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Brian McCullough
Welcome to the Tech Meme Ride home for Tuesday, November 26, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, intel does get its money Threads continues to feel the heat from Bluesky and responds by giving people what they want. The new Mate 70 flagship smartphone from Huawei Is Apple trying to make the iPhone so thin it can't put a SIM card in it? And yes, the whole Drake Kendrick Lamar beef. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech A couple of follow up segments up top today. First up, the US has officially awarded intel up to $7.865 billion under the Chips act to help build or expand chip plants in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon, including more than $1 billion later this year. Quoting the Journal, the funds are less than the $8.5 billion estimated for intel in the preliminary award in March. That is because of funding of up to $3 billion to build secure facilities producing microchips for US military and intelligence applications, according to senior administration officials. The grant money set aside under 2022's Chips act aims to fund a resurgence of US manufacturing to counteract any future Covid era supply chain disruptions such as which happened during the COVID era and address growing geopolitical tensions with China. Much of the world's chip production has shifted to Asia in recent decades, leaving the US with around 12% of the world's manufacturing in 2020. The funds will be disrupt dispersed to intel based on specific milestones, and intel will get at least $1 billion in funds later this year, the administration officials said. Under the funding agreement, intel has agreed to not engage in stock buybacks for five years, according to the Commerce Department. Intel, the largest U.S. chip manufacturer by revenue, no longer plans to draw on up to $11 billion in government loans under the program, but still plans to apply for related tax credits, the administration official said. The money will go toward new factories and expansion projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon, end quote. And again, I feel like it's Threads that is feeling the heat from blue sky more than anybody else. Threads has begun testing an option to set for you following or a custom feed as the default feed in the app. You know the thing everyone's been begging them to do from the very beginning, but they wouldn't because Meta knows what you want, but they know what they want you to want more. But competition is a hell of a drug. Quoting the Verge Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news in a post saying that you'll be able to choose between for your following or any custom feed that you've set up. Zuckerberg's post notes that Threads is testing this option and will also make different feeds more visible in the app. It took over a year to get here, but Threads is finally doing the obvious thing and allowing people to use the app however they prefer. Hopefully this test expands to all users before long. If you're in the test, here's how to set your default feed. Open the Threads app and tap and hold on any feed at the top. From there, choose Edit Feeds and and that's where you'll be able to reorder them. Whichever feed you put in the first slot will appear whenever you open Threads. Increased competition from Bluesky has sparked many recent improvements to Threads, including a reworking of the for your algorithm to focus more on accounts you actually follow and less on suggested content. The Services search feature is also being overhauled to be more useful. Oh, and there's landscape video now too. Also in Algorithmic News, Elon Musk has appeared to confirm that posts containing links in their main text are being deprioritized on X, saying it is to stop lazy linking, quoting Mediaite the famous venture capitalist Paul Graham, who has nearly 2 million followers on X, blasted quote Twitter's biggest flaw was the deprioritization of tweets with links in them in a complaint posted on Sunday. In reply, Musk suggested a workaround. Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking. Musk's comments align with past guidance from X that encourages users to post native content such as videos and articles directly to the platform, rather than linking to third party sites. While the rationale appears to be a bid to increase user engagement within X's ecosystem and discourage users from leaving the platform, the revelation renews scrutiny of Musk's past use of the technology to settle personal scores or manage narratives. A Washington Post analysis in August 2023 revealed that X had imposed delays on links to rival platforms like Facebook, bluesky and Substack, as well as news outlets such as the New York Times. These delays, routed through X's T Co domain, reportedly reduced traffic to targeted websites, potentially impacting their ad revenue. The New York Times expressed concern at the time about targeted pressure applied to any news organization for unclear reasons. Substack's founders similarly criticized the practice, stating that such behavior undermines creators ability to sustain independ platforms. End quote A ransomware attack on major supply chain software provider Blue Yonder is disrupting operations at Starbucks, the UK's Sainsbury's and Morrison's, among others. Quoting the Journal. Starbucks said Monday the ransomware attack affected company owned stores in its network of around 11,000 sites in North America. It disrupted the coffee chain's ability to pay baristas and manage their schedules, leaving cafe managers to manually calculate employees pay. Starbucks, for now, is paying employees for their scheduled shifts, meaning they could be overpaid or underpaid depending on the hours actually worked. The company said it would ensure baristas are eventually paid for all hours worked. Automaker Ford Motors says it uses Blue Yonder technology and was investigating whether the outage affected its operations. Blue Yonder said it didn't have a timeline for when services would be restored. The company said the attack didn't affect systems that run on public cloud based platforms. Sainsbury's and Morrison's, two of the UK's largest grocery chains, said they have turned to backup plans to keep operations running. Morrison's, which has about 1600 convenience stores and 500 supermarkets across the UK, said the outage affected its warehouse management system for fresh foods and produce. We are currently operating satisfactorily on our backup systems and we're working very hard to deliver for our customers across the country, a spokesperson for Morrison said. Sainsbury's, which has 600 supermarkets and more than 800 convenience stores across the UK, said it is in close contact with Blue Yonder and has put contingency processes in place. Blue Blue Yonder, owned by Japanese conglomerate Panasonic, makes software for retail companies and manufacturers to oversee operations, from managing warehouses and transportation to handling returns. Its customers have included grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, consumer goods supplier Procter and Gamble, and retail pharmacy chain Walgreens. Those companies didn't respond to requests for comment Monday. Huawei has unveiled the $760 Mate 70 series, powered by its Harmony OS, next calling the flagship device the smartest Mate phone ever as it faces US Chip curbs. Quoting the Times Last year, the tech giant Huawei catapulted to the top of the smartphone market in China when it released the Mate 60 Pro, a phone that contained a tiny computer chip more advanced than any previously made by a Chinese company. The chips used by Huawei's smartphones have become a symbol in the struggle between China and the United States for control over advanced technology. Policymakers in Washington have spent years trying to prevent Chinese companies from being able to make the kind of chip Huawei uses in its Mate phone. But Huawei has pressed ahead and the phone has burnished its image as a national leader triumphant in the face of US Restrictions. Shoppers in China were excited to buy a phone with state of the art components that had been made entirely at home. Huawei was able to appeal to Chinese customers who previously would have been more likely to buy iPhones eating into Apple's most important market outside the United States. On Tuesday, Huawei unveiled the next generation of that phone, the Mate 70 series, from its offices in southeastern China. Richard Yu, Huawei's consumer group chairman, called the flagship device the smartest mate phone ever, powered by its Homegrown operating system, HarmonyOS Next, which was officially launched last month, the Mate 70 series has artificial intelligence enabled functions including improved photography, live transcription and translation of phone calls. Apple has yet to release its AI features in China, starting at $760. The price of the Mate 70 is meant to compete with the iPhone in China. HarmonyOS next allows phones to connect with Huawei's other products electric cars, smart speakers and watches. But widespread commercial success for the mate 70 could depend on Huawei's ability to secure a steady supply of chips. The company relied on the Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC, to make the chips in the Mate 60 Pro. SMIC, which is partly state owned, is the only maker of advanced chips in China. Analysts said they believed Huawei had again turned to SMSMIC for the Mate 70. Huawei did not reveal details on Tuesday about the chips in the new phone. A critical question is how advanced the chips are, because that can determine whether they can perform more sophisticated tasks like AI, at a faster speed. US Officials seeking to control China's chip development say advanced technology is essential not just for consumer technology like chatbots, but also for military superiority. They have tried to prevent Chinese companies from buying these kinds of chips and related machinery, leaving SMIC dependent on dated tools. Experts say SMIC has strained to make enough chips for Huawei, even though production for some parts in Huawei's latest phones began in July. The Mate 70 has not gone on sale until now because it has been challenging for Huawei to acquire enough chips, said Lori Chang, a senior analyst at Isaiah Research, a market research company. As Of Tuesday, over 3 million people had signed up on Huawei's website to reserve the company's latest flagship phone, which does not require a deposit. The premium version of the Mate 70 is set to go on sale in China on Tuesday, according to Huawei's website. When creating your own business, the most important part is your ideas, so why let the headache of registering your business hold those ideas back? It's time to learn about a great idea that will keep you going and growing. LegalZoom I've used LegalZoom to legally stand up several businesses over the years. LegalZoom has everything you need to launch, run and protect your business all in one place. 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Incogni.com ridehome that's I n c o g n I incogni.com ridehome I've said it before on this show many times, but sometimes Apple's obsession with making things thinner can go too far. The Information says that Apple's newest super thin iPhone prototypes are a mere 5 millimeters to 6 millimeters thick below the iPhone 16's 7.8 millimeter thickness. Problem is that might be too thin for a physical sim, which may hurt China sales. Apple plans to release its slim iPhone next year alongside new versions of its traditional models, aiming to rejuvenate iPhone sales by providing customers with a compelling reason to upgrade their devices. The company is particularly hoping the new models will boost sales in China, where its sales have dipped for the last three consecutive years amid intense competition from two local brands such as Huawei and Vivo. The prototypes of the thin iPhone are between 5 and 6mm thick, compared with 7.8mm for the iPhone 16. So far, Apple's engineers haven't been able to fit a physical tray for a SIM card in the thin device, according to two people working on the project and two others with direct knowledge of it. Instead, the device relies on embedded sims, a chip significantly smaller than a physical SIM card tray that Apple first introduced in the iPhone in 2018. Since then, the company has been gradually phasing out the use of physical SIM trays, which haven't been in US iPhones for two years. Unless Apple's engineers can figure out how to include the physical SIM card tray, the company may not be able to sell the phone in China. Chinese regulators still haven't approved the sale of smartphones containing e Sims. Apple will drop the iPhone plus from its product line to make way for the new thin model, internally codenamed D23. The company has asked at least one manufacturing partner in China to double production of the thin iPhone compared to the iPhone Plus, a sign of its confidence in the new device, two people said. Apple's other iPhone models will also undergo significant design changes next year. For instance, the all switch to aluminum frames from stainless steel and titanium, one of the people said. The back of the Pro and Pro Max models will feature a new part aluminum, part glass design. The top of the back will comprise a larger rectangular camera bump made of aluminum rather than traditional 3D glass. The bottom half will remain glass to accommodate wireless charging, two people said. The SIM card tray struggle isn't the only issue Apple is having with the thin iPhone. Engineers are also finding it hard to fit the battery and thermal materials into the device, one of the people said. The episode underscores how app Apple's attempt to push the boundaries of industrial design and technology can unexpectedly cause clashes with local regulations. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the eu, where officials have criticized Apple's use of proprietary ports and non removable batteries and have passed laws forcing the company to redesign its hardware. Apple has argued that such regulations can stifle innovation. Yeah, they're not running into the laws of physics so much as I guess the theoretical thinness of an iPhone is now bounded by the thickness of a USB C port. Louis Anslow tweeted. This is the kind of innovation USB C mandates threaten. If there are physical limits of wireless charging hardware, then phones will be as thick as USB C plugs forever. End quote. And finally, news to stay hip with Recording artist Drake has launched legal action against UMG and Spotify for allegedly using bots, payola and more to inflate Kendrick Lama Lamar's Not Like Us A track attacking Drake quoting Billboard In a filing Monday in Manhattan Court, Drake's Frozen Moments LLC accuses UMG of launching an illegal scheme involving bots, payola and other methods to pump up Lamar's song, a track that savagely attacked Drake amid an ongoing feud between the two stars. UMG did not rely on chance or even ordinary business practices, attorneys for Drake's company write. It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves. Drake's attorneys accuse UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, the federal RICO statute often used in criminal cases against organized crime. They also allege deceptive business practices and false advertising under New York State law. The court filings are a remarkable twist in the high profile beef between the two stars, which saw Drake and Lamar exchanging stinging diss tracks over a period of months earlier this year. That such a dispute would spill into business litigation seemed almost unthinkable in the world of hip. It also represents a stunning rift between Drake and umg, where the star has spent his entire career, first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne's Young Money imprint, which was distributed by Republic Records, then by signing directly to Republic. Lamar, meanwhile, has also spent his entire career associated with umg, first through the TDE imprint, which was distributed by Interscope, and more recently through his own company, PG Lang, which he licenses through Interscope. In technical terms, Monday's filing is not yet a full lawsuit, but a so called pre action petition, a procedure under New York law that aims to secure information before filing a lawsuit. Parties named in such petitions will not necessarily be targeted in the eventual lawsuit, and the allegations in Monday's filings seem more squarely aimed at UMG than Spotify. Drake's attorneys claim that UMG carried out its scheme in a variety of ways, including by charging Spotify vastly reduced licensing rates in exchange for the streamer recommending the song to users who had searched for unrelated songs and artists they also claim UMG paid influencers to boost the song on social media and also hired armies of bots to fraudulently spike the numbers. In one particularly eye catching claim, the petition claims that UMG paid Apple to have its voice assistant feature. Siri quote purposely misdirect users to Kendrick's song. End quote. So remember when I asked if anybody had a tool to make me into an AI avatar so I could record the audio of the podcast in my nice perfectly set up recording booth, but then use that audio to create video without me having to stand in front of a camera and read from a teleprompter? Well, the very last link in the show notes is to the results of that request. Thank you again. Hivemind. It's a YouTube video from today's segment about iPhone thinness. As you'll see, it's my audio, the exact audio you just heard. And it's an AI avatar of me. That is me from this weekend. But obviously the animation is all AI. I used a tool called HeyGen to do it mixed in with a little help from Headliner App. So here's the thing. Number one, are we coming up against any ethical lines here? The content is mine. I wrote it and recorded it. The only thing that is AI is the image of me, but that is me. I didn't use someone else as an avatar. But again, the audio is not AI, though that's possible, as we've seen in other experiments. So is this still permissible or should I do like a content label or something? Also, is this watchable? Will people like this? It's very clearly an AI avatar. Does that turn people off right away? Or are we on the cusp of an era where where this is not only acceptable as content, but maybe expected almost? You tell me this is basically an audiogram, but instead of a waveform animation and the transcript, it's an animation of me and the transcript. Watchable or no, you tell me. I'm honestly asking. Cause I could produce clips like this every day. Talk to you tomorrow.
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AT&T Business
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