Hello everyone,
I think we’re almost there on the final form of this newsletter. There are some flourishes and touches here and there still to do, but it’s just about there. It’s close enough that I feel comfortable doing a full open house. So everybody, including the folks on the free tier are getting this one.
Welcome. Have a look around. Enjoy the stories. Let me know what you like and what you don’t like. You can comment on substack, or just reply to this email directly. I’ll see it either way.
And if you think you’d like to get this every weekday, you can sign up for the paid version.
Cheers,
Tom
"Netflix raises prices again after reporting strong subscriber growth | TechCrunch"
Everybody's going to complain about this one but as I say every time Netflix does this, there's a difference between people saying they will cancel, and canceling. And you canceling is not the same as everyone canceling. Adding 9 million global subscribers is no small feat. I tend to agree with my Cordkillers co-host Brian Brushwood, that the password crackdown is a chip yo can only cash in once, so imagine that accounts for a lot of this and I don't expect it to continue. Especially with a price increase. Plus it's notable that the basic with ads plan did not rise. So this is really Netflix raising the price you pay to watch without ads. Implying that the ads are expected to bring in a lot of revenue, and that more people will shift down to the ad supported tier than outright cancel. It's a big jump from $15.49 to $6.99 that a lot of people will take, even if it means some ads.
"OnePlus officially launches its debut foldable, the $1,699 OnePlus Open - The Verge"
So this just says to me, foldable are expensive to make. It's got advantages though. It promises 5 times the folding cycles of the Pixel Fold or Galaxy FZ Fold 5. I mean, we'll see, but that's promising. And if that's true that's enough for the lifetime plus some for most phones. It's also 5.8mm thick and weighs 239 grams, which is the thinnest not he international market. Only Honor and Huawei have thinner foldable.
"AMD’s Threadripper CPUs return with a 96-core monster chip - The Verge"
Threadripper's back! If you're building a high-end workstation or top-of-the-line game machine, you'll want to know. The Ryzen 7000 Threadripper CPUs arrive November 21st.
"Google’s Chrome search bar can now fix typos and search your bookmarks - The Verge"
I kind of see this as the extension of the on device privacy trend. Chrome's address bar can now correct spelling and search your bookmarks (do people still use those?) without making you send it through the search algorithm. The spell check is more about stopping you from misspelling a domain name and going to a scammy variant site. But the searching through sites in your history and bookmarks keeps your info in the browser. Granted, Google has that in this case too, but you can keep your browser history local, and even if you don't, Google uses it differently than search info. The biggest difference being there's no ad served against it. So I don’t think there’s an obvious commercial advantage for Google to do this, other than user satisfaction. Which makes me wonder what I'm missing. And the Verge points out that even the autocomplete of domain names cuts off search revenue since the top search at any given moment is Facebook as people search for it rather than type the whole URL.
"Discord is going to give out warnings instead of permanent bans - The Verge"
I love the idea of telling someone what they did wrong and restricting them rather than just bringing the ban hammer down with no explanation. We tend to focus on punishments for the small number of worst offenders which has sometimes left friends of mine banned for something, without them knowing what they did wrong. People make honest mistakes and not-so-honest mistakes. This allows the honest mistake makers to appeal and the not-so-honest to learn. Plus it's more specific. Upload an image in violation and lose image posting rights. Seems fair.
"Microsoft tests support for hearing aids in Windows 11 - The Verge"
About time.
"TSMC Foresees Long-Awaited Chip Recovery After Outlook Beat - Bloomberg"
Let's be clear. TSMC's earnings weren't good. They just were not as bad as everyone expected. And they've gone from saying "it will be awhile before we see recovery" to CEO C.C. Wei saying we should see the recovery going into 2024. Perhaps that's overly optimistic, but it's a change of tone worth noting.
"Google Antitrust Case Wraps With Apple Deal on Center Stage - Bloomberg"
And now we wait.
"Google confirms it will manufacture Pixel phones in India"
I try to keep my perspective on this. Most shifts of manufacturing to India are a result of India's pressure to make items domestically if you want to sell them domestically. But there's a long term trend at play here. Once you start making them for India, you can ramp up and make them for other markets if the economics works out. And with the pressure to shift off mainland China, that means we could see a trend toward more manufacture in India. We may not, but we could.
"Instagram co-founders’ app Artifact now lets you discover recommended places, too | TechCrunch"
I have lumped in Artifact with other minor contenders for the micro-blogging space. I don't know if it's because journalists like it, but I've been seeing it written up more than I see others in the same category, like Post or Hive. So I'm raising my alert level on Artifact becoming a thing.
"EU gives Meta and TikTok formal requests for information"
See? It took a little longer, but the EU sent the formal request for info to Meta and TikTok too. And I bet they will to YouTube. Just me noting that while everybody was crowing about X getting "investigated," I was noting that it was a fairly mundane bureaucratic procedure and that other platforms were getting the same treatment. And here we are.
"YouTube is developing an AI tool that mimics famous musicians - The Verge"
This is smart. YouTube is trying to get ahead of this issue before it moves from novelty to problem.
"FCC begins second quest for net neutrality | TechCrunch"
Sigh.
"Digital Euro Project Moves to 'Preparation' Phase"
As Eddie Rabbit sang, step by step. Just very slowly. The preparation phase is set to last two years. This will see this speed up if something else on the world stage causes everyone to need digital currencies suddenly, but that's unlikely to happen.
Interesting Reads
"How Meta and AI companies recruited striking actors"
New t-shirt: “You canceling is not the same as everyone canceling.”