(Bonus) CoinDesk's Brady Dale On Libra and the "Crypto Spring"

MRGN.ai is all about intelligent budgeting for small businesses. Founder Yoni Rubin joins me to discuss the realities of founding a SaaS company in 2022, and much more. Another great company joining the Ride Home Fund portfolio! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Apr 202229min

Some folks at Twitter are nervous about Elon Musk’s arrival, so he’s going to do an AMA to rally the troops. Twitter is testing unmentioning. Robinhood is fully rolling out that promise wallet feature. The increasing lexicon of euphemisms people have to use to speak freely on sites like TikTok. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Smith.ai promocode techmeme for $100 off signup Links: Elon Musk to address Twitter staff after internal outcry (Washington Post) Twitter test lets you 'unmention' yourself in tweets (Engadget) Robinhood widens user access for crypto wallet transfers, unveils plan to support Lightning payments for bitcoin (The Block) Gartner forecasts global tech spending to hit $4.4 trillion this year, up 4% (Silicon Angle) Internet ‘algospeak’ is changing our language in real time, from ‘nip nobs’ to ‘le dollar bean’ (Washington Post) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The Scoop: Inside Fast’s Rapid Collapse (The Pragmatic Engineer) Millennial Billionaire Ryan Breslow Created Buzz, And Enemies, Attacking Stripe And Shopify. He’s Just Getting Started. (Forbes) SCOOP: Crypto Fund Paradigm's Assets Under Management Climb 343% to $13.2 Billion (Newcomer) The Metaverse Has Bosses Too. Meet the ‘Managers’ of Axie Infinity (Motherboard/Vice) This Startup Promised People Free Crypto If They Scanned Their Eyeballs. Now People Feel They've Been Scammed. (BuzzFeed) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Apr 202220min

The crypto dream might have died, but Meta still thinks the metaverse will need some for of currency. Maybe Zuck Bucks? OpenSea adds Solana NFTs. Shein is the world’s latest mega unicorn. Is Bolt pivoting from one-click checkouts to crypto payments instead? Legos in the metaverse. And DALL-E 2. Sponsors: Rocketlawyer.com/workconfidently Links: Facebook owner Meta targets finance with ‘Zuck Bucks’ and creator coins (FT) Google Play will hide and block downloads for outdated apps starting later this year (TechCrunch) Solana NFTs Can Now Be Traded on OpenSea (Decrypt) Facebook won’t hold its F8 developer conference this year after pivoting to Meta (The Verge) Shein Valued at $100 Billion in Funding Round (WSJ) Crypto Startup Wyre Being Acquired by Payments Company Bolt for $1.5 Billion (WSJ) Lego and Epic Games partnership aims for a kid-friendly metaverse (Washington Post) OpenAI’s DALL-E AI image generator can now edit pictures, too (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Apr 202217min

I told you Elon had no intention of being a passive investor. Twitter says an edit button is probably coming soon. So, you know, that Elon, he gets things done. One-click checkout startup Fast is shutting down completely. A deep dive into how the new Unreal Engine 5 fits into Hollywood, fits into gaming, fits into the metaverse. And beware: “Will Smith” might come into your Elden Ring game and slap you. Sponsors: Witful.com Links: Musk Refiles Twitter Disclosure to Show He’s an Active Investor (Bloomberg) Twitter is adding an edit button (The Verge) Sky Mavis raises $150 million to reimburse Ronin hack victims (The Block) Fast, the Troubled Fintech Startup, Is Shutting Down (The Information) MicroStrategy Funds Latest Purchase With Bitcoin-Backed Loan (Bloomberg) Inside Epic's Unreal Engine 5—and What It Means for the Future of Gaming, Movies, and the Metaverse (Time) How Epic Games is changing gaming—and maybe the metaverse (Fast Company) Elden Ring players called Will Smith keep invading and slapping people (TechRadar) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Apr 202219min

So much for that “passive” stake. Twitter has appointed Elon Musk to its board of directors. Amazon is gunning for SpaceX in the race to deliver internet from space. Some datapoints around the whole question of wash trading in the NFT market. And what if I told you there was ANOTHER wildly popular thing from the creator of Wordle? Links: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors, teases ‘significant improvements’ (CNBC) Elon Musk Bought Some Twitter (Bloomberg/Matt Levine) Amazon’s Project Kuiper books up to 83 rockets to launch its internet-beaming satellites (The Verge) Microsoft brings Arm support to Azure virtual machines (ZDNet) Axie Infinity Was Losing Gamers Even Before Record Crypto Hack (Bloomberg) The Hottest NFT Marketplace is Mostly Users Selling to Themselves (Bloomberg) Hackers breach MailChimp's internal tools to target crypto customers (BleepingComputer) Internet communities are battling over pixels (The Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Apr 202217min

So, Elon Musk has taken a 9.2% stake in Twitter. I’d point out that the last time Twitter had an activist investor, it led to Jack Dorsey stepping down as CEO. Is drone delivery suddenly, and rapidly, becoming a reality? The nation of the United Kingdom is going to issue an NFT. And Mark Gurman’s math on how an Apple subscription would work. Sponsors: Grammarly.com/techmeme Links: Elon Musk Takes 9.2% Stake in Twitter After Hinting at Shake-Up (Bloomberg) Alphabet's Wing will begin drone deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth on April 7th (Engadget) AMD Returns to Deal Making with $1.9 Billion Purchase of Chip Specialist Pensando (WSJ) NFTs to be launched by the Treasury later this year in crypto push (City AM) It’s a big day at the State Department for U.S. cyberdiplomacy (Washington Post) Why Apple Is Preparing to Let You Subscribe to Your iPhone (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Apr 202216min

Justin Santamaria was once an Apple lead engineer on iPhone, where he created iMessage, FaceTime, the blue/green text bubbles and even unlocked emojis so people outside Japan could use them. Now, as cofounder of Future, he’s using text communication to pair people with a world-class trainer for unlimited coaching through their phone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Apr 202249min

E3 is officially cancelled this year, which is making people wonder if it’s officially dead and we just don’t know it yet. More signs of serious trouble in the food delivery space. Facebook has fixed a bug that let harmful content into the news feed for six months. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Wealthfront.com/techmeme Links: E3 2022 - Digital and Physical - Has Officially Been Canceled (IGN) Food Delivery Stocks Lose $24 Billion in Just Three Months (Bloomberg) A FACEBOOK BUG LED TO INCREASED VIEWS OF HARMFUL CONTENT OVER SIX MONTHS (The Verge) Apple emergency update fixes zero-days used to hack iPhones, Macs (BleepingComputer) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Online shopping in the middle of the ocean (RestOfWorld) Want to See the Weirdest of Wikipedia? Look No Further. (NYTimes) Why Moderating Content Actually Does More To Support The Principles Of Free Speech (TechDirt) A History of Hup, the Jump Sound of Shooting Games (Wired) In the Shadow of the Star Wars Kid (Waxy.org) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Apr 202219min