This week: Shakeel Hashim on Apple One, Snowflake and Unity; Janko Roettgers on Facebook's big (and small) plans for AR and VR; and Ashkhen Kazaryan and Emily Birnbaum on what's been happening with TikTok, Oracle, China and the White House.
For more on the topics in this episode:
David Pierce ( @pierce) is Protocol's editorial director. 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.
Prosecutors in the Elizabeth Holmes fraud case are now highlighting allegations the company sought to mislead investors.
The fresh details of unproven claims made about the viability of Theranos' blood tests and efforts to conceal errors when demonstrating testing equipment added to the evidence against Holmes, who is accused of fraud in her role leading the company.
Aisha Counts (@aishacounts) is a reporting fellow at Protocol, based out of Los Angeles. Previously, she worked for Ernst & Young, where she researched and wrote about the future of work, emerging technologies and startups. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she studied business and philosophy. She can be reached at acounts@protocol.com.
The Theranos trial continued this week with testimony from Daniel Edlin, a former product manager at the blood-testing startup, and Shane Weber, a scientist from Pfizer. Their testimonies appeared to bolster the government's argument that Holmes intentionally defrauded investors and patients.
The fresh details about audacious and unproven claims made about the viability of Theranos' blood tests and efforts to conceal errors when demonstrating testing equipment added to the evidence against Holmes, who is accused of fraud in her role leading the company.
On Tuesday, jurors heard testimony from Edlin. According to New York Times reporter Erin Woo, who relayed Edlin's remarks in a Twitter thread, he testified that Holmes was really involved when it came to Theranos' marketing, which was often misleading. The Wall Street Journal reported that draft copy for the company's website included several statements touting the high accuracy of their blood tests, which a law firm recommended the company change to less weighty claims.
Edlin also recalled sending materials with equally strong claims to investors like Rupert Murdoch, which Holmes approved. One document claimed Theranos was conducting the same blood tests but with a new approach that required only "1/1,000 the size of" a typical blood draw, he said. Edlin didn't recall removing any such language from those materials.
On Wednesday, Edlin testified about Theranos' demo app, which was allegedly designed to hide errors from prospective investors, patients and others viewing a prototype testing device. Woo captured much of the exchange in a Twitter thread.
Kevin Downey, a lawyer for the defense, asked Edlin if he was intentionally trying to deceive anyone via the demos. Edlin said that the app did hide errors from viewers, and said the demos were intended to showcase Theranos' technology. John Bostic, an assistant U.S. attorney, asked Edlin a series of rapid-fire questions about why errors were hidden and results withheld. Edlin said he had relied on higher-ups' decisions on whether to disclose inconsistent results, adding that Daniel Young and Elizabeth Holmes had the final say over which demo results were reported.
Edlin said he ultimately decided to leave Theranos because he didn't believe the company was capable of proving that its technology actually worked.
On Friday, Shane Weber, a scientist at Pfizer, took the stand. According to New York Times reporter Erin Griffith in a Twitter thread, Weber said Theranos didn't hold any clinical interest for Pfizer. And yet, according to the WSJ, prosecutors alleged that a document with an image of the Pfizer logo was shown to investors, implying the drugmaker's approval of Theranos' technology. Weber said he had not seen that email before.
The trial continued with testimony from Bryan Tolbert of Hall Group, a Theranos investor. Tolbert shared a recording of a pitch by Holmes — the first time the jury has heard her voice, Griffith noted.
While earlier testimony in the case focused on operational problems at Theranos' testing facility, the government now appears to be highlighting allegations of deceptive conduct with investors. This is where prosecutors may face their biggest challenge: distinguishing a founder's visionary optimism from outright deceit.Aisha Counts (@aishacounts) is a reporting fellow at Protocol, based out of Los Angeles. Previously, she worked for Ernst & Young, where she researched and wrote about the future of work, emerging technologies and startups. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she studied business and philosophy. She can be reached at acounts@protocol.com.
Kate Silver is an award-winning reporter and editor with 15-plus years of journalism experience. Based in Chicago, she specializes in feature and business reporting. Kate's reporting has appeared in the Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic's CityLab, Atlas Obscura, The Telegraph and many other outlets.
The way we work has fundamentally changed. COVID-19 upended business dealings and office work processes, putting into hyperdrive a move towards digital collaboration platforms that allow teams to streamline processes and communicate from anywhere. According to the International Data Corporation, the revenue for worldwide collaboration applications increased 32.9 percent from 2019 to 2020, reaching $22.6 billion; it's expected to become a $50.7 billion industry by 2025.
"While consumers and early adopter businesses had widely embraced collaborative applications prior to the pandemic, the market saw five years' worth of new users in the first six months of 2020," said Wayne Kurtzman, research director of social and collaboration at IDC. "This has cemented collaboration, at least to some extent, for every business, large and small."
Businesses using these applications before the pandemic may have had a smoother transition to remote work. That was the case for British footwear brand Dr. Martens, which had been using the Asana platform to streamline work and communications for its global marketing team. Asana allows businesses of all sizes to organize strategic initiatives; monitor timelines, status and workloads across team projects; provide feedback on documents; request approvals on work; automate work processes and more. When COVID-19 caused offices to close, Stacey Kemp, who is the creative services manager at Dr. Martens, says Asana helped them adapt. "With 2020 forcing us to drastically change our way of working, our 'facetime' initially went up and productivity within work hours plummeted. To combat this, we had to get much better at giving clear instructions, feedback, and having discussions via written word. Asana helped us bring everyone's thought process into one centralized place," she says.
This fall, as enterprises everywhere decide whether to return to the office, continue working remotely or establish a hybrid working model, collaborative technology platforms will be more important than ever, says Anne Raimondi, chief operating officer of Asana. "As we continue in uncertain times, a platform that allows for well coordinated and distributed work is a must-have for any nimble organization. It allows work to continue in-person or remotely, with consistency, reliability and maximum flexibility."
"When organizations are able to forge ahead with the core tenets of teamwork — clarity, transparency and accountability — then they're able to continue their mission with passion and empowerment, whether their team is at the office or at home," says Anne Raimondi, chief operating officer of Asana
Raimondi shared the following advice with business leaders as they overcome COVID-19 survival mode and move into the next productive work phase, whatever shape that may take.
1. Reduce "work about work." Some call it busy work, some call it a threat to productivity. The Asana team calls it "work about work," and says it applies to communicating about work, searching for information, switching between apps, managing changing priorities, following up on the status of projects and other tasks involving work coordination rather than making headway on the skilled work itself. According to Asana's "Anatomy of Work Index 2021: Overcoming Disruption in a Distributed World," 60% of workers' time is spent on this kind of work, while 40% of time is spent on the skilled job a person was hired to do. In order to increase productivity and create room for meaningful work, businesses must first identify the areas that are detracting from that work. "When work about work happens, skilled work doesn't. To solve for this, consider reducing the number of unnecessary meetings, blocking time for focused work and streamlining workflows across teams using a collaborative platform," says Raimondi. "When you empower your team to do the work they were literally hired to do, you'll see your employees — and your organization — flourish."
2. Banish burnout. The pandemic has tested us all physically, mentally and emotionally. Businesses everywhere are starting to see that toll on their teams in the form of burnout, which the World Health Organization defines as "a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." According to Asana 71% of workers experienced burnout in the last year. Almost half (46%) of respondents said they were overworked, while 32% said they were unable to switch off or disconnect and 29% cited a lack of clarity on tasks and roles. "Employees have spoken, and they're not ok," says Raimondi. "Leaders must take the reins here and work to understand, address and eliminate the root causes of burnout." Across the country, corporations are finding ways to tackle burnout, such as camera-free days, or time off for mental health purposes. Asana has had a long-standing "No Meeting Wednesday" policy, which will evolve as employees return to the office and allow for the hybrid options of "Work from Home Wednesdays" and "Flexible Fridays" to allow for options and time to focus on creative or strategic work.
3. Be ready to adapt. According to Asana's research, 65% of employees believe that the skills needed for their job will evolve. Raimondi says that flexibility, today, can best be supported by technology, like Asana, that helps workers carry out their jobs, regardless of what is happening in the world around them. "When organizations are able to forge ahead with the core tenets of teamwork — clarity, transparency and accountability — then they're able to continue their mission with passion and empowerment, whether their team is at the office or at home," she says.
That's been the case at GoodRx, says Tori Marsh, who is the company's director of research. "Before COVID-19, Asana was our bible for the team. Now, it's even more so. Rather than talking to my coworkers on the other side of the table, we're communicating in Asana comments. We're still able to track everything that's going on without being there in person."
As business leaders set their expectations and goals for the new office environment — hybrid or otherwise — it's certain that flexibility and adaptability will be key. Organizations of all sizes may benefit from a reliable work management system that allows for order, consistency and clarity, so that employees working from anywhere can focus on the work they were hired to do, and not the extraneous tasks that can detract from their goals and their organization's purpose.
To learn more about Asana, visit Asana.com
Kate Silver is an award-winning reporter and editor with 15-plus years of journalism experience. Based in Chicago, she specializes in feature and business reporting. Kate's reporting has appeared in the Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic's CityLab, Atlas Obscura, The Telegraph and many other outlets.
New details have been unsealed in the states' antitrust suit against Google for anticompetitive behavior in the ads market.
Google is facing complaints by government competition enforcers on several fronts.
Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.
Up to 22%: That's the fee Google charges publishers for sales on its online ad exchanges, according to newly unredacted details in a complaint by several state attorneys general.
The figure is just one of the many details that a court allowed the states to unveil Friday. Many had more or less remained secrets inside Google and the online publishing industry, even through prior legal complaints and eager public interest.
The filing is a renewed set of allegations by the Texas-led coalition, which is now part of a class-action lawsuit alleging Google abuses its dominant position in the sale of online ad space.
The company is facing complaints by government competition enforcers on several fronts, including one led by the U.S. Justice Department focused on distribution of the company's marquee search engine and one led by Utah that has zeroed in on Google's mobile operations.
The ads suit, however, aims at the core of Google's profits: the company's operation of the biggest tools for buying and selling online ad space. It also runs the auctions systems that tie publishers and advertisers together, which "processes about 11 billion online ad spaces each day," according to the new complaint.
The lawsuit landed at the end of 2020, alleging in particular that Google made a deal with Facebook to offer the latter a leg-up in ad auctions so that Facebook would back off of support for a technique that publishers used to avoid Google properties.
Google has said it routinely pursues partnerships with major players in the market, has lowered overall fees for ads and gives priority in auctions based on objective criteria like website speed rather than to its own properties.
While the new details don't change the overall substance of the complaint, they flesh out what Google officials thought as they acted, what the company's agreements looked like and how Google referred to its many projects.
Here are the details.
"Google's exchange charges publishers 19 to 22 percent of exchange clearing prices, which is double to quadruple the prices of some of its nearest exchange competitors," the states write.
The unsealed details build on the original complaint's references to another system that matches buyers and sellers: the New York Stock Exchange. The states contend that Google's ownership of its ads exchange and involvement on both sides of many transactions demonstrate a fundamental unfairness that would never be allowed in high finance.
"As one senior Google employee admitted, '[t]he analogy would be if Goldman or Citibank owned the NYSE,'" the new complaint says. The states add that the analogy would actually be more accurate "if Goldman or Citibank were a monopoly financial broker and owned the NYSE, which was a monopoly stock exchange."
While media reports had quickly established "Jedi Blue" as the redacted name of the Facebook deal when the original suit landed, Friday's filing unveiled further code names. One called "Poirot," presumably in honor of Agatha Christie's fussy Belgian detective, was intended to "detect and reduce spending on non-Google exchanges." There were also "Bell" and "Elmo," which apparently both used "inside information to privilege Google's exchange over rival exchanges."
Then there were more details on Project Bernanke — yes, as in former Federal Reserve chair Ben. The project, which Google itself had accidentally disclosed, allegedly "privileged access to detailed information regarding what advertisers historically bid to help advertisers using Google Ads beat the advertisers bidding through competitors' ad buying tools." It's not clear how the project got its name.
The states had already disclosed an August 2019 meeting Google took with Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and other tech companies, focused on privacy. But the new material shows that, in the words of the states, "Google expressed particular concern that Microsoft was taking child privacy more seriously than Google and sought to rein in Microsoft." Google apparently also worried that Facebook was conceding too much on privacy to appease angry lawmakers.
The longtime antitrust war between Google and Microsoft has gotten hot again, with Microsoft more or less cooperating with the probe leading to the Justice Department's complaint and the two clashing over Microsoft's production of documents for Google's defense in the U.S. lawsuit.
Speaking of privacy, the states' latest complaint says that the initiative that became "Privacy Sandbox" — the now-delayed plan for Google's Chrome browser to phase out support for third-party cookies — started out as something called Project NERA. Google said internally that the project's goal was to "successfully mimic a walled garden across the open web [so] we can protect our margins."
The states alleged that meant using Chrome to track users, rendering publishers' cookies and tracking far less valuable, then offering "to give publishers the ability to tap into Google's now-deeper trove of user data in exchange for the publishers' agreement to give Google exclusive control over their ad space."
According to the states' complaint, Facebook's flirtation with header bidding — the technique that allowed publishers to route more of their inventory around Google's systems, much to Google's alarm — was mainly an 18-month strategy to play on Google's fears rather than an actual plan it expected to implement, and Facebook eagerly pursued a deal it viewed as "relatively cheap compared to build/buy and compete in zero-sum ad tech game."
The states outline much more about Google's deal with Facebook: The latter was allegedly allowed to circumvent some systems, and Google charged Facebook a lower fee of 5% to 10%. Facebook was also prohibited from speaking publicly about its "special lower pricing terms."
According to the new filing by the states, Google also let Facebook have "direct billing and contractual relationships with publishers," even though Google prohibits similar networks having such relationships. And Google also allegedly told "Facebook which impressions are likely targeted to spam" — something other networks had unsuccessfully sought.
The redacted version of the complaint suggested that Google and Facebook would "cooperate" in antitrust probes springing from "Jedi Blue," but the newly unveiled details go further, alleging that the two must "coordinate on antitrust defenses, such that Facebook must approve any and all arguments that Google presents relating to their illegal agreement."
Facebook of course has its own antitrust woes, though for now those largely relate to the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit over its acquisition strategies.
Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.
The CEO of productivity startup Rock likes to work on the road. Here's how he does it — starting with three different WiFi hotspots.
Kenzo Fong, founder and CEO of the 20-person productivity software startup Rock, has been working out of his converted Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van since the pandemic began.
Plenty of techies have started companies in garages. Try running a startup from a van.
In San Francisco, one software company founder has been using a converted Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van — picture an Amazon delivery vehicle — as a mobile office.
Kenzo Fong bought the van at the start of the pandemic when he found himself longing for fresh air and a quiet workspace away from his kids, ages 3, 7 and 9.
"Sometimes I just work from Ocean Beach," said Fong. "Sometimes I work close to where my kids need to be for soccer class or whatever."
Parked vans are a familiar sight in the Bay Area, where they shelter van-lifers and people who've been priced out of the nation's tightest housing market. Fong hasn't met anyone else who primarily uses a van as a home office, but he imagines there are others.
"You never know. I think there must be people who do the same thing," Fong said. "I think it makes a lot of sense."
It's a fitting workspace for Fong, whose startup Rock helps remote teams collaborate both in real time and asynchronously by providing messaging, files, tasks and meetings in a single hub. Fong has only raised a seed round so far, but hopes to become a challenger to big productivity and communication tools like Slack, Trello, WhatsApp, ClickUp and Discord.
For now, Fong runs his Zoom meetings in his van, which his family named Wonder. The vehicle is well-equipped with a desk, couches, sleeping hammocks, a small kitchen and a bathroom with a toilet and shower.
Most importantly, Fong has great Internet access in the van, thanks to his trio of Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile hotspots.
"If there is a cell tower nearby, I have internet," Fong said. "If you're looking at Maslow's pyramid of remote-worker needs, one is probably internet. Two is electricity."
Fong works from the van locally most days. Over the summer, he spent three months working from the van while he and his family crisscrossed the western U.S. on an 8,000-mile road trip.
That means two adults and three kids sleeping in the van. Fong said the couches convert into a queen-sized bed, where he and his wife sleep, and their 9-year-old sleeps on a foldout. A hammock system in the front serves as a bed for the two younger kids.
"You really need to love your kids," Fong said. "I imagine that it's probably similar to being in a submarine. Once all that stuff is set up, you're like, 'OK, wait. I need to go left. You wait on the right for, like, five seconds.'"
Fong has worked from Orcas Island, Arches National Park, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. It helps that his wife loves driving the van, he said.
Back home, Fong parks the van on the street outside his home on the border of San Francisco's Noe Valley and Glen Park neighborhoods. Parking enforcement has made that an adventure in itself at times.
"On more than one occasion, I would be working in the van, and then parking police would show up trying to give me a ticket," Fong said. "I'm like, 'Wait, wait, wait!' I jump out of my car, and they're like, 'What? Somebody's in this car?' I haven't gotten a ticket yet, but knock on wood."
Photo: Kenzo Fong/Rock
In order to balance his work on the road trip, Fong limits himself to one or two meetings per day, scheduling those for the morning before getting on the road.
Fong takes care of the rest of his work asynchronously on his laptop while the van is moving. Rock's 20 employees operate within the company's platform across seven time zones.
"I think there needs to be a different way of working," Fong said. "I try to keep meetings to a minimum. Meeting time is the most precious time that we have, because there's only a limited window in the morning to talk to people in Europe and a limited window in the evening where I can talk to people in Asia."
The rest of work has to be done asynchronously, almost like a relay race where employees in different regions hand off work to each other as each time zone signs off for the evening, Fong said.
Operating this way is a departure from how some of the larger tech companies proceeded into the pandemic. When remote work began, the giants simply repurposed the tools and procedures they had been using in the office, Fong said.
"I think trying to replicate that in-office culture where you still have to do your meetings — way too many Zoom meetings — and being responsive to email and Slack leads to everyone working longer hours," Fong said.
In a poll, people said they wanted to see artificial intelligence technologies develop in the U.S. — alongside rules governing their use.
U.S. lawmakers have only just begun the long process of regulating the use of AI.
Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans want the U.S to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence in the next year or sooner — with half saying that regulation should have begun yesterday, according to a Morning Consult poll. Another 13% say that regulation should start in the next year.
"You can thread this together," Austin Carson, founder of new nonprofit group SeedAI and former government relations lead for Nvidia, said in an email. "Half or more Americans want to address all of these things, split pretty evenly along ideological lines."
The poll, which SeedAI commissioned, backs up earlier findings that while U.S. adults support investment in the development of AI, they want clear rules around that development. Almost 70% of adults support more work in developing AI, but majorities from both parties — 67% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans — said that they'd want to see regulation sooner if they knew companies were already testing for bias and other issues.
Carson's group, which officially launches Friday, aims to make sure underrepresented groups and regions can learn about AI, train for jobs in the sector and benefit from the technology. He said he wanted to see the U.S. providing "resources for a diverse range of communities" that would be available for research, development, training and testing on trustworthiness. The formal launch of Carson's group will include Lynne Parker, who is director of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, as well as members of Congress as speakers.
The poll found that approximately eight in 10 respondents think the federal government should probably or definitely try to make sure AI is trustworthy and safe, with an even greater share supporting a role for state governments or efforts by the companies themselves. On the topic of limiting bias, 65% said the federal government should probably or definitely work on the issue, with 69% saying private companies should.
The itch for regulation is unlikely to get a scratch from the feds anytime soon. Congress has repeatedly failed to pass significant laws governing much more mature aspects of technology, such as the ongoing push for a nationwide privacy law. Still, lawmakers have proposed AI-regulating measures in the past, and a Senate-passed bill that aims to boost the U.S. against China would set up a scholarship to "recruit and train artificial intelligence professionals to lead and support the application of" AI to government activities.
Industry also wants Congress to act. In June, the BSA, a trade group for many companies that produce AI systems, began advocating for Congress to enact a law requiring firms to assess and minimize bias for "high-risk" uses of AI. BSA said at the time it believed the process could take years and added its hope that the proposal would replace farther-reaching legislation.
Regulators elsewhere, however, are also taking notice. Earlier this year, Europe suggested banning systems that pose a serious risk to health and human rights, as well as strict rules for an array of "high-risk" AI.
The poll suggested some specific areas where the public might like to see regulators take action. More than 70% of the people who responded said they were at least somewhat worried about AI being vulnerable to hacking or used to spread misinformation. The majority of respondents also expressed some worry about bias, the decline of human autonomy in daily tasks, job losses, over-reliance on AI in policing or military applications, and AI systems "becoming uncontrollable."
The results suggested the public sees benefits to AI as well. Strong majorities favored investments in teaching kids about using AI and training workers for jobs in the field, particularly the aim of making the U.S. "a global leader" in both areas. Nearly 80% said U.S. investment in AI research and development for military and defense applications was at least somewhat important, alongside 75% who said so for health care.
Interestingly, while Baby Boomers had higher levels of concern about AI, the youngest adults in the survey, from Gen Z (born after 1997), were less likely to say the U.S. should have begun its regulation already, or to be interested in learning about current or future uses of AI.
"As soon as you drop to digital natives, the game changes," Carson said. He suggested that younger adults' attitudes could evolve, but are probably "a more accurate barometer for the future" than millennials and older generations.
The poll interviewed 2,200 adults online, and full survey results had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.
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