Episodes

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/rideExpressVPN.com/techmemeLinks: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)

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.comThoughtWorks Technology PodcastLinks: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 succe…

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/techmemeLinks: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)

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 checkoutUber.com/techmemeLinks: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 (Ins…

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.comLinks: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

Ming-Chi Kuo’s grand unified Apple rumor includes AR enabled contact lenses. Is the US about to retaliate in kind for the SolarWinds hack? Mobile World Congress is gonna go ahead and do it live! And in person. Why is Google making Google Pay worse? And do we need a new podcast wager about meaningful quantum computing by 2023?Sponsors:Kiwico.com, promocode "ride" for 30% offBuyRaycon.com/tech for 15% offLinks:Kuo: Apple to Launch Mixed Reality Headset in Mid 2022 and Augmented Reality Glasses by 2025 (MacRumors)Preparing for Retaliation Against Russia, U.S. Confronts Hacking by China (NYTimes)Smartphone Lobby Wants Conference for 50,000 People in June (Bloomberg)The new Google Pay repeats all the same mistakes of Google Allo (Ars Technica)Quantum-Computing Startup IonQ Plans Public Debut in $2 Billion SPAC Merger (WSJ)Sidewalk robots get legal rights as "pedestrians" (Axios)

I don’t think this one requires any in depth intro. The great Brady Dale of Coindesk, walks us though the whole NFT phenomenon. What are NFTs? How do they work? Why are people so crazed about them at the moment?

Tim Wu joined the Biden administration and that sound you hear is a big collective gulp from Silicon Valley. A tweet undo button has been unearthed. Turntable.fm has resurfaced. New data suggests the death of silicon valley has been exaggerated. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.Sponsors:Audible.com/techmeme or text techmeme to 500-500Links:A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House (NYTimes)Here’s what Twitter’s rumored ‘undo send’ feature could look like (The Verge)Turntable.fm is back from the dead — and now there are two (The Verge)Survey finds that the reported exodus of tech companies from San Francisco's Bay Area is 'greatly exaggerated' (Insider)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:The problem for Paramount+ (and every other streamer)? Everyone already has Netflix. (Recode)Who Really Writes Twitter’s ‘Trending’ Summaries (OneZero)Blockchain, QR codes and your phone: the race to build vaccine passports (Protocol)How a tiny startup is reinventing the …

Square is acquiring a majority stake in Tidal, and either this makes little sense, or it’s a watershed moment in this NFT/creator economy phenomenon that’s suddenly washing over all of us. Apple walks the walk in terms of data portability. But they’re facing serious new anti-trust scrutiny in the UK and Arizona. And our year of Covid, at least measured in internet traffic numbers.Sponsors:Masterworks.io, promocode rideLinkedIn.com/rideLinks:Square acquires majority of Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service, in $297 million deal. (NYTimes)Apple Launches Service for Transferring iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos (MacRumors)Apple Probed by U.K. as App Store Payments Scrutiny Mounts (Bloomberg)Arizona App Store Bill (The Verge)Ethereum now an option on Amazon’s managed blockchain service (The Block)Comcast: Pandemic drove peak internet traffic up 32% in 2020 (VentureBeat)

Google says it’s getting out of the ad tracking game. Kinda. I’ll explain what’s really going on here. Headline wrapup from Microsoft’s Ignite conference includes AR excitement. Brave is launching a privacy search engine. And why Amazon’s app icon redesign reminded people of Hitler’s mustache.Sponsors:PingIdentity.comNewYorker.com/techmeme, promocode: techmemeLinks:Google promises it won’t just keep tracking you after replacing cookies (The Verge)Google to Stop Selling Ads Based on Your Specific Web Browsing (WSJ)Microsoft says China-backed hackers are exploiting Exchange zero-days (TechCrunch)Recovering from the SolarWinds hack could take 18 months (MIT Technology Review)Microsoft launches Power Fx, a new open source low-code language (TechCrunch)Microsoft Mesh feels like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings (The Verge)Brave is launching its own search engine with the help of ex-Cliqz devs and tech (TechCrunch)Amazon shaves app icon mustache that raised eyebrows (The V…

Is the iPhone about to lose the notch and join the hole-punch universe? Whole bunch of new features for Microsoft Teams, and also a new Microsoft smart-speaker. Instacart has a monster raise. Grimes has a monster NFT sale. Discovery+ is an interesting dark-horse in the streaming wars. Oh. And “fly” drones.Sponsors:Fundrise.com/techmemeGrammarly.com/techmemeLinks:Kuo: iPhone 13 series to feature smaller notch, 120Hz display, larger batteries, more (9to5Mac)All 270 US Apple Stores are open for the first time since March 2020 (9to5Mac)Microsoft to add new shared channels, encryption for calls, webinar features to Teams (ZDNet)Microsoft’s new Intelligent Speakers deliver its promised meeting room of the future (The Verge)Instacart’s valuation doubles to $39 billion (CNBC)Grimes made $5.8 million in under 20 minutes selling crypto-based artwork (Insider)How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million (Reuters)Forget ‘Succession.’ You Can Watch ‘90 Day Fiancé’ for 100 Hours Straight. …

Instagram launches Live Rooms for group broadcasts, which, depending on how you use it is either basically FaceTime for Instagram, or another shot across the Clubhouse bow. Is the micromobility space revving up to roar back to health? Are US-based drone makers about to step into the void left by DJI? And Chris Dixon tries to contextualize NFTs for us.Sponsors:SmartAsset.com/techmemeTinyCapital.comLinks:Instagram launches ‘Live Rooms’ for live broadcasts with up to four creators (TechCrunch)Verizon support says you should turn off 5G to save your phone’s battery (The Verge)Lime says it will spend $50 million on a huge e-bike expansion (The Verge)Skydio valuation raises American hopes in drone war with China (Financial Times)Klarna Valued at $31 Billion After U.S. Growth Stoked Investors (Bloomberg)As BNPL startups raise, a look at Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay earnings (TechCrunch Extra)NFTs and a Thousand True Fans (Chris Dixon/Andreessen Horowitz)

Chris Messina and I go deeper on some of the news of the week.

Twitter just wants to give us everything all of the sudden, including charging for tweets, sort of groups based on interests, and even blocking and muting accounts. Google gives devs a Sleep API. Why has LastPass decided to piss everyone off all of the sudden? Why Xiaomi is the up-and-comer to keep your eye on. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.Sponsors:CalderaLab.com use code TECHMEME (all caps one word) at checkoutLinks:Twitter announces paid Super Follows to let you charge for tweets (The Verge)Twitter planning a feature to let you auto-block and mute abusive accounts (The Verge)Google launches Android Sleep API to detect snoozing, waking up; available to apps now (9to5Google)1Password has none, KeePass has none... So why are there seven embedded trackers in the LastPass Android app? (The Register)European Smartphone Market Down 14% YoY in 2020; Xiaomi gains while Huawei and Samsung Lose (Counterpoint Research)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:Xiaomi is undercutt…

The Biden administration signs an executive order addressing the chip shortage. I’ll tell you why this is evolving into a big deal. Coinbase files its S-1 so we get to look under the hood of their business for the first time. Paramount+ reveals pricing and content details for the first time. And timely interesting raises in the Ethereum space which means: NFTs.Sponsors:Oracle.com/goto/rideFlatFile.ioLinks:Biden Orders Broad Supply-Chain Review Amid Chip Shortages (WSJ)Coinbase Reveals $322M in Profit For 2020 Ahead of Landmark Public Debut (Decrypt)ViacomCBS bets you will subscribe to 5 or more streaming services, leaving plenty of room for Paramount+ (CNBC)Verizon Leads 5G Airwave Bidding With Record $45 Billion Splurge (Bloomberg)NFT marketplace Sorare raises $50 million in Series A led by Benchmark (The Block)Ethereum scaling startup Optimism raises $25 million Series A led by a16z (The Block)Otter.ai raises $50 million for AI transcription (VentureBeat)

Facebook defends its stance in Australia. MicroStrategy doubles down on its stance vis-à-vis bitcoin. Is “Sign In With Apple” the new stick the antitrust folks might use to beat Apple with? But conversely, have you noticed that social networking has gotten hella competitive lately? What does that mean for anti-trust arguements vis-à-vis Facebook. Oh, and a skateboard for AR glasses.Flatfile.ioAirMedCareNetwork.com/tech offer code: TECHLinks:The Real Story of What Happened With News on Facebook in Australia (Facebook Newsroom)Facebook got everything it wanted out of Australia by being willing to do what the other guy wouldn’t (Nieman Lab)MicroStrategy Buys $1 Billion More Bitcoin, Totalling $4.5 Billion (Decrypt)HP is buying gaming accessory brand HyperX for $425 million (The Verge)Apple’s App Sign-in Button Becomes Hot-Button Issue in U.S. Antitrust Probe (The Information)How social networks got competitive again (Casey Newton's Platformer)VCs are chasing Hopin upwards of $5-6B val…

Australia caves in to Facebook. PlayStation is planning a big new push in VR. The Mate X2 keeps the foldable dream alive. The weird new malware infecting Apple Silicon Macs. And let’s use NBA Top Shot as a lens to explain NFTs.Sponsors:Kiwico.com promocode: rideEditorX.comLinks:Facebook to reverse news ban on Australian sites, government to make amendments to media bargaining code (ABC.net.au)PlayStation CEO says PS5 will get its own VR headset, explains console supply chain shortfall (Washington Post)Huawei’s Mate X2 foldable adopts Samsung’s dual-screen design (The Verge)Kuo: New MacBook Pro Models With HDMI Port and SD Card Reader to Launch Later This Year (MacRumors)New malware found on 30,000 Macs has security pros stumped (ArsTechnica)Inside 'NBA Top Shot,' the Digital Highlights Marketplace Worth Millions (Bleacher Report)

Spotify’s new HiFi subscription tier. Clubhouse has security concerns. Apple is king of the smartphone hill once again. Maybe the biggest survival story of the Covid-19 era is about the IPO. And is the Facebook news ban pushing Australians into the arms of the news publishers themselves?Sponsors:ManlyBands.com/techmeme code: techmeme for 20% NewYorker.com/techmeme promocode: techmemeLinks:Spotify HiFi is a lossless streaming tier coming later this year (The Verge)Clubhouse Chats Are Breached, Raising Concerns Over Security (Bloomberg)Apple Surpassed Samsung as World's Largest Smartphone Maker in Fourth Quarter (MacRumors)Restaurant-Software Provider Toast Prepares for IPO (WSJ)Google fires another AI ethics leader (Axios)Australia’s ABC News shot to the top of the App Store charts following Facebook’s news ban (The Verge)

As mentioned, for my birthday this year I got my first VR rig, an Occulus Quest 2 because if an Apple AR/VR thingy is coming, if Facebook continues to invest in VR, then I figured it was time to, you know, not be functionally inexperienced with the space. I have a little bit of crypto to understand the space. Looking to get my hands on some NFTs to understand the space. I’ve got an onlyfans account to understand the dynamics of what works in the creator economy. And that’s the only reason, I swear. Anyway, in this episode we’re going to talk about some of the things I’ve learned and to do so, we’re going to talk to two folks. First, some of you might know Kyle Hilliard, he was for a long time the host of our Gaming Ride Home podcast, before the pandemic put paid to that show. He’s a veteran games journalist, and actually, you can still hear Kyle talk gaming on the MinnMax podcast. Link in the show notes. Kyle helps me understand the state of the industry from a developer and corporate…

Uber has lost one of its most significant independent contractor battles, in this case, in the UK. The Android 12 Developer Preview is here. Office 2021 is coming. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.Sponsors:AirMedCareNetwork.com/tech offer code: TECHTovala.com/rideLinks:Uber loses a major employment rights case as the UK’s top court rules its drivers are workers (CNBC)Android 12 developer preview is available now with many under-the-hood updates (The Verge)Apple Is Working on Magnetic Battery Pack Attachment for IPhones (Bloomberg)Microsoft announces Office 2021, available for Windows and macOS later this year (The Verge)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:The Bizarre Reaction To Facebook's Decision To Get Out Of The News Business In Australia (TechDirt)Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long? (Noam Bardin)Why the three biggest vaccine makers failed on Covid-19 (Financial Times)Citibank just got a $500 million lesson in the importance of UI design (Ars Techn…

I’ll do my best to explain this Australia situation with Facebook and Google. SpaceX is our interesting raise today. Nvidia unveils a line of chips just for crypto. Does Apple want to set the standards for 6G? And if remote work is the future, why is Big Tech still building so much office space?Sponsors:Uber.com/techmemeTovala.com/rideLinks:Facebook restricts users, publishers from sharing news content in Australia (AP)Facebook calls Australia's bluff (Platformer)SpaceX Funding Round at $74 Billion Valuation Was Led by Sequoia (Bloomberg)NVIDIA Annoucnes CMP 30HX, 40HX, 50HX and 90HX GPUs For Mining, Cripples Hash Rate Of RTX 3060 (WCCFTech)Apple Hiring Engineers to Develop 6G Wireless (Bloomberg)If Work Is Going Remote, Why Is Big Tech Still Building? (Wired)

Epic Games takes its war with Apple to Europe. But Apple wins a skirmish in North Dakota of all places. New York sues Amazon over worker issues. Google maps will now let you pay for parking. Some tangible numbers about the recent NFT explosion. And why the new headphone emoji look suspiciously like AirPods Max.Sponsors:Tovala.com/ridePingIdentity.comLinks:Epic Games files EU antitrust complaint against Apple (FT)Apple wins victory as North Dakota votes down bill that would regulate app stores (CNBC)New York Sues Amazon, Saying It Inadequately Protected Workers From Covid-19 (NYTimes)Amazon won’t build this Alexa cuckoo clock unless it hits a preorder goal (The Verge)Google Maps will now let you pay for public transportation and parking through its app (The Verge)Chromebooks outsold Macs worldwide in 2020, cutting into Windows market share (GeekWire)Ethereum NFT Market Primed for Explosive Growth in 2021 (Decrypt)First Look: 217 New Emojis in iOS 14.5 (Emojipedia)The essay we h…

Bitcoin hits its latest, biggest milestone. A OnePlus cofounder’s latest startup is: Nothing. But it bought something: Essential. I’ll explain why this “who’s on first” routine might be interesting. Why government antitrust action has a tendency to open the litigation floodgates. And if you’ve been hearing about that new app Dispo, I’ve got an explainer for you. Cause that’s what I’m here for.Sponsors:Fundrise.com/techmemeTovala.com/rideLinks:Bitcoin Jumps to $50,000 as Record-Breaking Rally Accelerates (Bloomberg)Essential is now officially owned by Carl Pei’s Nothing Technologies (9to5Google)Microsoft’s new Office app now available on iPad (The Verge)New Samsung laptops rumored to include OLED screens and S Pen support (The Verge)Big Tech’s Next Big Problem Could Come From People Like ‘Mr. Sweepy’ (NYTimes)Retro photo app is winning buzz (Axios)The bull case for Dispo (Justin Potts)

We’ve got our first look at how Microsoft plans to bring xCloud to every device, even iOS. Is Facebook building a smartwatch? Maybe because they’re so pissed at Apple? Is everyone trying to scupper the Nvidia/ARM deal? And why I failed to mention that Paramount+ is the new entrant in the streaming wars.Sponsors:ExpressVPN.com/techmemeMintMobile.com/rideLinks:Here’s a first look at Microsoft’s xCloud for the web (The Verge)Facebook Plans Smartwatch With Focus on Messaging, Health (The Information)Facebook Meets Apple in Clash of the Tech Titans—‘We Need to Inflict Pain’ (WSJ)Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm Protest Nvidia’s Acquisition of Arm Ltd. (Bloomberg)Microsoft’s Big Win in Quantum Computing Was an ‘Error’ After All (Wired)ViacomCBS Goes ‘All-In’ on Streaming, But Without Many of Its Top Shows (Bloomberg)