Tech Brew Ride Home - Tue. 06/04 – Wait. Why More Layoffs?

Starting point is 00:00:00 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 Tuesday, June 4th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. More headlines from Computex, more layoffs at Microsoft, but why? Instagram is copying YouTube's unskippable ads, why Samsung is preemptively suing

Starting point is 00:00:48 aura, and Palmer Lucky is personally bankrolling a modern-day Game Boy. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. More from Computex today. Intel unveiled its Lunar Lake laptop chips with a new system monochip design, up to 14% faster CPU, 50% faster integrated GPU, and NPU with up to 48 tops of AI performance. They also announced Zeon 6 data center chips for AI. The series 6700 comes with 144 efficient and 86 performance cores. The 6900 comes with 288 efficient and 128 performance cores. They set a standard AI kit featuring Intel Gowdy 2 chips, introduced in 2022 will cost $65,000, and a Gowdy 3 kit unveiled in April will cost $125,000. More in that in a second. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also took a direct shot at NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's claim

Starting point is 00:01:56 that traditional CPUs like intels are running out of steam in AI, quoting Bloomberg. Unlike what Jensen would have you believe Moore's Law is alive and well, he said, stressing that Intel will have a major role to play in the proliferation of AI as the leading provider of PC chips. I think of it like the internet 25 years ago. It's that big, Gelsinger said. We see this as the fuel that's driving the semiconductor industry to reach $1 trillion by the end of the decade, end quote. Each of those gaudy three clusters is composed of 8,192 accelerators and Intel estimates that it offers up to 40% faster time to train an AI model compared to an equivalent size cluster of Nvidia H100 GPUs. Intel also says,

Starting point is 00:02:40 said Gowdy 3 would be as much as two times faster than NVIDIA's H-100 in executing AI inferencing tasks as measured in popular models like those made by meta and mistral. Those advantages may not be enough to topple NVIDIA from the lead in data center AI processing, though. The performance of each individual accelerator is no longer the most important thing, said Leonard Lee, an analyst at Next Curve. InVIA's greatest advantage is in having a cohesive and integrated ecosystem and proprietary technology like NVLink that ensures its computing clusters work as one. The power is in being able to create a massive logical accelerator of tremendous size, end quote. While Intel's sales have stopped shrinking, analysts aren't projecting

Starting point is 00:03:24 a rapid rebound, and the company is on course to end 2024 with $20 billion, less revenue than it had in 2021. Meanwhile, Nvidia's sales are set to double, and AMD will grow at more than 10%. according to estimates, as those companies take better advantage of the flood of spending on AI computing hardware. This is the most consequential time of our careers together, Gelsinger said, reiterating the importance for Intel of working with its partners. We were made for this moment, he said, end quote. You may have seen the news about Keith Gill coming back and the action that has returned to the GameStop stock. Not really our Ballywick, except E-Trade is apparently considering kicking meme stock leader Gil off its service over stock manipulation concerns.

Starting point is 00:04:16 GameStop jumped 60% since Gil has reappeared, quoting the journal. E-trade is considering telling meme stock leader Keith Gill, he can no longer use its platform after growing concerned about potential stock manipulation around his recent purchases of GameStop options, according to people familiar with the matter. Shortly before Gil reignited a meme stock craze in May, he bought a large volume of GameStop options on E-Termostop options on e-trade, the people said. This week, Gill posted screenshots of an e-trade account showing he owns GameStop shares now valued at $140 million and a new set of options that expire later this month. His total gains on the positions were at $85.5 million. He posted late Monday, showing his account

Starting point is 00:04:57 remained in operation. The stock of GameStop surged again on his post showing the Power Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty and Deep F value, has as an influencer. GameStop shares up 21% on Monday have risen more than 60% since he reappeared. At E-Trade and its owner Morgan Stanley, that power created concerns that he can pump up a stock for his own benefit. Their debate includes whether his actions amounted to manipulation and whether or not the firm is willing to risk drawing the attention of his meme army by removing him, according to people familiar with their internal discussions. Separately, the Massachusetts Securities Division is looking into Gill's activities, a spokeswoman said Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been

Starting point is 00:05:38 reviewing trading in GameStop call options around the time of Gill's social media posts, according to people familiar with the agency's efforts. The options trades sparked internal discussions at the SEC over whether they could be considered manipulation. One of these people said it couldn't be determined whether the SEC was reviewing Gill specifically, end quote. Sources say Microsoft is laying off hundreds of employees in its Azure division. One source estimated the Azure for operators team cuts involved as many as 1,500 staffers. Quoting Business Insider. The Azure for operators and mission engineering teams are part of a broader organization created to house Microsoft Moonshots. This organization called Strategic Missions and Technologies

Starting point is 00:06:26 was created in 2021 and is led by the former Azure boss Jason Zander. It brings together cutting-edge initiatives such as quantum computing and space alongside its government cloud business. But that was before Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI really started to pay off, making it a leader in generative artificial intelligence. Microsoft typically makes small workforce cuts around this time of year as it transitions to a new fiscal year after June 30th, but layoffs have become more common at the company and in the tech industry. The company announced plans last year to cut 10,000 employees within the first few months of 2023. It has conducted additional rounds of layoffs since then, end quote. In other words, is this the first wave of AI-related layoffs? Here's how Geekwire described the

Starting point is 00:07:11 layoffs. The cutbacks come as Microsoft tries to maintain its profit margins amid heavier capital spending, which is designed to provide the cloud infrastructure needed to train and deploy the models that power AI applications, end quote. In other words, despite record profits, big tech platforms like Microsoft know they have to spend a ton of money to make AI happen, and you don't want to show a drop in margins while you do so, so you have to get some breathing space somewhere. As Dar Obasancho threaded, quote, big tech CEOs like copying each other. If Google can lay off hundreds on its cloud division after $23 billion of profits in a quarter, Microsoft can as well with $21.9 billion in quarterly profits in the same quarter, end quote.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Instagram is confirming the testing of an unskippable ad format with a countdown timer that briefly prevents feed scrolling, similar to how it works on the free version of YouTube. Quoting TechCrunch. It makes sense that Instagram would consider going this route, given that it has also shifted over the years to become more of a video sharing network, thanks to features like Stories and Reels, rather than a place to only share still photos. We're always testing formats that can drive value for advertisers, a meta-company spokesperson told TechCrunch, as we test and learn, we will provide updates should this test result in any formal

Starting point is 00:08:35 product changes, they noted. The new Ad Break feature was spotted initially by Instagram app user Dan Levy, who posted a screenshot of the test to his account on X. The app stopped. The app stopped Levy from scrolling past the ad when it appeared, he said, something he thought was a, quote, bonkers move. A follow-up post on Reddit clarified that if you click the info icon next to the ad break to learn more, you'll see a message that reads, you're seeing an ad break. Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram. Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you keep browsing, end quote. Other commenters confirmed that they had also seen the feature at times. As you might imagine, the majority of the reactions were negative. Some people threatened to close Instagram,

Starting point is 00:09:16 if they came across ad breaks like this, while others said they would stop using the app entirely. In addition, commentators questioned whether this decision was driven by a need to increase engagement on ads at the expense of the consumer experience. Instagram declined to say where in the Instagram app the ad breaks show and whether the company was testing the feature globally. The screenshots, however, show the ad breaks appearing in the app's feed while watching video posts. It's not clear at this time if Instagram creators will have any control over these ads appearance. And quote, Samsung is suing ORA just to get ahead of things, it seems. They're seeking a declaratory

Starting point is 00:09:59 judgment that the Galaxy Ring, which is expected to launch in the U.S. in or around August, does not infringe on ORA's patents for smart rings. Quoting the Verge, Samsung isn't waiting around for ORA to file any patent claims over its forthcoming smart ring. Instead, it's preemptively filed its own suit against ORA seeking a declaratory judgment that states the Galaxy ring doesn't infringe on five ORA patents. The suit alleges that ORA has a pattern of filing patent suits against competitors based on, quote, features common to virtually all smart rings. In particular, the suit references sensors, electronics, batteries, and scores based on metrics gathered from sensors.

Starting point is 00:10:40 The case-less instances in which ORA sued rivals like ultra-human, circular, and ringcon, sometimes before they even entered the U.S. market. For those reasons, Samsung says in the suit that it is, anticipates being the target of an ARA suit. And it brought receipts, too. Shortly after the Galaxy Ring was announced, ORA sent an unprompted statement to multiple publishers, including the Verge, about the strength of its IP portfolio, noting it had, quote, 100 granted patents, 270 pending patent applications, and more than 130 registered trademarks. The suit also cites a CNBC interview with ORA CEO Tom Hale, in which he said the company would closely monitor Samsung's Galaxy Ring and, quote,

Starting point is 00:11:21 take the action that's appropriate. Samsung goes on to cite several other instances of Hale and other ORA executives touting the strength of the company's IP portfolio and the fact that it's willing to take action to protect its patents. The verge reached out to ORA regarding the lawsuit but did not receive an immediate response. The lawsuit also confirmed several details about the forthcoming galaxy ring. It notes that the hardware design was finalized in mid-May, that it's scheduled to begin mass production in mid-June, and is expected to hit the U.S. market in or around August of this year. also includes a Samsung health app screenshot showing an energy score feature based on metrics like sleep, activity, heart rate, and heart rate variability, end quote. Finally, I did not have this on my bingo

Starting point is 00:12:09 card, but Palmer Lucky is back. Back in the consumer space, I mean, back in the consumer hardware space, I mean, back in the gaming space, if you consider VR sort of half gaming, quoting the verge. Before he brought VR headsets out of the Dark Ages with Oculus, before he got fired by Facebook following his confusing and controversial political donations, before he went on to found a defense contractor named Anderil that builds lethal drones. Palmer Lucky was a Nintendo Game Boy modder. It's true. There's photo evidence. And today, he's revealing his own take on the ultimate cartridge playing Nintendo Game Boy, one that you can actually buy for $199. shipping this holiday. The Mod Retro Chromatic sounds incredible. Magnesium alloy case, sapphire crystal cover glass, PBT buttons, a pixel-perfect IPS screen at the same size, resolution and pixel structure as the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color, color matched to the Game Boy Color screen, and with well over a thousand nits of brightness so you can play out in the

Starting point is 00:13:19 sunlight. Not only does it have an FPGA inside, like the Laudette, analog pocket to play genuine Game Boy and Game Boy Color Carts, as if you're playing them on the Nintendo original, Lucky says it will come with a genuine copy of Tetris like the 1989 original famously did in most countries. It's a new, fully licensed Tetris game internally developed by Lucky's team, which features reimagined versions of the iconic Tetris theme song and genuine link cable multiplayer. Because yes, the Chromatic has a link cable port as well as as a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and USBC for lagless video output. It lasts 24 hours on three standard AA batteries, Lucky tells me. While it'll probably ship with alkalines, there'll be an optional

Starting point is 00:14:08 lithium ion pack two, and he tells me you can even recharge your AA batteries over USBC. Speaker audio is mono, like the original Gameboys, with a custom ultra-loud speaker module, and Mod Retro also has partnered with costs to ship color-matched retro Porta Pro headphones. Speaking of custom, Lucky tells me the whole design is in-house, including the custom screen, which is so bright because it's based on displays used in aviation. He says Mod Retro isn't doing anything quite so exotic as manufacturing its own chips, but that in general, the team went all out instead of making business-savvy decisions. None of it makes any business sense at all, he says.

Starting point is 00:14:48 I wonder if he's spending some of his personal fortune. The handheld isn't the only thing the mod retro team will be selling. You can buy original chromatic cartridges with new games too. Lucky's promising a lot there. All physical re-releases and remasters of classic Game Boy titles, entirely new IP from incredible indie developers, first-time launches of Game Boy games that were canceled before release, and even some titles that were canceled before the public ever found out about them. The chromatic handheld doesn't use ROMs, by the way, not even in a roundabout fashion like the analog pocket. It's cartridge only says Lucky, unless you supply your own flash cart.

Starting point is 00:15:24 Lucky says he's not sure how long he'll fund hardware manufacturing, hinting that quantities will be limited, though GameStop will carry an unknown number of them as well. I am going to make as many as I need to fulfill pre-orders, he tells me, but this thing is too crazy to make forever. I don't see this as a way to make money. I see it as the way to make the world's best tribute to the Game Boy, something that I'll be proud of for a very long time, end quote. blame it on Cain. Don't blame it on me. It's nobody's fault, but we need somebody to burn. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Tue. 06/04 – Wait. Why More Layoffs?

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