In this week's Sunday Reboot, the nightmare scenario of OpenAI's hardware leak and the astounding cheapness of promoting Ted Lasso.
Sunday Reboot is a weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get the next week underway with a good first step.
OpenAI hardware leak is a multi-level nightmare
Readers of AppleInsider will be well aware of the ongoing rift between Apple and OpenAI about trade secrets. They'd also know about the whole Jony Ive hardware situation too.
If Thursday's leak is to be believed, the first hardware won't be a pendant. It seems that, like Apple, Google, and Amazon before it, OpenAI will be churning out a smart home device you can talk to.
At face value, that would be breathtakingly pedestrian. A hockey puck-shaped item that's reminiscent of the second-generation Echo Dot, except that you're talking to ChatGPT's more advanced models.
An Amazon Echo Dot. No moving parts. No camera.
Except that it will apparently have some extra features, like battery power. Premium materials will also help push the price up to $300 to $400, making the HomePod mini look like an absolute bargain.
The worrying bits, though, will be the inclusion of a camera and "parts that will move on their own" to help answer user queries. Except this last bit isn't explained at all.
A battery-operated AI-driven unit that can move at will and see the world? That is a nightmare fuel-generating statement.
I know there will be assurances from OpenAI that there will be safeguards to prevent the AI from discovering a way to traverse your household. Certainly, it will be stopped from secretly filming you as you sleep by some simple rules that it definitely won't break.
Nothing bad will happen. At all. Honest.
I don't want a self-aware AI puck that can see and hear everything somehow coming up with a plan that involves riding the Roomba like a trusty steed, all to discover the household's secrets. Or worse, to somehow manage to escape through the cat flap to freedom and an attempt at world domination not unlike "Pinky and the Brain."
This is completely an exaggerated scenario, as the moving parts are more realistically used to shift the camera around for a better view more than anything. Still, that may be just enough physical motion for ChatGPT to go on an AI rampage.
I have admitted before to being a fan of "Ted Lasso" on Apple TV, and the show came back with a fantastic opening for season 4, taking place in Kansas City.
As an episode to revive the Lasso Way after the closure in the third season, it does a lot to reestablish the characters, showing what has changed over the years, and dragging the mustache back to Blighty with family in tow.
It's shaping up to be a worthy return for a very beloved show, and hopefully it's enough to tempt Apple into more seasons.
That said, I have to question a promotion Apple put on in New York City's Fifth Avenue Apple Store on Thursday. The "Gathering of the Teds" was a look-alike contest, with elimination rounds to narrow the field to one ultimate champion.
There's a website with all of the rules, which explains that the contestants had to take part in three rounds. The first was an introduction of themselves in character and a two-minute dance break.
After the pool reached ten contestants, there was a second-round trivia game that was also held in character. After that, the remaining Teds had to give a moving Lasso-like speech to pep the crowd up.
They missed a trick by not calling it a "Ted" talk.
The marking criteria for the judges is thorough but similarly tongue-in-cheek. Do the contestants radiate "believe" enough? Are they owning the mustache? "Do they believe in Rom-Comunism?"
You would expect that, for people putting themselves up for a fun and a tiny bit humiliating competition, the prizes would be worthwhile. Not particularly in this case.
Official AFC Richmond merch, which is probably the scarf Apple gave away.
There are four prizes, consisting of a "custom soccer scarf" for each of the three finalists and "custom Beats headphones" for the first-prize winner. Presumably all branded to go with the TV show.
The total approximate retail value for the prizes in the rules is $300. It probably cost Apple and the sponsor more than that to pay someone to write the rules and to host it on a website.
It's a well-publicized competition, for a premier-league brand and a return of a major show to its streaming service, held in one of said brand's most important and iconic storefronts.
Someone could've spared a few extra bucks to give them all headphones, or even upgrade the ultimate winner with a MacBook Neo with an AFC Richmond sticker on it.
Of course, this is less the Lasso Way and more something else. Capitalism.
Last week's Sunday Reboot talked about Apple's quarterly finances and how investors and analysts act despite great results.
