Feed Items
Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:* How OpenAI’s Sora is transforming everything from Hollywood to videogames to Madison Avenue* Foreign trade and fearsome foes!* A guide to acquiring one of Silicon Valley’s favorite fads: a chief of staff* Plus: The VC and surprise SF mayoral front-runner; the TikToker who can explain why AllBirds lost flight; and the AI that’s raising questions about...
Twice in the last month, Mark Farrell, the Thayer Ventures co-founder, former San Francisco mayor and surprise front-runner in November’s mayoral race, has found himself confronting a familiar scene: thieves pilfering items from his local Walgreens as he shopped, undeterred by the shop’s protective shielding around its goods.
“That happens daily,” said Farrell, shaking his head as he recalled...
After filling a cap table with prestige names and an Atherton basement with Screaming Eagle, what does a busy mogul on the rise acquire next? Increasingly these days, a chief of staff.
Long a staple in government and the military, the chief of staff role has lately become a faddish fixture in the private sector, too, particularly in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. Giants like Amazon, American...
Let’s talk about something other than TikTok. How about the fact that Apple has agreed to pay $490 million to settle a years-old shareholder lawsuit alleging that CEO Tim Cook misled investors in comments he made on an earnings call in late 2018? It’s not every day you see the iPhone maker settling a lawsuit rather than fighting to the bitter end, as Fortnite maker Epic Games has found with its...
There was a moment in this week's episode when our special guest Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz posed a question that stuck with me. How do we help our kids manage smartphones when we, as adults, don't have a handle on our usage? It prompted an interesting discussion that framed this episode.
I hope you enjoy.
Apple
Spotify
YouTube
A month ago, Greg Pilon, a 44-year-old visual effects artist on such films as “Deadpool 2,” thought he heard the tick-tock of a doomsday clock for his industry.
What set the gears in motion? His initial glimpse of Sora, OpenAI’s new text-to-video artificial intelligence tool, unveiled by CEO Sam Altman. In a 10-minute demo video, OpenAI showed the tool instantly spinning simple strings of words...
We’ve updated our estimates for several of the biggest spenders in our Cloud Database. The changes show that some companies are trying to hold the line on cloud bills—except when it comes to spending on artificial intelligence. The most significant update in the database is all about AI. ChatGPT developer OpenAI projected last year that it would spend more than $1 billion on cloud computing in...
Microsoft became the world’s biggest seller of cybersecurity software by bundling it with Office and Teams apps. But after a series of hacks exploited that software in the past year, several of Microsoft’s biggest customers are considering whether their reliance on Microsoft’s software bundle puts their security at risk.
The clearest sign that Microsoft may face real consequences for its...
Let’s start with some good news: today’s successful rocket launch by Elon Musk’s SpaceX (cool video here). This was the third flight test of SpaceX’s Starship, the enormous new rocket the company is building to launch second-generation Starlink internet satellites, among other things. The test lasted an hour (for more details, see here). It was a good reminder that for all of Musk’s nutty...
If you’ve started seeing more trendy drink brands popping up on your social media feeds recently, that’s by design. Upstart beverage makers like Olipop, which says its carbonated drinks can help improve digestion and gut health, have been increasing their reach through influencers on TikTok and other apps. In early 2022, the brand contracted with creator Sara Crane to run its TikTok account, and...