Linked List: July 10, 2024

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Amid Antitrust Scrutiny, Microsoft Drops OpenAI Board Observer Seat, and Apple, Reversing Course, Will Not Take One ★

Camilla Hodgson and George Hammond, reporting for The Financial Times:

Microsoft has given up its seat as an observer on the board of OpenAI while Apple will not take up a similar position, amid growing scrutiny by global regulators of Big Tech’s investments in AI start-ups.

Microsoft, which has invested $13bn in the maker of the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, said in a letter to OpenAI that its withdrawal from its board role would be “effective immediately”.

Apple had also been expected to take an observer role on OpenAI’s board as part of a deal to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone maker’s devices, but would not do so, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Apple declined to comment.

OpenAI would instead host regular meetings with partners such as Microsoft and Apple and investors Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures.

Apple’s board observer seat, set to be taken by Phil Schiller, was never officially announced. But after Mark Gurman broke the story at Bloomberg, it was confirmed by the Financial Times. So it really does seem like a fast reversal. Or as Emily Litella would say, “Never mind”. But I suspect these “regular meetings” will serve the same purpose, and I bet Schiller will be in those meetings representing Apple.

See also Reporting for Axios, Ina Fried has excerpts from Microsoft’s letter to OpenAI.

M1 MacBook Air Drops from $700 to $650 at Walmart ★

Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:

Walmart+ members have early access to the deal as of 12 p.m. Eastern Time today, and it will be available to all Walmart customers starting at 6 p.m. Eastern Time today.

Walmart first began selling the MacBook Air with the M1 chip for $699 in March, marking the first time the retailer ever sold Macs directly. Now, it is available for an even lower $649 heading into the back-to-school shopping season. It is unclear how long the deal will last.

The M1 MacBook Air will turn 4 years old in November, but it remains an excellent laptop, including support for the upcoming Apple Intelligence features in MacOS 15 Sequoia. As I wrote in March, when this partnership started:

And while, yes, these machines are now over three years old, for $700 this is a great deal. That’s 30 percent less than the cheapest MacBook in an Apple Store. I’d bet serious money that a base M1 MacBook Air outperforms any other $700 laptop on the market. Show me another $700 laptop with a retina display. I’ll wait.

Fascinating example of pricing-as-branding that Apple won’t sell this machine in its own stores, but will through Walmart — which doesn’t sell any other Macs.

Pennsylvania Is, Finally, Getting Beautiful License Plates ★

I’ve been a big fan of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro since his term as our attorney general. He was absolutely fantastic in the aftermath of the 2020 election, when Trump attempted to steal Pennsylvania.

But as of this week he might be my favorite politician in the entire country. He accomplished what I had long ago given up hope of ever seeing: replacing PA’s fugly-as-sin license plates with a new design that’s among the best I’ve ever seen. Good typography, great colors, and a new slogan and icon that exemplify Pennsylvania’s role as the birthplace of the longest-standing democracy the world has ever seen: the Liberty Bell.

Bravo.

(Next job: Apply this same design language to our god-awful driver’s licenses.)

Update: Design credit for both the new plates and welcome signage goes to Robyn Kanner.

Samsung Rips Off Apple Watch Ultra, Right Down to the Name ★

Quinn Nelson on X:

Watch Ultra is the most shameless copy of an Apple product in ages — and it’s hideous

Wait, it gets more shameless — Buds3 and Buds3 Pro are clones of AirPods

It’s sad to see Samsung — who once was a leader in design and innovation — start knocking off popular products like some third-rate OEM. Do better.

I agree that the new Buds are AirPod rip-offs, and the new Galaxy Watch Ultra is such a blatant rip-off — the name, the orange accents, the comically slavish copy of Apple’s Ocean Band — that it defies parody. It’s an outright disgrace. Theft, pure and simple. Whatever elements of this watch weren’t ripped off from Apple Watch Ultra were ripped off from Hermès’s H08 watch — and Hermès, of course, has a longstanding partnership with Apple. (Victoria Song at The Verge calls it “not exactly hiding where it got its inspiration from” and “That’s not necessarily a bad thing!”; I doubt she’d consider it “inspiration” and “not necessarily a bad thing” if someone were to rip off her articles to the degree Samsung rips off Apple’s designs. There is no reason to defend this. Call it what it is: theft.)

I disagree that Samsung was ever “a leader in design”. I don’t recall a time when their strategy was anything other than just outright stealing the designs of whoever the current market leader is and undercutting them on price just enough to take the Pepsi position (happy to be in second place, happy to have no shame). Before they started ripping off the iPhone, they ripped off BlackBerry, and called their rip-off lineup of phones “BlackJack”. Really. These new blatant, shameful rip-offs aren’t an aberration; they define the company that Samsung is.