In a City Defined by History, Chinatown’s Champions Fear New Arena for 76ers
To Chinatown’s champions, the proposed arena fits a pattern of land grabs, paving the way for yet another sports development project. Philadelphia reminds them of what happened in Washington, St. Louis and other cities, when gentrification and redevelopment shrank or erased downtown Chinatowns.
But to the Sixers, construction unions and some business leaders, the arena promises to create jobs and revitalize an uninviting stretch of downtown Philadelphia, the nation’s poorest big city, that is just a 15-minute walk from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. [NY Times]
Why Max Decided to Lose ‘HBO’ in Its Name
Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming business swung to a profit, but lost subscribers in the third quarter, the company said in its most recent earnings report.
The road could be bumpy in the next few quarters, said Patrizio “Pato” Spagnoletto, global chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer business. But the company’s bets on broadening its content offerings—to include news and sports, for instance—will ultimately pay off, Spagnoletto said. [WSJ]
The decision actually became a pretty simple one. Do you kill “HBO Max” or do you kill “HBO”? Because you can’t have both. You can’t have “HBO” in the name and then put this incredibly varied library under it and expect consumers to have the same equity in the brand.
Pato Spagnoletto, global chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer business.
Director Christopher Nolan reckons with AI’s ‘Oppenheimer moment’
2023 has been widely described as the AI industry’s “Oppenheimer” moment.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of atomic bomb” for his leading role in the Manhattan Project, struggled with the deadly consequences of his invention.
Director Christopher Nolan reawakened public interest in the scientist’s life this year with the release of a blockbuster epic detailing his tortured life. Many saw parallels between Oppenheimer’s attempts to warn policymakers about nuclear proliferation and modern alarm over the possible consequences of artificial intelligence, with some top technologists saying AI poses a “risk of extinction” on par with nuclear weapons.
As Nolan’s film took over theaters this summer, the debate over how to develop AI safely and responsibly was reaching a peak in Washington. As President Biden was convening top CEOs for discussions about AI at the White House, tech executives and senators saw an opportunity to use Oppenheimer’s struggles to illustrate the morally complex stakes of the debate over the emerging technology. [Washington Post]
Microsoft’s Copilot AI Companion is now available for Apple iOS devices
Copilot is a pioneering chat assistant from Microsoft powered by the latest OpenAI models, GPT-4 and DALL·E 3. These advanced AI technologies provide fast, complex, and precise responses, as well as the ability to create breathtaking visuals from simple text descriptions. [Apple App Stores]
PC Gamer Names Baldur’s Gate 3 “Game of the Year”
PC Gamer sums up the win: “In a year full of huge releases from well-established, iconic studios, no one could even get close to the cultural impact of Baldur’s Gate 3, and you really just have to marvel at that. There are going to be shockwaves to this one—frankly I still can’t believe that I’m saying a top-down D&D game is going to wind up being one of the most influential games of the decade, but there’s no denying it. Any developer who isn’t taking a long hard look at BG3 right now is going to wish they had in a few years.” [PC Gamer]
