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| Here's a look at today's tech briefing: - EU fines Apple nearly $2B over music streaming competition.
- Damage to Red Sea cables disrupts global internet.
- Apple unveils new MacBook Air models with M3 chips.
- Google develops satellite SOS for Pixel phones.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | The European Union has fined Apple €1.84B ($2B) for blocking rival music streaming services like Spotify from directing iPhone users to cheaper subscriptions outside the App Store. It's the EU's first-ever antitrust fine against Apple, which plans to appeal. More: - The European Commission first launched the investigation in 2020 after Spotify filed a formal complaint, claiming Apple tried to suppress its music service to favor iTunes and Apple Music.
- After months of speculation, the commission announced the $2B fine today, exceeding previous forecasts of a $539M fine.
- Apple hindered competition in the music streaming market by blocking app developers from promoting "alternative and cheaper music subscription services" to iOS users, the commission said.
- The company "abused its dominant position" as a music streaming app distributor, blocking European consumers from being able to choose where, how, and at what price to buy subscritions, said EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager.
Response: - While Apple plans to appeal the decision, a ruling from Europe's General Court could take years.
- In the meantime, Apple must pay the fine and follow the EU's order to change its practices.
- The €1.84B equals about 0.5% of Apple's global turnover.
- The company said the EU reached the decision despite a "failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast."
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| 2 | | Damage to critical data cables in the Red Sea has disrupted global internet and telecommunications, forcing providers to redirect some traffic. Hong Kong's HGC Global Communications, a major Wi-Fi provider, estimated that 25% of the traffic between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East has been affected. More: - At least three underwater cables along the Red Sea, a key route for moving data from Asia to Europe, have been "cut," according to HGC.
- The severed cables include the networks Asia-Africa-Europe 1, Europe India Gateway, Seacom, and TGN-Gulf.
- While the exact cause is not known, there are concerns that it may be part of a targeted campaign by Yemen's Houthi rebels.
- Early tests suggest the damaged section is within Yemen's maritime borders in the Southern Red Sea, according to Seacom reports.
- Yemeni rebel leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi refuted the claims. The Houthis blame the damage on British and U.S. military forces.
Zoom out: - The narrow strait at the Red Sea's southern end is vulnerable to damage to telecom infrastructure due to a high risk of accidental anchor strikes from ship traffic.
- Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon own stakes in undersea cables, but none were affected by the outage.
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| 3 | | Apple on Monday unveiled new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models featuring its most advanced M3 chip. The M3 line, announced in October, was previously only in Apple's high-performance MacBook Pros and the latest iMacs. The new MacBook Airs with the advanced chip could boost Apple's Mac sales after the company reported less than 1% growth in its Mac revenue for Q1. 
Details: The new MacBook Air models feature 18-hour battery life, a 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 6E support, two Thunderbolt ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The design and 8 gigabytes of RAM are the same as previous models. The new laptops come with the standard M3 chip, not with the M3 Pro or Max. What the numbers show: The M3 chip offers a 17% improvement in single-core and 21% in multi-core performance over the M2, with advanced graphics and ray-tracing that are nearly six times faster than the 2020 version, according to Apple. Pricing: The 13-inch M3 MacBook Air costs $1,099 and the 15-inch starts at $1,299. Pre-orders in the U.S. start today, with general availability on March 8. While Apple has quietly discontinued the M1 Air, it has kept the M2 13-inch model, cutting its price to $999. | | | |
| 4 | | Google has developed an emergency SOS feature that connects Pixel phones with satellite services. Google's "Satellite SOS," a competitor to Apple's Emergency SOS, will allow users to text and call emergency services even when they lack cell and Wi-Fi connectivity. More: - A test feature for "satellite SOS" recently appeared in the latest software update on Google Pixel phones.
- Users can see the option in the safety and emergency settings sub-menu, though turning it on doesn't activate anything yet.
- Google may be teasing it as an upcoming feature, or may have accidentally included it in the update.
Zoom out: - In 2022, Apple introduced its own Emergency SOS service for Phone users to text emergency services when out of cell and Wi-Fi range.
- The feature also lets remote users share their locations via satellite through the "Find My" app.
- According to Apple, Emergency SOS has "helped save lives," including hikers who were found in Italy's Apennine Mountains and a man rescued after his car plummeted off a cliff in Los Angeles.
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| 5 | | Anthropic, a competitor to OpenAI, announced its latest and most powerful AI models. In benchmark tests, the new Claude 3 family matches or exceeds the performance of leading models from Google and OpenAI, according to Anthropic. More: - The new models generate text and can now analyze images like charts or photos, though they cannot create images themselves.
- The models include Claude 3 Haiku, Claude 3 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Opus, with Opus being the largest and "most intelligent."
- Opus surpassed both OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Gemini Ultra on industry benchmark tests, including basic math, undergraduate-level knowledge, and graduate-level reasoning.
- Opus and Sonnet are currently available on claude.ai and Anthropic's API, while Haiku is coming soon.
Zoom out: - Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees Daniela and Dario Amodei, has emerged as a major rival to ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
- Over the past year, Anthropic has secured around $7.3B in financing and funding commitments from investors including Google, Salesforce, and Amazon.
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| 6 | | Photomath, a widely used AI tool for solving math problems, is now officially part of Google's app lineup. The app allows users to solve math problems by photographing them and offering step-by-step solutions. More: - Originally launched in Croatia in 2014, Photomath was acquired by Google in May 2022.
- The tech giant gained regulatory approval last March and later closed the deal.
- A year later, the app is now officially under Google's publisher account on its Play Store as well as Apple's App Store.
Zoom out: - Photomath's AI, capable of text recognition and problem-solving, could be further integrated into Google's Lens and Search.
- Since its launch, the app has gained over 100 million downloads and has a 4.5-star rating on the Play Store and a 4.8-star rating on the App Store.
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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 publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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