Deadly train crash

But yesterday, Apple announced a new product — a ski-goggle-like headset called “Vision Pro” — and no one seemed to care. As our global tech editor, Alistar Barr, writes, the new product has a familiar fatal flaw. That’s today’s Big Story.

We’re also covering:

• ChatGPT might replace your doctor — and do a better job of caring for you.
• Office workers everywhere are about to face their own Uber moment.
• Elon Musk is zeroing in on building live video on Twitter.

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Ukraine dam, Santos, & Binance

• Video shows torrents of water flooding into southern Ukraine’s war zone after a major dam was destroyed, sparking a new flashpoint in the war.
• Rep. George Santos said he’d rather forfeit his $500,000 bond and go to jail than out the people who guaranteed the money, according to court docs.
• The SEC is going after Binance, and there’s a legendary quote in the complaint: “We are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.” More here.

Apple’s new headset

Apple is usually a master at turning technical gadgetry into desirable status symbols, Alistair Barr writes. But it’s doubtful that this version of the Vision Pro will be able to pull that off.

Owning a fancy iPhone signals success, wealth, and tech savvy. That reputation is a big part of what made the iPhone the most profitable computing device in history.

Now, imagine someone wearing the Pro Vision headset at the airport. They are going to look either silly or disconnected from reality. The ultimate goal is probably to pack all the prowess of the Vision Pro into a cool slim pair of glasses — but for now, it’s a pair of nerd goggles.

Perhaps that’s why there are no photos of Tim Cook or other Apple execs wearing the headset.

Dr. Chatbot, Twitter, & more

• ChatGPT is replacing doctors. In new research, AI-powered chatbots gave more useful answers to medical questions than human doctors — and their answers were also rated seven times as empathetic as those from humans. So the phrase “Dr. Chatbot will see you now” should actually bring you comfort. Here’s what to know.
• Office workers are about to face their own Uber moment. Every black-cab driver in London is required to pass a test — and the advent of Uber put that test on every cellphone, lowering the barrier to entry for the profession. AI could do the same for multiple white-collar industries.
• Elon Musk’s Twitter is racing to build a live-video service. The goal is to have reliable, high-resolution live-video capabilities on Twitter, similar to what is offered on YouTube Live, sources say. This comes as the company — whose new CEO started yesterday — tries to woo right-wing media personalities.
• Major League Baseball threw 120 years of history in the trash by adding a pitch clock, which has shortened baseball games by 26 minutes. Now fans are flocking to games — and baseball is so freaking back.
• A climber who was rescued from Mount Everest is being slammed for snubbing his savior. The Malaysian climber was stuck in the mountain’s infamous “death zone,” where oxygen is limited and temperatures can drop below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Social-media users are upset the climber thanked his sponsors, instead of the Sherpa who saved him.
• Meet the average shopper with student loans. New research from UBS found the typical consumer in this bracket to be a 37-year-old earning $65,000 – who was disproportionately likely to agree with the philosophy “live for today.” More from the research here.
• People probably have to be on Ozempic forever. The new, injectable anti-obesity and diabetes drugs — Mounjaro, Ozempic, and Wegovy — deliver stunning weight-loss results. But the injections don’t work once people stop taking them.

James Webb

Deadly train crash

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