Hello, readers. Hallam Bullock, an editor on Insider's audience team, reporting from London. This week, Apple is preparing to do what no tech firm has managed yet: make the metaverse cool.
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1. Apple is ready to enter its metaverse era, but the rest of the world might not be. Today, Apple is set to begin its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where it is expected to unveil its mixed-reality headset, which has been years in the making. As Insider's Hasan Chowdhury writes, the stakes couldn't be higher.
- The headset, which could be named Reality One, already has some former Apple executives nervous, according to reports. Some people think it's unwise to ramp up efforts to push into the metaverse — especially at a time when the metaverse is said to be headed to the industry's graveyard of failed ideas.
- Apple has already revised down forecasted sales of its mixed-reality goggles from 3 million units to 900,000, per Bloomberg. Then, there's the problem of the new kid on the block sucking up all the attention: AI.
- However, it's also unwise to bet against Apple — a company whose epic feats in tech have earned its leaders cult-like status.
In other news:
2. Working closely with Elizabeth Holmes. Patrick O'Neill was Theranos' chief creative officer, a position which saw him frequently meet with Holmes, who has now started her 11-year prison sentence over four counts on fraud. This is what the infamous company's rise and fall was like from the inside. Read his story here.
3. Elon Musk's trip to China ended with burgers and soft drinks for around 100 Tesla staff. Musk's whistle-stop tour of the country consisted of a 16-course dinner, meetings with Chinese officials, and then ended at Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai. See photos here.
4. Nvidia's founders were not good Denny's customers. That's according to the founders themselves, who told the WSJ that they came up with the $1 trillion idea for Nvidia after they would show up to Denny's for four hours and drink 10 cups of coffee. Read more.
5. AI is getting out of control and is creating a generational divide. Insider's Spriha Srivastava writes that the rapid development of AI is fueling division between different generations. But it's not just boomers and millennials that are worried — tech leaders are, too. Read more.
6. An ex-Google officer said AI is a bigger emergency than climate change. Speaking in an episode of "The Diary of a CEO" podcast, a former chief business officer at Google said the rapid development of AI will result in "mass job losses." The full story.
7. Almost 4,000 people who were laid off in May lost their jobs because of artificial intelligence, new data shows. It was also the first time AI was listed as a cause for cutting jobs on Challenger, Gray, and Christmas' monthly report. Get more details here.
8. New details emerge about Amazon's Ring staff spying on customers. Court documents revealed that between June and August 2017, a male Ring employee viewed "thousands" of videos captured on Ring cameras belonging to "at least 81" women. Read our full report.
Odds and ends:
9. "I drove Kia's $63,000 electric SUV." It's quick, stylish, and high-tech, Insider's Tim Levin writes, but it falls short in range and cargo space. Check out the review in full.
10. Your Amazon Prime plan might soon cut your cell phone bill down to around $10 — or even make it free. The company is in talks with wireless carriers about potentially offering a Prime Wireless plan that could range from $0 to $10 per month for Amazon Prime members, Bloomberg reports. The latest.
Today's team: Hallam Bullock and Jack Sommers in London.