Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery!
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On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week.
- Formula 1 Spins Off Track. Last fall Eddy Cue and Tim Cook agreed to pay a reported $750 million over the next five years to become the U.S. broadcaster of Formula 1. That deal kicked in this year, and for this week’s Sharp Text I wrote about the disastrous first month of the new era. In short: through no fault of Apple’s, Formula 1 is suddenly an acrimonious mess. Fans are mocking every race, the newly redesigned engines are a problem, and the greatest driver in the sport is threatening to retire at 28 years old. Where will it all go? I have no idea, but the Miami Grand Prix is one month away, and it’s now time for everyone to search for solutions. — Andrew Sharp
- Apple’s First — and Next — 50 Years. When it comes to discussing Apple’s last 50 years, and their prospects for the next fifty years, there are two obvious choices: John Gruber and Horace Dediu. I have the pleasure of talking to John twice a week on Dithering — we discussed Apple’s anniversary on both Tuesday and Friday — but I was particularly excited to spend 90 minutes with Dediu on this week’s Stratechery Interview. This wasn’t just a podcast about Apple, but about how tech has changed over the last fifty years, and why AI makes even the most reliable narrators of history increasingly uncertain about the future. — Ben Thompson
- Security and AI. Glancing at headlines in the aftermath of the Axios hack, I was briefly under the impression that a buzzy D.C. news organization had just suffered a breach of its email list. Unfortunately the real story is a bit more ominous. So if you, like me, had never heard of Axios or a “supply chain attack” before Monday, start with Ben’s Daily Update on Wednesday, which made mechanics of the hack more legible. We went deeper on Sharp Tech to explain why the Axios hack matters, and what sort of tension this week’s news portends — including why AI will make security issue worse in the short-term, but may be the solution in the long run. — AS
Stratechery Articles and Updates
- Apple’s 50 Years of Integration — Apple has survived 50 years by being the only company integrating hardware and software; if the company loses because of AI it will be because the point of integration changes.
- Axios Supply Chain Attack, Claude Code Code Leaked, AI and Security — AI is going to be bad for security in the short-term, but much better than humans in the long-term.
- An Interview with Asymco’s Horace Dediu About Apple at 50 — An interview with Asymco’s Horace Dediu about his career in tech, Apple’s first 50 years, and the prospects for the next 50, particularly in the face of AI
Sharp Text by Andrew Sharp
- A Snap of Oversteer — Formula 1 began a brand new era with a very bad month. Can the sport get back on track?
Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Asianometry with Jon Yu
Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop
Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver
Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson
This week’s Stratechery video is on Agents Over Bubbles.