India is banning Chinese apps, in a reminder that nations still matter; China knows the more than anyone. Then, why centralized App Stores make this easier, and why Reddit is a reminder that infrastructure matters.
Twitter and Trump, YouTube and China, Facebook and Polarization
Twitter fact-checks Trump, YouTube censors Chinese words, and Facebook reportedly declines to police polarization.
Dithering and Open Versus Free
Announcing the new Dithering podcast, and why it is important to fight for the open ecosystem that Spotify is trying to aggregate.
Shopify Shop, Shopify’s Reason to Exist, Google’s Earnings
Shopify launched the Shop.app, which is not only a poor experience but also makes no sense strategically. Then, Google’s earnings show how big tech is going to get even stronger.
An Interview with Eugene Wei About the Half-Life of Information
In this Daily Update Interview Eugene Wei and I explore the idea of the half-life of information, and what that means for the value of Netflix, YouTube, Disney, and more.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin Step Down, Why Now?, Google Going Forward
Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s impact on Silicon Valley is incomparable; now, though, they are formalizing a departure that arguably happened years ago. Why now, and what should Alphabet and Google do next?
Slack Earnings, Slack’s Sales Cycle, The FTC Fines YouTube
Slack’s earnings were fine, but lacked the explosive growth their valuation needed. Understanding Slack’s past and future product-market fit explains why. Then, the real problem with the FTC’s fine of YouTube is a lack of transparency.
Why Cloudflare Matters, The Absence of Gatekeepers, Promotion Versus Moderation
More on moderation, including why Cloudflare is important systematically, a reminder that there are no more gatekeepers, which means moderation is always reactive, and why Facebook and YouTube still deserve the most scrutiny.
Google Earnings, Amazon Earnings
Google’s earnings came with the usual dearth of information, although it appears that Google Cloud is growing more than expected. AWS growth, meanwhile, is definitely slowing as Amazon’s business broadly is running out of low-hanging fruit.
Delrahim’s Speech on Tech and Antitrust; Tech and Antitrust, Updated; YouTube and Instagram’s Scale Defense
The Department of Justice antitrust chief gave a speech yesterday that should make tech nervous, particularly Google and Facebook. Then, why Google and Facebook’s scale defense is not sufficient.