Meta had a bigger story. They launched a mixed reality headset at 499 dollars, which is cheaper than the competition by a wide margin. The glasses are thick, the battery is still a separate puck you carry in your pocket, but they are finally making a play for mass adoption. Zuckerberg is betting the whole company on this. It might work because he is the only one willing to lose money on hardware for a decade.
Culture is splitting along platform lines again. TikTok is now full of AI generated video clips that look real but aren’t. Twitch streamers are fighting over gambling sponsors. The internet is getting faster at producing content, but slower at creating anything that matters. People are craving authenticity but rewarding polish. That gap is getting wider every quarter.
The other thing that stood out this week was how quiet the regulatory news went. The EU dropped a big fine on Apple last month. This week there was nothing. The antitrust window may be closing faster than people expected. If these companies keep the news cycle busy with products, they can keep the lawyers away long enough to lock in the next decade.
Paul