Hello! Just a note for tomorrow: I'm planning on ditching the normal format and going longer on AI, both about the state of the tech and industry, as well as explaining how I want to write about it this year! Talk soon - CW. 

Mentioned in today’s edition: ASML, Claude, Gavin Newsom, Spotify, TikTok, Meta, Huawei and iOS 12. Plus, deals on Dyson headphones, Logitech keyboards and Xiaomi smartphones.

The News

Tech shareholders: we don't mind if you spend $X on AI stuff but you gotta make $X+1 back

When it comes to business — even with all the excitement of AI — it's okay to "spend money" just as long as you're "making more money". That's the vibe from earnings calls of some of the big tech companies this week. It seems like the market hasn't run out of patience for the exploding amount of capital expenditure on AI infrastructure, but, unlike before, it expects these companies to prove they're using it to make money. Here are some summaries of the companies:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Apple giveth (iPhone 5S iOS update) and Apple taketh away (bricked Telstra handsets)

I was going to praise Apple earlier in the week for delivering a new update to iOS 12, an OS that still supports the 13-year-old iPhone 5S (TechSpot). But, then it appears that another iOS update has rendered older iPhones unable to connect to Telstra network anymore (ABC News). Telstra says Apple has identified the bug and stopped rolling out the update until it has a fix (Telstra). So I guess we'll call it a draw for Apple. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Maybe TikTok US is doing censorship?

Looks like I may need to do a mea culpa this week about TikTok US and censorship. American users literally can't send DMs containing the word "Epstein" (NPR) and other users claim that anti-ICE content is also being blocked. Some experts suggest that it's not simply a bug (Ars Technica). Now, California governor and 2028 Democratic presidential nominee wannabe Gavin Newsom is calling for an investigation into this (Guardian). Consider me still skeptical but we'll see. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Oh, Also

Remote. Controlled. Lawnmower.

This is one of those things that I think is great in practice but I deeply fear what would happen if it got into many people's hands: YouTuber Max Maker custom made his own remote control lawnmower (YouTube).

Extra points for dropping the code, too (Pastebin). 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Bargains

Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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