good morning. Amazon’s Fire Phone, released in 2014, will forever be etched in my mind thanks to the image of Jeff Bezos holding the device aloft and smiling (smugly?).
There was no question that Amazon wanted extremely popular smartphones to sell its products. But the question was whether anyone would want it given that context. (I quickly learned: Fire Phone died after a year.)
It’s hard to believe that Amazon would fall so publicly in such a popular category today. That’s why the latest episode of the Version History Podcast about Amazon is a fun walk (stumbling?) down memory lane.
Today’s technology news is below. —Andrew Nazca
Don’t miss my PS colleagues Jeremy Kahn and Leo Schwartz’ hard look at the fundamentals of CoreWeave, which “could be the first domino to fall in the AI ecosystem” if it can’t grow from its massive debt. (We hope CEO Michael Intrator will provide additional perspective when he speaks at the upcoming Fortune Brainstorm AI in San Francisco.)
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EU may ease privacy regulations to foster AI growth
Chris Jung/NurPhoto/Getty Images
a new politiko report The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it plans to relax some privacy laws to cut red tape and foster AI-driven economic growth.
Among the laws being amended is the comprehensive GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which came into effect in 2018 and is familiar to all marketers and software engineers.
Changes include exceptions that allow AI companies to “lawfully process special categories of data for technology training or operations” such as religion or ethnicity, and a reconfiguration of “personal data” to exclude pseudonymized data, the report said.
Changing today’s laws is not easy. On the other hand, consumer protection laws are a feature of the region. Meanwhile, business leaders are increasingly concerned that such restrictive regulations will make them uncompetitive on the world stage.
There are good reasons to be concerned. Google, Meta, Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and Elon Musk’s X have all used blocking laws to delay, adjust, or outright refuse to launch AI products. And several executives, including some from Europe, voiced their concerns.
“There are a wide range of areas where I think the risk is minimal and that’s where we should innovate,” said Amazon CTO Werner Vogels. he told CNN last year.He added: “We need to make sure that innovation continues to happen and that it doesn’t just happen outside of Europe. Europe already has a very long history of under-investing in research and development.” —Anne
Could a Chinese company abolish 700 British buses?
It’s not often that traffic authorities ask you to hit the brakes, but here they do.
The British government is investigating whether China’s Yutong, the world’s biggest bus manufacturer, can remotely stop the roughly 700 electric buses already on British roads.
Most of the buses supplied to the UK are on the streets of Glasgow, Nottingham and South Wales. The company is also working with Transport for London to develop double-decker electric buses, but the agency has not yet placed an order.
The questions arose after a similar investigation in Norway revealed that the Zhengzhou-based company could suspend or put its supply buses out of service. be financial times report.
Oslo transport group Lutheran discovered that Euton had remote access to the batteries and power management systems of the buses it tested.
Denmark is also investigating the issue.
Yutong said: sunday times “We are in strict compliance with applicable laws, regulations and industry standards in the regions in which our vehicles operate.”
In any case, as relations between China and the West become increasingly tense, sensitivity to national security risks remains high. —Anne
TikTok shop sales are about the same as eBay
There’s a scale, and then scale.
According to market research firm EchoTik, TikTok shops are $19 billion worth sold The proportion of products increased globally in the third quarter of this year (July-September). (TikTok does not disclose sales figures.)
That’s a step short of eBay, which raised just over $20 billion in its most recent quarter.
If this doesn’t surprise you, eBay was founded in 1995. No.411 Latest luck 500.
Meanwhile, TikTok, founded in 2016 as Douyin, added commerce functionality in China in 2018 and launched a U.S. shop in late 2023.
Wow.
Most of the use of TikTok in the US focuses on social media rather than social commerce. (Of course, that’s the purpose of the federal ban.)
Still, EchoTik said: wired We estimate that the U.S. market accounts for more than $4.5 billion in TikTok Shop sales because people are attracted to seeing products in action.
Will “livestream shopping” become as popular in the US as it is in, say, China? If you look back at QVC, an example that became famous decades ago, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets it right for a new generation. —Anne
More technology
—Technology layoffs 🤝 Spending on AI. Not AI, financial stress According to the two academics, that spending is decreasing, causing a reduction in human jobs.
—Rivian spins off Mind Roboticsis an independent industrial AI and robotics company with $110 million in external capital.
—Cold Storage Crypto Wallets: So Hot Right Now. Backlash against hacking attacks intensifies.
—Apple Music’s kryptonite? A lack of free tiers may be holding back the audio service’s global dominance.
—Investment in submarine cables: From 2025 to 2027, it will reach $13 billion, double the amount from the previous two years.
—OpenAI petitions the US for relief for AI infrastructure. Request to expand TIP Act tax credits for AI data centers.
—AI investors are just as good as humanswhich means it’s not very good.
