Ben Gepp on Apple has outperformed the Big 8 year-to-date - 'Imagine if Apple did that. It would appropriately be called ‘beleugured’ and yet MSFT is at all time highs. How do you effectively run a business that yesterday required 240k employees and will soon have one in four depart? That will require a 33% productivity gain by the rest of the company to make up the shortfall. I guess they believe AI may cover some of that?'
on Apple has outperformed the Big 8 year-to-date - 'From Reuters: Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Monday it is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, or more than a quarter of its global workforce, as the technology giant looks to contain costs and help fund its massive AI investments. “Staffers across the Windows maker would be eligible for the offers, including those working in AI experiences, Copilot, finance, human resources, Xbox and Windows + Devices, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, requesting anonymity as the matter was private. Units such as marketing, commercial business and security will be excluded, the source added. “This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support. It also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs,” Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said in a staff memo. Like other tech giants, Microsoft is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI data centers and chips, drawing scrutiny from investors over whether the returns will justify the staggering cost. The company, slated to report first-quarter results after markets close on Wednesday, has forecast $175 billion in capital expenditures for the 2026 calendar year.” Gee, $175 billion spread over 60,000 employees would be $2.9M/employee, or about 24 years of employment at $120,000/year. I guess they really don’t need people if they can make do with 75% of current workforce. Probably taken down another 50,000 next year. Excerpt From “Microsoft offers buyouts to around 60,000 employees to contain costs” Jaspreet Singh Reuters https://apple.news/AMF5adqc8Q3KybU5CjksV1g This material may be protected by copyright.'
on Premarket: Apple is red - 'though Apple closed off Monday $3.82 or 1.10% at $343.91, the shares are up 26.50% year-to-date with new all-time highs set as recently as last Thursday.'
on GenAI's big week - 'Hi, Richard. We use English units because pre-metrics that’s how math and engineering was done. Also, the only reason we have a metric system is because we have ten fingers. Also an argument based on “almost everybody else does it” cuts no ice with me. That’s right up there with “We should all just use English”. Besides, we now have ubiquitous calculators, and ubiquitous translators aren’t far off either. No reason to choose one calculating or speaking language over another, so maybe it’s time for metrics to get off its high horse. Just one old man’s opinion, of course.'
on Peter Thiel puts Steve Jobs and Elon Musk in the same sentence - 'Jobs didn’t hire Cook for his creative/vision chops. He left Cook with a second tier of managers including Ives, that filled the areas that Cook lacked. Cook brought organizational and supply chops to the table, coupled with extreme communication skills. That Jobs recommended Cook for the CEO position, and I believe Jobs knew what Apple needed going forward, tells me everything I need to know about Cook. Then there is this: Jobs was a genius product guy that brought Apple’s iconic products (iPod, iMac, iPhones, iPad) to market with great financial success. Cook’s incrementalism took Apple far beyond the next financial level and positioned Apple to dominate the AI era.'
on GenAI's big week - '“American exceptionalism should have its limits!” I’m not sure it has anything to do with exceptionalism. I believe it is because of the source of most of the information that AI draws from.'
on GenAI's big week - '@Ben Actually, it’s rather more than 95%. Of the world’s 195 generally recognised sovereign states (196 including Taiwan), only three are commonly cited as not having fully embraced metrication. That’s approximately 98.5% of countries. One might reasonably ask why the remaining 1.5% should dictate the default units used by AI for the other 98.5%. American exceptionalism should have its limits!'
on Peter Thiel puts Steve Jobs and Elon Musk in the same sentence - 'Upvoted and well-stated, Ben! I agree with everything you stated about Musk. The only thing I’d add was Musk siring 14 children with apparently no intention of being a father to any of them. Despicable.'
on Peter Thiel puts Steve Jobs and Elon Musk in the same sentence - 'Thiel is probably a bit harsh but he’s right. Tim Cook has no signature product, just incremental improvements to the 20-ish year head start Jobs gave him. He also has a laundry list of mediocre/bad hires. Jobs hired Srouji I believe. Cook has released no (currently) growing products and Services are all virtually from Jobs’s product lines. There’s just no world where you can compare Cook to the creative and visionary genius of Jobs or Musk. That also doesn’t mean Tim isn’t a solid and upstanding citizen, who was also a good CEO that kept the products he inherited selling remarkably well, while navigating geopolitical tensions with surgical precision.'
on GenAI's big week - '@Steven I liked Forbin Project except for one thing. To make the computer seem powerful they made it really huge. That would have made it really slow. Now we know that really fast and powerful computers are really tiny so you don’t waste time with signals traveling long distances. A fun Kickstarter project would be a facade for the Mac Studio consisting of a lot of flashing LED lights to make it look like a Hollywood computer from the 50s and 60s.'
on GenAI's big week - 'Well, I would think AI should be able to detect, or at least query, one’s preferred units. I’m slowly building intuition in mm/cm measurements. I’ve been comfortable with km alongside miles for years, and mostly with meters alongside yards. But ask me to visualize 3 mm or 5 cm, and I struggle and have to do the conversion.'
on GenAI's big week - 'Anthropic seems pretty decent when it comes to US-based queries. But as soon as you ask something on a European country-based item it seems to struggles. At least that is my experience. I increasingly use Gemini for things overseas. It executes the cross-language challenge much better. Does anyone still remember the IPO of Rivian (RIVN)? It’s currently less than a tenth of its IPO price, I think. Groundhog Day may be in for Anthropic.'
on Apple drops another product update - 'Yes, Apple knows what they’re doing. They offer a far superior replacement for the mini adding about a $100 price increase across the options (some variations). 9to5Mac’s excellent comparison, shows how the new mini increases the screen size, brightness, quality, while the processor takes this mini firmly into the AI era, all in a thinner, lighter elegant package.'
on GenAI's big week - 'The company may have warned that AI could “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity”, but in its IPO filings it also warned that AI regulation could pose an existential business risk to Anthropic. “Heads we win, tails you lose” seems to be the mantra of all the AI techbros.'
on Apple has outperformed the Big 8 year-to-date - 'Wonder how many are in the Seattle area? I remember when Boeing had big losses. The sign asking Will the last person leaving the city remember to turn off the lights. We’re not quite that one industry town anymore, but we’ve already driven Amazon away. More to come?'
