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Fri. 07/02 – Robinhood’s IPO Success Depends On Doge? Jul 02, 2021

Show notes

Robinhood files for its long-awaited IPO. The Chinese government took the shine off of Didi’s recent IPO. More new features from Twitter. Is Apple the first to take advantage of 3nm chips? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Robinhood files for long-awaited IPO (Axios)
How Robinhood's explosive growth rate came to be (Tech Crunch)
Didi shares fall after China announces cybersecurity review just days after IPO (CNBC)
Twitter considers new features for tweeting only to friends, under different personas and more (Tech Crunch)
Apple and Intel become first to adopt TSMC's latest chip tech (Nikkei Asia)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Three Weeks with iOS and iPadOS 15: Foundational Updates (Mac Stories)
Amazon Primed Andy Jassy to Be CEO. Can He Keep What Jeff Bezos Built? (Wall Street Journal)
ROBBING THE XBOX VAULT: INSIDE A $10 MILLION GIFT CARD CHEAT (Bloomberg)
‘Time and space don’t exist in the spirit world’: How psychics are embracing remote work (Los Angeles Times)
The Tin Man Gets His Heart: An Oral History of ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ (The Ringer)

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Thu. 07/01 – Instagram Is “No Longer A Photo-Sharing App” Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

Instagram and TikTok are on a collision course. Instagram wants to be more like TikTok, while TikTok hopes to move the goalposts first. Amazon wants Lina Khan to recuse herself. Big tech is not only taking over advertising, it’s consolidating it. And anyone can get their hands on Starlink next month, but not everyone might want to.

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Wed. 06/30 – Facebook’s Substack Clone Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

Facebook launches its Substack clone. Emphasis on clone. Shopify joins the platform tax wars by going to zero. A truce between Microsoft and Google has just lapsed. A big raise in the drone space. And would you pay to get actual search results instead of ads?

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Cybereason.com

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Facebook announces Bulletin, its Substack newsletter competitor (The Verge)
Shopify drops its App Store commissions to 0% on developers’ first million in revenue (Tech Crunch)
Google and Microsoft End Their Five-Year Cease-Fire (Bloomberg)
T-Mobile is offering iPhone owners no-hassle network ‘test drives’ (The Verge)
Alphabet’s Wing launches OpenSky drone airspace authorization app in US (Tech Crunch)
Zipline raises $250M at $2.75B valuation to build out its instant logistics service (Tech Crunch)
Inside Neeva, the ad-free, privacy-first search engine from ex-Googlers (Fast Company)

Tue. 06/29 – Facebook Beats The Rap Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

A judge has completely thrown out the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook and sent them back to the drawing board. Microsoft and OpenAI and Github have a tool that will suggest code to you as you code. And Sam Altman, as I understand this, wants to do Universal Basic Income on the blockchain. But first, he wants to scan your eyeball.

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Mon. 06/28 – Binance Runs Into Trouble Around The Globe Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

The UK orders a halt to regulated activities by Binance, joining everybody, all the sudden. Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon 888 Plus. Lenovo unveils an Android tablet that works as a portable monitor. And meet the activists perfecting the craft of anti-surveillance.

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Financial watchdog bans crypto exchange Binance from UK (Financial Times)
The world’s biggest crypto exchange is running into trouble everywhere (Quartz)
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 Plus will speed up gaming, AI in high-end 5G phones (Cnet)
Lenovo announces $679 13-inch Android tablet that works as a portable monitor (The Verge)
Apple Explores Bigger iPads and Reshuffles Its Car Team (Bloomberg)
Microsoft admits to signing rootkit malware in supply chain fiasco (Bleeping Computer)
Microsoft keeps hinting at an October release for Windows 11 (The Verge)
Meet the activists perfecting the craft of anti-surveillance (Financial Times)

(SPC CST) a16z's Future Plans And Audio Spaces With @smc90 and @kyurieff Jun 26, 2021

Show notes

We have two special guests this week! The first is Sonal Chokshi, Editor in Chief of a16z and showrunner of a16z podcasts. We’ll be getting her perspective on the launch of FUTURE, which we discussed last week.

Second, as the major social platforms (save for YouTube!) have launched their social audio offerings, we’ll get the latest updates and analysis from Kaya Yurieff of The Information who recently published “The Week Social Audio Went Mainstream”

Fri. 06/25 – Some Western Digital NAS Devices Are Getting Ill (matic?) Jun 25, 2021

Show notes

Fri. 06/25 – Some Western Digital NAS Devices Are Getting Ill (matic?)

Some Western Digital NAS devices are getting ill (matic). A breakdown of the 5 or 6 big tech antitrust bills that just passed House committees. Windows 11 is free, but what if your device can’t run it? Also, more on Microsoft’s anti-Apple posturing. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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WD My Book NAS devices are being remotely wiped clean worldwide (Bleeping Computer)
Big Tech edges closer to break up after deeply unhinged markup (The Verge)
Satya Nadella’s closing Windows 11 remarks were a direct shot across Apple’s bow (The Verge)
Windows 11 is free, but your CPU might not be officially supported (The Verge)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

What Is Blue Box? A Vast Conspiracy Grips the Video Game World (Bloomberg)
A very brief history of every Google messaging app (The Verge)
The Boy Who Could DeFi: Meet the 13-Year-Old Who Built a $7M Money Manager on Ethereum (Decrypt)
How Roku used the Netflix playbook to beat bigger players and rule streaming video (CNBC)
Can a $110 Million Helmet Unlock the Secrets of the Mind? (Bloomberg)

Thu. 06/24 – New Windows! Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

The new Windows is Windows 11. Google delays the Adpodcalypse. BuzzFeed finally to go public. Comcast is having issues with Peacock. Google and Jio’s cheap smartphone is announced. Is the biggest ever crypto crime story evolving right now in South Africa? And RIP John McAfee.

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Microsoft announces Windows 11, with a new design, Start menu, and more (The Verge)
Google delays Chrome's cookie-blocking privacy plan by nearly 2 years (Cnet)
BuzzFeed announces plans to go public via SPAC, targets $1.5 billion valuation (CNBC)
Inside Comcast’s Plan to Become a Streaming Giant (Wall Street Journal)
Google and India’s Jio Platforms announce budget Android smartphone JioPhone Next (Tech Crunch)
South African Brothers Vanish, and So Does $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin (Bloomberg)
John McAfee, Software Pioneer Turned Fugitive, Dies in Spanish Prison (New York Times)

Wed. 06/23 – Microsoft Joins The $2T Club Jun 23, 2021

Show notes

Ticketed Space and Super Follows begin to roll out, and depending on how you slice it, folks stand to make a ton of money… or a ton of money for the app stores. Speaking of, Apple launches a PR campaign defending the App Store on security grounds. Microsoft becomes the second company to reach the $2 trillion dollar club. And you know about phishing scams, but let me introduce you to “brushing” scams.

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Twitter is opening applications to test Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows (The Verge)
Apple’s Fight for Control Over Apps Moves to Congress and EU (Wall Street Journal)
Microsoft Rises to Join Apple in Exclusive $2 Trillion Club (Bloomberg)
Vercel raises $102M Series C for its front-end development platform (Tech Crunch)
Brave’s nontracking search engine is now in beta (Tech Crunch)
What is the 'brushing' scam and how can you protect yourself? (Yahoo Life)

Tue. 06/22 – More EU Trouble For Google Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Another antitrust investigation formally opened against Google in Europe. Facebook’s Oculus ad partner thinks better of the experiment. Stephen Spielberg decides that Netflix’s money is as green as anybody’s. Ransomware gangs are abandoning bitcoin. And Amazon, at least, still believes in autonomous vehicles.

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Links:

EU opens antitrust probe into Google’s advertising business (Financial Times)
Resolution Games Pulls Blaston Out Of Facebook Ad Test (Upload)
Entire London Underground to receive mobile coverage by end of 2024 (The Verge)
Tinder lets people add videos to their dating profiles (Engadget)
Epic Games releases free anti-cheat and voice chat services for developers (The Verge)
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, Netflix Forge Film Deal in Sign of Changing Hollywood (Variety)
Monero emerges as crypto of choice for cybercriminals (Financial Times)
Amazon Snaps Up Option to Buy Stake in AI Truck-Driving Startup (Bloomberg)

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