Month: April 2023

Enlarge / Google's not what it used to be. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

The New York Times has a big piece detailing Google's "shock" and "panic" when Samsung recently floated the idea of switching its smartphones from Google Search to Bing. After being the butt of jokes for years, Bing has been seen as a rising threat to Google thanks to Microsoft's deal with OpenAI and the integration of the red-hot ChatGPT generative AI. Now, according to the report, one of Android's biggest manufacturers is threatening to switch its new phones away from Google Search.

Of course, preinstalled search deals are more about cash than quality. Google pays billions every year to be the default search engine on popular products with deals framed as either "revenue sharing" or "traffic acquisition fees." Google reportedly pays as much as $3.5 billion per year to be the default search on Samsung phones, while it pays Apple $20 billion per year to be the default search on iOS and macOS. The report notes that the Samsung/Google search contract "is under negotiation, and Samsung could stick with Google."

This whole situation could just be a Samsung negotiating tactic. Google has a semi-credible search threat for the first time in years, and Samsung could be using that to push Google for a higher share of revenue. It's not clear if Microsoft is even willing to play ball here. Microsoft is probably paying a lot for Bing's ChatGPT integration—would it also be willing to match Google's multi-billion-dollar payments? Samsung and Microsoft have an existing preinstall deal, to the point where there is usually a whole "Microsoft" folder preinstalled on the home screen, with apps like Office, OneDrive, LinkedIn, and Outlook.

Enlarge / When Google, whose Chromium/Chrome-related browsers make up 80% of browser share, says that something has "not enough interest from the entire ecosystem," what does that mean, exactly? (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Chrome developers' decision to remove support for a compressed image format that Google helped develop is just another sign of "the disturbing amount of control" the ad company has over browsers and the web, according to the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

In a statement, Greg Farough, campaigns manager at the FSF, took aim at Google's stated reason for deprecating support for the JPEG XL image format, which was based on Google's PIK format. A Google engineer, commenting on the JPEG XL issue tracker on Chromium, Chrome's open source core project, wrote that "there is not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG XL." The format also "does not bring sufficient incremental benefits over existing formats," and removing it "reduces the maintenance burden," the engineer wrote.

"Putting aside the problematic aspects of the term 'ecosystem' when you yourself are by far the largest and most dangerous predator in said 'ecosystem,'" Farough wrote (adding his own link). "In supposedly gauging what the 'ecosystem' wants, all Google is really doing is asking itself what Google wants."

Enlarge / When Google, whose Chromium/Chrome-related browsers make up 80% of browser share, says that something has "not enough interest from the entire ecosystem," what does that mean, exactly? (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Chrome developers' decision to remove support for a compressed image format that Google helped develop is just another sign of "the disturbing amount of control" the ad company has over browsers and the web, according to the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

In a statement, Greg Farough, campaigns manager at the FSF, took aim at Google's stated reason for deprecating support for the JPEG XL image format, which was based on Google's PIK format. A Google engineer, commenting on the JPEG XL issue tracker on Chromium, Chrome's open source core project, wrote that "there is not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG XL." The format also "does not bring sufficient incremental benefits over existing formats," and removing it "reduces the maintenance burden," the engineer wrote.

"Putting aside the problematic aspects of the term 'ecosystem' when you yourself are by far the largest and most dangerous predator in said 'ecosystem,'" Farough wrote (adding his own link). "In supposedly gauging what the 'ecosystem' wants, all Google is really doing is asking itself what Google wants."

Enlarge / Apple's Mac Studio desktop. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

We're generally fans of Apple's now-year-old Mac Studio desktop—and skeptical about its now-year-late Apple Silicon Mac Pro refresh. The Studio addresses many of the needs of the Mac Pro's intended audience in a smaller device that costs less money, while the Apple Silicon Mac Pro seems likely to dispense with at least some of the upgradeability and versatility of past generations.

Reports have suggested that Apple could skip an M2-powered Mac Studio refresh to make that planned Mac Pro more appealing to potential buyers when it arrives. But that doesn't mean the Mac Studio is going away; Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that a pair of Mac Studio updates are being "planned," though he doesn't know when they'll be out. (We would assume that the difference between the two models comes down to which processor they use; the M1 Mac and M1 Ultra versions of the Studio have several differences aside from raw CPU and GPU speed.)

That nugget is one of several in a summary of Apple's plans for its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Gurman adds small details to several stories he has reported in the recent past; the most interesting for Mac users is the 15-inch MacBook Air, which he said late last week would likely include an M2 processor and the same 3024×1964 screen resolution as the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Gurman now says Apple plans to announce the new Air at WWDC.

Enlarge / Apple's Mac Studio desktop. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

We're generally fans of Apple's now-year-old Mac Studio desktop—and skeptical about its now-year-late Apple Silicon Mac Pro refresh. The Studio addresses many of the needs of the Mac Pro's intended audience in a smaller device that costs less money, while the Apple Silicon Mac Pro seems likely to dispense with at least some of the upgradeability and versatility of past generations.

Reports have suggested that Apple could skip an M2-powered Mac Studio refresh to make that planned Mac Pro more appealing to potential buyers when it arrives. But that doesn't mean the Mac Studio is going away; Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that a pair of Mac Studio updates are being "planned," though he doesn't know when they'll be out. (We would assume that the difference between the two models comes down to which processor they use; the M1 Mac and M1 Ultra versions of the Studio have several differences aside from raw CPU and GPU speed.)

That nugget is one of several in a summary of Apple's plans for its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Gurman adds small details to several stories he has reported in the recent past; the most interesting for Mac users is the 15-inch MacBook Air, which he said late last week would likely include an M2 processor and the same 3024×1964 screen resolution as the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Gurman now says Apple plans to announce the new Air at WWDC.