A slew of AI announcements are dropping this week, but the news that large language models can be run locally might be the biggest news of all.
2023
Spotify’s New Home Page, Categorizing Advertising, Spotify’s Competition for Discovery
Spotify announced a new home page, which makes sense both in isolation and in the context of Spotify’s competition with YouTube.
The End of Silicon Valley (Bank)
Silicon Valley Bank bears responsibility for its demise, but it symbolizes a Silicon Valley reality that is very different from the myth — and the ultimate cause is tech itself.
An Interview with Deel Co-Founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz
An interview with Deel co-founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz about Deel’s growth, business model, the impact of COVID, having to get good at terminations, and the power of founder-market fit, plus the larger trends in terms of remote work and its long-term implications that Deel’s model takes advantage of.
An ESPN Aggregator, Google Magic Eraser, Bing Chat Monetization?
ESPN is exploring being a sports video Aggregator, Google shows its a services company, and Bing experiments with ads in Bing Chat
Shopify Earnings, Shopify Audiences, The Shop App
Is Shopify saturating its market for merchants? There are some hints in its earnings. Then, Shopify Audiences is valuable, but Shopify has a margin problem in expanding access, and the Shop App is getting more investment.
Meta and the Quest Pro; Meta and VR as Console; Microsoft, Activision, and the EU
Mets seems to be abandoning the Quest Pro. Meanwhile, is the Quest for gaming? That the question isn’t clear — nor the answer — gets to they VR and AR remain questionable investments.
An Interview with John Kosner About the Past and Future of Sports in an Age of Abundance
An interview with former ESPN executive John Kosner about building ESPN.com, the impact of the Internet on sports, managing Bill Simmons, and sports and the next generation.
EU Narrows Apple Case, Snap’s My AI
The European Commission closes on a ruling that makes sense for Apple’s App Store, and Snap launches their own OpenAI-powered chat bot
What the NBA Can Learn From Formula 1
Formula 1 has done an impressive job earning fans; the NBA should study it, because the pay TV bundle is slowly disintegrating