Linked List: July 12, 2023

Wednesday, 12 July 2023

Jay Peters and Emma Roth, for The Verge:

xAI, Elon Musk’s newly formed AI company, has revealed itself with a new website detailing its mission and team at https://x.ai/. Musk tweeted the company’s intent is to “understand reality” without any other details or explanation.

“The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe,” according to the website. The team is headed up by Elon Musk and includes team members that have worked at other big names in AI, including OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, and DeepMind (which was recently folded into Google).

I’ll go out on a limb and say this whole thing is bullshit, and he’s announcing it this week in a futile attempt to distract attention from Threads killing Twitter. The website contains no more information than the vapid statement quoted by the Verge, and the names for each of the dozen men listed on the team are just links to their Twitter accounts.

Inside San Francisco’s House of Prime Rib ★

As a palate cleanser after the bitter news about Anchor Brewing, here’s something delightful: a behind-the-scenes look at San Francisco’s House of Prime Rib. Turns out they use a little salt in the preparation. Pro tip: it’s not on the menu, but the creamed corn is perfect.

Anchor Brewing Is Shutting Down After 127 Years ★

Jess Lander and Caleb Pershan, reporting sad news for the San Francisco Chronicle:

San Francisco institution Anchor Brewing Co., the godfather of steam beer, is shutting down after 127 years. The brewery was “losing millions of dollars a year,” said Anchor spokesperson Sam Singer. “Economic pressures have made the business no longer sustainable.”

Anchor has already brewed its final beer at the historic Potrero Hill brewery — “there’s no steam coming out of the brewery now,” said Singer — and notified the brewery’s 61 employees of the shutdown early Wednesday morning. The brewery’s taproom, Anchor Public Taps, will continue operating until at least Aug. 1, possibly longer.

The news comes one month after Anchor announced it was halting national distribution and discontinuing its beloved Christmas Ale, which it has produced since 1975. When Japanese beer giant Sapporo purchased Anchor in 2017, the company was already “in the red,” according to Singer, who said that revenue is down by two-thirds since 2016. The pandemic was especially challenging for the brewery, added Singer, as it typically sells most of its beer through bars and restaurants. The brewery attempted to expand its retail distribution but was “unable to break through in a big enough way,” he said.

What a shame. “Drink local” is always good advice, and Anchor Steam in San Francisco was always delicious. I’m not sure why they ever distributed Anchor Steam nationally, though — it was one of the worst-travelling beers I’ve ever had. Local and fresh: delicious. Trucked to the east coast: meh. Before I tried it in San Francisco I always wondered what the fuss was about.

I knew something was wrong when they debuted their absurd redesign. Whatever was wrong, it sure as shit wasn’t their distinctive brand packaging.

From the DF Archive: Instagram’s Launch ★

Yours truly, on the day Instagram launched (6 October 2010):

Slick new camera app for the iPhone, with a great UI, cool filters, and a built-in photo-sharing social network. Or maybe it’s a photo-sharing social network with a free iPhone client.

The app is nice, but I can’t see why I’d use the sharing service instead of Flickr.

Points to me for considering it noteworthy on launch day, but demerits for wrongly seeing it as a camera app with photo-sharing on the side. (I do still maintain my Flickr account.)

Apple Opens Store on WeChat ★

No Apple action on Threads yet but Reuters reports some social media platform news:

Tencent’s WeChat said on Tuesday that iPhone maker Apple had opened a store on its social media platform, marking an expansion of the U.S. firm’s retail channels in the world’s second largest economy. The announcement by WeChat, China’s dominant messaging app which also provides e-commerce, livestreaming and payment services, said users would be able to buy Apple products including iPhones, iPads and Macs from the store.

China’s smartphone sales in the first quarter fell 5% year on year, marking the lowest first-quarter sales figure for the country since 2014, according to data from Counterpoint Research. However, during the quarter Apple recorded a 19.9% share of the Chinese smartphone market — its biggest since 2014 — as it increased sales by 6% year-on-year in a declining market, the research firm said.

WeChat’s “everything app” dominance in China has no equivalent here.

Update: Noel Philips, who reviews airlines on YouTube, ran into a problem trying to fly into Shanghai, because they wanted him to process his transit visa using WeChat — but Philips theretofore hadn’t even heard of WeChat. It really is an everything app.

Apple Accounts on Threads ★

Zac Hall at 9to5Mac:

Have you seen an account claiming to be Phil Schiller on Threads? 9to5Mac has confirmed that the account belongs to the actual Apple Fellow himself.

So Schiller is there (and actively posting), but no Joz and no Tim Cook yet. Amongst Cook’s big five CEO cohorts, Satya Nadella is the only other one who isn’t there yet. Zuckerberg (natch), Sundar Pichai, and Andy Jassy are all there, along with Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Brand-wise, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are there, along with, of course, Facebook and Meta. Microsoft’s account is active and playful. Apple is far and away the biggest corporate brand in the world that doesn’t yet have a primary company account, but they do have accounts for Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, and Apple Books — but none of those accounts has posted yet. No Apple TV account yet.

(Speaking of brand accounts, if anyone at Threads/Instagram is reading this and can tell me what I need to do to claim @daringfireball — which is not available, but not the name of an active account — let me know.)

Microsoft’s $75 Billion Acquisition of Activision Moves Closer as Judge Denies FTC Injunction ★

Jordan Novet, reporting for CNBC:

A federal judge in San Francisco has denied the Federal Trade Commission’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft from completing its acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard.

The deal isn’t completely in the clear, though. The FTC can now bring the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and the two companies must find a way forward to resolve opposition from the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom.

The deadline to close the deal is next week, but the market expects it to happen:

Activision Blizzard shares reached a session high and 52-week high of $92.91 per share after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued the decision. Microsoft had agreed to buy the game publisher for $95 per share. Activision Blizzard stock ended Tuesday’s trading session at $90.99 per share, up 10%.

This is another case where the Biden FTC is barking up the wrong tree. Microsoft is a major player in video games, to say the least, but Xbox is the third-place console, and Microsoft has made a legally-binding commitment not just to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years, but to bring the franchise to Nintendo Switch.

The Talk Show: ‘Tape Deck Dongle’ ★

Joanna Stern returns to the show. Topics include the launch of Threads, Apple’s Vision Pro, and iPhone/iCloud device security. Also, some accidental car talk.