recap of everything they announced at WWDC. They reiterated how this is AI based on what your phone knows about you, but Apple does as much as it can on device because, you know, privacy. If you do something intensive AI-wise, that's when they kick you to Apple's private cloud compute. data is never stored or shared with Apple in their cloud compute. Then showing how you can adjust the language in your messages or creating new emoji via AI, Gen Moji, a new era for Siri, they're

calling it. Yes, unless I'm wrong, they basically just restated what we heard a couple months ago, but didn't they say at WWDC that we might not get all this stuff right away? Might have to wait for a software update or two down the road, maybe months down the road. Then there it is. The first set of Apple Intelligence features are coming in English in beta next month, Chinese, French, Japanese, Spanish coming next year. But again, no timeline mentioned as to in all the promise features that they just ran through are actually going to show up, though they did show off a new camera control feature for visual intelligence. If you're out and about, you see a restaurant, no need to type in a search. Just hold down the new camera action button. Just hold up your phone, scan in front of

you, and boom, the phone gives you an answer from your video. Hasn't the Pixel had this for a while now or Android. And again, we saw none of the G-Wiz generative AI photo stuff that the pixel phones rolled out last month. But anyway, this visual intelligence stuff is coming later this year, they said. You might need to check the video for this next part, almost exactly one hour into the video, to see them explain this new camera control that I've been talking about. It's not a button at all. It's flushed to the phone and it's covered in sapphire glass. So it's kind of like a teeny tiny MacBook trackpad. It's got haptic feedback. You click on it to launch the camera. Click again to take a photo, click and hold to record video,

and then remember, move your finger across the camera control back and forth to adjust various settings. Anyway, as for the cameras, again, this is the 16 and 16 plus, 48 megapixel main camera with 26 millimeter focal length, 12 megapixel 2X telephoto lens, new ultra-wide camera that can capture 2.6x light as before. Also, these phones can now capture spatial videos and photos for the Applevision Pro. They also did something to cut down on wind noise when you're taking videos. The A18 chip has hardware accelerated ray tracing, so they can now support AAA games like Assassin's Creed Mirage. Although I feel like every year at this point in the iPhone event, they say how amazing gaming on your phone is going to be now, and then next year they kind of say the exact same thing all over again.

But red alert, red alert. They did say that they put a bigger battery in there, a big boost in battery life they mentioned offhand, and then gave us no other details. Come on, if we actually are getting more battery life, I feel like you should maybe lead with that, underline that, because that alone would make a certain percentage of people upgrade right there. Anyway, prices for the 16s are the same as last year, both starting at 128 gigabytes of storage. You might be wondering what the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max get. Well, from the video, it looks like the design is basically the same, but also comes with that new camera control. Thingma, Bob, not a button, Apple.

But here's the headline. It does have a bigger display. The 16 Pro now has a 6.3-inch display, and the Pro Max gets a 6.9-inch screen. and they say that the bezels are the thinnest on any Apple product ever. Four colors, black, white, silver, and desert. They again mention battery life best ever on the slide. But twice now, Apple had the chance to give us actual numbers, like, you know, two hours more battery life on a charge,

and they didn't. I cannot figure out why. The chip inside the pros is the A18 Pro for the pros, versus the A18s and the 16s, which is, again, confusing. but the A18 Pro has got a 16-core neural engine, which excels at generative AI workloads. Apple says 17% increase in memory bandwidth. Apple Intelligence runs 15% faster on an iPhone. 16 Pro, they say, next generation ML accelerators, they say.

But the pro is also getting pro-res video recording and faster USB 3 speeds. The camera is a 48 megapixel fusion camera. There's a new 48-Magipixel ultra-wide sensor with a quad-pixel auto-focus. sensor and a 5x telephoto camera that is picking up that tetraprisome design that the Pro Max already had. The camera control thing lets you slide between the lenses. As for video capture, apparently they somehow improved the slow-mo effects. That's because you can now capture video at 4K at 120 frames per second. You can adjust playback speeds after the capture even. I guess the sound is improved too with four studio quality mics that allow spatial audio capture

during video recording. This allows tricks like isolating sound capture to just what's in the frame after capturing. Also, an update to voice memos is coming that lets you do two-track recording, which, wow, how come they never thought of doing that before? MagSafe updates. There are now cases that have camera controls in them, which you would think they would have to do. There's faster charging with the MagSafe cases and Chee 2. Again, how much faster charging? Again, they didn't say. The 16 Pro starts at $999, the Pro Max starts at $1199, pre-order Friday available September 20th. And that was it. As Victoria's song mentioned at the verge, though, the Apple Vision Pro during this event was mentioned

exactly twice. You know how some investors believe that all of Elon Musk's companies can function as a sort of conglomerate in all but name? Well, sources say XAI has discussed a deal that would give Tesla access to its AI models to help power full self-driving in exchange for a share of Tesla's software revenue. Quoting the journal, XAI would assist in developing other features for Tesla, including a Siri-like voice assistant inside its electric cars and software to power its humanoid robot optimists, the people said.

The terms of any revenue-sharing agreement between XAI and Tesla would depend, in part upon how extensively Tesla relied on XAI's technology as opposed to its own, the people said. XAI executives have discussed an even revenue split from Tesla's full self-driving. One of the people said. After this article was published, Elon Musk replied on X to a user's summary of it by saying, quote, haven't read the article, but the above is not accurate. And that, quote, there is no need to license anything from XAI shortly after he posted. WSJ is talking nonsense, end quote. Formalizing a partnership with XAI in which Tesla would hand over some of its revenue and future AI development to a separate Musk-controlled company would add to the tech mogul's practice of

sharing assets freely across his business empire. Musk is already shifting talent and hardware between XAI and Tesla as he plays catch-up in the AI race, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest. There is particular scrutiny around how Musk shares resources of Tesla, which is publicly traded. Several Tesla shareholders have filed suits claiming that the shift in resources to XAI has hurt the carmaker's investors. The cases are pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery. XAI has hired employees from Tesla, including several who have worked directly on the autopilot team focused on developing self-driving capabilities. Musk also diverted thousands of hard-to-get Nvidia GPUs from Tesla to XAI last year.

After that move became public, Musk said that, quote, Tesla had no place to send the Nvidia chips to turn them on, so they would have just sat in a warehouse, end quote. In other Musk company news, according to Sela's track, SpaceX controls more than 62% of all active satellites in orbit, around 10x more than closest rival one web, after SpaceX launched its 7,000th Starlink satellite on September 5th. Given the Derov controversy lately, it was interesting over the weekend that somebody, specifically, the New York Times, took a look at Telegram to see the content thereon, and here's what they found. quote, telegram has become a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse,

material, terrorism, and racist incitement, according to a four-month investigation by the New York Times that analyzed more than 3.2 million telegram messages from over 16,000 channels. The company which offers features that enable criminals, terrorists, and grifters to organize at scale and a sidestep scrutiny from the authorities has looked the other way as illegal and extremist activities have flourished openly on the app. The degree to which telegram has been in indicted by such content has not been previously reported. The Times investigation found 1,500 channels operated by white supremacists who coordinate activities among almost 1 million people around the world. At least two dozen channels sold weapons. In at least 22 channels with more than 70,000

followers, MDMA, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs were advertised for delivery to more than 20 countries. Hamas, ISIS, and other terror groups have thrived on telegram, often amassing large audiences across dozens of channels. The Times analyzed more than 40 channels associated. with Hamas, which showed that average viewership surged up to 10 times after the October 7th attacks, garnering more than 400 million views in October. Telegram is, quote, the most popular place for ill-intentioned violent actors to congregate, said Rebecca Wiener, the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism at the New York Police Department. If you're a bad guy, that's where you will land, she said, end quote. Finally today is bike share back. According to the

Financial Times, e-bikes are booming in London, frustrating local councils over parking issues, as Lyme and Forest expand their regional access. Lyme trips during peak hours have grown 91% year-over-year in 2024 alone. Quote, the expanded coverage of e-bike schemes to London's outer boroughs, along with improvements in cycling infrastructure, has helped shift the user base from wandering tourists to hurried commuters. Charity Co-Mo, UK, reported in In March 2024, there were 37,694 rental e-bikes on the streets of London, compared with 27,694 in 2023. Lyme said it had seen 91% growth to almost 11.5 million trips during peak commuting hours in London

so far this year from 6 million in the first three quarters of 2023. Total monthly trips on forest bikes have grown to more than 1 million in August, up over 200 percent compared with the same month last year. The company said that 60 percent of their riders are taking two trips a day. Wayne Ting, Chief Executive of San Francisco-based Lyme, said London had become a template for the company's business strategy in other cities. If you ask Londoners, they see Lyme as critical transportation infrastructure, end quote. Lyme operates in 230 cities, including Manchester, San Francisco, and Tel Aviv, and has raised $1.56 billion from investors, including Uber, and the Abu-Dabby Growth Fund since it was founded in 2017. Forest, which was founded in London in 2019, raised $17 million in a Series A funding round last year.

It claims to be breaking even and has announced plans to expand into continental Europe. Rental e-bikes and scooters were initially considered a novelty product geared towards sightseers and casual users, but despite massive venture capital investment, many startups have struggled to get a foothold. Electric scooter rental company Bird, once seen as a leader in the crowded micro-mobility market, filed for bankruptcy last year. London, however, has emerged as a viable city for e-bike operators. They become part of the transport fabric of London, like black cabs double-decker buses, said Matthew Clark, head of new mobility at steer, a business consultancy that has worked with both private operators and TFL. Riders are frequently returning to Lyme and

forest for first and last mile journeys, trips to and from tube and train stations. Just under half of Londoners age 18 to 34 hired an e-bike at least once a week, according to a survey conducted by optimum for Lyme in April. Pricing for e-bike rides varies, but Hackney Council states that the average journey on a line bike in the borough cost between 3 pounds 50 and 4 pounds 50, end quote. Getting this out the door to you as soon as I can. Talk to you tomorrow.