Apple Maps launches on the web to take on Google (2 minute read)
Apple Maps is now available on the web. The web version, which is in beta, has most of the functions of the iOS version of the app. It is currently only available in English and is compatible with Safari and Chrome on Mac and iPad and Chrome and Edge on Windows. Apple plans to launch additional features as well as support for other languages, browsers, and platforms.
Reddit now blocks all search engines other than Google following ‘misuse' (2 minute read)
Reddit has started to block its site from appearing in search engines other than Google. The site has updated its robots.txt file to block all bots from scraping any part of it. It claims the change was being made following an increase in commercial entities scraping the site. Reddit and Google announced a new deal earlier this year allowing Google to use Reddit data to train AI models.
This article discusses the results of the 14th annual Stack Overflow Developer Survey. This year's most popular technologies are JavaScript and PostgreSQL. Rust and Markdown are the most admired. Developers are frustrated with technical debt at work, but they don't see AI as a threat. While most developers use or plan to use AI tools, many don't trust the accuracy of the technology.
Mistral shocks with new open model Mistral Large 2, taking on Llama 3.1 (5 minute read)
Mistral Large 2, which has 123 billion parameters, has been released as 'open' for non-commercial research use - those wanting to use it for commercial application will need to obtain a separate license and usage agreement from Mistral.
OpenAI reportedly has 350,000 servers containing Nvidia A100 chips for inference running at near full capacity.
OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engine (4 minute read)
OpenAI has announced a prototype of an AI-powered search engine with real-time access to information across the internet. SearchGPT can summarize findings and answer questions about queries. It will only be accessible to 10,000 test users at launch. OpenAI is working with third-party partners and using direct content feeds to build its search results.
Elon Musk will ‘discuss' Tesla investing $5 billion in his private AI company (5 minute read)
Elon Musk and Tesla's board are currently being sued for breach of fiduciary duty due to xAI. Musk started xAI despite claiming that Tesla is an AI company. The lawsuit cites a talent acquisition issue, Musk's threat to not build AI products at Tesla if he doesn't get 25% control over the company, and the fact that Musk diverted H100 processors meant for Tesla to xAI. It is asking for Musk to transfer his shares of xAI to Tesla along with other damages. Musk is currently trying to get Tesla's board to approve a $5 billion investment into xAI.
Apple Intelligence Delayed to iOS 18.1 in October (1 minute read)
Apple Intelligence is being delayed to give Apple more time to fix bugs. The company now plans to start rolling out the feature several weeks after the launch of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. There is concern about the stability of the feature and developers need more testing time. Apple Intelligence will still be made available to software developers as soon as next week with the first betas of iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1.
Patchwork automates development gruntwork like PR reviews, bug fixing, and security patching using a self-hosted CLI agent and large language models. It features customizable prompts optimized for chores like library updates, code generation, issue analysis, and vulnerability remediation. Patchflows can be run locally in a CLI or IDE or as part of a CI/CD pipeline. A short demo video is available.
Stripe acquires payment processing startup Lemon Squeezy (4 minute read)
Lemon Squeezy calculates and pays global sales tax for digital products, handling legal processing and fees in every country.
Attribution is Dying. Clicks are Dying. Marketing is Going Back to the 20th Century (11 minute read)
Attribution fundamentally doesn't work anymore, so marketing investments should be made based on knowing the audience and where/how they can be influenced.
OpenAI starts rolling out its Her-like voice mode for ChatGPT (2 minute read)
OpenAI has started to roll out its advanced voice mode to a small number of ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The feature was previously criticized for sounding similar to Scarlett Johansson and was delayed for safety reasons. OpenAI has implemented four preset voices trained with voice actors. The new mode will likely be available to all ChatGPT Plus users in the fall.
Meta's new AI Studio helps you create your own custom AI chatbots (4 minute read)
Meta's new AI Studio allows users to create, share, and discover AI chatbots. Creators will be able to create AI chatbots as extensions of themselves - no technical skills required. The feature has started rolling out to Instagram Business accounts in the US and will expand to all Meta users over the next few weeks. It will be accessible through the web, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
GPT-5: Everything You Need to Know (73 minute read)
This article looks at GPT-5, what we can expect from next-gen models, new features that are appearing on the horizon, business pressures on OpenAI, and the technical constraints the company's engineers are facing.