Good morning. Two rippin’ pieces by my Coins2Day colleagues that are worth your time today.
The first: Michal Lev-Ram’s look inside Wiz, the cloud security company Google acquired for $32 billion in March in one of the biggest tech deals of the decade.
The second: Sharon Goldman’s look at “AI winters” and how tech spenders should think about concerns over AI’s elusive ROI.
Today’s tech news below. —Andrew Nusca
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Amazon takes the wraps off new devices
At a big ol’ press event in New York Cit-ay, Amazon debuted an array of new gadgetry, much of it linked by its new Alexa+ smart assistant.
There were new Echo speakers and displays with better chips and sharper sound, including a Dot Max ($100), a fancy new Studio ($220), a Show 8 ($180), and a Show 11 ($220).
There was a trio of lithe Kindle Scribe e-readers that promised snappier interfaces, including the standard Scribe ($430), Scribe With Frontlight ($550), and Scribe Colorsoft ($630).
There were new, Alexa-infused Fire TV devices with lower prices, too: the Omni series ($480 and up), 4 series ($330 and up), and 2 series ($160 and up).
And we can’t forget Amazon-owned Ring. Founder Jamie Siminoff, who boomeranged back to the company this year, announced a clutch of new face-recognizing cameras—two “Retinal 2K” and four “Retinal 4K” devices, doorbells and outdoor cams among them.
Amazon doesn’t share how much money it makes from hardware sales; tellingly, it instead prefers to report or highlight store sales, ad revenue, and subscriptions. Which should tell you exactly what’s at stake here. —AN
Daniel Ek steps down as Spotify CEO
For 19 years, Daniel Ek has reigned as the co-founder king of Spotify.
No longer. Well, sort of.
Like so many of his big tech brethren, Ek announced Tuesday that he’ll transition to the executive chairman role in January and hand over the reins to co-CEOs Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström, both top lieutenants. (I interviewed Norström at Coins2Day Brainstorm Tech 2019.)
“I will spend more of my time on the long arc: strategy, capital allocation, regulatory efforts and the calls that will shape the next decade for Spotify,” Ek wrote in a memo to employees. “Gustav and Alex will continue to report to me and we will work closely together with our Board of Directors.”
The 42-year-old added: “This approach reflects a European Chairman setup, which is quite different from a traditional U.S. One that many of you might be familiar with. This also means I will be more hands on than some of my U.S. Peers who have a Chairman title.”
That’s good news for everyone, as Ek remains the Swedish company’s largest individual shareholder, at about 14%. —AN
OpenAI launches its own TikTok (sort of)
OpenAI on Tuesday introduced its new Sora 2 video generation AI model as well as an invitation-only Sora app for iOS to let people create and share AI-generated clips.
In a fleeting moment of modesty—ahem—the highly valued AI company says its new Sora 2 video generation AI model “may be the GPT‑3.5 moment for video.” That OpenAI model, of course, helped make ChatGPT a household name and the world’s fastest-growing consumer application.
The first Sora came out at the beginning of last year and more or less demonstrated what generative AI could do with video. (Google introduced its rival Veo shortly thereafter.)
The Sora sequel “can do things that are exceptionally difficult—and in some instances outright impossible—for prior video generation models,” OpenAI says. Things like pro sports, water activities, and flying like a superhero (if that’s your thing).
The Sora app allows people to create and remix each other’s “generations,” as they’re called, in true TikTok fashion. In our video-obsessed world, will Sora kill the ChatGPT star? We’ll find out soon enough in our feeds. —AN
More tech
—FTC sues Zillow and Redfin. Did they break the law when one paid the other $100 million to stop competing against it?
—Meta to acquire Rivos? It reportedly wants the AI chip startup Rivos to reduce its reliance on Nvidia.
—DoorDash’s delivery robot “Dot” can carry up to 30 lbs. Of cargo at up to 20 mph.
—Cerebras raises $1.1 billion ahead of its planned IPO. The chipmaker is worth more than $8 billion.
—They’re called “Phantom Taurus.” Suspected Chinese hackers reportedly breached email servers used by foreign ministers.
—Afghanistan powers down. A nationwide internet outage imposed by the Taliban government knocks out banks, flights, schools, and more.
—U.S. Electricity costs jump near data centers. Up to 267% more per month compared to 2020, according to new analysis.