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- đ And the Grammy goes to... AI!
đ And the Grammy goes to... AI!
China cracks down on iPhones, Florida man tries to run to London, and Person of the Week: John Warnock
Wait, has Rotten Tomatoes been the rotten one all along? Vulture published a new report that alleges a PR firm manipulated the criticsâ score on Rotten Tomatoes to lift a movie from rotten to certified fresh. The firm allegedly paid small and self-published critics $50 to write positive reviews. So far, it appears the allegations apply to just one movie, so we can all take a deep breath â the integrity of Puss in Boots 2âs 95% remains untouched.
In today's edition:
China cracks down on iPhones
Florida man tries to run to London
Person of the Week: John Warnock
đ Key Stories
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China Restricting iPhones
China ordered employees at several government agencies to stop using iPhones at work
Apple produces 95%+ of its iPhones in China and accounts for ~17% of Chinaâs annual smartphone sales. China accounts for ~19% of Appleâs revenue
For years, China has banned some government workers from using iPhones at work. The US has also banned some Chinese smartphone imports and banned TikTok from federal government devices
Last month China expanded its iPhone ban to employees at ministries overseeing investment, trade, and foreign affairs
Dig Deeper
In related news, last week, Huawei released its new âMate 60 Proâ smartphone, which is faster and more powerful than previous models and is built with computer chips produced in China. The US and its allies have limited chip sales to China for years in an attempt to prevent it from developing its own chip industry, and following Mate 60âs release, some analysts suggested that China is progressing faster than expected at doing so despite that
Embryo Model Created
Israeli researchers successfully created an embryo-like model without using sperm or eggs
Embryos are the earliest stage of development of a multicellular organism. Scientists are banned from working with them past 14 days of development
On Wednesday, Israeli researchers published a study in Nature in which they claimed to have created a nearly identical embryo model. They grew it with stem cells and reported that it was just like a real embryo, although it couldnât produce a living child
Scientists could legally work on such embryos past 14 days, although none have or have said they will
Dig Deeper
The researchers reprogrammed ânaiveâ stem cells â which can become different cell types â into four different types of cells necessary for embryonic development. They mixed 120+ of those together in a dish, ~1% of which spontaneously began forming into an embryo-like structure. The end result was a âtextbook image of a humanâŠembryo,â the lead researcher told the BBC
Trump Liable for Defamation
A judge ruled that Trump is liable for defamation in a second case brought against him by E. Jean Carroll
In 2019, Carroll, a prominent writer, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in an NYC store in the 1990s. Trump denied that and said Carroll wasnât his type. In response, Carroll sued Trump for defamation in 2020
Last year, Carroll sued Trump again. In May, a jury found Trump liable for $5M in that 2022 case for defamation and sexual assault. Trump appealed
On Wednesday, a judge ruled that the May verdict means Trump is also liable for the 2020 case. A jury will decide in January how much more he has to pay Carroll
Dig Deeper
Trumpâs lawyer said that he remains âvery confident that the [2022 Carroll verdict] will be overturned on appeal, which will render this decision [void].â Lawyers for Carroll said they âlook forwardâ to the trial this January. Trump had not publicly commented on the ruling as of publication
Proud Boy Leader Sentenced
A judge sentenced Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, to 22 years in prison
Tarrio joined the Proud Boys in 2017 and became a âfourth-degreeâ member, a designation awarded to those who got in a fight âfor the cause.â When the Proud Boysâ leader left in 2018, Tarrio replaced him
Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy â trying to overthrow the government â in May over the January 6 riot, which he didnât personally attend. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 22 years in jail
The Justice Department has charged 1,100+ people over the January 6th riot. Tarrioâs sentence is the longest yet, surpassing the 18 years given to both the leader of a different far-right organization and the leader of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys
Dig Deeper
Prosecutors requested a 33-year prison term for Tarrio, arguing he used his skills as a âsavvy propagandistâ to organize and motivate the Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol. Tarrioâs lawyer requested 15 years, arguing Tarrio hadnât intended for the riot to occur
The judge ultimately sentenced Tarrio to the 22 year sentence, arguing he was the âultimate leader of that conspiracyâ to overthrow the government and was âmotivated by revolutionary zealâ
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Dig Deeper
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đż Popcorn
ICYMI
Divorcinâ up: Singer Joe Jonas and actress Sophie Turner have divorced after four years of marriage and two children. The couple called it a âunited decisionâ in a joint statement
Jenni asks for red card: Spanish soccer player Jenni Hermoso filed a criminal complaint accusing Luis Rubiales of sexual assault for the kiss he gave her after the Womenâs World Cup final
Hottest summer ever: The World Meteorological Organization reported that Earth has experienced its hottest Northern Hemisphere summer on record
Wildcard
And the grammy goes to⊠AI! TikTok user ghostwriter977 submitted his AI-generated song âHeart on My Sleeveâ â featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd â for Grammy consideration
Rescue down under: Three men en route from Vanuatu to Cairns, Australia, were rescued from their partially sunken inflatable catamaran following multiple shark attacks
Florida man tries to run to London: The US Coast Guard intercepted a marathoner ~70 miles off Georgiaâs coast as he attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a âHydro Pod,â or a large hamster wheel-like contraption powered by him running
đ What do you think?
Today's Poll:Do you support your government banning TikTok? |
Today's Question:
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See yesterday's results below the Wrap!
đŻ Roca Wrap
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A
rguably the worst advice John Warnock ever received was to give up on engineering.Warnock â born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1940 â loved math but struggled at it, failing ninth-grade algebra. When he told a high school guidance counselor he wanted to become an engineer, she told him to consider another career.
Warnock didnât quit on mathematics, though, and went on to receive an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a masterâs and a PhD in electrical engineering. After starting his career at IBM, he worked at a series of companies before ending up at a division of Xerox, where he met Charles Geschke â a coworker who would become his best friend.
Warnock and Geschke developed a mechanism that allowed computers and printers to communicate, however Xerox decided not to release it. That led the friends to leave their company and start their own out of Warnockâs garage in 1982.
They named it Adobe, after Adobe Creek, a creek near their homes in Californiaâs Silicon Valley, and they based their first product â PostScript â on lessons learned at Xerox.
PostScript was a coding language that allowed computer users to print documents as they appeared on-screen, including with graphics and multiple fonts. That task previously required a trip to a printing press and its release revolutionized publishing.
Apple was the first company to adopt PostScript, integrating it into its new LaserWriter printer. âWhen that first page came out of the LaserWriter, I was blown away,â Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said. âNo one had seen anything like this before. I held this page up in my hand and said, âWho will not want that?â I knew then, as did [Warnock], that this was going to have a profound impact.â
After Apple launched the LaserWriter printer with Adobeâs PostScript, Adobe received many letters of thanks.
âThe first note we got was from these ladies who told us how excited they were to be able to publish their magazine,â one of Adobeâs first employees said. âIt was a lesbian newsletter, kind of pornographic in nature. The second newsletter that arrived was from a fundamentalist Christian sect. It wasnât exactly what we had in mind, but we gave them the voice to present their point of view.â
Jobs wanted to buy Adobe outright, but âwe werenât quite ready to be subservient to Steveâ Warnock later said. While Adobeâs founders refused to sell the whole company, they accepted an investment from Apple and earned royalties by licensing PostScript to Apple for its LaserWriter printers. In 1985 alone, Adobe generated $1.2M in revenue from PostScript.
Apple and Adobe didnât stay friends, however.
Apple and Microsoft teamed up in the late 1980s to create their own language to challenge PostScript, a clash dubbed âThe Font Wars.â Warnock recalled telling his colleagues they had only one way to save Adobe: âTo out-invent the bastards.â
Both companies sought to control the standard font technology on computers and printers. Ultimately, the companies coexisted, with Appleâs becoming the standard on Windows and Mac platforms and PostScript remaining popular in the professional printing and publishing industries
Warnockâs next goal was to create a file format that could properly reproduce documents on any computer screen or printer. The resulting top-secret "Camelot Projectâ produced a product that Adobe released in 1993: The Portable Document Format, or PDF.
Unlike PostScript, however, the PDF failed to catch on.
Warnock said in 2013 that he met with IBM executives and âexplained how it worked, what its advantages were and how, from any application, you could send a completely portable document across platforms,â but they didnât buy it. He recalled thinking, âHow stupid can the world be?â
Yet Warnock said he had âpigheadednessâ in clinging to ideas. âWe said, âThis is the way the future is going to be. We are going to stick it out. To hell with the rest of the world.âââ At certain times, you have to say, âScrew the stockholders.ââ
In 1994, Adobe gave away its Acrobat Reader software for free, allowing anyone to open and read PDFs. That provided a large base of users, and as PDFsâ popularity boomed, Adobe gradually built up a major business.
Today, Adobe claims that over 3T PDF documents have been created.
John Warnock served as Adobe's CEO from 1982 to 2000 and then as Chairman of the Board from 2000 until his retirement in 2017. By the end of his tenure, Adobe had grown into an $86B company and launched many groundbreaking products, including Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat.
In 2002, Warnock was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, he and Geschke received the highest presidential honor for American innovators.
Warnock passed away on August 20 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He leaves behind a vast legacy, including his wife of 57 years, three children, four grandchildren, and a company thatâs now worth $255.5B.
Adobe announced his death in a PDF.
If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!
đ Roca Clubhouse
Yesterday's Poll:
Do you pay for cable?
Yes: 30%
No: 70%
Do you pay for a streaming service?
Yes: 83%
No: 17%
Yesterday's Question:
If you could pick any fictional world to live in for a year, which one would it be and why?
Kerry: âI mean it has to Barbie World at this point, right?
Kylee from Utah: âI would pick the Wizarding World. Since I was a kid the magic, friendship, and possibilities of the Wizarding World has enthralled me.â
Eric: âHunting season. Just like every fall since 1980ish!â
John: âThe fantasy world I would like to live in would be the 1980âs because at this point cheap gas, good music, and a more or less happy country seems like fantasy today.â
Macole from Memphis: âIf we ever get them, cooler temps. 94Âș in September is NOT fun.â
Shawn from Bedford, Indiana: âHobbiton village. Eating, drinking, smoking and making little hobbits. What more do you need?â
Wrap Replies:
In response to Tuesdayâs Wrap:
FO from "in between continentsâ: âHere in Italy, loads of people watch soccer games through pirated sites, and while I'm vehemently against illegal streams, I fully understand why they do it. Watching soccer has become a notoriously expensive challenge, costing some 70/80 euros a month if you plan on watching the European cups as well (which most people do) . Prices just keep increasing, just as the number of platforms you have to sign up to. In a country where salaries have actually decreased since the 90s (https://www.conflavoro.it/salari-italia-europa/), many people are struggling to make ends meet. Given this situation, why shouldn't piracy flourish? Big media conglomerates keep dividing sports media rights amongst themselves, and prices just keep getting higher and higher.
It seems like this is starting to become a problem in the States, too. If the big leagues want fans to watch their games on "official" websites, they need to make sure the media companies are offering transparent and somewhat more convenient plans (Sky Sport has all but 16 games in the Champions League, and those are on Amazon Prime Video: why should I need to sign up to another service to watch maybe 2/3 games of my team?) finally putting an end to the total sports media rights fragmentation we have today. At least, these are my two cents. I'm a sports fan, not an economist!â
đ§ Final Thoughts
What is it about the letters P, D, and F that lend themselves to so many acronyms? There's the PDF, the PFD (personal flotation device), PFD (the Permanent Fund Dividend, a cash payment given to all Alaska residents), and DPF (diesel particulate filter), just to name a few. Perhaps we'll do a Wrap on the DPF next week.
Enjoy your Thursdays!
âMax and Max