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Mon. 08/23 – M1X Mac Mini Incoming… Aug 23, 2021

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Mark Gurman says when a new high end M1X Mac mini might be coming. The USDC stablecoin looks to get right with the accounting Gods. Visa buys a CryptoPunk. Did Giphy pay dividend to lower its value for Facebook to acquire it? And do we now know the real reason why OnlyFans is attempting to abandon porn?

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High-End 'M1X' Mac Mini With New Design and Additional Ports Expected to Launch in the 'Next Several Months' (MacRumors)
The world’s second-largest stablecoin is undergoing a massive change (CNBC)
Visa buys a CryptoPunk as it takes first steps into 'NFT commerce' (The Block)
Razer bug lets you become a Windows 10 admin by plugging in a mouse (BleepingComputer)
Facebook’s Stealth M&A Puts Focus on Deals Under Antitrust Radar (Bloomberg)
Facebook says post that cast doubt on covid-19 vaccine was most popular on the platform from January through March (The Washington Post)
Post-Culture Review Twitter Thread

News On The RideHome+ Feed Aug 21, 2021

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Important news about changes to the RideHome+ program.

Fri. 08/20 – OnlyFans Pulls A Tumblr Aug 20, 2021

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OnlyFans wants to get out of the porn business, which makes sense to nobody on the Internet. Elon Musk says Tesla is building a humanoid robot, and I love you Elon, but you’ve really opened the door to your critics with this one. Microsoft is raising prices, and of course, the weekend longread suggestions.

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OnlyFans has tons of users, but can't find investors (Axios)
OnlyFans to Bar Sexually Explicit Videos Starting in October (Bloomberg)
Microsoft will raise Office 365 business subscription prices in 2022 (CNBC)
Elon Musk says Tesla is working on humanoid robots (The Verge)
Elon Musk Unveils His Funniest Vaporware Yet (Gizmodo)

The Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The FBI’s warning to Silicon Valley: China and Russia are trying to turn your employees into spies (Protocol)
Electric cars and batteries: how will the world produce enough? (Nature)
Waymo Is 99% of the Way to Self-Driving Cars. The Last 1% Is the Hardest (Bloomberg Businessweek)
These People Who Work From Home Have a Secret: They Have Two Jobs (WSJ)
Amazon Killed the Name Alexa (The Atlantic)
Afghanistan - Part 1 (The Rest Is History Podcast)

Thu. 08/19 – FTC Files Its Facebook Mulligan Aug 19, 2021

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Headlines out of time: Amazon wants to do department stores. Google partners with GE Appliances. But Intel continues to look to the future with its new hybrid architecture chips. Facebook wants your next conference call to take place in VR. And has Robinhood put all its eggs in the Doge basket?

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Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores (WSJ)
GE Appliances announces partnership with major cloud company to focus on data capabilities (Courier Journal)
Intel previews its Alder Lake chip, promises hybrid CPUs for desktops and laptops (The Verge)
FTC files renewed antitrust complaint against Facebook (CNBC)
INSIDE FACEBOOK’S METAVERSE FOR WORK (The Verge)
Facebook is sharing data to prove it’s not a political hellhole (Protocol)
Robinhood says dogecoin accounted for 62% of crypto revenue in Q2 (CNBC)
Venture Investment In Cryptosecurity Jumps 10x Over Last Year As Sector Hits Sweet Spot With Venture Capitalists (Crunchbase News)

Wed. 08/18 – WhatsApp Shuts Down Taliban “Helpline” Aug 18, 2021

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A look at how all the platforms are dealing with the Taliban being a modern social media enterprise. Amazon is bigger than Walmart for the first time. Samsung stops cluttering its phones with ads. Attempting to hire the hacker who hacked you. And I get my answer to why all the platforms want to protect kids all the sudden.

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Quantummetric.com/podoffer offer code Podcastcode

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WhatsApp shuts down Taliban helpline in Kabul (Financial Times)
Platforms struggle with Taliban policy amid chaotic US withdrawal (The Verge)
People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart (NYTimes)
Samsung confirms it’s removing ads from its stock apps later this year (The Verge)
Victim of Major DeFi Cyberattack Offers Its Hacker a Job (Bloomberg)
TechScape: How the UK forced global shift in child safety policies (The Guardian)
Eve Online’s yearlong war ends with an epic retreat (Polygon)

Tue. 08/17 – Yik Yak Is Back. Act Accordingly. Aug 17, 2021

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Yik Yak is back, but can it make it in a Tik Tok world? Concerns about how the Taliban are using WhatsApp. OnlyFans wants you to try out a new safe for work app. TikTok is distributing music via the blockchain. And will BlueSky ever see the light of day?

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Remember Yik Yak? Well, it's back and still anonymous. (Mashable)
T-Mobile Confirms It Was Hacked (Motherboard)
WhatsApp Can’t Ban the Taliban Because It Can’t Read Their Texts (Motherboard)
Facebook ‘Proactively’ Removing Taliban Content, Executive Says (Bloomberg)
OnlyFans Creates Its First App With a Twist: No Nudity, No Cost (Bloomberg)
And the First Streaming Service to Partner With TikTok Is… (Rolling Stone)
Tinder will make its ID Verification option available to all users (The Verge)
Salesforce introduces new Slack integrations post-acquisition (Venture Beat)
Twitter taps crypto developer to lead decentralized social media initiative Bluesky (The Block)

Mon. 08/16 – NHTSA Investigating Tesla’s Autopilot Aug 16, 2021

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Now it’s T-Mobile investigating a data breach that may or may not affect more than 100 million people. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Tesla’s Autopilot. Everybody’s building undersea cables all at once. And new to me at least is the technology that can pull drinking water right from the hot, humid summer air.

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T-Mobile Investigating Claims of Massive Customer Data Breach (Motherboard)
US probing Autopilot problems on 765,000 Tesla vehicles (Associated Press)
Huawei Accused in Suit of Installing Data ‘Back Door’ in Pakistan Project (WSJ)
Facebook, Amazon seek U.S. approval to operate undersea data cable (Reuters)
This Solar Hydropanel Can Pull 10 Liters of Drinking Water Per Day Out of the Air (Brighter)
Twitter’s web redesign isn’t as accessible as it should be, experts say (TechCrunch)

(TWTR SPC) Samsung Event And The 1Password Team Aug 14, 2021

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Wrapping up the Samsung event with @samrutherford of Gizmodo, taking stock of the state of foldable phones, and the 1Password engineering and founding team joins for the entire second half!

Fri. 08/13 – The Growing Power Of Stablecoins Aug 13, 2021

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Disney reported some surprisingly strong streaming numbers. A recent Nvidia keynote included a virtual replica of its CEO. What if USDC becomes a stablecoin defacto backed by the US Fed. And in the weekend longreads suggestions, why stablecoins generally have become the lynchpin of the crypto universe.

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Disney+ beats expectations to reach 116 million subscribers in Q3 (TechCrunch)
Nvidia Reveals Its CEO Was Computer Generated in Keynote Speech (Motherboard)
How Circle could create a U.S.-backed digital currency (Axios)
Crypto platform Poly Network rewards hacker with $500,000 'bug bounty' (Reuters)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Why the Stablecoin Issuers Will Inherit the Earth (Bloomberg)
I Joined a Penguin NFT Club Because Apparently That’s What We Do Now (NYTimes)
Status Monkeys (Not Boring)
How Figma Became Design’s Hottest Startup, Valued At $10 Billion (Forbes)
Massachusetts Start-Up Hopes to Move a Step Closer to Commercial Fusion (NYTimes)

Thu. 08/12 – Legislation To Break Open App Stores Aug 12, 2021

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There is officially a bill to crack open the App Store. DoorDash wanted to buy Instacart, but fear of regulators scuppered the deal. WhatsApp will let you migrate your chat history. Lionel Messi’s new club is paying him partially in crypto. And there’s still money in digital piracy.

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