That, though, is how I like to start a sentence.

2020-06-15 AWS suing former VP Mktng, Brian Hall, for violating noncompete taking similar job with Google Cloud Platform. WA should follow CA on banning non-competes Snap Partner Summit had virtual beach keynote with wave sounds. Snapchat UX now has standard 5-tab navigation

2020-06-16 Apple preparing to announce ARM Macs at WWDC on Jun 22. ARM may also be used in more servers once it's being used for development Intel is helpless to stop this. Its fall started in 2005 when opting not to build iPhone chips because it didn't seem profitable enough

2020-06-17 Apple requiring apps to offer in-app purchases (15-30% commission), even when service is sold elsewhere, as with Basecamp's hey.com email app I received over 30 credible stories from app developers, but all except DHH are scared to speak out publicly

2020-06-18 WMT partners with SHOP to add 1200 sellers to its online mktplace. Win-win: WMT increases inventory & SHOP platform grows, even though doesn't use SHOP pay system ZM expanding E2E encryption to free users is PR victory, but IMO bad policy that facilitates child abuse

2020-06-22 Jason Fried's response to Apple re Hey app: It's not all about the 15-30% cut, it's significant added complexity and UX inferiority of Apple's mandatory IAP system An antitrust ruling from the courts is unlikely. Best way to change regulation is congress passing laws

2020-06-23 OS X has finally reached end of the road: next version of macOS is not 10.16, but 11.0 OS X was the child of both Classic Mac OS and NeXTSTEP. macOS 11.0 feels like a son of iOS: Runs on ARM, UI overhaul seems geared for touch, easy for iOS developers to publish to

2020-06-24 AAPL Intel-ARM transition resembles PowerPC-Intel transition: Universal 2 for binaries and Rosetta 2 for dynamic binary translation AAPL announced new process for challenging App Store guidelines, & will no longer delay security/bugfix updates over App Store disputes

2020-06-29 Facebook is a platform in the Bill Gates sense: more total value accrues to advertisers than to FB Apple isn't. It captures most app store ecosystem rev for itself (device sales & IAP). New permission dialogue for IDFA further decreases advertisers' captured value

2020-06-30 India banned TikTok, WeChat, and other Chinese apps after a border clash killed 20 Indian soldiers. Getting into the Great Firewall game, with help from AAPL and GOOG Reddit should be free to ban r/The_Donald. Users free to go elsewhere, e.g. thedonald.win

2020-07-06 WhatsApp no longer giving user data to HK law enforcement after China's National Security Law; China may put HK FB users behind Great Firewall Patrick Collison tweeted re Chinese atrocities. Stripe chooses to avoid China IG Reels (FB TikTok copy) obviously good move for FB

2020-07-07 MS Teams' competitive advantage over Slack is same-co integration. MS Teams included free in Office 365 subscription, & works well with MS ecosystem Slack's strategy is a horizontal "enterprise social network". Announced Slack Connect: Shared Channels across many cos

2020-07-08 Uber acqs Postmates for $2.65B all stock. Cheaper than GrubHub's $7.3B sale to takeaway.com & less antitrust scrutiny. May help expand into non-food home essentials DoorDash probably still the stronger food deliverer, better strategy and financial controls

2020-07-09 Slack acqs Rimeto. Agg'ing identity data from HR and CRM helps "enterprise social network" strategy MS Teams launches meeting features, focusing on competing with ZM Interview with Stewart Butterfield Discord server is better fit than Slack team if members lack common goal

2020-07-13 Analog Devices buys Maxim Integrated (analog chip maker) for $21B. Strengthens fragmented US industry & avoids acquisition by Chinese co FB considering banning political ads. Politicians with less cash and outsiders with no existing media support would be the losers

2020-07-14 ByteDance's first act was TouTiao: news app with an algorithmically optimized & personalized feed ByteDance owning TikTok should be unacceptable to the US. Not so much because censorship concerns, but rather the propaganda potential of its black-box algorithmic feed

2020-07-15 Facebook thinks of itself foremost as a social network. This would explain why it never pays for professional content ByteDance isn't a social network; they just care about being entertaining. User-generated video content plus a curation algorithm does that job well

2020-07-16 TWTR was unprepared for a breach like y'day. If low-level contractor has access to prominent accounts, co's whole mindset is wrong While FB (IG Reels) is obvious beneficiary of any TikTok bans, GOOG and FB will ultimately be losers if internet fragmentation continues

2020-07-20 EU Court of Justice struck down "EU-US Privacy Shield", a framework of rules that enabled compliant companies to move EU citizens' personal data to US servers. Now the obvious workaround is to localize more data centers in EU, which is a bigger hassle for smaller cos

2020-07-21 "Four Internets": US: Laissez-faire with huge Aggregator cos China: Gov controls all info, isolationism has some econ benefit EU: Regulations increasingly separate EU's internet from world's India: Jio is now the interface for foreign investment in internet market