Spyglass - Sweet, iPhone 16

It's iPhone 16 day. Like many, I suspect this one won't be a particularly meaningful event in the grand scheme of the iPhone – Gold/Bronze/Zune! – but here's one prediction: after the event, we'll hear more calls for Apple to go back to doing live events again. I've been on this train since last year, but I think Google's recent Pixel event just further drove it home. There's just an energy to such events (even if you're not there!) that these videos – while obviously slick – can't quite match. I think the videos should be used for certain types of releases (like smaller ones that might otherwise just get a press release), but the marquee events – of which, none are bigger than the iPhone event – should go back to doing it live (and streamed).

Some Thoughts...

⚖️ Judge Sets 2025 Timeline for Remedies to Google’s Search Monopoly – While this was always going to drag out over years, Judge Amit P. Mehta certainly doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to figure out what the penalty should be, as the proposals aren't even due until the end of 2024, with his ruling targeted for August 2025. For context, in the Microsoft case way back when, remedies came just two months after the ruling. But this is probably the right move as they're saying the right things about the ongoing AI revolution potentially changing the market substantially by the time any changes would be implemented (as happened with Microsoft too). And that's before the years of appeals, etc. (Unless the eventual remedies are mild enough that a quick deal can be reached.) [NYT]

💬 Meta Details Third-Party Support for Chat Services — Big caveat: right now, this is only for WhatsApp and Messenger in Europe (to comply with the DMA). It's not clear if Meta will eventually implement these changes outside of the EU countries. But I think you could pretty easily make the case that they should, given the market position of WhatsApp, in particular. But as outlined by Meta, it will take years to bring feature parity (like groups and voice chat) to third parties. The other big caveat: it's up to those third-parties to make changes to their own services to be able to work with Meta's services. It's a fair question to wonder if that makes any sense for them. It's probably way too early to dream of a return to Trillian. [TechCrunch]

📺 Should HBO Worry About Its Worst Emmy Showing Since the ’90s? – The answer is ultimately "probably not" as it could just be that a perfect storm of bad timing (including, notably, with the writer's strike) led to this one year outlier. Still, in this one, admittedly a bit silly metric (but one they and the rest of the industry cares about!), this is their worst showing since 1995! And in the major categories, since 1994! If they don't bounce back next year... and there are other, troubling signs, maybe "the new HBO" should step in... [Vulture]

🇪🇺 The iOS Continental Drift Widens – A good, long post by John Gruber on the current state of Apple complying (or not) with the DMA. I don't agree with all his points – namely, I don't think Apple is quite as wholesome in some of their own actions in response – but my key takeaway from reading the post is that the EU either is doing a bad job with – or more likely, doesn't care about – the second order effects of what they're forcing to happen with such laws. I say "doesn't care" not because I think they're nefarious, I just think – from everything I've seen and heard – that they're mainly showboaters who are happy to take some quick, political points rather than worry about what happens in five or ten years when they're long gone. I think about all this in relation to someone like Lina Khan as well in the US with all the regulation she's excited about unleashing, not deeply understanding the second-order implications. But she's clearly a true believer in what she's trying to do. The EU commission just seems mainly like circus clowns. Clowns with matches in a fireworks store. See also: Gruber's fun follow-up post, mainly for the Casino reference in the beginning. [Daring Fireball]

🔪 Europe’s ‘Reason for Being’ at Risk as Competitiveness Wanes – Related to the above, Mario Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank (and more recently, the Prime Minister of Italy), issued a pretty damning report on the current state of the EU. This opening graf summary from Jenny Gross and Patricia Cohen would seem to say it all:

Europe must substantially increase public investment in the technology and defense sectors and reduce regulation, according to a long-awaited report published Monday in response to growing anxieties about Europe’s lagging behind the United States and China.

This EU commission is totally going to fine Draghi for this report. [NYT]

Some Analysis...

The Slow Build to the aiPhone

More delays for Apple’s AI rollout…

Spyglass •M.G. Siegler

A Brilliant Button is How it Works

The details behind LoveFrom’s “Duo Button”

Spyglass •M.G. Siegler

As An Aside...

• I think I still prefer the Balenciaga genre of these AI videos, but The Fellowship of the Rednecks is pretty great [YouTube/DemonFlyingFox]
  • Star Wars - Return of the Redneck also fantastic. How long until there's a big legal IP fight over all of this? Feels fair use-ish, but the devil is in the 'ish'... [YouTube/DemonFlyingFox]
• Bluesky is surging, adding millions of new users in the past week or so. Why? 85% of those new users are pouring in from Brazil, where Xitter is now banned. [TechCrunch]
• Depending on which report you read, The Rings of Power is either really under-performing or only slightly under-performing season 1, viewership-wise. Either way, it's not a great look for a show this expensive. And the crowd reaction – which obviously can be and often is gamed, but is still sort of an interesting proxy – is mixed at best. That's my general take too – but I hope all of this doesn't lead Amazon to pull the plug... [Deadline]
• Rome may start charging to access the famous Trevi Fountain. Just €1, but still. It's a water fountain. That people famously throw money into... Of course, it's not about making money here, but trying to dampen crowds. [Bloomberg 🔒]
• The other antitrust case against Google, going directly after the ads business, kicks off today as well... [CNBC]
• We're mere hours away from the kickoff of ESPN's Monday Night Football and DirecTV and Disney are still at war... They're now fighting with vouchers and FCC complaints. And ABC is set to air what will undoubtedly be one of the biggest presidential debates of all time tomorrow. Who blinks first? [THR]
  • Unsurprisingly, the NFL season opener did great numbers for NBC and Peacock (and YouTube TV, it seems) [Adweek]
  • Less great for NBC? Pulling The Tonight Show back to four nights a week. But their competitors all did it long ago as streaming/social clips have changed everything. [Variety]
• Also coming soon to all ESPN properties? Betting tie-ins and links, everywhere. It's certainly one area that Disney can box out Amazon in owning sports streaming... [Variety]
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – perfect name – opened to a big $110M domestic box office. The only surprise is that they didn't open it on Halloween? [THR]
• Oh look, it's the Quest 3S VR headset apparently accidentally leaked by Meta itself. Looks aside, the main question here will be cost. Sub-$300? We'll likely know soon enough... [UploadVR]

A Golden Oldie...

Apple’s Rightfully Boring AI Play

Apple is playing catch up, but doesn’t need to sprint

Spyglass •M.G. Siegler

And I Quote...

"It is like being paid to write in sand, to whisper secrets into a slab of butter."

-- Jack Apollo George, writing about his latest writing gig: getting paid to write to AI in order to help train models.