TLDR 2023-06-26

AMAZON'S VISION: AN AI MODEL FOR EVERYTHING

Amazon's long-term strategy is to create a single point of entry for businesses to tap into both open-source and closed-source generative AI models. Matt Wood, vice president of product for Amazon Web Services, is leading Amazon's response to the AI war. This article features an interview with Wood where he discusses how Amazon views the AI market, the company's approach to winning the AI battle between the tech giants, the future of the internet, and more.

DEVELOPMENT WITH LARGER THAN 30-INCH SCREEN

Apple will launch an Apple Watch Series 9 and a second-generation Apple Watch Ultra alongside the iPhone 15 lineup this fall. Updates to the Mac lineup are not expected until later this year or early 2024. Apple is working on a new 24-inch iMac and a new iMac with a screen larger than 30 inches. The iPad Pro and iPad Air will see updates in 2024. The third-generation AirPods Pro, a new Apple TV, and other smart home products are currently in early development.

ROCKET

Elon Musk says that SpaceX needs another six weeks or so to finish implementing over a thousand changes to its Super Heavy/Starship rocket and launch pad before it will be ready for a second attempt to reach orbit. SpaceX will also need FAA clearance for the launch. The modifications include using hot staging for the stage separation system, redesigning the Raptor's hot gas manifold, and a stronger launch pad that will allow the rocket to take off at a higher throttle setting. The Super Heavy/Starship program has so far cost SpaceX over $2 billion and investment could approach $3 billion by the end of the year.

Midjourney 5.2 was released on Thursday. It includes a new zoom out feature that automatically builds larger scenes around a central synthesized image. Unlike similar features on other AI models, Midjourney's zoom out feature only works on images generated within Midjourney. The Midjourney Discord server is still the official interface for the model, but there are plans to change that. Examples of images generated with Midjourney 5.2 using the zoom out feature are available in the article.

EMBEDCHAIN

embedchain is a framework for creating large language model-powered bots over any dataset. It abstracts the entire process of loading a dataset, chunking it, creating embeddings, and then storing it in a vector database. Users can create bots by linking to media like videos, PDFs, blog posts, or websites. The project aims to make it easy for anyone to get a chatbot running over any dataset in less than a minute.

TRY

try allows users to test commands before using them on a live system. It will show the effects of a command and then prompt users to see whether they want to commit the changes made at the end of the command's execution. try is still a prototype and not a full sandbox so users should not use it to test commands that will remove everything or write zeros to a disk.

HAS XBOX REALLY LOST THE CONSOLE WARS?

Phil Spencer recently took the stand during the FTC v. Microsoft hearing to discuss Microsoft losing the console wars, competition with Sony, and Xbox's struggle to compete. Spencer's promises that Microsoft won't pull Call of Duty from PlayStation resulted in some testy exchanges with FTC's lawyer. A representative from Google also appeared at the hearing to talk about Stadia. This article takes a look at these testimonies and examines the arguments that the companies make.

OPENAI PPUS: HOW OPENAI'S UNIQUE EQUITY COMPENSATION WORKS

OpenAI's capped profit model means that the company will be able to generate more value than it would owe investors. Its employees receive a base salary and equity in Profit Participation Units (PPUs). This article explains how OpenAI's PPUs work, how OpenAI distributes them, and other benefits that OpenAI offers to employees. A link to a compensation benchmarking tool for employers is available near the end of the article.

AI

Open source licenses, which are based on copyright law, are not a good fit for large language model models and datasets so they must be updated in ways that will make sense.

AIRBNB CEO @BCHESKY SAID A LOT OF THINGS THAT WERE WORTH FURTHER THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION DURING HIS FIRESIDE CHAT WITH @ZOINK

This Twitter thread summarizes some of the key points from a recent chat between Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and Figma CEO Dylan Field at this year's Figma Config.

GOOGLE'S NEXT GAMING PLAY MIGHT BE MINI PLAYABLES IN YOUTUBE

YouTube is internally testing a product called Playables for playing online games on mobile devices and desktop computers.

GPT-4'S SECRET HAS BEEN REVEALED

GPT-4 is actually a mixture of eight 220 billion parameter models put cleverly together.

WHY DID THE #TWITTERMIGRATION FAIL?

Many people joined the fediverse with the November 2022 influx, but most did not stick around and the number of active user numbers has dropped off a cliff.

EV BATTERY SWAPS: NOW AS FAST AS FILLING YOUR TANK

Ample's battery swapping stations can replace the battery on an electric vehicle in about five minutes.