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Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip. DuckDuckGo’s App Tracking blocker but for Android, the latest headlines from the two stories you know we have to hit, and what if I told you there’s a new startup that wants to do for home appliances, what Tesla did for automobiles? Sponsors: Akamai.com/techmeme Kinsta.com Links: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 gives us a glimpse of 2023’s Android flagships (The Verge) DuckDuckGo’s App Tracking Protection beta is now available to all Android users (The Verge) Netflix's new feature lets subscribers kick devices off their accounts (TechCrunch) Musk issues ultimatum to staff: Commit to ‘hardcore’ Twitter or take severance (Washington Post) Induction cooking heats up with a $20M cash injection for Impulse (TechCrunch) Protocol, the tech-news focused website, will shutter and lay off its entire staff (CNN Business) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you tell Elon he doesn’t know what he’s doing, you could get fired. Matt Levine looks into the abyss of the FTX balance sheet and finds the abyss staring back at him. Is the Alexa platform in danger? Nike still believes in NFTs. And what it’s actually like to use Apple’s Emergency SOS feature. Sponsors: Hover.com/ride for 10% off Split.io/techmeme Links: Musk Publicly Punishes Twitter Engineers Who Call Him Out Online (Bloomberg) Is Elon Musk’s Twitter about to fall out of the GDPR’s one-stop shop? (TechCrunch) FTX’s Balance Sheet Was Bad (Bloomberg) Amazon Is Said to Plan to Lay Off Thousands of Employees (NYTimes) Nike to Open Its Own Virtual Sneaker Store and Trading Platform (Bloomberg) Nike Launches Web3 Platform Offering Virtual Apparel and Other NFT-Based Products (CryptoNews) Here’s what it’s like to use Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twitter still lives, at least at the time of this writing. But thousands more contractors have been laid off. CZ wants to start a fund to save crypto projects. Paging Jonah Hill to play SBF in the movie that Michael Lewis is shopping around Hollywood. Meta is exiting the Portal business. And a big review of the Meta Quest Pro is just downright befuddling. Sponsors: LadderLife.com/ride Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Twitter reportedly cut thousands of contractors without warning (The Verge) SpaceX just bought a big ad campaign on Twitter for Starlink (CNBC) Binance Starts Recovery Fund for Crypto Projects Facing Liquidity Crisis (CoinDesk) Exclusive: Jeff Bezos says he will give most of his money to charity (CNN Business) Nearly half of Meta job cuts were in tech, reorg underway - execs say (Reuters) Meta Quest Pro review: get me out of here (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just two big stories, as it’s been all week, but instead of ONLY giving you the latest, I want to try to sum up where I think we’re at as this week ends. What, I think, in the end, actually happened with FTX. And are we SURE Elon isn’t trying to tank Twitter on purpose? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Sam Bankman-Fried steps down as FTX CEO as his crypto exchange files for bankruptcy (CNBC) FTX US Warns of Trading Halt Hours After Bankman-Fried Says It's '100% Liquid' (CoinDesk) Crypto Lender BlockFi Pauses Withdrawals in Wake of FTX Collapse (CoinDesk) Does Twitter Have Any Employees Left Who Remember That The Company Is Under A Strict Consent Decree With The FTC? (TechDirt) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Basically everything on Amazon has become an ad (Vox) Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold? (Bloomberg) Matter is here, but it’s still a long road to the simple smart home (The Verge) Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is design

More twists and turns in the FTX, SBF, CZ saga as the entire crypto sector continues to get rocked. I’d love to tell you what is going on with Twitter’s whole checkmark saga, but I don’t know, Elon doesn’t know, and frankly, by the time you hear this, it’s likely to have changed anyway. GitHub is getting into the voice assistant game. And Amazon becomes the first company to LOSE a Trillion dollars in valuation. Sponsors: Akamai.com/techmeme Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Binance Walks Away From Deal to Rescue FTX (WSJ) SBF Tweet Storm This Morning FTX’s Collapse Spurs $10 Billion Drop in Decentralized Finance (Bloomberg) Twitter begins to roll out, then kills, grey checkmarks for high-profile accounts (TechCrunch) Apple will spend $450 million with Globalstar and others to enable emergency satellite texting (CNBC) ‘Hey, GitHub!’ will let programmers code with just their voice (The Verge) Amazon Becomes World’s First Public Company to Lose $1 Trillion in Market Value (Bloomberg) Learn

The Meta layoffs are here and they’re brutal. But rumors are, TikTok is cutting back also. What even is the new Twitter subscription product at this point? Does anybody know? And if you look at today’s show title, and it’s just a bunch of gibberish, hopefully I can explain the big crypto blowup from yesterday. Sources: Kinsta.com Storyblok.com Links: Meta confirms 11,000 layoffs, amounting to 13% of its workforce (TechCrunch) TikTok slashes global revenue targets by at least $2bn (Financial Times) Twitter’s solution for ruining verification is another check mark (The Verge) Disney+ reaches 164.2M subscribers as it prepares for ad-supported tier launch (TechCrunch) The Story of Sam Bankman-Fried’s Backroom Deal With Binance’s CZ (CoinDesk) Lucas Nuzzi (Twitter Thread) FTX Venture Investors Fear Total Wipeout in Binance Rescue Deal (The Information) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why has FTX appeared to have halted withdrawals? Innocent explanation, or could we have another big crypto blowup brewing? What if Elon just says, screw it, and puts all of Twitter behind a paywall? What happens if NFT marketplaces stop honoring royalties? And why is Apple having a hard time with its design team? Sponsors: Masterworks.com/ride Links: Binance to Sell Rest of FTX Token Holdings as Alameda CEO Defends Firm's Financial Condition (CoinDesk) Musk discusses putting all of Twitter behind a paywall (Platformer) Mysterious company with government ties plays key internet role (Washington Post) OpenSea Breaks Silence on NFT Royalties, But Creators Don't Like What They Hear (Decrypt) Apple’s Brain Drain Hinders Efforts to Pick Its Next Jony Ive (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looks like those rumors of massive Meta layoffs might be coming true this week. Covid has led to brand new iPhone shortage worries. Is Apple about to make it easier to invoke Siri? Airbnb has made it easier to understand the true cost of a rental. And this weekend in the Twitter Clown Car. Sponsors: Storyblok.com/ridehome Links: Facebook Parent Meta Is Preparing to Notify Employees of Large-Scale Layoffs This Week (WSJ) Apple Issues iPhone 14 Pro Shipment Warning Ahead of Holiday Shopping Season (MacRumors) Apple’s Next Change for Siri: Dropping ‘Hey’ From ‘Hey Siri’ Trigger (Bloomberg) Airbnb to Make Cleaning Fees Clearer on Searches After Customer Complaints (WSJ) Elon Musk Appears To Threaten Advertisers Wary Of His Twitter Takeover (HuffingtonPost) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The layoffs have begun at Twitter. And while Twitter might shutter its Substack competitor, Substack has moved into Twitter’s turf by launching a sort of discussion platform. DALL-E API’s are now available for you to use. What it’s like to use Netflix’s new ad-supported tier. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: hiddenheroes.netguru.com Links: Elon Musk’s Twitter layoffs are starting (The Verge) Substack targets Twitter with launch of discussions feature, Substack Chat (TechCrunch) Amazon pauses hiring for corporate workforce (CNBC) DALL-E API released by OpenAI in public beta, potential boon for app builders (VentureBeat) With Netflix’s ads tier, you never know what you’re going to get (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Bored Ape Yacht Club tell all: The untold story of the $4 billion crypto startup (FastCompany) The ‘Viral’ Secure Programming Language That’s Taking Over Tech (Wired) The Race to Be Figma for Devs: CodeSandbox vs. StackBlitz (TheNewStack) T

Is TikTok still in danger of running afoul of government bans? WhatsApp gets Groups. Gmail gets package tracking. Instagram gets NFT minting. Patreon gets video hosting. Layoffs come for Stripe. Yes, there was some Twitter news too. And is the Adobe/Figma deal in trouble? Sponsors: hiddenheroes.netguru.com Split.io/techmeme Links: TikTok tells European users its staff in China get access to their data (The Guardian) WhatsApp officially launches its new discussion group feature, Communities (TechCrunch) Gmail to add a new package tracking feature ahead of holiday shopping season (TechCrunch) Meta’s Instagram Plans NFT Minting, Trading Tools (Decrypt) Patreon’s long-awaited video hosting feature is finally rolling out to creators (The Verge) Elon Musk Aims to Start Charging for Twitter Verification Next Week (Bloomberg) Stripe Cuts Headcount by 14%, Prepares for ‘Leaner Times’ (Bloomberg) DOJ takes aim at Adobe's $20 billion deal (Politico) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me

We know when the PlayStation VR2 is coming, when you can pre-order it, and how much it’s gonna cost. What do you know? A bunch of news in the whole Twitter saga. The reality of the ransomware industrial complex. And an interesting new Mac app to help you remember everything you’ve ever done on your computer. Sponsors: Akamai.com/techmeme Links: PlayStation VR2 launches on February 22nd for $549.99 (The Verge) Elon Musk to charge verified Twitter users to give ‘power to the people’ (SiliconRepublic) Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on paid-video feature with ‘high’ risk (Washington Post) Tumblr will now allow nudity but not explicit sex (The Verge) Twitch opens Guest Star up so anyone can run their own talk show not (TechCrunch) U.S. banks processed roughly $1.2 billion in ransomware payments in 2021, according to federal report (CNBC) Rewind wants to revamp how you remember, with millions from a16z (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will charging for blue checks actually help Twitter monetarily or… frankly, any way, at all? Amazon has expanded ad-free Music. YouTube is bundling streaming services. Why Uber Eats is interesting inside of Uber earnings. And is it time to start worrying about Sony’s strategy with the Playstation? Sponsors: Medcline.com/techmeme Links: Scoop: Musk team working to reboot Vine this year (Axios) Jack Dorsey just saved Elon Musk about $1 billion by rolling over his shares of Twitter into a stake in the new private company (Insider) YouTube’s Primetime Channels bring streaming movies and TV into the YouTube app (The Verge) Amazon Prime now comes with a full music catalog of 100 million songs and ad-free podcasts (TechCrunch) Uber Shares Jump as Strong Ridership Eases Inflation Worries (Bloomberg) PlayStation Plus has lost nearly 2 million subscribers since its revamp (VGC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just, massive wholesale changes at Twitter, including possibly making folks pay up for features. Pitty the poor tech billionaires who have collectively lost half a trillion in wealth this year. When the M2 MacBook Pros should be showing up. And what colors might you be blocked from using on Adobe products? Sponsors: RocketMoney.com/ride Links: Elon Musk wastes no time changing Twitter (The Verge) Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification (The Verge) The 20 Richest Tech Billionaires Have Lost Nearly Half a Trillion Dollars This Year (WSJ) Apple Gears Up to Launch Its Next Crop of Macs Early Next Year (Bloomberg) India's Central Bank to Start Wholesale CBDC Pilot Nov. 1 (CoinDesk) You’re Going To Have To Pay To Use Some Fancy Colors In Photoshop Now (Kotaku) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readocracy is restoring sanity to the world by making how you inform yourself count for something. Troll-free, bot-free, ad-free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Area man completes acquisition of social media platform. And now the fun begins? Amazon had bad earnings, but Apple mostly didn’t. YouTube is trying to be like TikTok too, but they’re giving their users options. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Wealthfront.com/techmeme Links: How Twitter Will Change as a Private Company (NYTimes) Amazon stock sinks 13% on weak fourth-quarter guidance (CNBC) Apple reports strong quarter but expects sales slump (Silicon Republic) YouTube redesign gives long-form videos, Shorts and Live videos their own tabs on channel pages (TechCrunch) Weekend Longreads Suggestions Smartphone Storage Space Is the New Turf War for Game Makers (Bloomberg) The First Minute of Every Phone Call Is Torture Now (The Atlantic) The Try Guys and the Prison of Online Fame (NYTimes Magazine) The Crypto Story (Matt Levine/Bloomberg Businessweek) Which AI Creates the Best (and Most Terrifying) Art? (PC Mag) The Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding (Bloom

(BOMB SOUND). That’s the sound of Meta’s disastrous earnings announcement yesterday. That’s the sort of insightful analysis you come to this podcast for. But also, Argo AI is shutting down. Google Cloud has a new blockchain tool for developers. And the Elon Twitter thing is happening. It’s really happening, people. Behave accordingly. Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Meta Tumbles as Sales Forecast Shows Depth of Ad-Market Weakness (Bloomberg) Meta Plummets 25% as Zuckerberg’s Plea for ‘Patience’ Falls Flat (Bloomberg) It’s Official: Meta Is a Disaster (Intelligencer) Mark Zuckerberg Is Going To Kill His Company (Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At) Ford, VW-backed Argo AI is shutting down (TechCrunch) Samsung's Third-Quarter Profit Plunges Amid Chip Market Woes (CNET) Google's new service helps Web3 developers build for blockchain-based platforms (ZDNet) Elon Musk Is In Twitter’s Office and Will Address Staff Friday (Bloomberg) Elon Musk, on Eve of Twitter Deal Close, Promises Advertisers It

Meta and Spotify both call Apple out on their recent App Store aggressiveness. Soft earnings from Microsoft and worrying earnings from Alphabet. Twitter seems to already be hemorrhaging its power users. LinkedIn fights its own bot war. And are unicorns back to becoming a rare thing? Sponsors: Akamai.com Links: Apple’s new App Store tax on ads is a direct shot at Meta (The Verge) Spotify says Apple is ‘choking competition’ and ruining its audiobook store (The Verge) Spotify Boosts Subscribers and Revenue, Says 2023 Price Increases Likely (WSJ) Microsoft Plunges on Forecast for Lackluster Azure Growth (Bloomberg) Twitter Asks: Where Have All the Tweeters Gone? (Gizmodo) Alphabet misses on earnings as YouTube shrinks; company will cut headcount growth by half in Q4 (CNBC) Intel unit Mobileye prices IPO above range to raise $861 mln (Reuters) Developers Complain About Gambling Ads Appearing in Their App Store Listings (MacRumors) First on CNN: LinkedIn knows there are fake accounts on its site.

Apple tries to wedge the App Store vig into another market. Prices are going up for your favorite Apple services. Shutterstock is partnering with OpenAI cause if you can’t something them, join them! And what is the deal with Stage Manager on the iPad? Sponsors: Hover.com/ride for 10% off Links: App Store guidelines updated with new rules for apps with NFT and ad managers (9to5Mac) Apple is raising the price of Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple One from today (9to5Mac) Project Volterra launches today as the 'Windows Dev Kit 2023' with 32GB RAM and costs less than a Mac mini (Windows Central) Meta shareholder writes critical open letter saying company needs to slash headcount and stop spending so much money on ‘metaverse’ (CNBC) Shutterstock will start selling AI-generated stock imagery with help from OpenAI (The Verge) Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (13.5-inch) review: a few steps forward and one big step back (The Verge) Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (SQ3) review: Windows on Arm is not ready (The Verge)

Did investing in Chinese tech become a fool’s errand over the weekend? A deep dive on how TSMC is caught in the middle of all the things. Is Elon’s Twitter deal presenting systemic risk to corporate finance? Are M2 Mac Pro and Macbook Pro’s still coming soon? And Bono tries to justify putting that U2 album on your iphone. Sponsors: Masterclass.com/ride for 15% off Links: China Stocks Crater in US as Alibaba Leads $130 Billion Wipeout (Bloomberg) TSMC: the Taiwanese chipmaker caught up in the tech cold war (Financial Times) Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover Debt to Be Held by Banks Amid Turbulent Markets (WSJ) These artists found out their work was used to train AI. Now they’re furious (CNN Business) The iPad Lineup Is Perplexing — Here’s How Apple Could Fix It (Bloomberg) Bono on the birth of U2, that iTunes album and Live Aid: ‘There’s only one thing I can see when I watch it: the mullet’ (The Guardian) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking this week's big week for AI, with Parker Thompson (@pt) plus@miguelisolano&@mignano Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices