Spyglass - Sixteen Candles Down the Drain

It's iPhone 16 Eve. Obviously, the first reviews of the new devices hit this week, but per my usual approach, I queue them up to read but wait until after I've used the device myself for a few days so as not to cloud my thoughts and feelings. I also would love to get out some thoughts about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold first, which is especially interesting to think about this year as a zag to Apple's continued zig.

Writing...

Evan Spiegel’s Spectacle

Snap’s presentation was arguably more impressive than the product…

Spyglass •M.G. Siegler

Vestager’s Last Stand

One last call on Apple to change stuff before the European Commission changes?

Spyglass •M.G. Siegler

Thinking...

🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen Appoints New EU Posts – It sure feels like her picks are meant to signal a change in approach and strategy. She wrote of a need to "modernize" the EU's policies to Spain’s Teresa Ribera, who would oversee the competition rules. Meanwhile, as Bloomberg reports, Henna Virkkunen from Finland will be in charge of the DMA and DSA – and notably is described multiple times as basically the opposite of Thierry Breton, whom she's replacing. We'll see how this goes – namely, all these roles still have to be approved by the EU parliament – but both articles cite Mario Draghi's competition report as holding some sway here... [Financial Times 🔒]

📝 Meta to EU: Your Tech Rules Threaten to Squelch the AI Boom – Speaking of, a group of companies have signed an open letter telling the EU to back off their heavy-handed attempts at AI regulation. The group includes Prada, Ericsson, SAP, and Thyssenkrupp – which are all, of course, European companies. Also signing was Spotify, which marks the second open letter they've signed off on with Meta on the topic. Though this one seems less muddled. [WSJ 🔒]

🚮 PayPal Has a New Logo That Makes it Look Just Like Everything Else — Yeah, not great. Laughably generic. It seems pretty clear to me that they should lean into the “PP” mark, but that’s problematic for obvious reasons. So instead we get the most bland logo possible. It’s so bad that even the Will Ferrell ad fails to be funny. [The Verge]

🤝 No Merger Scrutiny of Microsoft's Hiring of Inflection Staff, EU Says – In more EU news, also more good news for Microsoft as the bloc isn't going to look into their deal non-deal to acquire hire (hackquire) Inflection's core team. Humorously, they still deem it a merger, but it's simply too small for them to care about, it seems. We'll see if this has any influence on the US (unlikely, given the current political climate and the number of similar deals). [Reuters]

🥽 Microsoft Teams with Anduril on Army Combat Goggle System – While the headline humorously reads like this is about their Slack competitor, it's actually far more interesting: this is Oculus founder Palmer Luckey getting back into the headset game. Only this time it's not a game, it's war – literally. It would seem fitting for Luckey to be the one to fit the Hololens project for Microsoft, which after being relegated to enterprise, now seems fixed in this military vertical. But even that hasn't been going to plan, as "earlier versions left soldiers with headaches and nausea". [Bloomberg 🔒]

🎙️ Spotify Global Ad Revenue to Reach $2.1B in 2024 – It seems like Spotify's push into podcast advertising is working, with that business now outpacing ads tied to music streaming. This comes as they've shifted from exclusive, premium podcasts and back towards wide syndication. Apple, it seems, is sort of going in the other direction for now. While YouTube is quickly eating everyone's lunch. Related, next up for Spotify: monetizing video pods. [PodNews]

Linking...

• Apparently Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are not big fans of the "Pokémon with Guns" concept that Palworld seems to have produced and they're suing. Who would have guessed? [The Verge]
• Amazon joins the MPAA – the first new member for Hollywood's lobbying group since Netflix joined 5 years ago. Is Apple next? [NYT]
• Mike Trout is willing to play any position – including DH – if it means getting back on the field, er, in the batters box, as it were after missing 370 games over the past four seasons. [Yahoo Sports]
• In the battle with Netflix to become the new cable, YouTube is adding the ability for creators to offer up "episodes" and "seasons" – it's wild it took this long to offer that. [The Verge]
  • Speaking of, and related, YouTube is planning a major revamp of their TV apps to be more like other TV/movie streaming services. [THR]
  • Also coming: a 'Hype' feature that sounds sort of like Digg (if you're old like me) or Reddit (if you're younger) but only for YouTube videos to aid with discovery beyond pure algorithms. [The Verge]
• Axel Springer is officially going fully back under Mathias Döpfner and Friede Springer as a media group with KKR buying out the classified ads businesses. More media roll-ups are coming, it sounds like... [NYT]
• Yet another AI product from Amazon from Amazon, this one to help third-party sellers. Don't confuse Amelia with Rufus or Q or yes, Alexa – who seems due for an upgrade any day now... [CNBC]
  • Also, they unveiled a new AI video generator – but only to be used for ads on Amazon, so you can remain calm, Hollywood. Also, it creates GIFs? Seemingly no cute name for this one. [TechCrunch]
• With the first rate cut, is it mission: accomplished for Jay Powell and the Fed averting recession? Too soon? [NYT]
• Whenever the idea of buying a PlayStation has entered my mind in recent years, I've quickly moved on as I've hated the design of the console – too evil Lord of the Rings tower for my taste. But this 30th anniversary retro one tickles my nostalgia... [The Verge]

Quoting...

"This feels more elegant than QR codes."

-- Mark Shmulik, an analyst with Bernstein, commenting on Amazon's soon-to-launch "Buy It Now" show, which is essentially "Shark Tank", but with the world's largest retailer baked right in. Naturally, there will be celebrity judges as well as various Amazon execs. Synergies! (Let's not bring up Apple's "Planet of the Apps".)