Stuff Worth Knowing for the Week of July 24, 2023
Musk kills the Twitter brand, Worldcoin launches, and Hollywood begins delays in the face of strikes.
Welcome back to Stuff Worth Knowing! Each week, I'll round up news related to tech, video games, film, television, anime, and more.
X Marks The Spot Where Musk Buried Twitter’s Brand
How much does it cost to ruin a brand? Apparently $44 billion, if Elon Musk is any indication. This week, Musk finally completed his planned rebranding of Twitter.
The move started back in April, when Twitter, Inc. was changed to X Corp. This week, the familiar Twitter bird logo was replaced with a simple, stylized “X” logo. The rest of rebranding was a bit of struggle, however. Most of the documentation still refers to Twitter and “tweets”. Musk moved to take down the Twitter sign from the company’s San Francisco headquarters, but that project was stalled by the fact that Musk failed to tell the property owners, causing the police to be called.
Once that matter was resolved, a new “X” sign was placed atop the building, a shining beacon in the night. Of course, the issue there is multifold. Permits are needed to erect a sign on top of a historic building, especially one as bright as the X logo. That brightness is also an issue for the folks who live across from the building, as user Christopher J. Beale noted on Twitter. Complaints have ensued. “Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign. The city is opening a complaint and initiating an investigation,” said Department of Building Inspection spokesperson Patrick Hannan told the Associated Press on Friday.
The hits just kept on coming on the digital side of the rebranding as well. The internet joked that the interim X logo looked to be a sans serif version of an “X” glyph available from Unicode’s database. This isn’t necessarily a problem, as Unicode has a free, open-source license, but one would think a billionaire could afford to pay a designer to come up with something new. In addition, Meta holds the trademark for “X” as a logo in relation to “online social networking services”, as the company picked up Microsoft’s defunct Mixer brand. App Store infrastructure is also stopping Twitter from becoming “X”, as iOS prevents app names with fewer than two characters.
The Everything App
All of this is part of a move toward Musk’s planned “everything app”. “The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth–like birds tweeting–but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video,” Musk said on Monday. “In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world. The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird.”
The idea of the “everything app” isn’t entirely absurd, as other regions have apps like Tencent’s WeChat in China. (WhatsApp is trying to make similar moves.) The major issue ahead of Musk’s plans is a lack of trust. Insider Intelligence, a division of Business Insider, noted that Twitter was the seventh most trusted social media app in 2022. Twitter was behind LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Even though every social media service lost trust versus 2021, Twitter’s loss in trust was still in the middle of the pack, and that was prior to Musk’s takeover.
Musk himself is seen as erratic by many. Tesla’s overall brand has worsened since Musk has become more outspoken. The New York Times recently published a story about global worry over Musk’s control of the Starlink communications system. And without trust, you’re not getting people to put their financial futures into your platform.
“The idea that I would use an app that I find more jarring under Elon Musk’s ownership, that I would trust it enough to put my money into it, is fanciful,” Bruce Daisley, the former head of Twitter’s European operations, told The Guardian.
“You can have a really good product and a really good system, but if people don’t trust it, it’s not going to happen,” data company FXC Intelligence head of content Lucy Ingham told the outlet.
And that’s before noting that Twitter is actually one of the smaller social media apps in terms of its user base. It has 541 million monthly active users, far below Instagram’s two billion or TikTok’s one billion. With no trust, X can’t grow, and without more ubiquity, it can’t cross the threshold to really become an everything app.
A Failed Launch
Twitter, despite its smaller user base, has a strong social impact. The brand is everywhere. While other platforms have posts, Twitter’s “tweets” are well understood and widespread. Jimmy Kimmel Live has its “Mean Tweets” segment, while Wired and other Conde Nast outlets have their “Support” line of videos, where subject matter experts answer Twitter questions. (The latest Tech Support video actually has the “X” logo, while still calling the service “Twitter”.)
When many news outlets report on the latest news, the Twitter logo is there. Tweets have appeared in Congressional hearings multiple times. If you live in an urban environment, you’ll see the familiar bird logo on restaurant signs and food trucks. That’s powerful branding Musk is simply throwing away, with analysts noting that up to $20 billion in value has been lost in the rebrand.
“It took 15-plus years to earn that much equity worldwide, so losing Twitter as a brand name is a significant financial hit,” Steve Susi, director of brand communication at Siegel & Gale, told TIME.
“To me, it’s going to go down in history as one of the fastest unwinding of a business and brand ever,” Metaforce co-founder Allen Adamson added.
Musk’s major problem is that he could’ve created this planned app without destroying Twitter. For all its own issues, Meta is much better at understanding segmented apps underneath its control: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and now Threads each have different focuses. Likewise, all of Google’s products are under Alphabet, Inc, but retain their names because the branding and history of Google or YouTube is still very important. X Corp could’ve kept Twitter operating on an even keel and then used that as a springboard to launch X. What was there didn’t need to die.
Instead, Twitter is gone, replaced by X. (It went better than when Musk tried to rebrand PayPal as X, at least.) Where the familiar, jaunty blue bird once stood, the cold X glyph remains. And Musk continues to add new features like voice messages and ad revenue sharing in a desperate bid to keep X relevant. Let’s see if X ever reaches “everything” status. Personally, I doubt it. Over Twitter’s dead body.
Tech ⌨️
OpenAI CEO Launches His Worldcoin Crypto Project
This week marked the initial launch of Worldcoin, a project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern. The project is three concepts in tandem: a digital ID system, a Worldcoin cryptocurrency token, and the World App. The former is based on scanning a user’s iris to establish their digital World ID, which can then be tied to the World App and used for purchases and transfers. Following its beta period, Worldcoin is looking to expand to more than 35 cities across more than 20+ countries.
Of course, the platform is already drawing ire… from everyone. Some folks already see cryptocurrency as a dead end, while crypto fans generally don’t want their personal biometrics tied to their digital wallets. Folks also took issue with those biometrics being in the hands of The Worldcoin Foundation, a non-profit that will supposedly divest from Worldcoin once the platform matures. One could point to the about-face of Altman’s “OpenAI”, which was open-source and transparent right up until the money started flowing in. Even before we get to that problem, Reuters reports that French privacy regulators already have big questions about the platform.
Threads Launches Following Feed, Zuckerberg Hedging On The Service
On Monday, Threads released update 293.0, which finally added a Following feed to the service. The rollout was gradual across the platform’s users, offering a following feed if activated users clicked the app’s Home icon twice. The update also touted further improvements coming to Threads: “You asked, we answered. New features are coming, so keep an eye out as you browse the latest version of the app,” said the update on the App Store.
Meta also released its financial results for the second quarter ended on June 30, 2023, which meant CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked about Threads by analysts and investors.
“I'd say we have a lot of work to do to really make Threads reach its full potential,” said Zuckerberg when asked about Threads’ place in Meta’s product line. “Once we feel like we're in a very good place on that, then I'm highly confident that we're going to be able to pour enough gasoline on this to help it grow once we get to the point where we feel good that everyone who's using it is going to continue using it at a high rate. And then a few years, once we get to the point where it's at hundreds of millions of people, assuming we can get there, then we'll worry about
monetization. But I do think it has been sort of this weird anomalous thing in the tech industry that there hasn't been an app for public discussions like this that has reached 1 billion people.”
TikTok Launches Text Posts
On Monday evening, TikTok rolled out Text Posts. Despite the name, Text Posts aren’t entirely text-based: they primarily use text, emojis, and hashtags, but also allow for sound and video. They’re merely a new type of TikTok for users to work with. “With text posts, we're expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we've seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine,” said the company in its announcement post.
Tesla Under Investigation In California Over Autopilot Safety Issues
Part of the problem with lying about the capabilities of your autonomous driving system is folks might come after you legally for the lack of results surrounding those lies. According to CNBC, the California attorney general’s office is now investigating Tesla, with a focus on Autopilot safety issues and false advertising complaints. The investigation started after a complaint filed by a Tesla Model 3 owner who had issues with random, automatic braking on his vehicle. He also felt that he was misled after paying for the premium driver assistance option.
Video Games 🎮
Activision Wants To Shut Down TikTok Creator’s Legal Threats
Activision has filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, asking for declaratory relief against TikTok creator Anthony Fantano, shutting down his potential vectors for litigation. Activision used an audio clip from one of Fantano’s TikTok videos to promote the Crash Bandicoot series. The company alleges that Fantano contacted Activision, stating that its video infringed upon his endorsement rights. Activision removed the video, but Fantano allegedly threatened legal action if he wasn’t paid “six-figure” monetary damages.
In its complaint, Activision states that Fantano has no legal basis because his video was uploaded to TikTok, automatically becoming part of TikTok’s library content that users can reuse and remix. Activision used the audio in a TikTok video, complying with the service’s terms of use. The company also states that Fantano concocted a scheme to profit from his video using lawsuits.
PlayStation 5 Crosses 40 Million Consoles Sold
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on Thursday that the PlayStation 5 console has reached 40 million consoles sold through to players. This is up from the 38 million sold back in April 2023. The PlayStation 4 hit the same milestone two months faster, reaching 40 million sold in May 2016. Part of the problem with the PS5 sales up until this year was stock-based, an issue that Sony only just corrected, so we’ll see if the current console will catch up to its predecessor.
Final Fantasy XIV Is Finally Coming to Xbox
During the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival this week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer joined FFXIV creative director Naoki Yoshida onstage to announce that the MMOis finally coming to Xbox platforms. The Xbox version will launch in Spring 2024, with an open beta timed around the launch Patch 6.5. It’s been a long time coming for Spencer, who’s been trying to get FFXIV on the platform since 2019.
PlayStation Shows Off New China Hero Project Games
This week marked the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy) 2023 in Shanghai, China. The conference is a celebration of Chinese digital entertainment. PlayStation took the chance to show off more games from its China Hero Project, an incubator for PlayStation titles from Chinese developers. The new titles are The Winds Rising by Ti Games, The God Slayer by Pathea Games, and Daba: Land of Water Scar by Dark Star Games.
The program is an interesting one for Sony, expanding into other regions for nascent developers. Sony also announced the India Hero Project, looking for talented developers in that region. Assuming some successes, both projects could boost PlayStation’s profile in their respective regions. Even better, if those games can also end up being hits worldwide.
Film, Television, and Streaming 🎞️
WGA and SAG-AFTRA Strikes: The Delays Begin
It’s clear that The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes are going to last for quite a while. The studios have been prepared for the strikes to last until October, but this means new projects aren’t filming now and actors cannot promote upcoming films. With that reality in mind, studios are starting to delay their 2023 films into 2024.
This week, Sony moved a series of release dates. Gran Turismo was pushed back to August 25, with sneak previews starting on the original release date of August 11. Kraven the Hunter was coming on October 6, but is now pushed back to August 30, 2024. Ghostbusters: Afterlife moves from the holiday date of December 20 to March 29, 2024. And Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse has been delayed indefinitely, which isn’t all that surprising given production reports.
Variety also reported that Warner Bros. Discovery was looking at potential delays. Dune: Part Two is scheduled for November 3, 2023, but the studio is mulling over a delay. (Following this report, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond pushed back, stating that Dune will have “five or six weeks” in IMAX and he believes it will hold its release date.) Likewise, The Color Purple and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom might have their current release dates in jeopardy. Disney might also delay some smaller films, including Poor Things, Next Goal Wins, Wish and Magazine Dreams.
Of course, these delays means that the films that do come out might enjoy longer, unencumbered runs at the box office. We’ll see how it all shakes out.
Barbie Box Office Has Mattel Raiding The Toy Box
Barbie stunned with an opening weekend of $162 million, followed by strong weekdays at the box office and a potential second weekend around $90 million. It’s running at a stronger pace compared to this year’s other breakout hit, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. And where there are dollar signs, corporations see expansion.
At its investors call for the second quarter 2023 financial earnings, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz hinted at more coming from the toymaker. “We should remember that Barbie has been already successful before the movie, very—the #1 brand for 2 years in a row, globally,” said Kreiz. “And once you have an audience, the more opportunities open up to engage with your fans in many ways and continue to create value from that engagement. So expect more. Too early to talk about sequel specifically, but we absolutely believe there are more opportunities to continue to extend the Barbie brand.”
It’s not just Barbie though. In an article in The New Yorker, Mattel executives talked about a whopping 45 films in potential development based on its toy lines. Films closer to actual development include He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Polly Pocket, Barney, Hot Wheels, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, American Girl, UNO, ViewMaster, and the Magic 8 Ball.
Remember, Marvel Studios just got to the playbook before everyone else did. If you have a problem with its takeover of Hollywood, you just have to understand: it’s not the disease, it’s the symptom. The Mattel Explosion is incoming.
AI 🤖
OpenAI Kills Its AI Generated Text Detector
OpenAI has quietly shelved its AI Classifier, a tool that was meant to detect text generated via ChatGPT. Apparently, the tool simply didn’t work. “As of July 20, 2023, the AI classifier is no longer available due to its low rate of accuracy. We are working to incorporate feedback and are currently researching more effective provenance techniques for text, and have made a commitment to develop and deploy mechanisms that enable users to understand if audio or visual content is AI-generated,” says a note on the announcement page. Teachers will have to use their best guess to determine if students are using AI to write their term papers.
Layoffs 👷
CD Projekt Red Laying Off Another 100 Employees
CD Projekt Red continues to expand its development capabilities, with a total of five projects in development. Despite that, this week CEO Adam Kiciński stated in an organizational update that the company was “overstaffed”. CD Projekt Red will be laying off 100 employees, or around 9% of its current staff. “This will not be immediate as some employees will be let go as late as Q1 2024 but, in the spirit of transparency, we’ve chosen to share the information now. We want team members to have ample time to process and adjust to the change, and we’ve also made sure to offer everyone a comprehensive severance package,” stated Kiciński. This follows the company cutting off the entire Gwent team in May.