Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 01/17 – The Galaxy Unpacked Event. Galaxy AI Is Here.

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

All the headlines from the Galaxy Unpacked event earlier today. Apple revises its App Store rules but in a way that seems to a lot of people to be in “bad faith.” The big, and big-money talent war going on between Google and OpenAI. And Tesla and Uber are working together to make Uber completely emissions-free. Sponsors: ArcticWolf.com/techmeme Hims.com/ride Links: The Galaxy S24 Ultra is smarter, pricier, and just as big as ever (The Verge) Apple revises US App Store rules to let developers link to outside payment methods, but it will still charge a commission (9to5Mac) Apple allows devs to promote subscriptions on the web with a 27% cut (TechCrunch) Google updates Chrome Incognito disclaimer amid $5 billion lawsuit settlement (MSPowerUser) Google’s Defense Against OpenAI Talent Grab: Special Stock (The Information) Exclusive: Uber steps up efforts to get drivers into Teslas (Axios) 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 Wednesday, January 17th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. All the headlines from the Galaxy Unpacked event earlier today.

Apple revises its App Store rules, but in a way that seems to a lot of people to be in bad faith. The big and big money talent war going on between Google and Open AI and Tesla and Uber are working together to make Uber completely emissions free. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Samsung held its big Galaxy unpacked event at the SAP Center in San Jose. today. We got new galaxy devices, of course, and we got the much-promised introduction of Galaxy AI. Let's do the devices first. Say hello to the Galaxy S-24 Ultra with a new titanium finish, a 6.8-inch 1440p display, a 50-mixel camera with 5X zoom, shipping on January 31st from 1299, so $100 more than the S-23 Ultra. Titanium is, of course, a feature shared with Apple's iPhone 15 Pro,

Samsung says this titanium enhances durability, though unlike Apple, Samsung doesn't aim for a lighter device. The S24 Ultra weighs in around 233 grams is comparable to its predecessor, the S23 Ultra, and slightly heavier than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Another significant modification is the display. The S24 Ultra boasts a 6.8 inch 1440p screen, similar to the S23 Ultra, but with a major design shift. it replaces the curved edges with a flat screen. There is still a bit of a curve to the edge of the device, unlike the sharp straight edges of the S24 and S24 Plus, while there's still a subtle curve on the edges,

this reduces the risk of accidental S-pen slips off the screen. The S-23 Ultras 10-Mapixel 10-X zoom lens is replaced with a 50-mepixel 5X zoom on the S-24 Ultra. This new setup employs a lossless crop zoom for 10X magnification, promising improved image quality at this range. It also retains the capability to zoom up to 100x, which still seems more gimmicky than practical. The S-24 Ultra is getting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip set. In fact, the whole lineup is getting those chips, except in Europe.

What is missing, that I found odd, Chi-2 wireless charging. The S-24 series is still on regular Chi. What else? Samsung announced seven years of OS upgrades across the entire S-24 lineup. That, of course, matches Google's pixel lineup. It's getting Corning's Gorilla Armor, which it says is four times more scratch-resistant. As for the other phones, the Galaxy S-24 has a larger and brighter 6.2-inch display.

The S-24-plus gets a larger 6.7-inch display. Pricing starts at $800 and $1,000, respectively. The S-24 offers 8 gigabytes of RAM with 128 or 256-gigabyte storage options in the U.S. and an extra 512-gabyte option in Europe, while the S-24-plus features 12-gabytes of RAM, and 256 or 512 gigabytes storage. Their batteries have slightly increased capacities, 4,000 millimet hours for S24 and 4,900 milletops for S24 plus, with the same maximum charging speeds of 25 watts and 45 watts, respectively,

both support Samsung's fast wireless charging 2.0 at 15 watts. Unlike the titanium-framed S-24 Ultra, the S-24 and S-24 Plus, have aluminum frames and are covered with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, maintaining an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. They come in black, gray, violet, and yellow. So what is Galaxy AI? The entire Galaxy S24 lineup includes Google's AI models, Gemini Pro for notes, voice recorder, and keyboard apps. Also, Gemini Nano for Google messages and more. The S24 is only the second Android phone to get Google's nano model after the Pixel 8 Pro. There's also Google's Imogen 2 text-to-image model, which will power photo editing features in the

Galaxy S-24 Gallery app. The biggest wow factor was real-time translation. Happens right there on the phone in real-time. In phone calls, you hear a translation of the call whenever either side speaks. It happens even if you call someone on a landline. You can also use it in the real world, of course, so you can interact with that cab driver in a foreign city. This supports 13 different languages for now. There's also a tone-tweak keyboard option, similar to Google's Magic Compose, allowing users to modify the tone of what you're saying with choices like professional, casual, social, polite, and emojiify, along with standard grammar and spelling assistance. There's also a new circle-to-search feature from Google. In any app, circle whatever is on screen and you can search for it.

The functionality is also accessible through various gestures. For instance, while messaging about a restaurant, you can tap its name to view more details. Additionally, you can swipe over a phrase to search it, such as Thrift Flip, seen in a YouTube shorts video about thrifting for items of visual interest on your screen, circling or scribbling over them activates the feature. Google suggests, for example, circling sunglasses in a video or scribbling on boots to search for similar items on Google, bypassing the need to switch apps. This scribbling gesture is applicable to both images and text. The voice recording is getting pixel-like live transcriptions. What is interesting is the AI is not happening on device. The AI stuff has to go to Samsung's cloud, though Samsung

wants you to know it's totally encrypted. The Notes app has gotten the ability to automate format and summarize pages for you, something Samsung says it will bring to the S-23 series, and the Z-Flipp and Z-Fold 5 phones. The rest of the AI comes in the camera system. There's something called nightography zoom, which allows you to zoom in on images and video from afar, even in low light. There's generative edit, letting you move or remove objects or fill in empty space. This does require an internet connection. Again, the AI is not working on device. At the very end, a Samsung teased some sort of health ring, like the Ara Ring, though absolutely no further details were forthcoming. Okay, remember when Apple lost its case in the Epic Games versus Apple lawsuit. This ruling basically

required Apple to discontinue its anti-steering rules. Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals in that case, so Apple revised its U.S. App Store rules to let developers link to outside payment methods. Big win for developers, right? You can now use AppStores outside of the Apple. store in capital letters, but, and you knew there'd be a but, developers can't use alternative payment methods exclusively. Quoting 9 to 5 Mac, Apple is updating its App Store guidelines to allow developers to link to alternative payment methods provided that the app also offer purchases through Apple's own in-app purchase system. This means that an app can't include links to alternative payment platforms if that app doesn't also use Apple's in-app purchase system.

The guideline says that developers can apply for an entitlement that allows them to include buttons or links directing users to out-of-app purchasing mechanisms. According to Apple, the link to an alternative payment platform can only be displayed on, quote, one app page the end-user navigates to, not an interstitial, modal, or pop-up in a single dedicated location on such page and may not persist beyond that page, end quote. Okay, so devs can offer a choice. Sounds like the App Store has been cracked open a bit, but you can't abandon the App Store. You have to continue to offer Apple's system even if you want to use others. But you can use others. So when, right? Would it surprise you that there are still more caveats? For example, note that you have to apply to offer those other links. Apple has to approve your what they call entitlement. And if you use other payment methods, you don't get access to some key features like family sharing and Apple will. not help customers with refunds or subscription management. No canceling easily just using your iPhone. The dev will have to take over that. Oh, and then there's this, quoting TechCrunch. The company mentioned on a support page that even if developers use a link to direct users to other options for digital purchases, they will have to pay a 27% cut to Apple. For developers who are part

of Apple's small business program or who are auto-renewing subscriptions for a second year, the fee is reduced to 12% instead of 15%. Essentially, Apple is giving developers a discount count of three percentage points to use alternative payment methods. This might not be enough in some cases, as developers will still have to pay fees to another payment processor, end quote. So let me sum up the details of that last bit. Apple wants a 27% commission if you link from your app to a website, say. They want you to provide reporting of sales every few weeks, and they reserve the right to audit your book. So if this sounded like cracking open the app store in the sense of avoiding Apple's 30% Vig, no, this is not that. This is Apple.

conforming to the letter of the law in such a way as nobody will ever actually do this. What is the point of alternate payments if Apple is still going to take 27 percent? As David Heinemeyer Hansen tweeted, quote, Can you imagine if Google wanted 27 percent of any sales that resulted from anyone visiting your store after finding you in their search engine and the right to audit your books to ensure they got their rake and the threat to kick you off Google if you didn't comply? Nuts, end quote. sounds like Epic is going to contest this compliance with the ruling in court, arguing it is being

made in bad faith. Actually, Epic's Tim Sweeney tweeted explicitly that. Following up on another bit of legal business we spoke about recently, Google is updating its Chrome Incognito mode, saying that incognito mode, quote, won't change how data is collected by Google and others. This is because Google had to pay a $5 billion settlement over tracking user activity in Chrome incognito mode. This was a class action lawsuit that was recently resolved. Google's current incognito mode says, now you can browse privately and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads, bookmarks, and reading list items will be saved. Now in the Canary version of Chrome, it says, quote, others who use this device

won't see your activity so you can browse more privately. This won't change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google. Downloads, bookmarks, and reading list items will be saved, end quote. Quoting MS power user. The new disclaimers can be seen in Chrome Canary on Android windows and other platforms when you open a new incognito tab slash window. While Google may be doing this while facing a lawsuit, users should note that incognito mode is not anonymous mode. Websites, including Google, that you visit, can collect data and track you. Third-party cookie tracking prevention enabled by default in incognito. may help keep your activity safe to a certain extent."

End quote. Sources are telling the information that Google has increasingly awarded large grants of restricted stock worth up to millions of dollars to select Deep Mind researchers to rival offers coming in from Open AI. The talent wars in AI, they are ongoing. Quoting the information, select researchers at Google's Deep Mind Unit, which is at the center of its most important initiatives, have received large grants of restricted stock worth up to millions of dollars per person. It isn't clear how deep mind is picking eligible

recipients, but those that are part of the program can get stock grants that vest over the course of one year compared with a four-year vesting period for grants. Other employees receive one of the people said. The grants can range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars depending on the person. The fast vesting stock comes in addition to the employee's salary and bonuses. Google's expenditures on its AI research unit, which has around 2,000 employees could increase substantially if OpenAI continues to up the ante on employee pay, end quote. This comes, even as Google has been laying off people and keeping hiring at a minimum across the company, we know Google is working on developing Gemini, their answer to OpenAI's GPT4. In its most recent quarter, Google's unallocated

costs segment, which is where DeepMind lives, jumped nearly 40% to $1.6 billion. OpenA. has been hiring away deep-minded leaders and researchers recently. OpenAI is reportedly about to close an employee's share sale round to investors at a valuation of $85 billion. Anyone who joined OpenAI before that share sale closed would instantly get shares worth $10 million on paper. OpenAI is still privately held while Google's shares are publicly traded, so that's one advantage Google has. Their employees can get cash on the table, or at least in a year, while, OpenAI folks have to wait for an eventual IPO. Uber is working with Tesla to urge its drivers to switch to EVs in a bid to be emissions-free

in the U.S. and Canada by 2030, quoting Axios. Uber has begun sharing data with Tesla about where its drivers do most of their trips starting in New York City. That will help demonstrate where charging infrastructure is most needed. It's also offering drivers incentives of up to $2,000 on the purchase of a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y and is hosting test drive events at Select Tesla stores to expose drivers to the EVA experience. By sharing trip data, Uber aims to influence the buildout of the next wave of Tesla superchargers. The data will show where drivers could benefit from overnight charging access, but will be

aggregated and anonymized to avoid revealing individual driver's addresses, end quote. Uber can't exactly force its drivers to buy electric cars, but they hope these incentives will help. Uber is giving out referral codes to buy direct from Tesla, and drivers have to make at least 100 trips by a certain date to get these incentives. According to Uber's own data, electric vehicles or at least zero emission vehicles accounted for 6.5% of Uber trips in North America in the most recent quarter. The show is coming to you a bit late today to accommodate that galaxy event. Sorry, I neglected to warn you yesterday. Talk to you tomorrow.