The stories we loved from 2020
Image: Creaticca Creative Agency / Protocol

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Good morning. This Sunday, it's time to look back at this very long year that's almost over. Nothing about 2020 has gone the way we expected, and as always we hope you're safe and well heading into the end of the year. To mark the moment — and to try to jog our memories a bit — we rounded up some of the best tech stories on the internet from the last 12 months. (And we tried to keep it to the stuff that still feels relevant and worth reading now.)
Seeing as it's also the end of Protocol's debut year — we launched Feb. 5, in the halcyon days of the Before Times — we thought this was also a good time to look back on some of our favorite Protocol stories of the year. Some broke big news, some illuminated people and stories we needed to know more about, all are really good and important tales. Hopefully there's some good holiday reading in here for you.
Oh, and also! Since this is the last weekend edition of the year, I want to take a second to thank the whole Source Code crew — Anna Kramer, Shakeel Hashim and our editor Jamie Condliffe — for all the work they do making this newsletter far better than I ever could. I don't say this enough, but Source Code is the result of a ton of work from the whole Protocol team, especially those three, and I'm incredibly lucky to work with them all.
As always, let me know what you think, and what you'd like to see more of in our weekend edition. I'm david@protocol.com, or you can just reply to this email. Thanks! On to the good stuff.
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A tiny team of House staffers could change the future of Big Tech. This is their story, by Emily Birnbaum
Through apps, not warrants, 'Locate X' allows federal law enforcement to track phones, by Charles Levinson
From McDonald's to Google: How Kelsey Hightower became one of the most respected people in cloud computing, by Tom Krazit
Silicon Valley's new extreme: The 2:30 a.m. tech bus from Salida, by Lauren Hepler
How one woman is building the future for Google in Silicon Valley, by Anna Kramer
How COVID-19 rewrote Y Combinator's Winter 20 Demo Day, by Biz Carson
How Discord (somewhat accidentally) invented the future of the internet, by David Pierce
Alloy promised Democrats a data edge over Trump. The DNC didn't buy it. Now what? By Issie Lapowsky
Why Microsoft's new Flight Simulator should make Google and Amazon nervous, by Seth Schiesel
How Google kneecapped Amazon's smart TV efforts, by Janko Roettgers
At Micron, we see an opportunity to establish memory and storage platform capabilities that will unleash software developers to deliver solutions that speed insight and ultimately support emerging customer requirements. The data-centric era has ushered in a new opportunity to tap data for business growth, but many companies continue to struggle to transform mounting data stores into competitive advantage.
"The intelligence coup of the century" – The Washington Post
The inside story of MacKenzie Scott, the mysterious 60-billion-dollar woman – The Market
The 8th Wonder of the World* — The Verge
The panopticon is already here – The Atlantic
How Pfizer delivered a COVID vaccine in record time: Crazy deadlines, a pushy CEO — The Wall Street Journal
Is Twitter going full resistance? Here's the woman driving the change. — POLITICO
Huawei, 5G and the man who conquered noise — WIRED
The conscience of Silicon Valley — GQ
India's engineers have thrived in Silicon Valley. So has its caste system. – The Washington Post
Taking back our privacy — The New Yorker
At Micron, we see an opportunity to establish memory and storage platform capabilities that will unleash software developers to deliver solutions that speed insight and ultimately support emerging customer requirements. The data-centric era has ushered in a new opportunity to tap data for business growth, but many companies continue to struggle to transform mounting data stores into competitive advantage.
Today'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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