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Thu. 02/03 – Meta.Bomb Feb 03, 2022

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Meta really steps in it with earnings that send the stock down fully 25%. The plague of hacks hitting crypto startups. The ransomware attack causing a snacks crisis in Britain. Bored Apes Yacht Club is an interesting raise. And why we might not see a HoloLens 3.

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Meta estimates Apple's iOS changes will cost it $10B in 2022 (ZDNet)
Facebook and Google’s Ad Addiction Can’t Last Forever (Bloomberg Opinion)
Cryptocurrency platform Wormhole hacked for an estimated $322 million (The Record)
KP Snacks giant hit by Conti ransomware, deliveries disrupted (BleepingComputer)
Bored Ape start-up in investment talks with Andreessen Horowitz (FT)
Inside Microsoft's mixed reality mess, where confusion, rivalries, and canceled projects have roiled the company's metaverse strategy (Insider)

Wed. 02/02 – YouTube Bigger Than Netflix? Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

Alphabet gives a new meaning to the term blowout quarter. Cruise is getting ready to launch its robotaxi business in San Francisco. A GDPR issue that might have huge implications. Starlink has a new premium tier. And what happens if someone buys your house, your IRL house, but in the metaverse? I’m not kidding.

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Google parent Alphabet announces 20-for-1 stock split (CNBC)
Cruise, loaded with another $1.35B from SoftBank, opens up driverless ride-hailing to the public (TechCrunch)
SpaceX’s new Starlink Premium tier promises up to 500Mbps for $500 a month (The Verge)
European Ad Group Hit With Sanctions Over Privacy Lapses (Bloomberg)
Who owns your address in AR? Probably not you. (Protocol)

Tue. 02/01 – Destiny And Wordle Get Acquired Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

The year of gaming consolidation is upon us, with Sony snapping up Bungie. Not EXACTLY related, but the NYTimes has acquired Wordle. Did the CEO of Bolt’s tweets lose him the top job at the company he founded? You can no longer roll through stop signs in your Tesla. And the best use of augmented reality I’ve heard in a while.

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Sony buying Bungie for $3.6 billion (GamesIndustry.biz)
SONY’S BUNGIE ACQUISITION IS ALL ABOUT FORTNITE (The Verge)
Microsoft Deal for Activision to Be Reviewed by FTC in U.S. (Bloomberg)
Pinterest Adds Augmented Reality Feature for Home Decor (WSJ)
Wordle has been bought by The New York Times, will ‘initially’ remain free for everyone to play (The Verge)
Following his fiery Twitter tirades, Bolt founder Ryan Breslow is no longer CEO — and he says it’s his choice (TechCrunch)
Tesla recall: ‘Full Self-Driving’ software runs stop signs (AP)
Pinterest Adds Augmented Reality Feature for Home Decor (WSJ)

World Cup of Entrepreneurs On YouTube

Mon. 01/31 – Spotify “Clarifies” The Joe Rogan Situation Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Summing up the whole Joe Rogan brouhaha from over the weekend. Meta joins a crypto legal alliance and takes a page out of Alphabets book by planning to break out reporting of its metaverse business. And the dotcom bubble called and wants its headlines back: wash trading might be rampant on NFT marketplaces, and a look at the six startups trying to succeed, where Kozmo.com failed.

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(TWTR SPC) Stonks & Startups With @nmasc_ @Katie_Roof and @ChristineMHall Jan 29, 2022

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The great Katie Roof, Natasha Mascarenhas and Christine Hall come on to talk more about the craziness in the stock market and what it might mean for tech startups. Then Chris and I debate The Great Debate surrounding Web3. Shoutout to @randras_ for giving us context, even in the podcast space!

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Fri. 01/28 – Making GPT-3 Less Gross Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

Ho hum. Apple reports its most revenue and profit in history. You’ll soon be able to unlock your iPhone while masked, even without the Apple Watch. The White House is readying a huge executive order on Crypto. The new version of GPT-3 is less error-prone, and less prone to say bad stuff. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Apple CEO: ‘We Don’t Make Purely Financial Decisions’ About Apple TV Plus Content (Variety)
iOS 15.4 Beta Lets You Use Face ID With a Mask On (MacRumors)
White House reportedly preparing executive order on crypto (CoinTelegraph)
The new version of GPT-3 is much better behaved (and should be less toxic) (Technology Review)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs (Folding Ideas on YouTube)
Three things web3 should fix in 2022 (Platformer)
The NFT Art World Wouldn’t Be the Same Without This Woman’s ‘Wide-Awake Hallucinations’ (RollingStone)
Nothing Sacred: These Apps Reserve The Right To Sell Your Prayers (Buzzfeed News)
Your Hotel Concierge Is Probably a Texting Robot. Srsly. (WSJ)
Why Netflix Just Had Its Worst Day in A Decade (Bloomberg)
Netflix stock market woe is warning to Hollywood (Financial Times)

Thu. 01/27 – Apple To Block Block (Née Square)? Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Apple is coming for Block’s Square dongle with a new ability to accept payments just using your iPhone. The dilemma that is the Spotify/Neil Young situation. OpenAI is an interesting raise. Fireblocks is an interesting raise. And why has the r/antiwork subreddit suddenly gone private?

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Wed. 01/26 – Diem Dead? Jan 26, 2022

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Is Mark Zuckerberg abandoning his crypto dreams and looking to sell off Diem? The IMF is subtly suggesting El Salvador abandon bitcoin. Microsoft is gonna play nice with Activision exclusives. For now. Mark your calendars for the next Samsung event. And has YouTube figured out how to beat TikTok at its own game?

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Mark Zuckerberg’s Stablecoin Ambitions Unravel With Diem Sale Talks (Bloomberg)
Ditch Bitcoin: IMF Urges El Salvador to Rethink Crypto (Bloomberg)
Activision’s Next Three Call of Duty Games Will Be on PlayStation and Xbox (Bloomberg)
Samsung's first Unpacked of 2022 will take place February 9th (Engadget)
Log4Shell: No Mass Abuse, But No Respite, What Happened? (Sophos News)
YouTube Shorts Tops 5 Trillion Views to Date, Platform to Test Shopping and Branded Content for TikTok-Style Videos (Variety)

Tue. 01/25 – Is The Nvidia/Arm Deal Off? Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

That already fraught tie-up between Nvidia and Arm increasingly looks like it’s running out of time. Google kills its cookie-killer. Twitter is developing a close friends feature. Meta’s new Machine Learning supercomputer. And why the situation in Ukraine might be a black swan event that is nigh.

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Nvidia Quietly Prepares to Abandon $40 Billion Arm Bid (Bloomberg)
Google kills off FLoC, replaces it with Topics (TechCrunch)
Twitter's new Flock feature takes aim at Instagram Close Friends (Input)
Meta has built an AI supercomputer it says will be world’s fastest by end of 2022 (The Verge)
Hactivists say they hacked Belarus rail system to stop Russian military buildup (ArsTechnica)
DHS warns of Russian cyberattack on US if it responds to Ukraine invasion (ABCNews)

Mon. 01/24 – Do We Even Have The Infrastructure To Make The Metaverse Happen? Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

States sue Google for data shenanigans. Europe passes a landmark ad targeting and data law. Apple’s 2022 lineup according to Mark Gurman. A look at the state of the crypto crash, and to what degree it is affecting NFTs. And all this talk of metaverses led to record VC investment in AR and VR startups, but what some folks are starting to ask is, even if we build it, do we have the infrastructure that will even allow the people to come?

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Google deceived consumers about how it profits from their location data, attorneys general allege in lawsuits (Washington Post)
MEPs adopt Digital Services Act with significant last-minute changes (Euractiv)
European Parliament approves initial proposal to ban some targeted ads (The Verge)
Apple Nears First Product Launch of 2022, With 5G iPhone SE and New iPad on Tap (Bloomberg)
Solana Slides 17% to Lead Losses Amid Crypto Market Plunge (CoinDesk)
Despite the Drop in Crypto Prices, Weekly NFT Sales Reach $4.7 Billion, Increasing 81% (Bitcoin.com)
VR/AR Investments Increase Just As Metaverse Talk Heats Up—But That May Not Be The Only Reason (Crunchbase News)
The titans of the metaverse have a bandwidth issue (Financial Times)

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