So, tech earnings continued to be boring. Apple was fine. Amazon was not quite so fine. And then someone we don’t cover closely really messed the bed. I’ll tell you who. Are we starting to see the first next-generation AI startups? I’ll tell you about an interesting new model. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Links:

• Amazon Beats On Earnings, Revenue Comes In Light Despite Strong Cloud Performance (Investor's Business Daily)
• Intel is laying off over 15,000 employees and will stop ‘non-essential work’ (The Verge)
• 23andMe Board Committee ‘Disappointed’ in CEO Anne Wojcicki’s Take-Private Proposal (Bloomberg)
• Stable Diffusion creators launch Black Forest Labs, secure $31M for FLUX.1 AI image generator (VentureBeat)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• A $500 Open Source Tool Lets Anyone Hack Computer Chips With Lasers (Wired)
• The AI Keeps Score (The Verge)

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So I guess Zuck has convinced Wall Street that all the capex spending on AI is fine. How good a business is Tether? A gooooood business. The first arrival of Apple Intelligence is sort of a ho-hum for now. And how sports is completely transforming the streaming wars battlefield.

Links:

• Meta’s Lesson in Allaying Wall Street’s A.I. Fears (Dealbook/NYT)
• Meta’s AI Costs Surge as Digital Advertising Revenue Grows (WSJ)
• Reddit CEO says Microsoft needs to pay to search the site (The Verge)
• Tether Nets $5B Profits This Year, Says Its US Debt Holdings Surpassed Germany's (CoinDesk)
• A first look at Apple Intelligence and its (slightly) smarter Siri (The Verge)
• Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Sports Streamer Venu to Launch at $42.99 per Month (Variety)
• How the NBA’s Slam-Dunk Deals Will Reshape TV (The Hollywood Reporter)

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Another big pullback of a major AI tool. Microsoft earnings. How CapCut is taking over the creator tools space. Amazon speedy delivery is rolling out to the nooks and crannies of North America. And the startup taking a new run at AI wearable hardware.

Links:

• Meta Scraps Celebrity AI Chatbots That Fell Flat With Users (The Information)
• The Rise of ByteDance’s CapCut Threatens Adobe and Canva (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Pushes Fast Delivery Into Rural Areas in Challenge to Post Office (WSJ)
• Wear This AI Friend Around Your Neck (Wired)
• Video Announcing the Friend AI device

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