The political implications of AI
Releasing OpenAI’s chat bot on the world is the first salvo in an arms race, and both companies and governments are ready for it. Are we?
Microsoft
Apple’s Troublesome (Trial) Cancel Culture
Apple is behaving badly when it comes to how it bamboozles users into signing up for its services Music and TV+. It’s another example of what I call a “technopoly” — abusing its position in the ecosystem to change the rules when it applies to its own products and services.
Google, browsers and the illusion of choice
It’s Google’s world, which means we’re always leaking data to them. Some of us assiduously search for other options. But it’s not easy. Two reasons: We don’t have a firm grasp of the size of the elephant we’re confronting, and secondly, we don’t really understand what we’re doing when we’re online. What data are we … Read more
Microsoft, never sexy, grows up
By Jeremy Wagstaff We didn’t really notice it but the past week or so has seen the passing of an era. We are no longer in a world where Microsoft wants to peer through our Windows, as it were. As Ben Thompson noted in his Stratechery newsletter, the company’s recent Ignite Conference passed largely unnoticed … Read more
Deja Vu or New Dawn? Microsoft’s Acquisition Binge
I’m not quite sure what to make of these acquisitions. It reminds me of Yahoo’s binge 10 years ago: After del.icio.us, a Directory of Other Things Yahoo! Should Buy. They snagged up a lot of my favourite stuff back then, and Microsoft is doing the same thing with Sunrise etc: Welcome 6Wunderkinder! Microsoft acquires Wunderlist – … Read more