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Mon. 12/14 – The “10-out-of-10” US Treasury/SolarWinds Hack Dec 14, 2020

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Hackers attack the US Treasury in an attack so severe one person called it a 10 out of 10. Pornhub has removed millions of videos. Amazon’s Zoox has a robo electric taxi. Are the recent IPO pops sign of a bubble? And could Jony Ive’s next job be as the head of luxury automaker Ferrari?

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Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails - sources (Reuters)
U.S. Agencies Hacked in Foreign Cyber Espionage Campaign Linked to Russia (WSJ)
Pornhub Just Purged All Unverified Content From the Platform (Vice)
Amazon’s Zoox Unveils Robotaxi for Future Ride-Hailing Service (Bloomberg)
Google Delays Return to Office and Eyes ‘Flexible Work Week’ (NYTimes)
Sizzling Tech IPO Market Leaves Investors Befuddled (WSJ)
Jony Ive is reportedly in the running to take the driver’s seat at Ferrari (Cult of Mac)
Ferrari's Camilleri will be a hard act to follow (Reuters)

(Bonus) - The Future of Video With A16Z's Connie Chan Dec 12, 2020

Show notes

Connie Chan, from Andreessen Horowitz, talking about: Live, Social, and Shoppable: The Future of Video

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Fri. 12/11 - Disney+ Is About to Get a Bit More Expensive Dec 11, 2020

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Disney+ is about to get a bit more expensive, but you’re also gonna get a lot more stuff to watch. Are we in a tech IPO bubble? X64 emulation comes to Windows. Apple whispers that it will likely be dropping Qualcomm like it dropped Intel. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Disney Plus is increasing its price to $8 a month starting in March 2021 (The Verge)
‘Star Wars,’ ‘Pinocchio’ and More as Disney Leans Sharply Into Streaming (NYTimes)
Airbnb skyrockets 112% in public market debut, giving it a market cap of $86.5 billion (CNBC)
x64 emulation has come to Windows on ARM (The Verge)
Apple Starts Work on Its Own Cellular Modem, Chip Chief Says (Bloomberg)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Social Strikes Back (A16Z)
“A damn stupid thing to do”—the origins of C (Ars Technica)
7 Rejections (Brian Chesky)
Facebook Sees WhatsApp As Its Future, Antitrust Suit or Not (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Who’s Behind the Fight Between Warner Bros. and Hollywood? It’s AT&T (NYTimes)
Inside the Human Science of Spotify’s New Music Friday Playlist (Variety)
How eBird Changed Birding Forever (Outside)

Thu. 12/10 – The Big Facebook Antitrust Cases, Explained Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

I try to give you the outlines of the Facebook antitrust thing, and what it might mean for tech. Airbnb makes its market debut. Crunchyroll finds a safe home away from AT&T. I bet folks at HBO are jealous. Boston Dynamics finds a new guardian as well, that hopefully can find something useful for it to do. And it really is, finally, the end of the road for Flash.

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Wed. 12/09 – FireEye Says It Got Hacked By A Nation State Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

FireEye says it got hacked by a nation state. Microsoft’s cloud gaming is coming to iOS in the spring. Samsung’s unpacked event is coming in about a month, and we already got plenty of leaks about the phones we expect to see. Is Apple’s self-driving project still on track? And if you feel like you’ve been getting more spam calls this year, while rents in San Francisco have been plummeting, I’m here to tell you, neither of those trends seem to be imaginary.

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U.S. Cyber Firm FireEye Says It Was Breached by Nation-State Hackers (WSJ)
Microsoft confirms Xbox cloud gaming is coming to iOS in spring 2021 (9to5Mac)
Google is opening Fuchsia OS development to the public (9to5Google)
Here are the official Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra teasers (Android Police)
DoorDash skyrockets 80% in market debut, opening at $182 per share (CNBC)
Apple Shifts Leadership of Self-Driving Car Unit to AI Chief (Bloomberg)
The state of European tech 2020: 20 things you should know (Sifted)
Wikifactory has raised $4.5M for its ‘GitHub for hardware’ to make almost anything remotely (TechCrunch)
Spam calls grew 18% this year despite the global pandemic (TechCrunch)
San Francisco's 35% Plunge in Rents Shows Effects of Tech Fleeing City (Bloomberg)

Tue. 12/08 – Apple’s $549 AirPods Max Dec 08, 2020

Show notes

Say hello to AirPods Max. Cloudflare and Apple have developed a new internet privacy protocol. Google’s Stadia is finally flipping the switch on one of its biggest selling points. Uber is exiting the self-driving sweepstakes, but what does that mean for its future? And more fallout from that Warner Media streaming decision.

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Apple introduces AirPods Max, the magic of AirPods in a stunning over-ear design (Apple Newsroom)
Cloudflare and Apple design a new privacy-friendly internet protocol (TechCrunch)
Google Stadia will let all users livestream games directly to YouTube tomorrow (The Verge)
Samsung’s SmartThings can finally control your Google Nest devices (The Verge)
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network wins $885M in federal aid for rural broadband (GeekWire)
Uber sells its self-driving unit to Aurora (CNBC)
Christopher Nolan Rips HBO Max as "Worst Streaming Service," Denounces Warner Bros.' Plan (The Hollywood Reporter)
‘Dune’ Producer Legendary Entertainment May Sue Warner Bros. Over HBO Max Deal (Variety)

Mon. 12/7 – ARMpocalypse Soon For The Entire Mac Lineup? Dec 07, 2020

Show notes

Apple isn’t wasting any time when it comes to ARM-ing up its entire Mac lineup, according to Mark Gurman. Wish is about to go public too. Airbnb and DoorDash are lifting their ranges. Is email signatures a bigger market than I ever imagined? And how drone deliveries might change how we design or homes and neighborhoods.

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Apple Preps Next Mac Chips With Aim to Outclass Top-End PCs (Bloomberg)
Wish plans to price between $22 and $24 per share at up to $14 billion valuation (CNBC)
Airbnb Boosts IPO Price Range to Between $56 and $60 a Share (WSJ)
Sequoia Capital Warned of a ‘Black Swan.’ Instead, 2020 Is One of Its Best Years Ever (Bloomberg)
Exclaimer raises $133 million to help companies manage email signatures (VentureBeat)
DRONES ARE POISED TO RESHAPE HOME DESIGN (WSJ)
Disney faces digital dilemma despite streaming success (Financial Times)

(Bonus) Peter Kafka on Media, Hollywood, Substack and TikTok Dec 05, 2020

Show notes

As promised, here’s Recode’s Peter Kafka, the dean of the media reporters, someone we should have had on the podcast a long time before this. Do checkout his podcast, Recode Media with Peter Kafka.

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Fri. 12/04 – CRACK! Warners Blows Up The (Traditional) Hollywood Business Model Dec 04, 2020

Show notes

Another monumental crack across the land as Warner Brothers has maybe signaled the death of the business model Hollywood has relied on for 100 years. Is Stripe signaling it wants to completely rewire the global monetary system? Have Chinese scientists achieved Quantum Supremacy? Would you be interested in deep sea tourism? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Warner Bros. will release all of its new 2021 movies simultaneously on HBO Max (The Verge)
WarnerMedia’s CEO explains why he’s blowing up the movie business (Recode)
Stripe to Offer Banking Services in Deal With Goldman Sachs, Citigroup (WSJ)
Stripe: Platform of Platforms (Stratechery)
China Stakes Its Claim to Quantum Supremacy (Wired)
Triton's latest submarine puts six people in a bubble, 3,300 feet under (New Atlas)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Hollywood’s Obituary, the Sequel. Now Streaming. (NYTimes)
Why Most Newsletters Fail (What Went Wrong)
These Tech Startups Want to Sell You Their Life Insurance (WSJ)
A.A. to Zoom, Substance Abuse Treatment Goes Online (NYTimes)
An oral history of the hamburger icon (by the people who were there) (invision)

Thu. 12/03 – A Law To Turn Crypto Basic? Dec 03, 2020

Show notes

A new bill could regulate crypto in a way that crypto folks say would defeat the point of decentralization. Facebook antitrust could be coming next week. Loon is the first to turn the skies over to artificial intelligence. Hackers are targeting the vaccine rollout. And now, you too can contribute to Street View on Google Maps.

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US Lawmakers Introduce Bill That Would Require Stablecoin Issuers to Obtain Bank Charters (Coindesk)
PhonePe raises $700 million, becomes a separate entity (TechCrunch)
FedEx to Buy ShopRunner in Quest for Closer E-Commerce Ties (Bloomberg)
U.S. states plan to sue Facebook next week: sources (Reuters)
Alphabet’s Loon hands the reins of its internet air balloons to self-learning AI (The Verge)
Hackers Are Targeting the Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Cold Chain’ (Wired)
Hulu’s Watch Party feature is now available to all subscribers (The Verge)
Google Maps now lets you create Street View photos with just a phone (The Verge)

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