Summary
Overview
TechLinked covers Meta's struggles with AI development leading to data center rentals, Intel and AMD price hikes, Cloudflare's new AI crawler blocking policy, Reddit ending anonymous browsing, Tesla's steering wheel-free cybercab tests, and various tech oddities including AI-cloned Gene Wilder and nuclear-powered gaming desktops.
Meta's AI Struggles and Pivot to Data Center Rentals
Meta is reportedly launching Meta Compute to rent out its AI data centers after admitting its AI model development has stalled. Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at a company town hall that AI agents haven't progressed as hoped, despite massive workforce restructuring and $145 billion in AI spending. The company is now scrambling for revenue, even putting Ray-Ban smart glasses features behind a paywall and capping conversation focus to three hours monthly unless users pay $20 for a subscription.
- Meta plans to rent out AI data centers through new Meta Compute venture
- Zuckerberg admitted AI agents haven't progressed as fast as hoped at company town hall
- Meta cut 10% of workforce and conscripted 6,500 engineers into AI division
- Employees describe working at Meta as 'soul-crushing gulag'
- Meta spent $145 billion on AI development
- Ray-Ban glasses conversation feature capped at 3 hours monthly without $20 subscription
" After the company cut 10% of its workforce, conscripted 6,500 engineers into its AI division, imposed mandatory key longing for AI training, and then forced the remaining engineers to spend all their time generating training data for said AI. What? "
" Employees are now describing the act of working there as akin to being in a soul-crushing gulag. "
CPU and GPU Price Increases Across the Board
Intel quietly raised prices on Core Ultra processors by 15-17% without announcement, while AMD is reportedly telling board partners to expect 10% hikes on GPU and VRAM bundles. Despite the increases, some products remain competitive, with Tom's Hardware calling the 270k Plus the best Intel CPU currently available. Meanwhile, NVIDIA responded to the memory crunch by reviving the six-year-old RTX 3060 from 2021.
- Intel increased Core Ultra 5 250k Plus and Core Ultra 7 270k Plus prices by 15-17%
- Tom's Hardware rates 270k Plus as best Intel CPU available now
- AMD telling partners to expect 10% GPU and VRAM bundle price hikes
- NVIDIA revived six-year-old RTX 3060 from 2021 as budget option
" Nobody wants to be the broke boy in a room full of markups. "
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