CA $1,800 Xbox? Fortune says Microsoft insiders are projecting between twelve and eighteen hundred bucks for the next console.
CThat's 2028, supposedly. And The Verge is already calling it dead on arrival.
MDead on arrival is generous. That's a gaming PC price with console lock-in.
CHere's my defense: consoles have been creeping up forever. The PS5 Pro launched at seven hundred.
MSeven hundred is one thing. Eighteen hundred is more than double. That's not a console anymore.
CBut if it's a true next-gen box with AI upscaling, a monster GPU, maybe it replaces the PC for half the price.
MHalf the price of WHAT? You can build a solid rig for twelve hundred today. In 2028 it'll be cheaper.
CPeople said nobody would buy a thousand-dollar phone. They were wrong.
MPhones are financed through carriers. Nobody's putting a console on a 36-month installment plan.
CFair. But Microsoft could do exactly that with a subscription bundle. Game Pass, hardware, one monthly bill.
MThen the price matters less and the lock-in gets worse. Either way, the casual gamer walks.
CMaybe the casual gamer is already on cloud streaming and doesn't buy hardware at all. This could be a deliberate niche play.
MA niche Xbox. Sure. Why not call it Zune Two?
COuch. Look, I'm not preordering at eighteen hundred either. But I won't pretend nobody will.
MThe insiders said projected cost. That's rumor, not a price tag. Microsoft knows that number is a headline killer.
CThey've got years to walk it back or strip features. It's a negotiation through the press.
MMeanwhile, Spotify's cracking down on Family Plan cheats. QR code verification, scanning the plan manager's phone.
CCo-CEO Alex Norström confirmed it on the earnings call. They want proof you actually live together.
MI get it. Five people across three states sharing one fifteen-dollar plan is not what the plan was for.
CBut this is the most friction they've ever added. Scan a QR code to prove you're roommates?
MFriction is the point. If it's annoying to cheat, people stop cheating.
COr people just cancel entirely. That's the risk they're taking.
MSpotify's been losing money on free users forever. Family Plan abuse is an easy target for revenue.
CEasy target, but the optics are rough. Making your paying customers prove they're not lying feels punitive.
MEvery streaming service does this eventually. Netflix tried password-sharing crackdowns and people screamed.
CThen Netflix added subscribers. So maybe Spotify knows exactly what it's doing.
MProbably. But the QR scan is new. Nobody's done device-to-device verification for a music plan before.
CThere's a startup for that now. Greptile reportedly just raised fifty million at a seven-fifty valuation.
MAI code review, right? They claim they review more than one percent of GitHub pull requests daily.
CThat's the pitch. Independent AI that reviews code and catches bugs before humans merge.
MOne percent of ALL pull requests on GitHub is a massive number. I'd want to see proof.
CThe funding details are unconfirmed too. YC-backed, supposedly. If real, that's a fast rise.
MAI code review is getting crowded. Every tool claims to find the bugs humans miss.
CBut Greptile's angle is independence. Not the same platform that wrote the code checking itself.
MThat IS interesting. An adversarial checker instead of a self-review loop.
CExactly. You ship less garbage if a different model is hunting for the problems.
MOr you get false positives and developers start ignoring it. Seen that movie.
CWhich brings us to the perfect segue: companies raising money to fix hiring.
MFirstwork raised fifteen million. AI platform for hiring frontline workers.
CFrontline workers — retail, warehouses, restaurants. The roles with the highest turnover.
MHonestly, AI screening could help there. Volume hiring is a mess of paper and gut feelings.
CEarlybird led the round. They're not a flashy firm. That's a real signal.
MThe risk: AI hiring tools that filter out good applicants because they don't match a pattern.
CSame bias problem as humans, just faster. But fifteen million is a cautious bet, not a moonshot.
CThe AI funding hype cycle is at maximum spin. Every new tool is 'revolutionary' and 'already profitable.'
MThe real story is the ones getting quiet institutional money. Firstwork's fifteen is more credible than the hype.
CBecause it's boring. Boring is real. Hiring software isn't glamorous but it solves a hard problem.
MAlways watch where the unglamorous money goes. That's where the real tech gets built.