💸 Instagram's Revenue Boom, Airchat Overload, Humane's AI Flop
Today’s pick
They're Looting The Internet. Last week, Meta revealed (in a motion trying to dismiss an FTC anti-monopoly lawsuit) that Instagram made an astonishing $32.4 billion in advertising revenue in 2021. That figure becomes even more shocking when you consider Google's YouTube made $28.8 billion in the same period. Bloomberg reports that the app made almost 30% of Meta's entire revenue in the early part of 2022. 96% of Meta's $40.1 billion Q4 2023 revenue came from advertising, and it’s made over a hundred billion dollars a year since 2021, a trend it’s likely to continue based on the fact that the only thing these platforms care about is revenue numbers increasing. By Edward Zitron via Where's Your Ed At
𝕏: This week's newsletter: Tech has looted the internet, making every platform actively hostile to the user, turning Facebook, Google Search, Instagram into products that no longer provide a service while making them hundreds of billions of dollars. - Ed Zitron (@edzitron)
Airchat Is Silicon Valley's Latest Obsession. At some point this weekend, Airchat cofounder Naval Ravikant had to close off new sign-ups to his app. After releasing a new version Friday, Airchat was quickly overloaded with people thirsting for a glimpse—or an audio snippet—of Silicon Valley’s newest fad. Ravikant had given a small number of users unlimited invites to share with friends, and it backfired. By Lauren Goode via WIRED
𝕏: This is still so surreal - Kyle Barber (@ikbarber)
The best way to reach new readers is through word of mouth. If you click THIS LINK in your inbox, it’ll create an easy-to-send pre-written email you can just fire off to some friends.
Oh the Humanity. An ex-Apple designer who went on to startup success once told me, "I wish I could give a workshop for Apple jumping into startups, to help them un-learn The Apple Way." As someone who strives to build products with the craft and quality of Apple, it pains me to admit that The Apple Way can destroy a lot of startups. Which brings us to Humane. Humane raised $230 Million and spent six years to ship an "Ai Pin," with disastrous results. By Benjamin Sandofsky via Sandofsky
𝕏: NEW Video - Humane Pin Review: A Victim of its Future Ambition. This clip is 99% of my experiences with the pin - doing something you could already do on your phone, but slower, more annoying, or less reliable/accurate. Turns out smartphones are pretty incredible. - Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD)
Meta wants to put students and teachers in Quest VR headsets. If Meta has its way, students will tour faraway museums, walk among dinosaurs and view human intestines up close — all from the comfort of their classroom, using Quest virtual reality (VR) headsets. Why it matters: As educators grapple with AI and other new tech tools, a deep-pocketed push to turn VR into a classroom staple raises new questions about the future of learning — and what's best for kids. By Jennifer A. Kingson via Axios
𝕏: Today, we’re announcing a new education product for Quest devices - one that we’re designing around feedback we’ve received firsthand from teachers and educators. - Nick Clegg (@nickclegg)
Tesla puts '$25,000 electric car' codenamed NV9 on back burner despite what Elon Musk said. Electrek can confirm that Tesla indeed put its upcoming ‘$25,000 electric car, sometimes referred to as ‘Model 2', on the back burner despite what Elon Musk said. Tesla has been working on its ‘next-generation vehicle platform' that is expected to enable much cheaper electric vehicles. The automaker has previously talked about two upcoming vehicles on the platform: a model cheaper and smaller than Model 3, sometimes being referred as the “$25,000 Tesla” or “Model 2” Tesla Robotaxi: a new vehicle designed from the ground-up for self-driving. By Fred Lambert via Electrek
𝕏: $TSLA putting a $25K EV project on the backburner and instead pouring resources into a new data center for an AI project almost feels like a microcosm of recent tech trends. - Eric Jhonsa (@EricJhonsa)
AI news
OpenAI's DALL-E Edit Feature Shows How AI Won't Replace Your Photoshop Yet
Adobe's new generative AI tools for video are absolutely terrifying
Meta’s Oversight Board probes explicit AI-generated images posted on Instagram and Facebook
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I enjoyed (and still am enjoying) Airchat. Have you tried it?
Wrote a product teardown a couple weeks back which might encourage some of your readers to at least give it a try! https://alexdebecker.substack.com/p/product-teardown-airchat