Business, Spoken

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5 Mistakes MacKenzie Bezos and Other Mega-Donors Should Avoid Jun 03, 2019

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MacKenzie Bezos’ recent announcement that she’d take the Giving Pledge and dedicate at least half of her $35 billion in net worth to philanthropy has sparked attention, partially because her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos, wouldn’t sign the pledge. Her commitment to the Giving Pledge, spearheaded by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010, should be lauded, especially in light of the current cynicism about the giving of mega philanthropists.

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Airbnb and New York City Reach a Truce on Home-Sharing Data Jun 03, 2019

Show notes

For much of the past decade, Airbnb and New York City have been embroiled in a high-profile feud. Airbnb wants legitimacy in its biggest market. City officials want to limit home-sharing platforms, which they argue exacerbate the city’s housing crisis and pose safety risks by allowing people to transform homes into illegal hotels. Paris Martineau covers platforms, online influence, and social media manipulation for WIRED.

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If China Really Wants to Retaliate, It Will Target Apple May 31, 2019

Show notes

Apple has a Huawei problem. Of the myriad issues raised by the evolving and intensifying US-China trade Cold War, the knock-on effects on Apple have been perhaps least appreciated. And not just Apple of course, but a slew of American companies that have both shifted production to China over the past two decades and, more vitally, tapped into Chinese middle-class consumers as a source of growth and profits.

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MacKenzie Bezos and the Pitfalls of Tech Philanthropy May 29, 2019

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Nearly two months after her divorce from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was finalized, MacKenzie Bezos has made a plan to be far more generous than she and her former husband were as a couple. When the pair split, she became one of the richest women in the world, with a fortune estimated to be worth more than $36 billion. Now she wants to start giving it away.

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We Need to Build Up ‘Digital Trust’ in Tech May 29, 2019

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For months, there’s been a steady march of controversies over how tech companies collect, manage, process, and share massive (and passive) amounts of data. And even though the executives and founders of these companies profess a renewed commitment to privacy and corporate responsibility, people are beginning to worry about surveillance and power—and reconsider how much faith they should put in both the leaders and services leveraging these quickly evolving technologies.

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Why a T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Would Be Bad for the Public May 28, 2019

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Earlier this week, FCC chair Ajit Pai announced that he would soon be asking his fellow commissioners to approve the merger of two of the four nationwide wireless carriers, T-Mobile and Sprint. After a year of deliberation, including thousands of pages of legal and economic filings by proponents and opponents and three congressional hearings, Pai has now decided that a handful of promises, made just days ago by the merging parties, puts this $26 billion transaction in the public interest.

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Judge Finds Qualcomm's Pricing Policy Violates Antitrust Law May 27, 2019

Show notes

The US has joined China, the European Union, and South Korea, in ruling that Qualcomm violated antitrust laws. Qualcomm is the largest maker of modem chips for connecting smartphones to wireless networks. Its customers, including Apple and Samsung, complain that the company uses unfair practices, such as threatening to withhold supplies of chips, to force companies to agree to excessive licensing fees for its technology.

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How the US-China Trade War Could Hike iPhone Prices May 24, 2019

Show notes

It's been a week since the Trump administration raised tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports, and tech companies are still grappling with the consequences. Adding to the confusion are possible US tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of goods, and China's own retaliatory tariffs on US exports. The existing tariffs cover a wide range of goods, but few finished consumer electronics.

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GitHub ‘Sponsors’ Now Lets Users Back Open Source Projects May 24, 2019

Show notes

Last year, Microsoft paid $7.5 billion to buy GitHub, the online home of thousands of open source software projects that power apps and sites ranging from Facebook to Walmart.com. The acquisition, along with IBM's $34 billion purchase of open source company Red Hat, proved that open source software can be big business. That's a little surprising since, by definition, open source code can be freely shared by anyone.

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If Huawei Loses ARM's Chip Designs, That's Ballgame May 23, 2019

Show notes

How do you kill a company? The answer, in the context of Chinese electronics giant Huawei, appears to be depravation, removing ready access to the elements that distinguish smartphones from very expensive chunks of anodized aluminum and glass. The latest blow: Chip designer ARM has reportedly severed ties with the company. Huawei could arguably survive without Google. Without ARM? Not so much. It’s important to clarify that nothing at this point is certain, or permanent.

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