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| Here is a look at today's tech briefing: - Apple halts online sales of Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2.
- Samsung set to unveil Galaxy S24 smartphones in January.
- Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is leaving.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Apple has stopped selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 on its online stores starting today. The pause on U.S. sales stems from a patent dispute with medical tech company Masimo over its blood oxygen sensor technology. More: - The International Trade Commission (ITC), a federal agency, recently agreed that Apple had infringed on Masimo's patents involving blood oxygen monitoring tech.
- The ITC ordered Apple to pause all sales of its Watch models containing the blood oxygen feature, which are the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2.
- After the ITC denied Apple's motion to stay the ban, the order will officially take effect on Dec. 26.
- The White House could still veto the ITC's decision by Dec. 25, which would allow sales to resume.
Zoom out: - Apple has decided to pre-emptively stop selling the two affected models in its online store today and at its retail stores on Dec. 24.
- Third-party retailers like Best Buy and Walmart can continue selling the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Series 9 until supplies run out.
- Models without a blood oxygen sensor, like the Apple Watch SE, will still be available for purchase.
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| 2 | | Samsung is expected to unveil its Galaxy S24 smartphone lineup on Jan. 17, per leaker Evan Blass. He teased a countdown for the next Galaxy Unpacked event, "Galaxy AI is coming," suggesting the phones could have on-device AI capabilities. More: - Blass also shared a leaked spec sheet for the lineup, which shows the standard Galaxy S24, along with an S24 Plus, and an S24 Ultra.
- All three will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, while outside the U.S., Canada, and China, they'll run on Samsung's Exynos 2400
- In terms of screen size, there's the standard Galaxy S24 at 6.2 inches, the S24 Plus at 6.7 inches, and the S24 Ultra at 6.8 inches.
- For cameras, the S24 Ultra boasts a 200-megapixel main sensor, while the S24 and S24 Plus have 50 megapixels.
Zoom out: - Samsung announced a generative AI model, called Gauss, that can power AI applications locally on devices.
- Gauss could be included in the Galaxy S24 phones, powering tasks like image editing, email composition, document summarization, coding, and more.
- The AI market for mobile devices is forecasted to surge from $19.6B in the current year to over $170B by 2032.
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| 3 | | Bobby Kotick will leave his position as Activision Blizzard's CEO on Dec. 29 following Microsoft's acquisition of the company. Kotick became CEO of Activision in February 1991 and later engineered the Activision Blizzard merger in 2008. More: - As head of Activision Blizzard, Kotick managed iconic franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and, after the acquisition of mobile studio King, Candy Crush.
- Kotick also faced controversy when California's now-Civil Rights Department sued Activision over claims of systemic sexism, discrimination, and a "frat boy" culture.
- Kotick allegedly ignored and concealed cases of sexual harassment at the studio. Despite worker calls for his resignation, a shareholder vote in 2022 allowed Kotick to remain in his position.
Zoom out: - In October, Microsoft closed its $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard. At the time, Kotick said he would stay on board to assist with the transition until the end of 2023.
- Microsoft's gaming chief Phil Spencer will take over leadership, with minimal changes expected for most employees.
- According to an internal memo, Blizzard and King's Vice Chairman, Humam Sakhnini, will leave at the end of December. Activision Blizzard's Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Meservey, will depart in January, followed by a few more executives in March.
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| 4 | | Microsoft is ending support for Windows Mixed Reality. The PC virtual-reality platform, first launched in 2017, was adopted by VR headsets like the HP Reverb G2 and others from Dell, Lenovo, and Asus. However, it has largely been inactive since 2020. More: - Microsoft has now added Windows Mixed Reality to its list of deprecated Windows features.
- The company will end support for the Windows Mixed Reality software, along with its Mixed Reality Portal app and the related Steam VR app.
- The move does not appear to affect Microsoft's enterprise-focused HoloLens 2 headset.
Zoom out: - According to UploadVR, Windows mixed-reality headsets suffered from poorly designed controllers and limited tracking due to having only two forward-facing cameras.
- The Oculus Quest's dominance in the VR hardware market also made it hard for consumers to find compelling reasons to choose Windows MR headsets.
- In the latest Steam survey, Windows Mixed Reality headsets made up only 5.18% of VR users, with Oculus Quest 2 at 40% and Valve Index at 18.65%.
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| 5 | | The FTC is proposing updated rules for COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The new rules would further restrict tech companies' collection and use of children's data, particularly for targeted advertising. More: - COPPA, which first took effect in 2000, was last updated 10 years ago. The federal law requires platforms oriented toward children to gain parental consent before gathering personal data of kids under 13.
- The FTC's proposed changes would require child-oriented platforms to gain parental consent for sharing kids' information with third-party advertisers unless it's "integral" to the service.
- Operators would be barred from using online contact info or tracking cookies to send certain push notifications to kids.
- Companies could only hold on to personal data for "as long as necessary to fulfill the specific purpose for which it was collected."
- Education tech firms must gain school approval for data collection on children, and commercial use of this data is banned.
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| 6 | | Researchers harnessed advanced AI to uncover a new group of antibiotics effective against the hospital superbug MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA causes over 80,000 infections and more than 11,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. More: - The researchers, led by Integrated Biosciences and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used an explainable AI model to identify a class of compounds that can kill drug-resistant MRSA bacteria.
- The compounds effectively eliminated MRSA in lab dishes and two MRSA-infected mouse models while demonstrating minimal toxicity to human cells.
- The researchers could also see what the models were learning to make predictions for which molecules would make good antibiotics.
- These "explainable" models, which clarify the reasons behind their specific outputs, hold the potential to drive next-generation drug discovery methods.
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- Google is launching updates to Chrome on desktop, adding a new Safety Check that alerts users about compromised passwords and malware extensions and automatically revoking site permissions that haven't been used in awhile.
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- Google is planning a major shakeup of its 30,000-member ad sales team, which could result in layoffs. The restructuring comes as Google is turning more to AI and automation to help customers purchase ads, according to The Information.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for notable publications like USA Today and the Arizona Business Gazette. During her time as a public policy reporter at The Arizona Republic, she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for her collaborative reporting on pension cost increases. Beth also authored a book on the solar photovoltaic industry in 2016. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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