The modern version of “Let them eat cake”. What an asshole:
https://gizmodo.com/david-zaslav-warner-bros-discovery-streaming-wga-strike-1850408939
Working with people who trust and support you is more valuable than most pay raises when you switch jobs.
This is one lesson I’ve seen people learn the hard way over and over again.
The challenge with running a subscription business is that you have to deal with churn. It’s not enough to convince them to pay but also to convince them to keep paying.
The low value proposition for Twitter Blue makes a high churn rate inevitable. Now Elon knows why everyone else mainly runs ads.
https://mashable.com/article/half-of-twitter-blue-earliest-subscribers-no-longer-subscribed
Coinbase is really planning to hit the SEC with the Uno reverse card — if our business is illegal then why did you approve our IPO? 🤣
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbase-tries-novel-defense-in-sec-fight-43298183?mod=djemalertNEWS
Satya really made them dance after all.
Thoughtful article from Werner Vogels on Amazon Prime Video going back to a monolithic architecture from microservices.
1. You should revisit your architecture every order of magnitude of growth later.
2. There is no “right” architecture and it depends on your workloads and organizational needs.
https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2023/05/monoliths-are-not-dinosaurs.html
My Mastodon feed is too serious with no way to change that. My Bluesky feed is too unserious with no way to change it either.
Initial impressions of Bluesky
- The good: Recommendations in the feed and who to follow are top notch. This makes it already a better experience than Mastodon.
- The bad: Too many missing features. No DMs. No GIFs. You can’t even block people. The last one was a surprise. 😨
Wintel is truly dead. Microsoft recorded $18B in profits in Q1 while Intel recorded its largest quarterly loss of all time with -$2.8B lost in Q1.
Microsoft and Intel's fortunes have now diverged. Microsoft is now a cloud company and Intel's left behind.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/27/intel-intc-earnings-report-q1-2023.html
If you bought $META stock last fall, you've more than doubled your money by this morning and are in spitting distance of tripling it.
The key innovation that made this all possible? Cost cutting.
This is the falsest statement a CFO has ever made about their company.
https://jalopnik.com/gm-says-software-will-be-as-compelling-as-carplay-1850378651
Amazon is shutting down its Fitbit competitors which it launched in 2020.
This was a “me too” effort which entered the market late and was perennially behind even Fitbit who themselves are getting lapped by Apple Watch. Sadly, no surprises here.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/26/23699459/amazon-layoffs-halo-fitness-tracking-sleep-tracking
The problem with ⚠️BeReal⚠️ is that it was a gimmick not a new or better way to communicate. And they didn’t figure out how to capitalize on the usage before the novelty of the gimmick wore off.
Snapchat is the last great social app to nail the transition
Wow. The UK CMA has blocked Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision over concerns of creating a monopoly in cloud gaming. 😮
The EU has named the 19 tech platforms that are so popular among Europeans that they will get extra restrictive regulations.
I wonder if any EU lawmaker looks at the lack of European companies on this list and asks what they’re doing wrong in Europe?
Someone asked me recently, what is one quality that is career limiting that many people don't realize is career limiting?
My answer? Being unable to deal with ambiguity. The more senior you get, the more there are is no right answer or plan figured out. That's your job.
Office 365 and Azure are really the crown jewels of Microsoft's business right now. Both Windows revenue and XBox hardware revenue are down 30% year over year.
Windows is suffering due to the PC upgrade cycle as everyone bought new devices during COVID.
TikTok has created a generation of anti-materialistic kids. My son loves shopping at Goodwill, buying knock offs and thinks Crocs & pajama bottoms are high fashion.
A stark contrast to the sort of aspirational lifestyle that goes viral on Instagram.
https://www.ft.com/content/9609381f-8ad5-4f95-b2b2-2b8b050107d4
It’s a good question whether generative AI means social media will break under the weight of fake content?
On one hand, I agree with @stratechery that this is the next evolution of social media content; your friends (FB) -> influencers (IG) -> everyone (TikTok) -> AI (???)
On the other hand, I expect it will soon be futile trying to determine if a person online is a bot or a piece of content is AI generated.
75% of Snapchat’s reviews in the App Store have been 1-star reviews since they launched “My AI.”
I personally found it a bit presumptuous to make this wannabe Siri as the top contact in my message list. I can see why users are pissed.