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Mon. 04/25 – Wherein I Race Elon On Breaking News Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

By the time you hear these words, Elon Musk might already own Twitter. A big Java vulnerability. All of Mark Gurman’s expectations for the iPhone 14. Where and by how much, tech worker salaries are rising. And why the struggles at Netflix might lead to worse television across the board.

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Twitter Eyes Deal With Musk as Soon as Monday (Bloomberg)
Analysis: Musk tears up buyout playbook with $46.5 billion Twitter financing (Reuters)
Major cryptography blunder in Java enables “psychic paper” forgeries (ArsTechnica)
The iPhone 14 Is Less Than Six Months Away. Here’s What to Expect (Bloomberg)
Tech Wage Inflation Puts Pressure on Companies (WSJ)
Netflix and Facebook have given up most of the last few years’ gains since tech’s November peak (CNBC)
The Netflix Nightmare: What Happens When an Industry Becomes a Squid Game (Vanity Fair)

(Portfolio Profile) OpenAxis Apr 24, 2022

Show notes

Founder Alex Damianou tells us about OpenAxis, which tells stories with data. If a picture tells a thousand words, how many does a chart tell? Easily and beautifully visualize data with an accessible point-and-click, no-code, no-pivot-table tool.

Learn more about the Ride Home Fund.

(TWTR SPC) - WTF Netflix? W/ @loudmouthjulia Apr 23, 2022

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The great Julia Alexander (@loudmouthjulia) joins us to talk about Netflix's big earnings bomb, CNN+ biting the big one, and the state of the streaming wars.

Fri. 04/22 – The Demise Of CNN+ Makes Quibi Look Good Apr 22, 2022

Show notes

CNN+ only made it, what, 1/8th of a Quibi? There’s blood on the streaming wars dance floor. a16z’s new crypto research lab makes me feel like I have to start covering them like a startup or a conglomerate. More bad news for Meta: they’re way behind in the payments race in India. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Links:

CNN+ Streaming Service Will Shut Down Weeks After Its Start (NYTimes)
a16z Crypto is launching an academic research lab focused on web3 (The Block)
How Meta Platforms Fell Behind in Indian Mobile Payments (WSJ)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

ApeCoin & the death of staking (Cobie Substack)
Cutting-Edge Crypto Coins Tout Stability. Critics Call Them Dangerous. (WSJ)
Rivian CEO Warns of Looming Electric-Vehicle Battery Shortage (WSJ)
Video Game Junkie Quietly Builds $3 Billion Payments Powerhouse (Bloomberg)
The Sidekick Was the Best Smartphone Ever (Debugger)

Thu. 04/21 – Ok. Funding Actually Secured? Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Ok. Funding actually secured, Elon? For real this time? A look at Tesla’s good earnings and monster margins. Unions are coming for big tech, it seems. A reckoning is coming for the lightning cable, it seems. And advertising in your console games is inevitable, it seems.

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Twitter Has a Poison Pill Now (Matt Levine/Bloomberg)
Elon Musk Says He Has Commitments for $46.5 Billion in Financing for Twitter Deal (WSJ)
Elon Musk lays out funding for ambitious Twitter takeover (The Verge)
Tesla record profit blows away estimates (CNN Business)
Tesla reports $18.76 billion in revenue and record margins in Q1 (CNBC)
Apple Store workers in Atlanta are the first to formally seek a union. (NYTimes)
Amazon opens up Prime delivery service to other retailers in its latest move to compete with FedEx and UPS (CNBC)
PlayStation Wants Ads In Its Games, Too (IGN)
MEPs vote to expand scope of common charger rules (TechCrunch)
Zoom’s thumbs-up and raise-hand gesture recognition now works in its desktop apps (The Verge)

Wed. 04/20 – Netflix Earnings Bomb; Ads To The Rescue? Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

Netflix shares crater after earnings, and the company might be turning to ad-supported streaming to eke out some growth. Coinbase’s NFT marketplace is live. Why crypto stocks are uncoupled from the underlying crypto market. Why the surge in zero days might actually be good news. And the tech bubble that would never burst. So far.

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Netflix Q1 net subscribers unexpectedly decline, revenue misses expectations (Yahoo!Finance)
Netflix Plans to Launch Cheaper Ad-Supported Plans (The Hollywood Reporter)
Just Eat Weighs Grubhub Sale in Tough Food Delivery Market (Bloomberg)
Coinbase NFT marketplace goes live in beta for select customers (The Block)
Crypto Stocks Perform Worse Than Cryptocurrencies (WSJ)
Google: 2021 was a Banner Year for Exploited 0-Day Bugs (ThreatPost)
Brave is bypassing Google AMP pages because they’re ‘harmful to users’ (The Verge)
The Tech Bubble That Never Burst (NYTimes)

Tue. 04/19 – Scraping The Web’s Still Legal Apr 19, 2022

Show notes

Courts have reaffirmed the right to scrape the public facing web. We have some hints about how the Twitter edit button might work. Updates on the whole Twitter/Elon situation. Microsoft wants to bring in-game ads to Xbox. And a new startup accelerator you’re gonna want to put on your radar.

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OurCrowd.com/ride

Links:

Web scraping is legal, US appeals court reaffirms (TechCrunch)
Twitter's in-development Edit button offers hints as to how the feature could work (TechCrunch)
Apollo Global Considers Participating in a Bid for Twitter (WSJ)
Insteon is down and may not be coming back (Stacey On IOT)
Microsoft reportedly wants to bring ads to free-to-play Xbox games (The Verge)
Andreessen Horowitz unveils piloted program for early-stage entrepreneurs (TechCrunch)

(TWTR SPC) How To Navigate Tech As An Employee W/ @GergelyOrosz Apr 16, 2022

Show notes

Gergely Orosz of The Pragmatic Engineer helps us figure out the strategy and expectations of joining a high profile startup, vs. the expectations and reality of joining a FAANG company. Also: the perils and promise and best practices of joining a startup, vs. the perils and promise and best practices of joining a big tech company. Hopefully, if you are a tech worker, an engineer, a designer, what have you, there will be some valuable learnings for you. Oh, and Chris and I try our hand at Elon punditry.

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Composer.trade/ride

Fri. 04/15 – Twitter To (Poison) Pill Elon? Apr 15, 2022

Show notes

Twitter’s board is contemplating a poison pill to ward off Elon Musk. The US said North Korean hackers were behind that big Axie Infinity theft. Mark Gurman lists the Macs that are in line to get the M2 chips. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:

AltoIRA.com/techmeme

Links:

Twitter Is Weighing a Poison Pill Defense to Thwart Elon Musk’s Takeover Bid (Bloomberg)
Twitter Board Expected To Fight Musk Offer (The Information)
US Officials Tie North Korea’s ‘Lazarus’ Hackers to $625M Crypto Theft (CoinDesk)
Apple Readies Several New Macs With Next-Generation M2 Chips (Bloomberg)
In latest gaming crackdown, China bans livestreaming of unauthorised titles (Reuters)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The Talent Vortex: Mafias and Magnets (Investing 101)
Musk Needs ‘Massive Loan’ or Big Tesla Sale to Buy Twitter (Bloomberg)
Blind Ambition (Cybernaut/Every.to)
Stablecoins Are in a War for Dominance and It’s Getting Ugly (Motherboard/Vice)
How Chris Dixon’s Dive Down The Crypto Rabbit Hole Made Him The World’s Top Venture Capitalist (Forbes)
AMONG EUROPE’S EX-ROYALS (The Atlantic)

Thu. 04/14 – Elon Hostile Takeover Of Twitter (Funding Secured?) Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Well, he went and did it. Elon Musk told Twitter’s board he wants to buy the whole company. The bids for a Jack Dorsey NFT are anemic. A warning from the US government about industrial cyber-attacks. Meta’s entire metaverse product roadmap. And say hello to the new hottest social network among the kids.

Sponsors:

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LiveOuter.com/techmeme

Links:

Elon Musk Makes $43 Billion Unsolicited Bid to Take Twitter Private (Bloomberg)
US agencies warn of custom-made hacking tools targeting energy sector systems (The Record)
‘Jack Dorsey’s First Tweet’ NFT Went on Sale for $48M. It Ended With a Top Bid of Just $280 (CoinDesk)
MARK ZUCKERBERG’S AUGMENTED REALITY (The Verge)
Gen Z’s new favorite app (Axios)

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