• What history tells you about post-pandemic booms (The Economist)
• Enabling the mass adoption of autonomous driving
• Amazon crosses $100 billion in sales in huge first quarter
• Among Us is finally coming to PS4 and PS5, three years after its 2018 debut
• China to report first population drop in five decades
• Report: Apple’s M2 chip has entered production and will ship as soon as July
• Between “pay with your face” programs in supermarkets and facial recognition cameras in the metro
• Instead of rushing to rebuild Barbados’ Covid-ravaged tourism industry, one startup is opting for slow investment.
• ‘Disaster Girl’ has sold her popular meme as an NFT for $500,000
• What cities need now
• The climate solution actually adding millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
• Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 command module, has died
• Smartphone shipments jumped 27% globally in Q1, 347 milion units
• Blue Origin will start selling tickets for New Shepard space tourism flights on May 5
• Waymo’s New CEOs Say Self-Driving Unit Eyes Outside Funding
• Amazon’s ads business is generating nearly $7 billion a quarter, and growth is accelerating
• China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week in the latest big step forward for the country’s space exploration program.
• Instacart Expands Online Food-Stamp Payments, Challenging Rivals
• Microsoft is changing the default Office font and wants your help to pick a new one
• ‘Self-driving’ cars to be allowed on UK roads this year
• Google Is Saving Over $1 Billion a Year by Working From Home

Ultimate China Social Media Marketing Cheatsheet 2021. High res version: https://t.co/CnAVg2pU0k via. @KAWO pic.twitter.com/JONifHVSgk

— ??????? ??????? (@mbrennanchina) April 26, 2021

• everything Apple announced at its ‘Spring Forward’ event, link2
• Apple’s AirTag relies on a feature no competitor can match: One billion iPhones
• just become a big week for AI regulation
• How a tiny media company is helping people get vaccinated
• NASA has just flown a helicopter on Mars for the first time…Ingenuity flew up by 3 meters then hovered for 40 seconds.
• The Case for Universal Creative Income
• Who will win the self-driving race? Here are eight possibilities
• Call of Duty: Warzone now has 100 million players
• Apple targeted in $50 million ransomware attack resulting in unprecedented schematic leaks
• Amazon One’s palm-scanning payments are coming to Whole Foods
• Magic Leap CEO says second-generation headset will ship later this year…It’s 20 percent lighter, with a doubled field of view
• World’s first public cloud-based 5G network will run on AWS in major test for global telecoms (FT)
• Sleeping less than 6 hours a night in midlife raises risk of dementia 30%, study finds
• PDF: Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2021 edition (WEF)
• Where New Ideas in Management Come From?
• Volvo Group Sees More Risk From ‘Unstable’ Chip Supply Chain
• Bank of England to consider digital money plan
• Teaching children to play chess found to decrease risk aversion
• “…How often do people actually copy and paste from Stack Overflow? Now we know…One out of every four users who visits a Stack Overflow question copies something within five minutes of hitting the page. That adds up to 40,623,987 copies across 7,305,042 posts and comments between March 26th and April 9th. People copy from answers about ten times as often as they do from questions and about 35 times as often as they do from comments…”
• Microsoft Outlook now lets you end all meetings early to give your brain a rest…Back-to-back meetings can now have a break in between
• “…In certain applications, hydrogen is a promising contender for a carbon-zero fuel. Which countries are leading the race for its implementation?Hydrogen is the lightest gas with the lowest density. It is also plentiful; it is stored in water (H2O) and hydrocarbons, such as methane (CH4), but cannot be captured. It has to be separated in its compound state to produce a useable fuel. (In liquid form, hydrogen is 1/800 the volume of hydrogen in its gas state.)…”
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX wins $2.9 billion NASA moon landing contract
• Amazon Opens London Augmented Reality Salon to Showcase Tech
• Chat App Discord Ends Takeover Talks With Microsoft…now focused on a potential public listing in the long term

• Microsoft’s Nuance Gambit Shows Healthcare Is Shaping Up as Next Tech Battleground
• Nvidia Plans New Chip to Compete With Intel in Data-Center Market…Product named Grace uses technology licensed from SoftBank Group-owned Arm
• Nvidia to Make Server Processor, Targets Intel Profit Center
• Autodesk acquires Upchain
• Livestreaming has taken over Chinese e-commerce. Now, online shopping giants are trying to replicate the model in Russia.
• EU to consider ban on using A.I. for mass surveillance and social credit scores
• How Amazon Strong-Arms Partners Using Its Power Across Multiple Businesses (WSJ)
• Cable Companies Emerge as Force in Cellphone Business…More than five million Americans have turned to cable providers for cellphone service, attracted by lower prices and ease of adjusting plans
• Garry Kasparov launches a community-first chess platform
• France is giving citizens $3,000 to get rid of their car and get an ebike
• Intel, Nvidia, TSMC execs agree: Chip shortage could last into 2023
• Ford’s BlueCruise self-driving tech did a 110,000-mile road trip
• Coinbase opens at $102 billion valuation on first day of public trading
• Apple Working on Combined TV Box, Speaker to Revive Home Efforts
• Google Shopping for Android, iOS shutting down in favor of the web
• Ferrari’s Electric Reluctance Eases as Chairman Sees 2025 Debut
• World-first hologram dining experience opens

Ground zero in China for live stream sellers is Beixiazhu. This 1 town is filled with 1000's of sellers shipping serious volumes at crazy low prices through live stream. #9.9包邮 pic.twitter.com/nGUiZhSKTs

— ??????? ??????? (@mbrennanchina) April 15, 2021

• China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy (WSJ)
• Hitachi Ltd. ’s $9.6 billion purchase of digital-engineering firm GlobalLogic Inc. amounts to a big bet that enterprise software will unleash the power of big data on heavy industry. (WSJ)
• The rise and fall of a massive industry based on missed calls
• What the SPAC explosion means for Latin America
• T-Mobile 5G home Internet: $60 a month, 100Mbps speeds, and no data cap
• Sixty-Week Delay on Router Orders Shows Scale of Chip Crisis
• A pair of robot legs called Cassie has been taught to walk using reinforcement learning
• Consumers now average 4.2 hours per day in apps, up 30% from 2019
• A monkey equipped with Elon Musk’s Neuralink device play Pong
• Verizon and Honda want to use 5G and edge computing to make driving safer
• Broadband use surged more than 30% during pandemic, industry group says
• Why Shortages of a $1 Chip Sparked Crisis in Global Economy
• NASA’s Mars Helicopter Survives First Cold Martian Night on Its Own
• Turkey E-commerce Statistic (in Turkish)

• Global Gender Gap Report 2021
• Chip Shortage Costs Carmakers Output of 1.3 Million Vehicles
• Google Is Ending Cookies and the Ad Industry Has an Alternative
• Google Maps has a wild new feature that will guide you through indoor spaces like airports
• Containerize all the things! Arm v9 takes security seriously
• Spotify Acquires Sports-Talk App Locker Room…Deal values the company at around $50 million (WSJ)
• Microsoft wins US army contract for augmented reality headsets worth up to $21.9bn (FT)…Microsoft is supplying 120,000 HoloLens-based headsets to the US Army
• Google is accelerating partial reopening of offices and putting limits on future of remote work…Google employees will begin returning to offices in a “limited” capacity in April, according to a memo on Wednesday…If after Sept. 1, employees want to work remotely for more than 14 days per year, they will need to formally apply.
• Amazon says it expects some employees to return to the office this summer, most will return in fall
• ILM shows off the new Stagecraft LED wall used for season 2 of ‘The Mandalorian’
• What Covid-19 Taught Us About Telemedicine (WSJ)
• TSMC to Invest $100 Billion to Increase Semiconductor Output (WSJ)
• High-Frequency traders eye satellites for ultimate speed boost (WSJ) …but one satellite operator has touted speeds of less than 29 milliseconds from Chicago to London.
• Apple to build battery-based solar energy storage project in Monterey County

• The a16z Marketplace 100: 2021
• Suez Canal Traffic Snarl Is Making Shipping Costs Skyrocket…Cost to ship a standard container to Europe has quadrupled…Rerouting around Africa would cost $300,000 just for the fuel…Suez Canal blockage is delaying an estimated $400 million an hour in goods
• Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment (WSJ)
• Zoom said Monday that it would start selling its videoconferencing technology so other companies can embed it in their own products (WSJ)
• Amazon-backed Deliveroo seeks valuation of up to $12 billion in its London IPO
• The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready?
• 10 ways office work will never be the same
• “…The biggest takeaway was that all the activities related to online dating ratcheted up during the pandemic. Conversations on average were 32 percent longer than they had been pre-pandemic and people matched — meaning both people found the other attractive — 42 percent more. There were about 20 percent more messages per day in February of this year than there had been in February of last year. The number of swipes on Tinder broke 3 billion in a single day for the first time in March of 2020, and then proceeded to surpass that benchmark 130 more times since…”
• TSMC: How a Taiwanese chipmaker became a linchpin of the global economy
• Exclusive: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to make EVs using Great Wall’s plant – sources
• Xiaomi says to launch its own computer chip on March 29…flags rising costs of chips
• Microsoft Is in Exclusive Talks to Acquire Discord…Deal valuing chat app at $10 billion or more could be completed next month (WSJ)
• Some artists found a lifeline selling NFTs. Others worry it’s a trap.
• Musicians Turn to NFTs to Make Up for Lost Revenue…Artists are connecting with fans and generating revenue by selling digital collectibles, even if they are hard to value (WSJ)
• Private civilian astronaut training
• Event Horizon Telescope captures new view of black hole in polarized light…Magnetic fields swirling around a black hole
• Facebook is making a bracelet that lets you control computers with your brain…The device would let you interact with Facebook’s upcoming augmented-reality glasses just by thinking…It uses electromyography (EMG) to interpret electrical activity from motor nerves as they send information from the brain to the hand.
• It’s been 20 years since the launch of Mac OS X
• Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to long-term Android support
• Global chip shortage worsens, forces production cuts at GM, Hyundai
• “…Intel on Tuesday committed to a record $19 billion to $20 billion in capital expenditures this year, or about 45% above the company’s average annual capital expenditures over the past five years…” (WSJ)
• Musk: Tesla accepts bitcoin as payment
• Qualcomm is reportedly building a Nintendo Switch clone, powered by Android
• New U.K. Currency Honors Alan Turing, Pioneering Computer Scientist And Code-Breaker
• Researchers Found a Way to Send Tiny Robots Into Mouse Brains
• Scientists discover how humans develop larger brains
• A new study published in Nature Communications suggests lightning may have been a key component in making phosphorus available for organisms
• Porsche adds the all-electric Taycan to its subscription program
• Renewables met 97% of Scotland’s electricity demand in 2020
• An Astronomer Just Laid Out a Navigation System For Interstellar Space Travel
• Microsoft: Hydrogen fuel cells will enable data centers to completely rethink electrical systems
• Gravitational lenses could allow a galaxy-wide internet
• Tips for Managing Your Many Subscriptions…Audit your subscriptions. (WSJ)

• Five Things We Know About Google’s Ad Changes After Cookies (WSJ)
• What’s Ahead in the Second Year of COVID-19?
• Roku to Acquire Nielsen’s Addressable TV Advertising Business
• NFT marketplace OpenSea raises $23 million from a16z
• Pinduoduo  788M annual active users
• WhatsApp hires Amazon Pay’s Mahatme to lead India payments – sources
• A mouse embryo has been grown in an artificial womb—humans could be next
• Among Us’ new Airship map launches on March 31st
• What working from home looks like
• How the pandemic fueled a new criminal business model
• Twitter begins testing a way to watch YouTube videos from the home timeline on iOS
• NFL finalizes a new 11-year media rights deal, Amazon gets exclusive Thursday Night rights. “…Advertisers, meanwhile, are buying more in streaming TV, especially on internet-connected sets, where U.S. ad spending will total nearly $13.41 billion this year, up from nearly $9.03 billion in 2020, according to research firm eMarketer…”
• “…My gut says that, for us, it’s still very important to physically be in touch with one another because collaboration isn’t always a planned activity. Innovation isn’t always a planned activity,” Cook said. “It’s bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing an idea that you just had. And you really need to be together to do that…”
• Google to Invest $7 Billion in Bet on Post-Pandemic Office…The tech giant says ‘coming together is core to its culture in announcing U.S. investment (WSJ)
• Study finds 3-ft distancing in schools is enough—but the debate is far from over/ article link
• BMW’s big electric car push: Selling 2 million new EVs by 2025
• Microsoft PowerPoint can now help you practice presentations almost anywhere — no humans required
• Chrome now instantly captions audio and video on the web
• World-Wide Streaming Subscriptions Pass One Billion During Pandemic…Mass movie theatre closures caused global box-office revenue to drop more than $30 billion in 2020, Motion Picture Association says (WSJ)
• 15 billion car locations. Nearly any country on Earth. ‘The Ulysses Group’ is pitching a powerful surveillance technology
• Lenders are turning to coercive loan apps that shut down smartphones if customers fall behind on payments.
• Covid: EU plans rollout of travel certificate before summer
• From Remote Work to Hybrid Work: The Tech You’ll Need to Link Home and Office (WSJ)
• Nvidia raises GeForce Now subscription plan to $10 per month
• Morgan Stanley becomes the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds
• Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70 Million Merchants

• The road to electric is filled with tiny cars
• What’s Next for Ad Tech?
• “…proverbial $2 electric motor which prevents completion of a $50,000 car…”
• Study shows online school reviews reflect school demographics more than effectiveness
• Chernobyl: The True Cost Of Technical Debt
• Chernobyl DevOps: Software Engineering, Disaster Management, and Observability (source LinkedIn  post by Levent Oner)
• Netflix test stops you from using someone else’s password
• Luminar, Volvo subsidiary partner to sell automated driving systems to automakers
• “…What are the key challenges that will drive the longer-term change agenda? We would highlight three pivotal themes which will drive many others emanating from enterprises, business ecosystems and the natural ecosystem respectively…First, the pandemic has illuminated the need to build resilience. There will be more unexpected shocks in the future, and our research suggests that resilience is not only valuable during crises…Second, the shift to new distribution and working models has accelerated the digital transformation agenda and also raised the associated competitive stakes…Third, climate change will come into even greater focus.“
• Cryptominers have already cracked Nvidia’s RTX 3060 hash rate limiter
• Scientists developed a clever way to detect Deepfakes by analyzing light reflections in the eyes 
• Adobe Photoshop now runs natively on M1 Macs
• Rocket Lab will directly challenge SpaceX with its proposed Neutron launcher
• Beeple’s $69 million NFT sale marks a potentially transformative moment for the art world
• Jack Dorsey’s first tweet may fetch $2.5 million, he’ll donate the NFT proceeds to charity
• Disney+ only needed 16 months to crack 100 million subscribers
• How Coupang is ‘out-Amazoning even Amazon,’ according to Goodwater Capital
• Amazon Quietly Began Building a Grocery Chain During Pandemic
• Understanding Coupang: Setting a New Bar for Global E-Commerce?
• Apple to invest $1.2 billion in silicon design center in Germany
• Professor Scott Galloway just raised $30 million for an online school that upskills managers fast
• SpaceX plans Starlink broadband for trucks, ships, and planes
• PayPal to acquire cryptocurrency security startup Curv
• Does NFT Art Spell Trouble for Auction Houses and Dealers? (WSJ)
• Covid-19 Rewrote the Rules of Shopping. What Is Next? (WSJ) “…A quarter of the nation’s malls will close by 2023…Roughly 40% of mall square footage in China is devoted to food and beverage, compared with 11% in the U.S., according to Ms. Weinswig…Stores morphed into Amazon-style fulfillment centers during the pandemic as retailers looked for places to pack online orders.One reason that won’t change once the economy reopens: It is cheaper. Target said it costs on average 40% less to ship orders that it fulfills from its stores, compared with the expense of shipping from its warehouses…“

• NFTs and a Thousand True Fans
• McKinsey: The future of work after COVID-19 Report
• McKinsey: Reskilling China: Transforming the world’s largest workforce into lifelong learners
• Amazon launches its first cashierless store in Britain
• Disney shuttering at least 20% of Disney Stores as it shifts focus to e-commerce
• SpaceX Starship rocket prototype nails landing … then blows up
• New Nintendo Switch production to begin in June, will be 4K when docked
• Amazon’s new Alexa app for Xbox brings visual assistant features to your TV
• WhatsApp’s desktop app now has video and voice calls…Available for everyone after a limited rollout in December
• The Lonely Century with Noreena Hertz
• Apple Launches Service for Transferring iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos
• Luminar’s Austin Russell on the technology that will drive the future
• Twitter tests new e-commerce features for tweets
• Privacy-first browser Brave now has its own Google search rival
• Volvo to go all electric by 2030
• PayPal to Buy Crypto Custody Firm Curv: Sources
• Version 2 of Google’s Flutter toolkit adds support for desktop and web apps
• Postscript raises $35M to give Shopify stores SMS superpowers
• A 3rd shot? A new booster? Vaccine makers race to trials to beat variants
• Microsoft’s latest Garage app is for recording group transcriptions
• Disney CEO Suggests There’s No ‘Going Back’ to Pre-COVID Film Releases
• AI Index 2021 Report