Image: Dubsmash
The future looks like TikTok

Good morning! This Monday, Reddit's buying Dubsmash, Roblox and Affirm are delaying their IPOs and everybody's still moving to Austin.
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Reddit announced this morning that it's buying Dubsmash, one of the more successful TikTok competitors. (The Information had the scoop last night.) The entire Dubsmash team is joining Reddit, and from the sound of things, this is not one of those "it will remain independent" acquisitions. Which means Reddit wants Reddit to look a little more like Dubsmash.
The match here actually seems to make a lot of sense. Reddit has been pushing video for years, and tools from Dubsmash could make its video feel more personal and fun. But the most interesting thing here? It's yet more confirmation that the future of social is video, and the future of social video is bite-sized, on demand, and endlessly remixable.
Reddit will be an interesting case study in social dynamics going forward. The mechanics of the platform haven't changed much in the last 15 years, so can the company teach an old network of users some new tricks? Or will the people who want to do TikTok things just go do them on TikTok?
The public market is so hot for tech stocks right now that tech companies are staring billions in the face and deciding to wait. Over the weekend it was reported that both Roblox and Affirm are delaying their IPOs to next year as they try to figure out how to price their shares and value their companies.
As the markets continue to froth, the chorus of doomsayers is starting to get louder. As Biz Carson said in this week's Source Code Podcast, it's fair to worry whether these companies are going public at the peak of their powers. BlackRock's Larry Fink agrees. "The question is," he said at a conference last week, "is the market pricing in too large of a forward growth rate for these companies?"
If you haven't signed that lease in Austin yet, all you're doing is costing yourself money. At this rate, the whole of Silicon Valley is going to have 512 phone numbers before Christmas.
Miami seems to be the second choice on everyone's mind, which shares a lot of Austin's appeal: lots of amenities, good weather, plenty of good music and culture and food, and no income tax. (That last one turns out to be pretty important, even if nobody will admit it.)
Where you'll live next is the hottest topic in tech right now — and we'll have more on the subject later this week. But right now, can we all agree on one thing? We can't call them Silicon Hills and Silicon Beach. They're called Austin and Miami. Silicon Valley is an industry and an idea, not a place.
Join us this Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. ET for a deep dive discussion into what lies ahead for this unprecedented medical, logistical, technical and political challenge. Protocol will host a panel conversation with ESRI's chief medical officer Este Geraghty, Yale's director of Yale's institute for global health Saad Omer and Direct Relief's VP of research and analysis Andrew Schroeder, as well as a sponsored keynote interview with Salesforce's Dr. Ashwini Zenooz. This event is presented by Salesforce.
At the Climate Ambition Summit, Tim Cook called on every company to do more to combat climate change:
Tesla ditching its PR team actually makes sense, said longtime comms exec Mary Ritti:
There's a silver lining for other chipmakers in Apple's M1 being so good, Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon said:
Facebook's Oversight Board is ready to take on election-fraud questions, said Nic Suzor:
COVID vaccines are making their way to people across the U.S., which is just unbelievably fantastic news. To find out more about the medical, logistical, technical and political challenge of getting the vaccine to everybody, sign up to attend our event, Distributing the Vaccine. It kicks off Dec. 15 at 9:30 a.m. PT.
There's supposedly a TikTok appeals hearing today. Personally I am continuing my practice of not caring at all because nothing's ever going to happen.
Wish is the last remaining unknown IPO candidate, and if the company's going to list this year it's almost certainly going to do it this week. But given Roblox and Affirm have postponed, there's some chance Wish will, too.
A group of code-breakers managed to crack a 51-year-old cipher, from a note sent to the San Francisco Chronicle by the Zodiac Killer. The message is weird but boring, and there's no new hint of the killer's identity. Obviously, I don't want to make light of a series of horrible crimes. But it's pretty impressive that it took 51 years for anyone to break this person's handwritten code? Cryptographers may have a thing or two to learn from all those weird symbols.
Join us this Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. ET for a deep dive discussion into what lies ahead for this unprecedented medical, logistical, technical and political challenge. Protocol will host a panel conversation with ESRI's chief medical officer Este Geraghty, Yale's director of Yale's institute for global health Saad Omer and Direct Relief's VP of research and analysis Andrew Schroeder, as well as a sponsored keynote interview with Salesforce's Dr. Ashwini Zenooz. This event is presented by Salesforce.
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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