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Tech crashes Hollywood's party
Your five-minute guide to what's happening in tech this Monday, from Elon Musk's disdain for Facebook to the rise of ransomware.
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Your five-minute guide to what's happening in tech this Monday, from Elon Musk's disdain for Facebook to the rise of ransomware.
Good morning! This Monday, the Trump administration is ready to spend on quantum and AI, Nevada has a new plan for its caucuses, and Bill Gates goes shopping.
Huawei's North American CSO Andy Purdy got a chilly reception at the Suits & Spooks security conference in D.C. Starting with this line from conference organizer Jeffrey Carr:
Tech companies must help pay for societal problems they cause, a Seattle housing lobbyist told Protocol's Lauren Hepler:
Elon Musk tweeted his disdain for the big blue app:
There's no way we're going back to the moon in 2024, according to retired ISS commander Leroy Chiao:
Rebekah Neumann was a driving force behind WeWork, says an anonymous former exec:
The Trump administration is set to announce its 2021 budget on Monday, and will reportedly include a huge bump in spending for artificial intelligence and quantum research, according to Reuters.
U.S. CTO Michael Kratsios, without confirming the exact figures, said in a statement that the budget will "ensure America continues to lead the world in critical technologies like AI and quantum. America's economic strength and national security depend on it." The Trump administration has repeatedly expressed that it will do whatever it takes to keep up with China on AI, quantum, 5G, and any other technology that smells like the future.
"Jeff Bezos is here!" Chris Rock said early on at the Oscars. "He's got cash. When he writes a check, the bank bounces." The crowd laughed, Bezos smile-grimaced, and Rock kept going. When he asked Steve Martin if he had anything to add, Martin just said no. "I like getting my packages on time." Smart guy, that Steve Martin.
The Oscars has become an annual assessment of whether tech (and Netflix in particular) is truly eating Hollywood. But this year, tech was omnipresent.
My favorite Oscars tech story: In 2016, Matthew Cherry tweeted, "Any 3D artists follow me? I got an Oscar worthy short film idea to go with this image. Get at me 😳." In 2017, that tweet became a Kickstarter. On Sunday night, Cherry won the best animated short Oscar for that idea, which became "Hair Love."
Nasdaq Technology is reshaping the future of global markets by redefining what a marketplace can be.
After the app-related chaos in Iowa, Democrats in Nevada were left scrambling to find a new way to run their own caucuses. Rather than use Shadow's app, as they'd originally planned, party officials landed on … a different app. Just don't call it that.
After Iowa, calls for a return to low-tech options were everywhere. How things go in Nevada will help answer a key question: Was Iowa a one-off disaster, or are high-tech elections a bad idea?
A House panel wants to talk autonomous cars. On Tuesday, an Energy and Commerce subcommittee will hear from trade groups, safety advocates and transit officials as they continue to work on self-driving legislation.
Samsung has a big event in San Francisco on Tuesday. The company will announce that foldable phone — called the Z Flip — it teased during the Oscars, along with the Galaxy S20 and new AirPod-style Galaxy Bud headphones.
Lyft, Cisco, Shopify, Alibaba, Nvidia, Cloudflare and Roku all report earnings this week.
A couple of years ago, Bill Gates told Ellen Degeneres that his two craziest billionaire purchases were a plane and a Porsche. Fairly tame for the second-richest person in the world! His latest splurge is a little wilder: a $644 million superyacht. The Telegraph reports that the 370-foot ship, which looks like something not even a Bond villain could dream of, powers its luxe amenities and space for 45 people with "two 28-ton vacuum-sealed tanks to store liquid hydrogen at minus 252 Celcius." Given that Gates is an investor in at least one energy startup, and a big proponent of a world without fossil fuels, it's practically a business expense, right?
Nasdaq Technology is daring to think differently.
A correction to Friday's newsletter: In my write-up of Charles Levinson's story about Facebook's privacy settlement in Illinois, I mischaracterized the results of the lawsuit. In fact, the settlement is being used to argue in favor of a right to sue in privacy laws being debated elsewhere; it did not end any private citizens' right to sue. Sorry for the mistake.
Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to me, david@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your Monday, see you tomorrow.
David Pierce ( @pierce) is Protocol's editor at large. Prior to joining Protocol, he was a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, a senior writer with Wired, and deputy editor at The Verge. He owns all the phones.
Better Zoom calls, simpler email attachments, smart iPhone cases and other patents from Big Tech.
Turning your stories into images.
Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
Hello and welcome to 2021! The Big Tech patent roundup is back, after a short vacation and … all the things … that happened between the start of the year and now. It seems the tradition of tech companies filing weird and wonderful patents has carried into the new year; there are some real gems from the last few weeks. Microsoft is trying to outsource all creative endeavors to AI; Apple wants to make seat belts less annoying; and Amazon wants to cut down on some of the recyclable waste that its own success has inevitably created.
And remember: The big tech companies file all kinds of crazy patents for things, and though most never amount to anything, some end up defining the future.
Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.