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| Welcome to Inside Tech! Here are today's top stories: - Apple unveils iPhone 15 lineup and new watches.
- High-stakes antitrust trial begins against Google.
- TikTok has launched its e-commerce platform in the U.S.
If you find this newsletter useful, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 lineup on Tuesday, offering its first-ever smartphone with a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port. The series includes the standard iPhone 15, the 15 Plus, and the high-end iPhone 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max. More: - As expected, the phones now have USB-C ports and cables for charging and data transfer, replacing the 11-year-old Lightning.
- The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have 6.1- and 6.7-inch displays, respectively. Both use the A16 Bionic chip.
- One major change is the replacement of the notch with the Dynamic Island, housing houses a 12MP selfie camera and Face ID.
- The phones have a brighter display and a 48-megapixel camera.
- Meanwhile, the 15 Pro has a 6.1-inch screen, and the Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display. Both are powered by the new A17 Pro chip. The Pro models are made of titanium and have an Action Button.
Pricing: - The iPhone 15 starts at $799 for 128GB, and the iPhone 15 Plus begins at $899 for the same storage capacity.
- The 15 Pro starts at $999 with 128GB of storage, and the Pro Max at $1,199 with 256GB.
- All the models will be available on September 22, with preorders starting this Friday.
Zoom out: 
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be available in black, blue, green, yellow, and pink. Credit: Apple. |     | |
| 1 | | In its high-stakes antitrust trial led by the U.S. Department of Justice, Google is accused of spending over $10B annually to maintain its default search engine status, allegedly harming competition. The months-long trial began in a crowded Washington courtroom today, with opening statements from the Justice Department and Google. More: - Justice Department attorney Kenneth Dintzer argued that Google became a monopoly prior to 2010, using its power to make its search engine the default choice across platforms.
- The government accused Google of funneling billions annually to device makers, wireless providers, and browser companies to secure a 90% market share for its search engine.
- Dinzter also accused Google of hiding and destroying documents to protect communications as the company was aware it was violating antitrust laws.
- Google's defense centers on its efficiency and free service.
- The company's lawyers argue that consumers can uninstall the Google app or use alternatives like Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo in their browsers for a different search experience.
- U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing the trial, is expected to issue a verdict early next year.
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| 3 | | TikTok has officially introduced its e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop, in the U.S. after months of testing. The app is adding a "shop" button to its homepage, offering over 97.6 million U.S. users the ability to make direct in-app purchases. 
Details: TikTok's U.S. users can now access videos and live streams with purchase links on their feeds, with tools for creators, brands, and merchants to create shoppable content. The new shop tab features product displays and integrated logistics and payment solutions. TikTok has also integrated its shopping service with third-party platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, and Zendesk. The app has experimented with the shopping marketplace in other markets, including the U.K. and Southeast Asia. Still: According to Bloomberg, the marketplace offers a selection of low-cost products primarily from China, including misspelled brand names and prices that suggest possible counterfeit sales. However, TikTok asserts that over 200,000 verified U.S. merchants are on TikTok Shop, including 150,000 validated beauty products. Additionally, when users make purchases through the Shop, TikTok processes payments within the app, potentially collecting additional user data, including card details, billing, and shipping addresses. Question: Do you see yourself using TikTok Shop in the future? Why or why not? Join the conversation here. | | | |
| 4 | Samsung's upcoming XR headset, developed with Google and Qualcomm, could introduce touch and smell capabilities. The features, while not confirmed, could involve touch integration via a touchscreen or touchpad and smell functionality to enhance virtual experiences with scents like ocean or pine trees. More: - Samsung appears to be reworking its first standalone headset to compete with Apple's Vision Pro mixed-reality device.
- Samsung's headset is rumored to feature a pixel density exceeding 3,000 pixels per square inch, slightly lower than Apple's Vision Pro at ~3,400 PPI.
- The device is expected to use a Qualcomm XR processor and run an operating system co-developed with Google.
- Samsung is set to reveal the headset on October 5 at its LSI Tech Day.
Zoom out: - Samsung previously discontinued the Gear VR headset, which relied on a Galaxy smartphone for its processor and screen.
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| 5 | | Meta Platforms is reportedly developing a powerful AI model to compete with OpenAI's GPT-4, according to The Wall Street Journal. Meta is aggressively acquiring advanced AI training chips and building out its data centers to develop the chatbot for potential release next year. More: - Training for Meta's large language model is set to begin in early 2024.
- The new system, expected to be "several times more powerful" than Meta's current Llama 2 model, would allow companies to build AI services for text generation, image creation, and analysis.
- To achieve this, Meta is buying more Nvidia H100 AI-training chips and strengthening its infrastructure to reduce reliance on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.
- Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, intends to make the new model open-source.
Zoom out: - Despite these ambitions, Meta has encountered challenges, including high AI researcher turnover due to an "internal battle" over computing resources between AI teams.
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| 6 | Nintendo will stop offering new content next month for the popular mobile game "Mario Kart Tour." The final content update will be on October 4. More: - Future tours will recycle existing content, with no new courses, drivers, karts, or gliders added.
- New content will be released as part of the Anniversary Tour on September 20, but after the Battle Tour's launch on October 4, only old content will be available.
- The game will still be available to download and play on iOS and Android.
Zoom out: - First launched in 2019, "Mario Kart Tour" has been a mobile success, earning approximately $293M as of October 2022.
- While it's speculated that the move may pave the way for "Mario Kart 9" on the Switch, no official announcement has been made.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - How much should you pay influencers in Q4? Get the benchmarks in this blog.*
- Writer Walter Isaacson's book "Elon Musk" hit shelves today. The biography details a heated exchange between Musk and Bill Gates over shorting Tesla stock, along with details about the financial relationship between Musk and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's official account on X, formerly known as Twitter, has been hacked by malevolent actors. The incident caused over $691,000 of funds to be stolen from users.
- Five authors, including Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that OpenAI illegally copied their writing to train ChatGPT without their permission.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is the writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism and editing since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic, USA Today, and others, and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach out to her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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