Best of Protocol

Apple's Craig Federighi throws Mac security under the bus, by Nick Statt

• Things got dramatic in Epic v. Apple again this week. We learned how much Apple spends on WWDC, how much Apple has made from Fortnite commissions, why even Phil Schiller doesn't know how profitable the App Store is and more. But this is what people will really remember: Craig Federighi saying that the iPhone's app setup can't work like the Mac because the Mac has a malware problem.

Washington is rushing to regulate crypto. It's a mess, by Tomio Geron

• Another week, another roller coaster for the crypto industry. Prices fell! And then rose! Elon Musk hates Bitcoin! No, wait, he loves it! The crypto game is not for the faint of heart. And as Tomio writes, the U.S. government is desperately trying to figure out how to rein it all in a bit, and in a lot of ways all it's doing is creating more chaos.

A year after blockbuster accusations and lawsuits, Pinterest says it's 'committed to doing better,' by Megan Rose Dickey

• A lot of diversity reports and workplace studies dropped this week, all showing roughly the same thing: That while progress is being made on diversity and equity in the tech industry, there's still a lot (a lot) of work to do. Few companies have seen more sides of this issue than Pinterest over the last year.

Andrew Ng thinks your company is doing AI wrong, by Joe Williams

• In a time when AI seems big and indefinable and like a buzzword for way too many things, Ng's small-picture take on AI is a refreshing one. Start with figuring out what's actually, really, genuinely possible, he told Joe. And build the infrastructure you need before you start trying to take over the world.

AT&T's discovery: Beating Netflix is hard, by Janko Roettgers

• AT&T is the newest member of the "Well, THAT Didn't Work" club, after spending more than $100 billion trying to become a media giant only to get out of the game at a huge loss. It raises a broader question: What does it take to be a streaming giant? A lot of things, Janko found, but it starts with focus.

A MESSAGE FROM SLACK

The future of work is digital-first and collaborative. But, our old tools don't support this new way of working. A recent survey of 1,200 IT decision makers found that collaboration platforms are quickly replacing traditional communication. What does this mean for the new workplace?

Learn more

Best of Everything Else

Censorship, Surveillance and Profits: A Hard Bargain for Apple in China — The New York Times

• China is a massive, massively profitable market. It's also crucial to the supply chain for most of the world's largest companies. And for a company like Apple that says it cares about privacy and human rights, China represents a bit of cognitive dissonance. Can Apple be Apple and be in China? It's not clear that it can.

Microsoft and Apple Wage War on Gadget Right-to-Repair Laws — Bloomberg

• The momentum continues to be in favor of right-to-repair legislation, but a couple of big companies have used their seriously deep pockets to try and slow things down. This is a good look at why tech companies want to control the market for repairs, and the lengths to which they'll go to preserve their power.

The Anxiety of Influencers — Harper's

• Like it or not, every company is now in the influencer business. And this is a fun, weird dive into what it means to be an influencer, and all the messy stuff that happens between dance challenges and glow-up memes. Plus, when everyone's an influencer … is anyone an influencer?
• Also, check out Vulture's list of the 25 cuts, edits and tricks that have come to define modern internet video.

Building Products at Stripe — Bring the Donuts

• Stripe is one of those companies that is massively influential and relatively quiet about it. This interview, with product exec Michael Siliski, is a good window into Stripe's product process, company culture, and way of thinking about the world. (And it turns out that Stripe loves a big long document just as much as Amazon does.)

Apple previews powerful software updates designed for people with disabilities — Apple

• The coolest product announcement of the week, and it's not even close. Apple is working on a bunch of new tools, from sign language-based digital shopping to new screen reader and eye-tracking features. But the wildest new thing is AssistiveTouch for the Apple Watch, which lets you control the device just by pinching your fingers or making a fist. It's serious sci-fi stuff.

A MESSAGE FROM SLACK

The future of work is digital-first and collaborative. But, our old tools don't support this new way of working. A recent survey of 1,200 IT decision makers found that collaboration platforms are quickly replacing traditional communication. What does this mean for the new workplace?

Learn more

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