Ozan Saglam

• IBM has quietly announced its first-ever cloudy mainframes will go live on June 30…Z mainframe platform on the IBM Cloud, by offering virtual machines running z/OS as-a-service.
• The Next ‘iPhone Moment’ Will Eventually Arrive. Hurry Up Already
• Mercedes-Benz runs on 900 Kubernetes clusters
• The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible (FT)
• Meta has reduced its target for hiring engineers in 2022 to around 6,000-7,000, down from an initial plan to hire about 10,000 new engineers, Zuckerberg said.
• The dollar’s share of total allocated reserves was 59% in the first quarter of 2022
• New algorithm can predict future crime a week in advance, with 90% accuracy, and within a range of about 1000 feet.
• “…We Asked GPT-3 to Write an Academic Paper about Itself—Then We Tried to Get It Published…”
• A group of MIT researchers is exploring a radical idea for reversing global warming: using a raft of “space bubbles” to reflect sunlight away from our planet.
• Venture capital’s reckoning
• Steve Jobs awarded posthumous Medal of Freedom by President Biden
• Klarna in Talks to Raise Fresh Cash at Slashed $6.5 Billion Valuation…The deal would be a huge comedown for the company, which investors valued at $45.6 billion in 2021 (WSJ)
• Microsoft Cloud Computing System Suffering From Global Shortage…Due to a confluence of crises, the second-largest cloud provider has been operating in the yellow zone, meaning its data centers have a less-than-normal level of servers available. (WSJ)

• GitHub’s AI code assistant Copilot takes flight. And that’ll be $10 a month
• Mars Express orbiter to get code update after 19 years
• Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities
• Amazon launches CodeWhisperer, a GitHub Copilot-like AI pair programming tool
• Spotify revamps in-app concert discovery with new Live Events Feed
• Wilco gamifies your path through your software engineering career
• DoorDash teams up with grocer Loblaw as ultrafast delivery rivalry heats up (FT)
• 7 Modern Microservice Design Patterns
• For the first time, a small rocket will launch a private spacecraft to the Moon
• As Bitcoin Busts, What’s the Future of Web3? And What Even Is Web3?
• Nasa starts shutting down Voyager after 50 years…Nasa must start limiting the craft processes in order to keep them operating until 2030
• “…Pinduoduo shares have more than doubled since then, while Meituan shares have climbed 80%, and JD shares are up more than 50% in Hong Kong. Kuaishou is up by nearly 47%…”
• Valve’s Steam Deck makes a brilliant case against walled gardens
• iOS 16 Will Let iPhone Users Bypass CAPTCHAs in Supported Apps and Websites

• How To Be A Great 21st Century CEO
• 1x Engineer
• Klarna faces valuation slash to $15bn as it seeks fresh round of funding
• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s First Year on the Job: Undoing Bezos-Led Overexpansion (WSJ)
• Welcome to the E-Commerce Winter (The Information)
• Solar Power for Rentals: It’s Easier Than You Think
• Apple scores deal for Major League Soccer streaming rights worth $2.5bn (FT)
• Roku Stock Jumps After Unveiling Walmart E-Commerce Partnership
• “…Unit economics is becoming an albatross around the necks of tech-adjacent businesses that listed on public markets in recent years…” (FT)

• Microplastics found in freshly fallen Antarctic snow for first time
• Today’s CEOs Don’t Just Lead Companies. They Lead Ecosystems
• Google releases Android 13 beta 3, reaches platform stability
• Spotify Targets One Billion Listeners by 2030 Amid Profitability Concerns (WSJ)“…Audible controls about 48% of U.S. audiobook unit sales, according to book-audience researcher Codex Group LLC…”
• Amazon gets into AR shopping with launch of ‘Virtual Try-On for Shoes’
• WWDC 2022 recap: iOS 16, new MacBook Air, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and more
  • Apple: new financing arm banks on credit (FT:Lex)
  • Apple’s “next generation” of CarPlay plans to take over every screen in your car
  • What WatchOS 9 May Reveal About the Next Apple Watch
  • iPadOS 16 has lots of updates, but new multitasking features require an M1 chip
  • Apple’s medication feature is a step in the right direction
• Meta Halts Development of Apple Watch Rival With Two Cameras
• Autonomous cargo ship completes first ever transoceanic voyage
• Apple is coming for Garmin but it has a battery problem. 18 hours still falls short of other multisport watches

• India’s open e-commerce plan
• WatchOS 9: Every New Apple Watch Feature to Expect at WWDC
• How Lyft Is Improving Their Experiments Beyond A/B Testing
• Facebook parent Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down
• Metaverse Land: What Makes Digital Real Estate Valuable
• Tech Valuations Tumble, but Business Software Stocks Are Cushioned by the Cloud (WSJ)
• There is no such thing as ‘data’…”…What we have are innumerable different collections of information, each of them specific to a particular application…” (FT / Benedict Evans)
• Twitter’s reportedly shifting teams away from Spaces, newsletters, and communities…Twitter says its focus is ‘on the areas that will have the greatest positive impact to the public conversation’
• Slack adds audio name pronunciations to user profiles
• Volvo will use Epic’s Unreal Engine to create ‘photorealistic’ graphics in its electric cars
• Have an old iPad lying around? You might be able to make it run Linux soon
• Bukalapak races to bring Indonesian roadside kiosks online (FT)
• Thin Platforms
• Pinterest to Acquire The Yes…
• Missed Payments, Rising Interest Rates Put ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ to the Test (WSJ)

Know the difference: Open Metaverses vs Virtual Worlds

Class Quiz: What is Facebook Meta going to be?

Chart from @a16z @smc90 @cdixon @eddylazzarin @timroughgarden @alive_eth pic.twitter.com/TXovY3ZRBZ

— Jeremiah Owyang jowyang.eth (@jowyang) June 2, 2022

• Microsoft brings support for Arm-based AI chips to Windows
• Pokemon Go Maker Niantic Is Building a Massive Social AR Gaming Network
• Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future [PDF]
• a16z 2022 State of Crypto Report
• “…at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Philadelphia, Dyson revealed “secret robot prototypes” that are part of broader research it’s managed to keep a tight lid on thus far…”
• Netflix is adding four more games this month, including Exploding Kittens
• Google TV is finally launching personalized user profiles
• Microsoft starts testing new OneNote design overhaul
• Walmart is expanding its drone deliveries to reach 4 million households…will deliver up to 10 pounds by air in as little as 30 minutes using drones (WSJ)
• Broadcom in Talks to Pay About $60 Billion for VMware (WSJ)
• Is the ‘subscription economy’ going to feel the Netflix effect? (FT)
• Sequoia Capital plays Nostradamus (again)

Overwhelmed by the new technologies that are coming to replace cookies? Our graphical breakdown should help you wrap your head around all of them! pic.twitter.com/IqvVj380qG

— Paul Bannister (@pbannist) May 24, 2022

• Bionic Reading
• Apple previews new accessibility features combining the power of hardware, software, and machine learning
• “…Ads were supposed to be on their way out, replaced by subscription money. Now Netflix, Disney, and everyone else is learning to live with them…“
• Mastercard Rolls Out Biometric Payments
• “…Apple Inc. executives previewed its upcoming mixed-reality headset to the company’s board last week, indicating that development of the device has reached an advanced stage, according to people with knowledge of the matter…“
• For the first time since the pandemic, leisure and business flights surpass 2019 levels
• Klarna, Buy-now-pay-later startup, valued last year at $46 billion, could see its valuation fall by one-third in a tough environment for tech companies (WSJ)
• Netflix has updated its  culture memo
• Amazon Head of Devices: Company Focused on Real-World Tech, Not Metaverse (WSJ)
• Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley kingmaker, is advising its portfolio founders to “plan for the worst” as startups across the globe scramble to navigate a sharp reversal after a 13-year bull run.
• State of the Java Ecosystem Report from New Relic
• Uber, Grocery Outlet partner to pilot on-demand and scheduled grocery delivery
• Meta Unveils WhatsApp Cloud API at Its Conversations Event
• Scientists Grow Plants in Lunar Soil
• The banks collapsed in 2008 – and our food system is about to do the same
• TikTok plans big push into gaming, conducting tests in Vietnam
• TikTok shot past Facebook’s time-spent record in 2021, reaching 44 daily minutes per user.

Probably the best time in the history of the internet to be a founder.

Multiple mid/top of S-curve categories (mobile, social, cloud etc).

And lots of emerging / bottom of S-curve categories (web3, VR, AI).

— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) May 19, 2022

• Google IO Videos
• Google’s new Android Auto interface works with any screen size
• Google TV app to add casting as Android TV ecosystem grows to 110M monthly active devices
• The first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy…“…If Sagittarius A* were the size of a doughnut, M87* would be the size of the Allianz Arena…”
• Fostering Effective Energy Transition [PDF]
• E Ink Launches E Ink Gallery 3 Color ePaper
• “…Instacart has filed confidential paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, the company announced Wednesday…”
• Web3 Is Our Chance to Make a Better Internet
• Disney Plus added almost 8 million new subscribers as Netflix struggles
• A solar power plant in space? The UK wants to build one by 2035.
• Lunar Soil Can Be Used To Generate Oxygen and Fuel for Moon Astronauts
• Research Finds over 1.5 Million “Abandoned” Mobile Apps
• 15th Annual State Of Agile Report

Augmented reality can break down communication barriers – and help us better understand each other by making language visible. Watch what happens when we bring technologies like transcription and translation to your line of sight. #GoogleIO ↓ pic.twitter.com/ZLhd4BWPGh

— Google (@Google) May 11, 2022

• Google acquires Raxium
• Below Antarctic ice, scientists discover a giant groundwater system
• AMD reported more than $5 billion in quarterly revenue
• Fortnite is back on iOS through Xbox Cloud Gaming
• Apple, Google, and Microsoft will soon implement passwordless sign-in on all major platforms… Google blog post
• Tony Fadell archive
• NY Times says Wordle drove “tens of millions” of new users, record growth
• Pandemic killed 15M people in first 2 years, WHO excess death study finds
• The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus
• The Marketplace 100: 2022
• Elon Musk expected to serve as temporary Twitter CEO after deal closes
• Blizzard hires a vice president of culture to fix its culture
• Google’s changing its performance reviews
• Microsoft teams up with VW to make HoloLens work in cars
• Mechanical Watch
• Software Architecture and Design InfoQ Trends Report—April 2022

• The Ownership Economy 2022
• Shanghai’s lockdown is giving China’s online grocery apps a second chance
• Apple’s services revenue hits a record $19.8B in Q2, reaches 825M paid subscriptions…The Company posted a March quarter revenue record of $97.3 billion, up 9 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.52.
• The UK’s First Autonomous Passenger Bus Started Road Tests This Week
• Mapping the Brain to Understand the Mind
  • “…Nearly 40 years ago, scientists achieved a milestone by completing a wiring diagram that traced all the connections of the 302 neurons of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans…Today, thanks to advances in computing and image analysis algorithms, it can take less than a month to map a roundworm’s connectome. These technological improvements mean that scientists can set their sights on larger animals. They are closing in on the connectome of fruit fly larvae, with more than 9,000 cells, and adult flies, with 100,000 neurons. Next, they hope to map the brain of a developing fish and, perhaps within the next decade, a mouse, with roughly 70 million neurons—a project…“
• For Human Settlements on Mars, Solar Power May Beat Nuclear Energy
• MIT researchers have developed a portable desalination unit, weighing less than 10 kilograms, that can remove particles and salts to generate drinking water.
• South Korea’s Oceanix Busan: All We Know About World’s First Floating City
• The Boring Company is finally going to make a full-scale version of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop
• Japan reveals massive VR controlled robots to dominate construction
• DoorDash extends gas rewards program for delivery people on its platform through August…The program enables delivery people using their DasherDirect card to receive 10% cash back on their gas purchases, anywhere in the United States
• Amazon reported a loss of $3.84 billion, or $7.56 a share, for the first quarter… also reported a $7.6 billion loss on its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian.
• Google, Meta, and others will have to explain their algorithms under new EU legislation
• Delivery Hero increases revenues by 52% YoY
• India to launch open e-commerce network to take on Amazon, Walmart…ONDC is incorporated as a private non-profit company, aimed at facilitating an open public digital infrastructure to develop and transform the Indian e-commerce ecosystem, which is pegged as a US$200 billion opportunity by 2026…The government plans to roll out its indigenously developed online e-commerce network for the public in 100 Indian cities by Diwali to provide millions of kirana stores and consumers an alternative to multinational platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart.
• Airbnb commits to fully remote workplace: ‘Live and work anywhere’
• Intel CEO Promises Quicker Return to Technological Leadership…“Now we think late 2024,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
• The Life and Death of the Original Micro-Apartments