TechMixtape #3 Edition: No ChatGPT this month!

Welcome to June’s edition of TechFinitive’s Mixtape!

Remember how in last month’s edition we talked a lot about ChatGPT??

Of course you don’t. We write this thing every month and we had to go and check.?

In any case, that’s not here or there. The point is, this month we have ZERO ChatGPT stories for you. We are giving everyone a break from ChatGPT - let all the other cool technologies have their time, for Pete’s sake.?

Instead, we’ve got a story on microprocessors (which really is just an excuse to include a scene from The Departed in this newsletter).?

We also talk Binance, share a few great pieces on the Vision Pro, pop over to Wimbledon, see what the deal is with lab-grown chicken and more, in our fast-paced cassette of tech stories that caught our attention this month. Enjoy!

-The TechFinitive Team

Let’s get this show on the road, shall we??

As we write this, Wimbledon is just about to begin - and with it debut two new generative AI technologies (we said no ChatGPT, not no generative AI!). We think tennis fans and techies alike should be excited by a live draw predictor and the birth of AI commentators.

If that’s too upbeat for you, head to Web3IsGoingGreat and search for “Binance” (never mind, just click here) and let your eyes scroll through what feels like a bottomless list of bad news. It-is-not-looking-good. We weren’t worried when they announced they were leaving the Netherlands… but Cyprus? Cyprus??

You know who else had a bad month? Reddit. The internet giant not only managed to anger anyone who still cares about it over its intention to charge 3rd party developers millions in fees but also received a $4.5 million ransom from a ransomware group (both stories from The Verge).

Sticking to the subject of ransomware, let us never forget the impact of WannaCry. It may be years old, but there are still lessons to learn in 2023 (by Davey Winder ).

That’s it for downbeat; this mixtape is all upbeat from here (sort of).

Apple held WWDC23 early in the month and the biggest thing to come out of it was the Vision Pro. It’s a cool piece of tech that has raised numerous questions, including from our film-loving contributor Richard Trenholm Knightwell : “things just got weird”, he wrote, in his piece about what presence means in this brave new world.

Which, naturally, brings us to Star Trek. Our favourite grumpy IT manager, Michael Dear, explained why we should stick to the keyboard basics before we start going all fancy with vision and touch.

If you’re still wondering “What has Apple built, what is it for, what does it mean for Meta, and why does it cost $3,500?” then you gonna love Benedict Evans piece.?

Speaking of Meta, the new Quest 3 VR headset is coming out this fall. If it makes Beat Saber even better, then we are all for it.?

While we are on games, we also recommend this piece on Wired by Zephin Livingston on How Fighting Games Became a Haven for LGBTQ Gamers (paywall). Informative, well-researched and incredibly timely.???

We mentioned a story on microprocessors at the top and we wouldn’t want you to think that was REALLY just an excuse to insert that The Departed clip. It wasn’t. As proof, read this insightful piece on China’s underground market for high-end Nvidia chips.

This month’s edition is coming to an end, but before we let you go, four more pieces:

1. From Heatmap (soft-paywall): “There will not be one type of cultured chicken. There will be kosher cultured chicken, halal cultured chicken, and ... vegan cultured chicken?”
2. The Verge Brother printer review (yes, we are seriously recommending you read a printer review, trust us)?
3. Four volunteers will live in a Mars-simulated environment for a year! (CBS)
4. And finally, in the first of our in-depth pieces about companies’ approach to sustainability, we reveal exactly how green Logitech really is.?

Until next month!