Mon. 06/02 – How DoorDash Has Quietly Been Killing It

A deep dive summary of the rolling Facebook controversies this week from the ongoing Wall Street Journal reporting. Apple and Google remove an app from Russian opposition after their employees were threatened in that country? And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, this time with extra NFT goodness. Sponsors: Tovala.com/ride Links: Facebook Employees Flag Drug Cartels and Human Traffickers. The Company’s Response Is Weak, Documents Show. (WSJ) How Facebook Hobbled Mark Zuckerberg’s Bid to Get America Vaccinated (WSJ) The Algorithm Tweaks Won't Save Us (Galaxy Brain/Charlie Warzel) Google and Apple Remove App Aimed at Spurring Protest Voting in Russia (NYTimes) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: A Very, Very Crypto Insider-Trading Scandal (Intelligencer) What is Bored Ape Yacht Club? The Celebrity NFT of Choice (Decrypt) Jay-Z’s NFT Feud Spotlights Legal Peril in Hot Investment Trend (Bloomberg) THE PENTAGON’S ARMY OF NERDS (The Atlantic) Greg LeMond and the Amazing Candy-Colored Dream Bike (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Sep 202123min

Alright, let’s settle this iPhone 13 chip specs debate. Walmart+ might quietly be competitive with Amazon Prime. The first electric car with a 500 mile range. China has succeeded in downsizing its biggest companies. And if you’ve got a spare $1.7 million dollars, I’ve got a 325 inch tv to sell you. Sponsors: Canva.me/techmeme Tovala.com/ride Links: The iPhone 13 is a pitch-perfect iPhone 12S (The Verge) Walmart+ is gaining momentum, hits 32 million members, Deutsche Bank estimates (CNBC) The Lucid Air is the first electric car with a 520-mile EPA-rated range (The Verge) No Chinese Stock Left Among Global Top 10 as Tencent Slides (Bloomberg) Chat App Discord Is Worth $15 Billion After New Funding (Bloomberg) Former Startup Darling Genius Sells to Media Lab for $80 Million (Bloomberg) LG now makes a 2,000 pound TV that costs $1.7 million (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Sep 202115min

Xiaomi’s new flagship phone can apparently charge in just 17 minutes. Why Apple was so coy about the performance of its latest chips yesterday. The SEC has charged App Annie with securities fraud. And Canva is becoming a mega unicorn to watch, even as its founders are pledging to give a third of the company away. Sponsors: BankNovo.com/ride Postie.com/techmeme Links: Xiaomi announces 11T Pro with 120W fast charging (The Verge) Apple releasing iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 on September 20 (9to5Mac) iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro feature dual eSIM support for the first time (9to5Mac) Apple CPU Gains Grind To A Halt And The Future Looks Dim As The Impact From The CPU Engineer Exodus To Nuvia And Rivos Starts To Bleed In (SemiAnalysis.substack.com) Solana Has Been Down for Hours Due to ‘Resource Exhaustion’ (Decrypt) SEC charges App Annie with securities fraud in $10 million settlement (Protocol) Canva Raises At $40 Billion Valuation — Its Founders Are Pledging Away Most Of Their Wealth (Forbes) Microsoft accounts can now go fully passwordless (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Sep 202118min

Happy iPhone day, you fanfolk, you. All the news from today’s Apple event. Facebook’s own research says Instagram is bad for girls. Facebook’s own documents show it gives VIP users the VIP treatment when it comes to enforcement policies. And you might want to quickly download that iOS update. Sponsors: Stripe.com Oracle.com/goto/ride Links: Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show (WSJ) Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt. (WSJ) Apple patches an NSO zero-day flaw affecting all devices (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Sep 202119min

Is China dismantling its super apps and selling the parts for scrap? Toast has officially become my favorite Covid-times survival story. What to expect from tomorrow’s iPhone event, including 1 TB iPhone storage tiers. And a full breakdown of the ruling in the Epic vs. Apple case. Has the app store officially been cracked open? It’s complicated. Sponsors: OurCrowd.com/ride Modern Finance Podcast Links: Beijing to break up Ant’s Alipay and force creation of separate loans app (Financial Times) Tencent and Alibaba pledge to open up apps to competitors (Financial Times) Commercetools raises $140M at a $1.9B valuation as 'headless' commerce continues to boom (TechCrunch) iPhone 13 Pro will get 1TB option & new 'AirPods 3' will not replace AirPods (AppleInsider) Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchase, rules judge in Epic v. Apple (The Verge) Apple Risks Losing Billions of Dollars Annually From Epic Games Ruling (Bloomberg) The future of the App Store depends on the difference between a ‘button’ and an ‘external link’ (The Verge) Apple Won a Battle to Lose the War (500ish.com) Today's podcast voting! Gates v. Jobs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Sep 202118min

Chris and I thought we had not guests lined up this week so we were going to just potpourri some topics. But then Keyvon Beykpour, who is heading the Twitter project revolution came on and talked to us longer than we had any right to ask for. It was a great conversation. Sponsor: Otter.ai, code RIDE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Sep 20211h 23min

Even under pressure over the App Store, Apple is still willing to give Epic Games the finger. Also, Apple is putting the pedal to the metal in terms of new TV shows and original movies, while also attempting to solve the streaming industry’s problem with DJ Mixes. Food delivery platforms are suing NYC. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Masterworks.io/ride Otter.ai code RIDE Links: Apple won’t let Epic bring Fortnite back to South Korea’s App Store (The Verge) Apple Music is using Shazam to solve the streaming industry's problem with DJ mixes (TechCrunch) Grubhub, DoorDash, Uber Eats Sue New York City Over Fee Caps (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The Screen in Your Car Is Beckoning (Slate) Russia Influences Hackers but Stops Short of Directing Them, Report Says (NYTimes) How Amazon’s cloud business generates billions in profit (CNBC) When the Techies Took Over Tahoe (Outside) Adult Swim: How an Animation Experiment Conquered Late-Night TV (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Sep 202118min

Facebook launches some smart glasses. Amazon launches its own, branded smart tv. Soccer players are turning into NFTs. Twitter is turning into Reddit. And I still have questions about the whole Buy Now, Pay Later space. Sponsors: Otter.ai code ride Gainful.com/techmeme Links: FACEBOOK ON YOUR FACE (The Verge) Amazon Unveils First of Its Own Smart TVs, Will Bring TikTok to Fire TV in U.S. and Canada (Variety) Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick 4K Max adds Wi-Fi 6 and faster performance (The Verge) Spain’s Football League Seals Digital Player Card Deal With Sorare (Bloomberg) Twitter wants you to tweet to interest-based communities, not just followers (TechCrunch) BNPL platform Scalapay raises $155 million in Tiger Global led round (Tech.eu) (Today's twitter poll) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Sep 202118min