Top stories today:

1. Apple Watch could be unbanned with Masimo deal
2. Blue Origin launches its New Shepard suborbital rocket
3. CyberRunner AI beats Labyrinth world record
4. Google's Gemini Pro slightly worse than GPT 3.5 Turbo: paper
5. Cargo ships forced to go around Africa, given Houthi attacks

0. Data and calendar

1. Apple Watch could be unbanned with deal, Masimo CEO says, but “it takes 2 to tango”

• A software workaround won't work, Masimo CEO Joe Kiani said.

• Apple will halt sales of their most advanced Watches starting Dec. 25, due to an ITC ruling that Apple violated Masimo's patent rights with regards to blood-oxygen sensing.

• Watches will still be available with resellers such as Best Buy or Target.

• Biden could veto the ITC ruling, but that is extraordinarily rare.

2. Blue Origin launches its New Shepard suborbital rocket, 1st since Sep. 2022

• 33 payloads were carried for several customers, including NASA.

  • The capsule returned to Earth after 10 minutes.

• Blue Origin lags behind SpaceX, which has been doing successful orbital launches since 2010.

  • Q3 2024: when Blue Origin expects to launch its orbital New Glenn.

4. CyberRunner AI beats Labyrinth world record after 6 hours of practice

• New record: 14.48 seconds.

• Model-based reinforcement learning.

5. Google's Gemini Pro slightly worse than GPT 3.5 Turbo: paper

• Under-performance is explained by: “failures in mathematical reasoning with many digits, sensitivity to multiple-choice answer ordering, aggressive content filtering, and others.”

• Areas of high performance: “generation into non-English languages, and handling longer and more complex reasoning chains.”

6. Cargo ships forced to go around Africa, given Houthi attacks near Yemen

• Africa route adds $1M in costs and 7-10 days to each voyage.

• U.S. weighs strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

7. FanDuel, DraftKings lead fantasy sports in U.S., as Bet365 leads sports betting

FanDuel was +225% YoY in November, jumping ahead of DraftKings:

Sports betting in the U.S. is spread among several websites, including Bet365, BetRivers, and BetMGM

8. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

9. Other headlines

AI

• Lightmatter, photonic computing startup, raises $155M at $1.2B.

• Harvey, AI for lawyers, raises $80M at $715M.

• Microsoft Copilot can now compose songs with Suno integration.

• Google Ads 30K-person team leveraging AI for sales, may lead to job cuts.

• Google Search limits election-related queries on AI tools Bard, SGE.

• Anthropic to pay for legal defense against users for copyright.

• Andrew Ng interview on AI.

• Harmonic AI: startup discovery platform to find breakout investments.*

*Sponsored.

Tech

• X seeks $100M in political ad revenue in 2024, with 92M U.S. users.

• AWS overhauls 60K-person team to standardize discounts, services.

• Bird, electric scooter company, files for bankruptcy.

• Tesla skips merit-based stock awards this year.

• HughesNet, Starlink competitor, offering 100 Mbps in North America.

• NASA transmits high-def video to 30M km away.

• Beeper says it will fix blue checks on Android, requiring a Mac.

• Pornhub, Xvideos, Stripchat to face strict age verification in EU.

• The CEO Report: become a better leader by subscribing, 100% free.*

• Synthesis: AI tutor for kids from SpaceX's incubated edtech startup.*

*Sponsored.

Tech & law

• Biden admin seeking public input by Feb. 2 for AI safety regulations.

• NYC's $18/hr minimum for delivery leads to higher prices, fewer tips.

• TikTok, Meta, X group sues Utah over strict new limits for minor use.

• FTC bans bankrupt Rite Aid from facial AI facial recognition.

Biotech

• Longevity factions: Biotechs, Wellness Obsessives, Radicals.

• Fractyl, 1-shot gene therapy for diabetes, files for IPO.

• Lilly, Novo to test GLP-1s on heart, kidney disease, NASH.

• $200B in revenue: how aging drugs will conquer Pharma.

Business

• HIG Capital abandons plan for standalone tech funds.

Crypto

• Do Kwon's extradition halted on appeal, case returned for retrial.

• IOSCO issues DeFi policy recommendations.

U.S. politics

• Trump barred from running in CO, CO Court rules 4-3; going to SCOTUS.

• Senate confirms top military nominees, ending Tuberville's hold.

• Jeffrey Epstein's 150+ associates to be unsealed on Jan. 1.

• Giving $750/mo to homeless led to jobs, spending in food, housing.

• Harvard president Gay receives fresh allegations of plagiarism.

World

• Israel offers Hamas 1-week pause in exchange for most hostages.

• 60 hostages, out of remaining 150, dead: Hamas leader.

• Zelensky wants another 500K men drafted.

• Russia uses Chinese traders, Moroccan ports to evade sanctions.

• India will examine U.S. accusation of Sikh murder plot: Modi.

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