Linked List: December 2, 2024

Monday, 2 December 2024

Google Search Is Already in Decline 

Christopher Mims, writing for The Wall Street Journal (News+):

The company’s core business is under siege. People are increasingly getting answers from artificial intelligence. Younger generations are using other platforms to gather information. And the quality of the results delivered by its search engine is deteriorating as the web is flooded with AI-generated content. Taken together, these forces could lead to long-term decline in Google search traffic, and the outsize profits generated from it, which prop up its parent company Alphabet’s money-losing bets on things like its Waymo self-driving unit.

The first danger facing Google is clear and present: When people want to search for information or go shopping on the internet, they are shifting to Google’s competitors, and advertising dollars are following them. In 2025, eMarketer projects, Google’s share of the U.S. search-advertising market will fall below 50% for the first time since the company began tracking it.

The accompanying chart (“Estimated share of U.S. search advertising revenue”) suggests Google’s decline has been Amazon’s gain. Basically, Google may still dominate the market for general web search, but people more and more are searching using apps and services that aren’t (or aren’t only) general web search engines. And the reason why is that Google web search has gotten worse.

The Talk Show: ‘A Good Duck Butt’ 

Special guest Allen Pike joins the show to talk about the state of generative AI and how Apple Intelligence measures up (so far). Also: some speculation on Apple’s pending acquisition of the ever-difficult-to-pronounce Pixelmator.

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Steep Discounts on M3 MacBook Air Models at Amazon 

Amazon is running a holiday discount on M3 MacBook Airs, but it’s tricky — you need to click around through various color choices and watch the prices and ship dates. My main link on this post goes to the config that looks like their best deal for price-conscious gift buyers: the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air in space gray, with 24 GB RAM and 512 GB of storage for $1,299, a $200 discount from the list price, with delivery in a few days. They’ve also got the same configuration, at the same price, with the same delivery window in silver. Starlight only has “5 remaining in stock” (and that was at 8 just a few minutes ago, so they’ll likely be gone by the time you read this), and midnight is already out of stock.

The 13-inch configuration with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage is just $1,099, but delivery dates are in early January. They’ve got the configuration with 16 GB RAM and 256 GB storage for just $899, but only in midnight and starlight, and with delivery windows of “1 to 2 months”.

The best option for 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs is the configuration with 24 GB RAM and 512 GB storage for $1,424 — a $275 discount from the regular price of $1,699. That’s available at that price, with next-week delivery, in all four colors. They’ve also got $200 discounts on various configurations with 16 GB RAM, but delivery on those models is out in January.

Needless to say, all of these links are using my make-me-rich affiliate code. And Amazon still has USB-C AirPods Pro 2 for just $154, almost $100 off the regular price.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Retires; Bloomberg Reports He Was Forced Out by Board 

Ian King, Liana Baker, and Ryan Gould, reporting for Bloomberg:*

Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger was forced out after the board lost confidence in his plans to turn around the iconic chipmaker, adding to turmoil at one of the pioneers of the technology industry.

The clash came to a head last week when Gelsinger met with the board about the company’s progress on winning back market share and narrowing the gap with Nvidia Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. He was given the option to retire or be removed, and chose to announce the end of his career at Intel, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing proceedings that were not made public.

Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as interim co-CEOs while the board searches for Gelsinger’s replacement, the company said in a statement. Frank Yeary, independent chair of the board of Intel, will serve as interim executive chair.

See also: Techmeme’s roundup.

* Bloomberg, of course, is the publication that published “The Big Hack” in October 2018 — a sensational story alleging that data centers of Apple, Amazon, and dozens of other companies were compromised by China’s intelligence services. The story presented no confirmable evidence at all, was vehemently denied by all companies involved, has not been confirmed by a single other publication (despite much effort to do so), and has been largely discredited by one of Bloomberg’s own sources. By all appearances “The Big Hack” was complete bullshit. Yet Bloomberg has issued no correction or retraction, and their only ostensibly substantial follow-up contained not one shred of evidence to back up their allegations. Bloomberg seemingly hopes we’ll all just forget about it. I say we do not just forget about it. Everything they publish should be treated with skepticism until they retract “The Big Hack” or provide evidence that any of it was true.