The TikTok divestment bill has probably already been signed into law. What happens now? What are the legal arguments that this thing can stick? What about things like, you know, the First Amendment? Also, ads in Windows? Time to take Meta’s RayBan smartglasses seriously? And what it’s like to use AI inside of Instagram. Links: Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk (The Verge) TikTok Ban Looms With Biden Poised to Start 270-Day Countdown (Bloomberg) How the TikTok ban could survive a court challenge (Platformer) Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rol ..read more

Microsoft has launched new lightweight AI models. Perplexity has a big new raise. Meta wants other people to build Quest headsets. Another reason Apple needs to find new revenue. And if Congress really is going to ban TikTok, are they ever going to tell us exactly why? Links: Microsoft launches Phi-3, its smallest AI model yet (The Verge) Meta Expands Its Mixed Reality Beyond the Quest Headsets (CNET) Meta wants to be the Microsoft of headsets (The Verge) China Smartphone Sales Remain in Black on Huawei, HONOR, Xiaomi Outperformance (Counterpoint) AI Search Startup Perplex ..read more

Meta released Llama 3 yesterday, and some of the moves they made have made be consider if Zuck could win these first AI wars. Is Zuck also getting aggressive in VR? Why Apple had to take down the WhatsApp and Threads apps in China. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now (The Verge) Meta, in Its Biggest A.I. Push, Places Smart Assistants Across Its Apps (NYTimes) Meta gives the Quest 2 its second permanent price cut in four months (Engadget) Cool or creepy? Microsoft's VASA-1 is a new AI model that turns photos into 'talki ..read more

Google has fired 28 employees for political protests yesterday. A well-known coding school has been fined by the CFPB. Game emulators come to the iPhone. TikTok’s Instagram clone is rolling out. Has Sony perfecting Mini LED TVs? And the Atlas robot has been reborn in a new body! Links: Google fires 28 employees after sit-in protest over Israel cloud contract (The Verge) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fines BloomTech for false claims (TechCrunch) Third-party iPhone app store AltStore PAL is now live in Europe (The Verge) TikTok Notes starts rolling out as a new rival to In ..read more

T-Mobile and Verizon employees are being offered bribes for SIM swaps. How much coding copilots have taken over. How much would you value Mistral or Cohere in the LLM race? How popular has Airchat gotten? How big has Amazon Prime gotten? And one of the original modern robots is being retired. Links: T-Mobile, Verizon workers get texts offering $300 for SIM swaps (BleepingComputer) Microsoft’s AI Copilot Is Starting to Automate the Coding Industry (Bloomberg) Mistral, an OpenAI Rival in Europe, in Talks to Raise Capital at a $5 Billion Valuation (The Information) Invitation-Only ..read more

Microsoft continues to spread its AI bets. Disney wants to bring back tv channels. YouTube is not gonna let you block ads. What did Humane get wrong with the AI Pin? And can Limitless do any better with its AI Pendant? Sponsors: MackWeldon.com, promocode ride YahooFinance.com Links: Microsoft to invest $1.5bn in Abu Dhabi AI group G42 (Financial Times) To Keep Viewers, Disney Plans a New Streaming Concept: Old-Style TV Channels (The Information) YouTube cracking down on third-party apps that block ads (9to5Google) YouTube Accounted for Nearly 10% of All TV Viewing in March ..read more

Really looks like high-end re-shoring of chip tech is happening, and happening soon. What if satellite telephony becomes a table-stakes smartphone feature? Get ready for the bitcoin halving. Does anyone have invites to Airchat? And get ready for 4TB, yes, TB, SD cards. Sponsors: Shopify.com/ride ArcticWolf.com/techmeme Links: Samsung boosts Joe Biden’s chipmaking ambitions with Texas plant upgrade (Financial Times) Exclusive: Google Pixel 9 series to get emergency satellite connectivity, new modem (Android Authority) Bitcoin ‘Halving’ Will Deal a $10 Billion Blow to Crypto Miners ..read more

Really looks like high-end re-shoring of chip tech is happening, and happening soon. What if satellite telephony becomes a table-stakes smartphone feature? Get ready for the bitcoin halving. Does anyone have invites to Airchat? And get ready for 4TB, yes, TB, SD cards. Sponsors: Shopify.com/ride ArcticWolf.com/techmeme Links: Samsung boosts Joe Biden’s chipmaking ambitions with Texas plant upgrade (Financial Times) Exclusive: Google Pixel 9 series to get emergency satellite connectivity, new modem (Android Authority) Bitcoin ‘Halving’ Will Deal a $10 Billion Blow to Crypto Miners ..read more

Now a big business intelligence company has been breached. Do you get the sense that people are laying the groundwork for something? Google discontinues a product, but this time, its probably our fault. M4 chips are coming from Apple. OpenAI continues to be the drama queen of Silicon Valley. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: US government urges Sisense customers to reset credentials after hack (TechCrunch) Google One VPN will be discontinued, Pixel VPN remains with upgrade coming (9to5Google) X’s Premium users can no longer hide their blue checks (The Ve ..read more

Google has a ton of AI announces, including new Arm-based AI chips, utilizing Google search in Gemini, and more. They also released their own Find My network. Microsoft is confident they can release chips that can best Apple Silicon. And maybe OpenAI DID train on YouTube videos after all. Everybody is desperate for data right now. Sponsors: 1Password.com/ride Links: Google Expands In-House Chip Efforts in Costly AI Battle (WSJ) Google Shows AI Model Is Enterprise-Ready After Gemini Mishaps (Bloomberg) Gmail adding voice input, Gemini for Google Chat, Meet ‘Translate for me,’ & ..read more