Thu. 03/18 – An April Apple Event?
It’s an Apple rumor Thursday from both the boys, Gurman and Kuo. Sony is taking what it’s learned from the DualSense controllers and bringing that to VR. YouTube rolls out its TikTok rival. Spotify wants you to know it gets artists paid. And I do my best to explain the whole creator economy controversy that has sprung up over at Substack. Sponsors: Tovala.com/ride Links: Apple Nears Launch of New iPads After Stay-At-Home Sales Boost (Bloomberg) PS5's VR 2.0: First Look At New Controllers (GameSpot) YouTube Shorts arrives in the US to take on TikTok, but the beta is still half-baked (The Verge) Spotify says over 13,000 artists’ catalogs earned at least $50K in royalties last year (The Verge) Here's why Substack's scam worked so well (The Hypothesis) Substack is for independent writers (Substack Blog) Crypto marketplace OpenSea raises $23 million to be the ‘Amazon of NFTs’ (Fortune) Intel puts Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ guy into new ads praising PCs (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
18 Maalis 202117min
Wed. 03/17 – Samsung’s 2nd Unpacked Brings New A-series Phones
Samsung’s second Unpacked event of the year brings new midrange phones. But are they really discontinuing the Galaxy Note, and are chip shortages the real reason why? Are reductions in app store fees really what they’re cracked up to be? Has Uber had a change of heart or just an acknowledgement of the inevitable? And the bear case for Clubhouse that everyone is talking about. Sponsors: NewYorker.com/techmeme promocode techmeme Tovala.com/ride Links: Samsung’s midrange phones now feature fast refresh rate screens, stabilized cameras (The Verge) Samsung Warns of Severe Chip Crunch While Delaying Key Phone (Bloomberg) Google cuts app store fees for developers on first million in annual sales (CNBC) Google and Apple are giving up less than 5% of their revenue from apps with payout changes, analytics firm estimates (CNBC) Uber grants UK drivers worker status after losing major labor battle (CNBC) Pinduoduo Founder Colin Huang Steps Down From Company (WSJ) Clubhouse Tweet Thread (ShaanVP) Tampa Twitter hacker agrees to three years in prison (Tampa Bay Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 Maalis 202116min
Tue. 03/16 – The 2nd Gen Nest Hub Gets Sleep Tracking
Google’s 2nd gen Nest Hub gets sleep tracking thanks to the Soli chip. Intel’s 11th Gen desktop chips launch. Xi brings the hammer down on Chinese tech. And the craziest cellphone hack I’ve ever heard isn’t a hack at all, since it’s in a nutso-buttso unregulated grey area. Sponsors: Fundrise.com/techmeme Tovala.com/ride Links: Google announces 2nd-gen Nest Hub with Soli-powered ‘Sleep Sensing’ for $99 (9to5Google) Intel’s 11th Gen desktop chips are here with faster speeds but fewer cores (The Verge) Dropbox will have a free password manager in April — if you’ve got 50 or fewer passwords (The Verge) Xi Warns Against Tech Excess in Sign Crackdown Will Widen (Bloomberg) Alibaba browser pulled from Chinese app stores (FT) Exclusive: Investors value China's Ant Group at over $200 billion after IPO halt - sources (Reuters) A Hacker Got All My Texts for $16 (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
16 Maalis 202118min
Mon. 03/15 – Stripe The Most Successful (Private) SV Startup Ever?
Stripe, by some measures, has become the most successful Silicon Valley startup of all time, with their recent raise. Airtable too has an impressively interesting raise. Facebook wants to find you a vaccine appointment. The US is looking to overhaul its cybersecurity missile shield. And checking in on the whole Jack Ma situation. Sponsors: MintMobile.com/ride ExpressVPN.com/techmeme Links: Stripe valuation soars to $95bn after latest fundraising (Financial Times) Airtable Tops $5.7 Billion Valuation On Growing Enterprise Sales And A Soaring Cloud Market (Forbes) Facebook aims to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19 (CNET) Massive Facebook study on users’ doubt in vaccines finds a small group appears to play a big role in pushing the skepticism (Washington Post) White House Weighs New Cybersecurity Approach After Failure to Detect Hacks (NYTimes) China Lays Plans to Tame Tech Giant Alibaba (WSJ) Clubhouse announces accelerator program for creators on its platform (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
15 Maalis 202117min
Fri. 03/12 - Netflix Is Cracking Down On Password Sharing
Netflix is cracking down on password sharing. Apple sues a former employee for allegedly stealing trade secrets. Masa Son is back, baby! I guess we have to watch ads on our $1500 smart tvs now, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. EditorX.com ThoughtWorks Technology Podcast Links: Netflix Begins Test to Crack Down on Password Sharing Outside Your Household (The Streamable) Apple sues former employee for stealing trade secrets, leaking information to the media (9to5Mac) SoftBank-Backed Coupang Prices U.S. IPO Above Target (Bloomberg) I guess I have to watch ads everywhere on my $1,500 LG TV now (The Verge) Weekend Longread Suggestions: Interview: Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe (Noahpinion.substack.com) TWITTER IS REINVENTING ITSELF (The Verge) Excel Never Dies (Not Boring) How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation (MIT Technology Review) Bilibili: How a Chinese site dedicated to anime subculture grew up with its Gen Z users to become a mainstream success (South China Morning Post) Sometimes It’s OK to Give Up (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12 Maalis 202121min
Thu. 03/11 – The Roblox Debut
Roblox’s public market debut and why people are so excited about it. Twitter to open up spaces to everyone next month. An Apple silicon friendly version of Photoshop sports so eyebrow raising performance gains. Are iPhones about to get heavier? And the NFT sales record has been shattered thanks to Beeple. Sponsors: StartMail.com/techmeme Links: Roblox jumps to $38 billion market cap as public investors get their first crack at the popular kids game app (CNBC) Twitter plans to let anyone start hosting Twitter Spaces in April (The Verge) Verkada Workers Had Extensive Access to Private Customer Cameras (Bloomberg) Google paves way to monetize Pay users’ data in India (TechCrunch) Photoshop now runs natively on Apple’s M1 Macs (The Verge) iPhone 13 to Finally Feature Bigger Batteries (MacRumors) Oppo Find X3 Pro goes official w/ Snapdragon 888, 120Hz display, ‘microlens’ camera (9to5Google) Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
11 Maalis 202118min
Wed. 03/10 – Now The Hackers Are In The Security Cams
Hackers breached the security cameras used by everybody from prisons and hospitals to Tesla factories. Why you will no longer “subscribe” to this podcast, but will “follow” it. Why T-Mobile is signing everyone up to have their usage data tracked by advertisers. And Facebook’s 10 year roadmap for AR and VR. Sponsors: CalderaLab.com use code TECHMEME (all caps one word) at checkout Uber.com/techmeme Links: Hackers Breach Thousands of Security Cameras, Exposing Tesla, Jails, Hospitals (Bloomberg) Apple slashes planned iPhone 12 mini production for 1H (NikkeiAsia) Google links Android phones to Chromebooks with new Phone Hub feature (The Verge) TikTok adds new comment controls to discourage bullying (Engadget) 'Follow our podcast': Apple Podcasts to stop using 'subscribe' (Podnews) T-Mobile to Step Up Ad Targeting of Cellphone Customers (WSJ) Amazon has over 800 people working on its secretive 'Vesta' home robot — but insiders are worried that it's a niche, gimmicky product that could fail (Insider) Inside Facebook Reality Labs: The Next Era of Human-Computer Interaction (Tech@Facebook) Facebook's ready to talk about how its AR glasses will work with neural wristbands (CNET) Samsung sets March 17 for its second Unpacked event of 2021 (CNET) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
10 Maalis 202118min
Tue. 03/09 – An FTC Commissioner To Make Silicon Valley Cower?
Is Joe Biden about to name the architect of the current antitrust movement to a seat on the FTC? Are other bad actors swooping in to take advantage of the SolarWinds hack? Is Microsoft gonna play both sides of the fence with new Surface devices? And why popular YouTubers are suddenly building their own platforms. Sponsors: EditorX.com Links: POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: Biden taps another Big Tech trustbuster (Politico/Playbook) Amazon’s Antitrust Antagonist Has a Breakthrough Idea (NYTimes) Attacks on SolarWinds Servers Also Linked To Chinese Threat Actor (The Record) Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 will reportedly include both AMD and Intel configurations (The Verge) Apple releases iOS 14.4.1 and macOS 11.2.3 to address a WebKit vulnerability (Engadget) Why popular YouTubers are building their own sites (BBC News) LOGITECH’S CIRCLE VIEW DOORBELL IS THE CLOSEST THING WE HAVE TO AN APPLE-MADE DOORBELL (The Verge) The Kottke Ride Home Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
9 Maalis 202118min
