Tick-Tock, TikTok ⏰🧑‍⚖️

👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover the explosive news that TikTok is facing the choice of selling its US operations or an outright ban. The app has 170 million users in the US, many of whom will be aghast at the news, but this is a political row that may take years to resolve despite the 270-day deadline. We also have big news on Apple reportedly being in talks with OpenAI to bring its AI expertise to iOS 18. Our Stat of the Week covers a contender that might capitalize on TikTok’s downfall. What’s dAppening sees payments giant Stripe doing a crypto u-turn. And our GPT of the Week has you covered for custom apparel.

What's Appening is brought to you by 3Advance, the product development team that eats, sleeps and breathes apps. Not diggin' the apps? You can opt-out below. Forwarding to a friend? Please do 🙏. They can subscribe here or just listen on Spotify. Our monthly video series can be found on YouTube 📺.

Our Top Take 🎬

🕰️🚫 TikTok – Countdown to Sale or Shutdown as Biden Signs Bill

It really happened: President Joe Biden signed the “divest or ban bill”, ordering ByteDance to sell its US TikTok operations or face being banned. The timetable for the sale is 270 days, although the New York Times reports that political pressure from Beijing and legal appeals from ByteDance, which is refusing to countenance a sale (who could afford it anyhow?), might hold up the process for several years, a timeframe in which TikTok would likely still be operational in the US. Nonetheless, it is a bombshell, coming after years of both open and covert political pressure. The bill’s supporters have focused on security concerns, framing TikTok as a conduit for China to steal Americans’ data. TikTok has gone on a charm offensive in response, commissioning a recent study to show that it contributed $24 billion to US GDP in 2023 and supports 224,000 jobs. TikTok also claims it goes further than most US companies in protecting the data of its 170 million American users. This is a political hot potato, of course, and just because it had bi-partisan support in DC does not mean it is universally popular – far from it. It may also become an election issue as we trundle on toward November: Donald Trump, who could be in office BEFORE the deadline expires, criticized the signing of the bill, despite himself calling TikTok a national security threat while in office. This story does not seem done yet. #TikTokBan Read more here.

🦾 GPT of the Week: Custom Ink Quick Order

This week’s Custom GPT is Custom Ink Quick Order GPT. Our DC neighbor, Custom Ink, specializes in custom apparel for sports clubs, work teams, and anything else that requires a dash of personalization. The GPT allows customers to create and order personalized tees, sweatshirts, and other items within minutes. The bot takes you through the simple steps of designing your custom clothing, analyzing photo uploads and quickly tailoring its suggestions to get you the perfect look. Oh, and we should note that Custom Ink has other GPTs worth checking out, including the Custom Ink Concierge and its Team Names and Slogans Generator GPT.

Other Stories 🗞️

🍏🤝 Apple – Reported Talks with OpenAI for iOS 18 Integration

We have mentioned before that Apple must go big on AI at June’s WWDC 2024, and there have been reports of a potential partnership with Google to supply Gemini’s generative AI to the iPhone. Now, rumors are swirling that Apple is locked in talks with OpenAI over an integration for iOS 18. No deal has been reached yet, and Apple may still go with Google, but time is also running short if, as expected, iOS 18 gets announced at WWDC 2024 (June 10th – 14th). In other OpenAI news, it announced a strategic partnership with the Financial Times, which will let ChatGPT users see Financial Times content in its responses, as well as provide OpenAI with a huge treasure trove of financial reporting to train its models. #OpenApple Read more here.

🥷Google Accused of “Hiding” Rival Email Firm. Yet another tale of a Big Tech firm in trouble in the EU. This time it is Google, which has been accused of making Tuta (a Gmail rival) less visible in search results. Details here.

😎 Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Now Come With AI. Multimodal AI is a natural fit for smart glasses, so it makes sense that Meta has added the tech to its Ray-Ban range, available now after spending months in early access beta. More here.

📷 Adobe Introduces Firefly Image 3 Foundation Model. Adobe is powering ahead with its AI image generator tools, now releasing Firefly Image 3 for Photoshop (in beta) and the Firefly app. Learn more here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 125%

🆙📸 Snap – TikTok Rival Spotlight Sees Big Boost in Watch-Time

As the TikTok saga rolls on, expect to see plenty of speculation on which platforms will benefit from its potential demise. Might Snap’s Spotlight be a leftfield candidate? Snap launched the TikTok-style feed on its platform in 2020, and it has largely gone under the radar. Yet Q1 2024 numbers, which saw total watch-time more than doubling, suggested some gathering momentum. Will TikTok users jump ship before any ban comes into effect? #InTheSpotlight Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

💳💰 Stripe – Payments Firm Does Crypto U-Turn After 6 Years

The financial payments giant Stripe has made another move to ease its way back into cryptocurrency payments, a welcome development coming six years after it stopped accepting Bitcoin, citing it as too “unstable”. However, we will have to wait for BTC payments as Stripe is starting with USD stablecoins based on the Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana blockchains. In a further boost to the crypto sector, Stripe president John Collison bigged up use cases for stablecoin payments, calling them a “way better experience.”. #StripeCrypto Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance...

3Advance wants you! Are you a GPT Creator? Have you created a Custom GPT on the GPT Store? Then, become a guest on our new upcoming podcast series — “What’s Appening: GPT Creators”. Our first episode drops this week where Raf and I talk about why we’re starting this podcast and what’s to look forward to in future episodes. We’ve got a few amazing guests lined up but there is still opportunity for you to talk about your story, your AI aspirations and of course, your GPT. And if you know anyone else that’s created a great GPT, please send them to https://3advance.com/guest so we can get them on the pod! We’ll be sharing links to the podcast (on all the major platforms) here in our newsletter so stay tuned!

📺 Check out the What’s Appening video series + Other Videos!

You can watch other videos and What’s Appening episodes on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or enjoy the bite-size ‘shorts’ on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then turn on notifications, so you’ll never miss out on what’s appening in tech. We appreciate you tuning in, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Just hit ‘Reply’!