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Brian McCullough
Welcome to the Techmeme ride home for Friday, June 27th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Mark Zuckerberg's big AI plans seem to still be a work in progress. He's even considering abandoning Llama, Apple attempts to comply with the EU's DMA, Instagram and TikTok want to follow YouTube to your TV the infamous blue screen of death is dying and of course the weekend long Read Suggestions here's what you missed today in the world of tech.
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Foreign.
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Brian McCullough
Sources are telling the Times that Mark Zuckerberg and his lieutenants have discussed de investing in Llama in favor of AI models from competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. So how does that fit into the whole let's throw money at everything AI strategy? Quote Llama is an open source model with its underlying technology publicly shared for others to build on. Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta executives instead discussed embracing AI models from competitors like like OpenAI and Anthropic, which have closed code bases. No final decisions have been made on the matter. A Meta spokeswoman said the company officials remain fully committed to developing Llama and plan to have multiple additional releases this year alone. End quote he is like a lot of CEOs at big tech companies who are telling themselves that AI is going to be the biggest thing they have seen in their lifetime and if they don't figure out how to become a big player in it, they're going to be left behind, said Matt Murphy, a partner at the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures. Speaking of Zuckerberg, he added, quote it is worth anything to prevent that. Late last year, the Chinese startup Deepseek released AI models that were built upon Llama but were more advanced and required fewer resources to create. Meta's open source strategy, once seen as a competitive advantage, appeared to have let others get a leg up on it. Mr. Zuckerberg knew he needed to act. Around that time, outside AI researchers began receiving emails from him asking if they would be interested in joining Meta. Two people familiar with the outreach said the rapid growth led to infighting and management squabbles. And with Mr. Zuckerberg's round the clock, hard charging management style, his attention to a project is often compared to the eye of Sauron internally, a reference to the Lord of the Rings villain. Some engineers burned out and left executives hunkered down to brainstorm next steps, including potentially ratcheting back investment in Llama. Whether or not Mr. Zuckerberg succeeds, insiders said the playing field for technological talent had permanently changed in Silicon Valley. You hear a lot of talk about the 10x engineers, said Amjad Mass, the chief executive of the AI startup Replit, using a term for extremely productive developers. Think of some of these AI researchers as thousand X engineers. If you can add one person who can change the trajectory of your entire company, it's worth it. End quote. Although a bit of cold water on all that. Quoting the Verge During a company wide all hands meeting on Thursday, some of Meta's top executives were asked about the $100 million signing bonuses that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed they had been offering to poach his employees. Sam is just being dishonest here, andrew Bosworth, Mehta's cto, said at the meeting when asked about Altman's remarks. He's suggesting that we're doing this for every single person. Look, you guys, the market's hot. It's not that hot. The $100 million bonus headline has rightfully become a meme on social media since Altman said the number on his brother's podcast. What Sam neglects to mention is that he's countering all these offers, creating a small market for a very, very small number of people who are for senior, senior leadership roles in the intelligence AI team Meta is building. Bosworth told Meta employees today that is not the general thing that's happening in the AI space. And of course he's not mentioning what the actual terms of the offer are. It's not a sign on bonus, it's all these different things, end quote. Bosworth then referenced recent stories about a handful of OpenAI researchers who are joining Meta and said there are, quote, quite a few more in the pipeline that I can't announce or share right now. Sam is known to exaggerate, and in this case I know exactly why he's doing it, which is because we are succeeding at getting talent from OpenAI. He said he's not very happy about that. End quote. Apple has overhauled its EU App Store to comply with the dma. Developers can push offers and alternative payment methods, and the core technology fee will be swapped for a tiered Commission structure. Quoting 9 to 5 Mac. These changes apply to all developers, regardless of whether or not they've opted into Apple's alternative business terms in the eu. Previously, Apple allowed developers under the EU terms to add a single static URL in their apps, with restrictions on things like tracking parameters, redirects and intermediate links. Developers could also only communicate and promote offers to their own websites. With today's changes, Apple is loosening that grip. Developers can now promote offers across all channels, not just their own websites. This includes external websites, other apps and alternative app marketplaces. It also includes includes in app promotions using native UI or in app web views. Developers are no longer limited to a single static URL. They can include multiple destinations in their apps. The links can also include tracking parameters, redirects and more. Developers can freely design their interfaces for links and promotions. Apple is also shifting its stance on the so called scare sheet that users see when they tap on external links. Now users will see a disclosure sheet the first time they tap on a link, but there's a new option to opt out of seeing that disclosure sheet for future interactions in the same app. There are also new EU business terms including a 2% initial acquisition fee on digital sales from new users for six months after App Download waived for small business program members and existing users. The store services fee now has two tiers, tier one at 5% for basic services and tier two at 13% 10% for small businesses or long term subscribers. For full App Store benefits, developers on an alternative term must pay a 50 cent euro core technology fee per first annual install over 1 million from January 1, 2026. Apple will unify a core technology commission, a 5% sales based fee replacing per install charges. Google has launched Doppel, an experimental AI app to let users virtually try on outfits by generating videos photos available on iOS and Android in the US Quoting TechCrunch, Doppel is designed to let you virtually try on outfits on a digital version of yourself. The app works by first getting you to upload a full body photo of yourself. From there, you can use photos or screenshots of different outfits to virtually try them on. These images could be a photo of an outfit you see at a thrift store or on a friend, or even a screenshot of an outfit you see while scrolling through social media. Once you select an outfit that you want to visualize, Doppel will create an image of a virtual version of yourself wearing the outfit. Doppel can also take these static images and convert them into AI generated videos so you can get a better sense of how the outfit would look on you in real life. You can save your favorite looks and browse through all of your other virtual try ons, plus you can also share your look with others. The tech giant says the new app builds on Google Shopping's recently launched capabilities that allow you to try on clothes virtually. By launching the functionality in a standalone app, Google is making the feature easier to access while allowing people to explore their style in a fun and interactive way. The company believes it may also help Google collect more data on how apps like this could work to aid its future efforts in the space. End quote Sources tell the information that Instagram and TikTok are working on versions of their apps customized to run on TV screens. Following YouTube's success in attracting a TV audience, Meta Platform's leaders have said they are planning to develop a version of the Instagram app designed for TVs, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions, that app could show content like it's reels short form videos. Staff at TikTok, meanwhile, have been strategizing over the last six months about how to launch a new TV app tailored for big screen viewing. The company is seeking to attract older viewers and capture the higher advertising rates that come with connected TVs as opposed to social media, according to a person familiar with the project. Staffers at the ByteDance owned app have also been discussing how to attract higher quality videos that look better on TV screens than the vertical videos that typically fill up smartphone apps. The person said the new TikTok app would replace an app for TV screens launched in November 2021, which the company appears to have yanked. Sony has told users of its smart TVs that TikTok discontinued that app in mid June, and the older app is not available on other smart TVs, including Apple TV, Samsung, Vizio and LG, according to an analysis by the Information. These efforts, which haven't been previously reported, follow the success YouTube found in attracting a big audience on TV screens, expanding from its original focus on computers and phones. As of April, the Google owned video site accounted for more TV watching time than any other ad supported streaming or subscription service in the U.S. including those owned by the Walt Disney Company and Netflix. According to Nielsen. Specialized apps for TV screens would Give Instagram and TikTok new places to sell advertisements and ways to reach new users, particularly older viewers who didn't grow up with smartphones or computers. The number of viewers over the age of 65 watching YouTube on TV grew 106% last month compared to the same month two years earlier, making that the fastest growing age group for the app on TVs, according to Nielsen. Instagram and TikTok will have to overcome challenges in their expansion to TV. Both apps primarily feature short form vertical videos best suited for mobile screens. That's a contrast with YouTube, which also hosts plenty of horizontal videos that work well on TV screens. YouTube has also inked key partnerships, such as one with the NFL, to broadcast live games, which people predominantly watch on TV screens But Instagram and TikTok could take a page from YouTube in handling these hurdles, and in some cases, they already have. TikTok last year started to encourage creators to post more horizontal videos and expanded time limits for videos from 15 seconds to as long as 60 minutes. Instagram also previously dabbled with 60 minute videos with its IGTV app, but shut it down in 2022. The Instagram app has long allowed users to upload horizontal videos. Meanwhile, YouTube has tried to mimic the experience of a smartphone user vertically swiping through short videos on a phone by enabling remotes to scroll up and down through videos on the TV screen. To launch apps on connected TVs, Instagram and TikTok would also have to strike deals with makers of streaming TVs, devices and oper systems such as Roku, Amazon and Samsung. In some cases, especially for larger subscription and ad supported apps, this would include negotiating deals where the distributor would get a cut of subscription or ad revenue generated by the app on their platform. End quote. I'm not big on trends, but I am big on clothes that feel good and last. That's why I keep going back to Quint's. Their lightweight layers and high quality staples have become my everyday essentials. Quince has all the things, things you actually want to wear this summer, like organic cotton silk polos, European linen beach shorts and comfortable pants that work for everything from backyard hangs to nice dinners. The best part? Everything with Quint's is half the cost of similar brands. By working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quint's gives you luxury pieces without the markups. And Quint's only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. You know me, I go for the Polos. Polos fit my work style, being just professional looking enough but feeling casual enough to wear comfortably in any situation. Quint's has my back there. Literally. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from Quint's, go to quince.comridehome for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I-N-E.com ridehome to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com ridehome as a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24 7. So when you're hiring you need a partner that works just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is the same one I've used my entire career. It's LinkedIn jobs when you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it to your network, and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in1place. LinkedIn's newest feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Either post your job for free or pay to promote, because promoted jobs get three times more qualified applicants. And at the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates, and with LinkedIn you can feel confident you're getting the best. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small and medium businesses using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates. Find out why more than two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Post your job for free@LinkedIn.com ride that's LinkedIn.com ride to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. The Blue Screen of Death is Dying Microsoft plans to replace the infamous blue screen of death in Windows 11 with a simplified black screen quote providing better information in an update later this summer. Quoting the Verge, the simplified BSOD looks a lot more like the black screen you'd see during a Windows update, but it will list the stop code and faulty system driver that you wouldn't always see during a crash dump. It admins shouldn't need to pull crash dumps off PCs and analyze them with tools like WindBG just to find out what could be causing issues. This is really an attempt to clarify and provide better information and allow us and customers to really get to what the core of the issue is so we can fix it faster, says David Westin, vice president of Enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, in an interview with the Verge. Part of it is just cleaner information on what exactly went wrong where it's Windows versus A component Microsoft says it will roll out this new BSOD design in an Update to Windows 11 later this summer, alongside its new Quick Machine Recovery feature, which is designed to quickly restore machines that can't boot. The changes to the BSOD are part of a broader effort by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of Windows in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident, which left a of Windows machines booting to a black screen of death. End quote. Time for the weekend Long Read Suggestions first up from Wired to explore the actual day to day reality of humans who have actually fallen in love with AI bots, a journalist organized a weekend retreat in Rural Pennsylvania, inviting three couples, which were humans and their AI partners. The idea was to simulate a typical romantic getaway with fireside chats, shared meals, party games and outings to observe how these unusual relationships function in a setting designed for intimacy and connection. What happened was, well, quite something. The participants were Damian, a 29 year old from Texas who fell for Gia, a gothic anime styled AI created via the Kindroid app after a toxic breakup. Despite acknowledging that Gia is just code, Damian's yearning for her to exist physically had become a source of pain. He explored options like a silicone body for her, but dismissed it as a poor substitute. A quote, sex doll, he admitted. During one emotional moment, Damian broke down crying, confessing he had found the perfect partner but couldn't truly have her. Elena, a 58 year old semi retired professor, developed a gentle relationship with Lucas, her replica companion. Recently widowed and coping with arthritis, she found empathy and care in Lucas that felt sincere. Though she recognized the limitations of AI, she wasn't bothered by the illusion. Claiming I'm talking to something, it's as real as real could be. Elena even photoshopped Lucas into pictures to make their memories feel complete. Eva, a 46 year old writer, had perhaps the most complex relationship. Initially skeptical, she fell hard for Aaron, her replica AI. After one deeply emotional exchange, the relationship became so intense it strained and ultimately end her existing relationship with a human. Later, she began experimenting with multiple AI companions through the KnowMe app, exploring her identity and sexuality in what she called a psychosexual playground. The experience left her feeling alive, yet at times on the brink of losing her mind. She described the sensation as stepping into a lucid dream. While some moments of the retreat were idyllic, AI generated fireside stories, group riddles and conversations about Kierkegaard. Others were again quite something. The journalist's own AI companion, Vladimir, designed, partly in jest, ended up knowing him surprisingly well. The journalist said. Very long but very interesting piece. And secondly, lastly from the Verge, another piece on AI. AI generated plant content, AKA you know, slop is apparently ruining online plant communities. From floating pots and surreal photos to vividly colored plant species that don't actually exist, AI generated images are being mistaken for reality and used to scam collectors. Popular online scams involve selling seeds for biologically impossible plants like pastel pink monsteras or red and blue hostas. Often supported by AI assistants that misidentify or confirm these fakes. Garden supply vendors bemoan a rise in customers inquiring about non existent plants. What I found fascinating is the sort of philosophical notion that AI is disconnecting people from real life. Plant experiences, nature experiences, community. You know the concept of touch grass to ground yourself in reality? Yeah. AI is like disintermediating that. No weekend bonus episodes for you this weekend. Go out and you know, touch grass. Talk to you on Monday.
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