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The most controversial pop-up ever

Good morning! This Tuesday, everyone is panicking over Apple's privacy pop-ups, Roku and YouTube are bickering over codecs, Basecamp is changing the way it does business and China is already deep in 6G research.
Also, today is my dad's birthday, which makes this both a good time to shout him out and a good chance to see if he actually reads this newsletter. Happy Birthday, Dad!
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Anna Kramer writes: No more farmers market benefits, no more political or social conversations, no more DEI committees. Those are just a few of the new culture rules at Basecamp, according to a sweeping set of policies shared by co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson yesterday.
Basecamp employees are already pushing back. At least five of its key leaders and engineers have already spoken out publicly against the changes, and many more shared their anger and frustration with me anonymously.
In case you're as confused as we were: Yes, these are the same Basecamp founders who spent years writing best-selling books about and encouraging the cultural norms that they are now prohibiting. At least @dhh acknowledged the irony, and the tweet everyone's using to dunk on him. There's always a tweet.
The new rules made a splash beyond Basecamp, with other tech leaders wasting no time calling out the white dude co-founders for a policy that they said perpetuates the discriminatory exclusivity inherent to bro-y tech culture.
App Tracking Transparency is the fifth thing listed in Apple's releases notes for iOS 14.5, which started rolling out on Monday, but it's the most consequential software update in a long time.
Nobody knows exactly how this will shake out, but most people seem to think that the default answer will be "Ask App not to Track." A lot of ad-supported businesses have been fighting this change for months, and they sure hate it now that it's here. (It's gotten bad enough that Facebook and publishers are on the same side, which … never happens.)
One thing seems certain: a change in app design. Expect the next phase of app development to focus on keeping users inside of an app for as long as possible. If all Facebook can collect is first-party data, you better believe it's going to find as many creative ways to keep you in the Facebook app as it possibly can.
Here's how Craig Federighi described Apple's stance on privacy:
Luminar is working with Airbus on lidar-equipped aircraft, and Luminar's Austin Russell said it's for more than just self-flying:
Tesla sold a bunch of its Bitcoin holdings, but Elon said it wasn't just to cash out:
The internet has changed a lot since 1996 - internet regulations should too. It's been 25 years since comprehensive internet regulations passed. See why we support updated regulations on key issues, including: protecting people's privacy, enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms, preventing election interference and reforming Section 230.
SiriusXM bought 99% Invisible Inc, as the company continues to push hard into podcasting (and all things non-satellite radio) after buying Pandora and Stitcher over the last couple of years.
Brex raised $425 million, and is now worth $7.4 billion. The fintech funding craze continues.
Peter Thiel is spending $10 million to try and get Blake Masters elected to the Senate. Masters is the COO of Thiel Capital, and a longtime partner of Thiel's.
GM scored the first commercial license of the Energy Department's AI software, and will use the Multinode Evolutionary Neural Networks for Deep Learning system to potentially improve its driver assistance software.
Lyft sold Level 5 to Woven Planet, a subsidiary of Toyota, for $550 million. That makes Lyft the latest tech company to decide it doesn't want to build self-driving cars, and Toyota the latest automaker to get even deeper into the business.
Thoma Bravo bought Proofpoint for $12.3 billion, well above its $7.5 billion market cap.
There's a subconscious routine we all run right before we get on a video call. Fix the hair, turn on the ring light, hide the wine, shoo the dog out, deep breath and go. Here's a few steps to add: Melissa Du and Eric Park built a site called Video Call Checklist with science-backed tips for making your calls a little more pleasant, for you and everyone else.
All the tips are good ones, especially about how to position your camera, but the last one is my favorite: Enough with the full-screen chats! Make the window about the size of an iPhone, stick it up at the top of the screen, and it'll almost look like you're making eye contact. But don't actually make eye contact over Zoom. That's creepy.
2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It's time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges. See how we're taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations.
Learn MoreToday's Source Code was written by David Pierce, with help from Anna Kramer and Shakeel Hashim. Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to david@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day; see you tomorrow.
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