Jacob Kastrenakes

Executive Editor

Jacob KastrenakesJan 1, 2024

“Always a bad idea,”

writes US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, discussing lawyers who used AI and then cited non-existent cases.

Mostly, though, he seems pretty optimistic about how AI could make the courts and legal research more accessible:

I predict that human judges will be around for a while. But with equal confidence I predict that judicial work—particularly at the trial level—will be significantly affected by AI.

2023 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary

[www.supremecourt.gov]

Jacob KastrenakesJan 1, 2024

MrBeast to Elon: X is not a good video platform for creators.

Musk keeps asking creators to post their videos to X. Turns out there’s a very obvious reason why they’re not.

Jacob KastrenakesJan 1, 2024

Meta’s dropping the price on the Quest 2.

It’s been on sale for $250 for the last two months, and now Meta is making that sale price permanent — that means you can get two of them for the price of a single (albeit much better) Quest 3. Accessories are seeing a price cut, too.

New, Lower Prices on Meta Quest 2 & Accessories | Meta Quest Blog

[www.meta.com]

Jacob KastrenakesDec 28, 2023

India’s government is “really angry” that Apple ratted them out for hacking.

The Washington Post reports that Indian officials pushed back on Apple after the company sent alerts to journalists and politicians saying their phones had been targeted by state-sponsored hackers — i.e. the Indian government.

The government then demanded that Apple say the warnings had been a mistake. (And it kinda-sorta did.) The pressure puts Apple in a tense position between its security ideals and its political standing in an important growing market.

India targets Apple over its phone hacking notifications

[The Washington Post]

Apple resumes Apple Watch sales after ban is paused

Jacob KastrenakesDec 27, 2023

Apple Watch ban temporarily paused

Jacob KastrenakesDec 27, 2023

Jacob KastrenakesDec 22, 2023

Beeper’s team met with the Justice Department.

The New York Times reports that there was a meeting “with the department’s antitrust lawyers” on December 12th — a few days after Apple first blocked the app’s iMessage for Android solution.

The DOJ has an ongoing antitrust probe into Apple. Meanwhile, a handful of legislators would like the green bubble drama to stop, too.

Apple’s Newest Headache: An App That Upended Its Control Over Messaging

[The New York Times]

Jacob KastrenakesDec 20, 2023

I don’t think Biden is particularly focused on the Apple Watch ban.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said yesterday that the administration is “tracking this case and the December 25th deadline” — after which imports of new watches will be banned over a patent dispute.

Jean-Pierre indicated that the US Trade Representative will be the one making the decision on whether to block the ban:

“Ambassador Tai is obviously carefully considering all of the factors in this case, so I don’t want to get ahead of any decisions that may come out of USTR. But she certainly has the authority to decide.”