Wed. 10/09 - Where Would We Be Without Lithium-Ion Batteries?

Joshua Schachter is mostly known these days as a prominent angel investor, but his claim to fame is as the founder of del.icio.us, one of THE sites and startups that convinced me and a lot of other people that the internet space wasn’t dead, in the wake of the dotcom bubble. So, consider this in the spirt of the longreads. A profile of a key startup and entrepreneur, that got the web and the world to where we are today. Sponsors: BitTrustIRA.com/techmeme Monday.com/ride NewYorker.com/techmeme Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Okt 20201h 3min

Is PayPal making moves to become a major player in Crypto? A look at the two big ballot initiatives in California that Silicon Valley cares about and which the rest of the country might be affected by. Why YouTube is this election’s go-to place for campaigns to run ads, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Masterworks.io  Promocode: ride Monday.com/ride Links: PayPal in Talks to Buy Crypto Firms Including BitGo (Bloomberg) Uber, Lyft likely violated California labor law, appeals court finds (NBCNews) Google and Facebook hate a proposed privacy law. News publishers should embrace it. (Recode) YouTube Is So Flooded With Political Ads It Can’t Place Them All (Bloomberg) Weekend Longreads: The Network: How a Secretive Phone Company Helped the Crime World Go Dark (Motherboard) Cloud gaming’s history of false starts and promising reboots (Polygon) 'Virtual' studios could offer a real alternative to green screen special effects (Engadget) The Google Case (Tim Wu) Audio’s Opportunity and Who Will Capture It (Mathew Ball) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Okt 202017min

Quibi’s dead baby. Quibi’s dead. Jony Ive is going to design stuff for… Airbnb? The Mate 40 Pro is the best flagship smartphone you’ll probably never want to buy. What if Snapchat conquers India? The Bahamas launches the first official cryptocurrency for an entire country. And look out cause Tesla is turning on the self-driving beta starting now… Sponsors: Monday.com/ride NewYorker.com/techmeme Links: Quibi's Open Letter Quibi Is Shutting Down Barely Six Months After Going Live (WSJ) In defense of Quibi (Recode) Airbnb announces multi-year partnership with Jony Ive, a year after leaving Apple (9to5Mac) Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro is another powerful flagship that you won't buy (Engadget) Snapchat doubles down on India with new original series, games (The Economic Times) Central Bank of Bahamas Launches Landmark ‘Sand Dollar’ Digital Currency (Coindesk) Tesla is putting ‘self-driving’ in the hands of drivers amid criticism the tech is not ready (Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Okt 202019min

Big news for crypto as PayPal adopts it, both for users to buy, but also, crucially, for them to spend. Facebook is testing a Nextdoor killer. Update on the Quibi deathwatch. Tech earnings snuck up on me and Evan Spiegel had a good night. And let’s end today with another review roundup. This time of the new iPad Air. Sponsors: KiwiCo.com/ride Monday.com/ride Links: PayPal to allow cryptocurrency buying, selling and shopping on its network (Reuters) Dropbox's family plan offers a shared 2TB for $17 per month (Engadget) Facebook Building Neighborhood Feature as Nextdoor Eyes IPO (Bloomberg) Katzenberg May Shut Down Quibi as Options Run Short (The Information) Netflix misses on subscriber additions and EPS (CNBC) Snap stock rockets up after surprise earnings beat (CNBC) APPLE IPAD AIR (2020) REVIEW: TAKE IT FROM THE PRO (The Verge) Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Who needs the iPad Pro? (Engadget) Review: iPad Air, smooth criminal (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Okt 202016min

The Feds have finally thrown the book at Google. But the DOJ has also targeted the infamous Sandworm hackers. Intel sells its NAND memory unit as consolidation in chips continues. Microsoft partners with Elon Musk to take its battle with AWS to space. What product is Google abandoning today? And the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro reviews are here. Which one should you get? NewYorker.com/techmeme Monday.com/ride Links: The DOJ sues Google for monopoly practices – and says there’s more to come (Protocol) Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google (WSJ) U.S. Accuses Google of Illegally Protecting Monopoly (NYTimes) US charges Russian hackers behind NotPetya, KillDisk, OlympicDestroyer attacks (ZDNet) Intel Agrees to Sell Storage Unit to SK Hynix for $9 Billion (Bloomberg) Google confirms the Nest Secure has been discontinued (Android Police) Google discontinues its Google Nest Secure alarm system (The Verge) Microsoft launches Azure Space initiative; partners with SpaceX (ZDNet) APPLE IPHONE 12 PRO REVIEW: AHEAD OF ITS TIME (The Verge) APPLE IPHONE 12 REVIEW: RAISING THE BAR (The Verge) Review: iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, two gems, one jewel (TechCrunch) iPhone 12 and 12 Pro review: Apple enters the 5G era (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Okt 202019min

Apple wants to you to want your A-MTV. iMTV? I dunno. Apple has launched a music videos channel. The new Samsung Galaxies might be coming sooner than ever. The company bringing AR to car windshields. And why Japan saying it’s getting on the regulate tech bandwagon might be the tipping point for the entire sector. Sponsors: ExtraHop.com/techmeme Monday.com/ride Links: Apple Launches ‘Apple Music TV,’ a 24-Hour Music Video Livestream (Variety) iPhone 12 mini has 2,227 mAh battery, new models will likely be assembled in Brazil and India [U] (9to5Mac) Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Ultra leaked in full, confirms January 2021 launch (AndroidCentral) The British Company That’s Bringing Augmented Reality to Your Windshield (Bloomberg) Facebook’s and YouTube’s algorithms might soon be a bit less mysterious (Fast Company) Japan to join forces with U.S., Europe in regulating Big Tech firms: antitrust watchdog head (Reuters) Tech’s Influence Over Markets Eclipses Dot-Com Bubble Peak (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Okt 202018min

I don’t think I’ve made any bones about the fact that I blow hot and cold on crypto. Sometimes I grow frustrated that it always seems to be a lot of sound and fury, ultimately signifying nothing. Or at least, not amounting to much that touches normal people’s lives. I dunno if that’s a fair way to look at crypto or not. But at the same time, there is no single corner of tech that has more activity, that has more passion and energy and, just pure, crazy creativity. Lots of people in crypto have adopted my book about the first half of the Internet Era because they hope it’s a guide for how, just when everyone has written off a movement, that’s when it finally breaks through. And I’ll admit, that’s why I keep my eye on a space. That’s why the activity around DeFi has caught my eye. By some measurements, this is crypto actually being USED, in a tangible real world way, and in volumes of activity we’ve never seen before. Is DeFi actually fulfilling the original economic promise of crypto? What, the heck, is DeFi? What is it doing? It’s hard for a knucklehead like me to get my mind around. So, I sent out the bat signal to Brady Dale of CoinDesk to tell me, what the heck is going on with DeFi? Brady's rough history of the DeFi movement Brady's explanation of Yield Farming Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Okt 202035min

Google now lets you whistle or hum to search, which sounds crazy I know, or crazy cool. Are we due for one more Apple event this year? The FCC wants to kill section 230 but actually can’t. Could you do machine learning with practically no data to learn off of? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: NewYorker.com/techmeme TinyCapital.com Links: Google’s new ‘hum to search’ feature can figure out the song that’s stuck in your head (The Verge) Apple might hold another event on November 17 to introduce first Apple Silicon Mac (9to5Mac) Trump Foes Fume Over FCC’s Efforts to Rein In Twitter (Bloomberg) A radical new technique lets AI learn with practically no data (MIT Technology Review) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Lidar used to cost $75,000—here’s how Apple brought it to the iPhone (Ars Technica) Car design is about to change forever. This video encapsulates how (Fast Company) Clear Conquered U.S. Airports. Now It Wants to Own Your Entire Digital Identity. (OneZero) THE CONTEST TO PROTECT ALMOST EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET (WSJ) Cory Doctorow’s Writing Radicalized Young Hackers. Now He Wants to Redeem Them (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Okt 202020min