Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 02/14 – Zuck Has His Own Social Media Post About The Vision Pro

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 TechMean right home for Wednesday, February 14th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. Even Mark Zuckerberg is posting online about the Apple Vision Pro. In short, he's not impressed. Walmart might buy a smart TV maker for the ads. Why Combinator has a new list of the type of startups it wants to see.

Starting point is 00:00:52 Maybe don't give all your secrets to those AI girlfriend bots and why you might have a hard time getting an Uber after your Valentine's Day dinner tonight. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Even Mark Zuckerberg can't resist giving his two cents on the Apple Vision Pro on social media. In a video posted to his Instagram account, Zuck shared his thoughts on the Vision Pro, saying his horse in this race, the Quest 3, quote, is the better product period, highlighting Apple's tradeoffs and more, quoting The Verge. While being filmed by the Quest 3's video pass-through system in his living room, Zuckerberg highlights the tradeoffs Apple made to get the fanciest display possible into

Starting point is 00:01:34 something that can be worn on your head in an acceptable form factor. He says the Quest 3 weighs 120 grams less, making it more comfortable to wear for longer. He also says it allows for greater motion due to its lack of a wired battery pack and wider field of view than the Vision Pro. He thinks the Quest's option of physical hand controllers and hand tracking for input is better, though he says he's a fan of eye tracking for some use cases and teases that it will return to future meta headsets after debuting in the Quest Pro. He says the Quest has a, quote, better immersive content library than Apple, which is technically true for now, though he admits that the Vision Pro is a better entertainment device. And then there's the fact that the Quest 3 is, as Zuck says, quote, like seven times

Starting point is 00:02:17 less expensive, end quote. And quoting 9 to 5 Mac. META's CEO argues that companies make different design decisions for many reasons, but he believes that Quest 3 is more comfortable to use than Vision Pro. Zuckerberg points out that his product is not only lighter, but also has a wider field of view and is wire-free because of the built-in battery. He also seems to agree that the Vision Pro's high-resolution display and eye-tracking sensors are very nice, but that this comes as a trade-off for the device's ergonomics and comfort. In the video, Zuckerberg also says that Meta will bring eye-tracking sensors into future Quest products. Another aspect of Vision Pro criticized by the executive is the App Store. More specifically, Zuckerberg points out that

Starting point is 00:02:56 there aren't many apps that take advantage of the Vision Pro hardware available so far, while MetaQuest already has a, quote, much deeper library of immersive content and games, end quote. I'm pretty surprised that Quest is so much better for the vast majority of things that people use these headsets for with that price differential, said Zuckerberg. The future is not yet written. The best way to predict the future is to invent it, he added. Now, I can't remember who said this, but there was a piece out recently suggesting that meta's strategy vis-a-vis the Vision Pro is to position the meta-quest as the Android to Apple's iPhone in this VR analogy. In that sense, Zuck is already successful. People who are Apple skeptical jumped on this as proof that the Vision Pro is overpriced and overhyped.

Starting point is 00:03:41 And then all of the Apple stands rushed immediately to suggest that this is akin to that time that Steve Balmer literally laughed at the iPhone. Sources are telling the journal that Walmart is in talks to buy Smart TV manufacturer Vizio for $2 billion plus, which might be neither. here nor there as a big acquisition story, but what I found interesting was their motivation. In short, Walmart wants to compete with Amazon's advertising business, quoting the journal. Walmart, including its Sam's Club chain, has historically been Vizio's largest customer. Vizio is historically the largest television brand sold at Walmart by sales.

Starting point is 00:04:26 The deal talks demonstrate the importance of consumer data and ad space for major retailers as they build out their ad businesses and compete with Amazon. In addition to being an e-commerce behemoth, Amazon is among the biggest ad players in the U.S. behind Google Parent Alphabet and Facebook owner meta platforms. Amazon has also been building its own smart TV business. There is also more competition among retailers hunting for ad dollars with companies including Best Buy Kroger and Instacart jumping into the business. Advertisers continue to shift dollars into the retail media space, which is expected to

Starting point is 00:04:58 hit $59.6 billion in U.S. ad revenue this year, up almost 30% from last year, according to Insider intelligence. Walmart gets most of its U.S. revenue from its grocery business, which typically has low profit margins. Executive C. The Walmart Connect ad unit as a path to heftier profits and a way to generate cash beyond the company's longtime engine of selling goods through stores, end quote. And quoting variety. Logically, a purchase of Vizio would allow Walmart to prioritize their products over competing low-end sets, like those from TCL or High Sense. Moffat Nathanson analyst Michael Nathanson wrote in a research note. The prospect of Walmart buying Vizio presents a, quote, significant challenge for Roku, as through the first nine months of 2020,

Starting point is 00:05:40 Walmart is estimated to have accounted for 40% of Roku's device revenues, Nathanson wrote. Once again, 2024 is shaping up to be a year of tremendous change for an industry that was already in flux, end quote. More broadly, Walmart's potential deal for Vizio, quote, underscores the massive opportunity for the CTV industry to drive ad dollars away from traditional linear television to CTV. Wedbush Securities analyst Alicia Reese wrote in a February 14th research note. Roku, even facing new competition from Walmart, remains, quote, best positioned to capture ad dollars, the analyst opined, end quote. CTV, by the way, stands for connected TVs versus OTT or over the top. Anyway, someone once famously said that every tech business eventually becomes an advertising business,

Starting point is 00:06:25 but it looks like the big tech platforms have shown everyone that any business can become an advertising business. Quick question, though, if Amazon did something like this, buy the major brand of TV that they are the biggest seller of, the regulators would be all over that for anti-competitive stuff, right? Preferential treatment for your own products in a marketplace. See the breakdown of Amazon's acquisition of I-Robot. So would regulators take a look at this deal as well? Why Combinator has released a new list of the 20 types of startups the accelerator wants to join its program, the biggest overhaul of its request for startups list since 2018. Quoting Bloomberg, the first idea on YC's list is applying machine learning to robotics. Quote, for decades,

Starting point is 00:07:16 everyone has known that robots are the future, as any science fiction novel will show. YC partners wrote in the blog post, now advances around artificial intelligence are making the technology more useful, particularly in industrial settings. It listed autonomous tractors and infrastructure inspection robots as examples. Robotics hasn't yet had its GPT moment, but We think it's close, YC wrote. With the rapid improvements in foundation models, it's finally possible to make robots that have human-level perception and judgment. That's been the missing piece, end quote.

Starting point is 00:07:45 Other areas YC listed include applying AI to physical simulations, such as weather or airplane design, building up the manufacturing industry in the U.S. and, quote, new space companies. Launching objects into orbit is becoming increasingly affordable, YC said, meaning that space startups are not necessarily harder to build than software companies. The accelerator also put new defense technology on its list, quote,

Starting point is 00:08:07 the U.S. is now engaged in large-scale conflicts in several regions that threaten to change our world, it said, going on to lament that the biggest defense contractors today are slow to innovate. Smaller defense technology companies have been an increasing area of focus for venture capitalists, drawing investors from firms like Andreson Horowitz and Founders Fund, end quote. Two interesting executive departures now. First, AI researcher Andre Carpathie, one of the founding members of OpenAI, is leaving the company. Carpathie was developing a product he described as an AI assistant. I wonder if he's doing that on his own now. A thousand venture capitalists are racing to make contact as we speak.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Quoting the information, Carpathie, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher was developing a product he has described as an AI assistant and worked closely with the company's research chief, Bob McGrue. While ChatGPT has been a hit with consumers, OpenAI wants to launch software that can automate complex computer-based tasks like filling out expense reports and entering them into accounting software, the information reported last week. Carpathie rejoined OpenAI last year after spending five years at Tesla, where he oversaw development of its autopilot semi-automated driving software. His departure from OpenAI comes almost exactly one year since he said on X that he was returning to the company. Carpathie couldn't immediately be reached for comment, quote,

Starting point is 00:09:28 Andre is departing to pursue personal projects. We are deeply grateful for his contributions and wish him the best. OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood said in a statement. His responsibilities have transitioned to a senior researcher who worked closely alongside Andre, end quote. In a post on X after this article was published, Carpathie said, quote, nothing happened, and it's not a result of any particular event, issue, or drama. He added that the people are wonderful and the roadmap is very exciting, and I think we all have a lot to look forward to, end quote. Carpathie was very much the public face of OpenAI, trotted out on numerous podcast appearances and the like, so interesting for that, if nothing else.

Starting point is 00:10:05 And sources are telling Bloomberg that Apple's longest-serving senior industrial designer, Bart Andre, told colleagues this month that he is retiring. Andre joined Apple in 1992 alongside Johnny Ive, quoting Bloomberg. Andre was one of the last remaining designers from the IVE era and helped create the aesthetic for Apple products released over the past three decades, even prior to Steve Jobs, returning to the helm in the late 1990s. The designer was known as one of Ives' top lieutenants and helped run the team after former Chief Evans Henke, I've successor, departed last year. He's also known as one of the biggest

Starting point is 00:10:45 holders of Apple patents. His mark on Apple products is indelible. I see him every day in the details, said Christopher Stringer, who used to work with Andre at Apple and now runs Sound Company Singh. The departure is the latest in recent months for the group. Top designers Colin Burns, Shoda Ayoga and Peter Russell Clark all left around the end of last year. Multiple long-time designers on Apple's software design team have also signaled they are planning to leave in the near future. Both the industrial design and user interface groups are overseen by Jeff Williams, the company's chief operating officer. He's held that role since Ives' departure in 2019, but took on direct management of the industrial design team last year when Hankey left. Having an operations person oversea

Starting point is 00:11:24 division dedicated to design and innovation has rankled some staff, according to the people close to the situation. There have also been cost-cutting measures that have added to the unrest, they said. under IVE, the team embarked on exploratory projects that didn't necessarily have an immediate payoff, something that's been rained in, end quote. Two sort of Valentine's Day-themed stories now. I told you before about the rise of those so-called girlfriend AI chatbots. Well, be wary of them, I guess, because a Mozilla study of 11 AI romance chatbots has found they harvest personal information extensively, and that 10 of them may sell or share the data they collect. Quoting Gizmodo, to be perfectly blunt, AI girlfriends and boyfriends are not your friends, said Misha Rikov, a Mozilla researcher in a press statement. Although they are marketed as something that will enhance your mental health and well-being, they specialize in delivering dependency,

Starting point is 00:12:22 loneliness, and toxicity, all while prying as much data as possible from you, end quote. Mozilla dug into 11 different AI romance chatbots, including popular apps such as Replica, Chai, Romantic AI, Eva, chatbot, and Soulmate, and Crush on AI. Every single one earned the privacy not included label, putting these chatbots among the worst categories of products Mozilla has ever reviewed. The apps mentioned in the story didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. You've heard stories about data problems before, but according to Mozilla, AI girlfriends violate your privacy in, quote, disturbing new ways. For example, crushon.a.i collects details including information about sexual health, use of medication,

Starting point is 00:13:02 and gender-affirming care. 90% of the apps may sell or share user data for target. ads and other purposes, and more than half won't let you delete the data they collect. Security was also a problem. Only one app, Genesia AI friend and partner, met Mozilla's minimum security standards. One of the most striking findings came when Mozilla counted the trackers in these apps, little bits of code that collect data and share them with other companies for advertising and other purposes. Mozilla found the AI girlfriend apps used an average of 2,663 trackers per minute. Though that number was driven up by romantic AI, which called a whopping 24,354 trackers in just one minute of using the app.

Starting point is 00:13:44 The privacy mess is even more troubling because the apps actively encourage you to share details that are far more personal than the kind of thing you might enter into a typical app. Eva AI chatbot and soulmate pushes users to, quote, share all your secrets and desires and specifically ask for photos and voice recordings, end quote. Yeah, maybe don't do that. Finally, today, if you have plans to go out tonight to celebrate Valentine's Day, be warned that you might have a hard time ordering an Uber to get back home. That's because Uber and Lyft drivers in at least 17 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and

Starting point is 00:14:22 Chicago, planned to strike today over pay. U.K.-based food app couriers also planned to strike, quoting the Washington Post. Strikes lasting 24 hours on Valentine's Day, a busy day for the apps have been planned in at least 17 U.S. cities, according to two ride-share labor organizations. drivers say that Uber and Lyft are taking an increasingly large cut out of fares, forcing drivers to work longer hours to make ends meet. They are demanding a living wage that ensures drivers aren't living in poverty and transparency over how pay is calculated. They also want to end unfair deactivations when a driver loses access to the platform, among other things. The main challenge is surviving, said Newport Chowdry, an Uber driver and ride share

Starting point is 00:15:05 organizer in Arlington, who helped plan the strike in the Washington area. We cannot make the same amount of money we used to make, even if we work double the hours. The groups are also demanding improvements to safety features for drivers amid a spate of carjackings and other attacks on Uber and Lyft drivers, especially in the Washington area. Both Uber and Lyfts said similar protests and strikes have never had any substantial impact on driver availability or trips in the past, end quote. Yeah, but Valentine's Day. According to some recent research, Uber drivers' average monthly earnings before expenses fell 17.1% last year, though lift drivers apparently increased 2.5%. Among the cities where we know strikes are planned, Miami, San Francisco, Austin,

Starting point is 00:15:47 Philadelphia, Newark, Providence, Rhode Island, Tampa, and Orlando, in addition to the aforementioned Los Angeles and Chicago. Hey, I can actually break a bit of news for once. Since opening up to everyone last week, Blue Sky has added one and a half million users. The reason I know this is that the CEO of Blue Sky told me that last night. The final link in the show notes is to a YouTube video of the interview Chris and I did with Blue Sky's Jay Graber last night. This will be the bonus episode this weekend on the podcast, of course. But if you want to watch the interview now, head over to YouTube.

Starting point is 00:16:31 Jay also revealed hashtags are coming to Blue Sky soon, which Chris was excited about, of course. He actually did a fist pump when she confirmed that. But sadly, I had panned the video away from him when that happens, so you won't be able to see Chris's unalloyed glee. but anyway, deep discussion about the future of social media and all the interesting experiments they're doing over there at Blue Sky. Check it out. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 02/14 – Zuck Has His Own Social Media Post About The Vision Pro

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