As skeptical as I was about the $SPCX IPO, the @cursor_ai acquisition was a masterful move.
Notes on Tech Industry
177 notes
Aug 2026
Feb 2020
Dec 2019
I'm very skeptical about the value of smart home appliances. However, if there's one company that could make it work, it's probably @IKEAUSA. theverge.com
May 2019
This is an excellent thread on the Uber S-1 filing.
modest proposal@modestproposal1
So UBER. Tough to make sense of it. Have seen people citing aggregated stats to get at unit economics but the US is 26% of trips and ~53% of revs, so aggregates not very helpful. There's some disclosures on adjusted platform revs and geos, but not enough to be useful. No cohorts.
Dec 2018
There are so many interesting observations here about differences between Chinese and American software—Outgrowing Advertising: Multimodal Business Models as a Product Strategy a16z.com
Nov 2018
To be fair, it's much better for consumers to have Walmart and Amazon battling it out. Without one the other would certainly become a monopoly.
Jun 2018
This camera design is incredibly clever. I am skeptical about how well it wears though. theverge.com
May 2018
Apr 2018
Interesting move for Ford. It's probably wise to pair down models though—Ford to stop selling every car in North America but the Mustang and Focus Active techcrunch.com
100 million, Amazon Prime has 100 million subscribers. I knew it was a ton, but that number is unreal. sec.gov
“Technology has undoubtedly created massive benefits for humanity. But it can cause problems — shifting into High Modernism territory — when it ignores, or even tries to replace our complex humanity instead of working with it.” calnewport.com
Dec 2017
I hope anti-trust regulators have their eye on this—Walt Disney to buy Fox for $52.4B bbc.com
“When you look at large manufacturing companies, it becomes very clear that the machine that makes the machine is just as important as the machine itself.” ben-evans.com
Nov 2017
Vegas has Atlanta as the 3-1 favorite for Amazon's new headquarters. buff.ly
What is Uber? An app? A taxi company? Logistics software? @matt_levine thinks most of Uber's value comes from regulatory arbitrage.
Jul 2017
This is awesome—@WeTransfer is offering $10,000 to SoundCloud people laid off that want to start a music business. buff.ly
I don't but understand the drive to make everything IoT. Why in the world would you want your fridge connected to the internet?
This is an incredible breakdown of the engineering behind Juicero. blog.bolt.io
Jun 2017
People on HN are talking about Uber dying, but I don't see it. I feel like they are a 30 percent price hike from profitability.
Noooo—Walmart to buy Bonobos for $310M techcrunch.com
This makes it look like Skype is trying to compete with SnapChat instead of Slack—this has to be a huge mistake. teams.live.com
Apr 2017
I'm skeptical of most IoT devices. I can't see an advantage to having my refrigerator connect to a server.
It's amazing that as large as Uber is, Apple still has significant control over it. buff.ly
Not sure this is a good thing—Walmart is in advanced talks to acquire online men’s retailer Bonobos buff.ly
Mar 2017
Cars and second order consequences ben-evans.com
Feb 2017
Asking the wrong questions ben-evans.com
Dec 2016
It's odd that Amazon has two products named Alexa, right?
So far I'm pretty happy with the Moto G4 after upgrading from the G3. Same strong battery life, better pictures and performance
Nov 2016
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff claims Microsoft tricked him businessinsider.com
Who Will Command The Robot Armies? idlewords.com
AT&T advertising watching DirectTV data free on their network. So much for net neutrality.
Dear Microsoft slackhq.com
Oct 2016
The Xbox One S is such a beautiful piece of hardware.
I hope Apple has an answer today, because the Surface Studio looks like a serious competitor for creative professionals.
I'm skeptical of this type of consolidation—AT&T to buy HBO, CNN, and Time Warner for more than $80 billion theverge.com
Sep 2016
Confession: I Don’t Think Uber is Actually a Great Business finnscave.com
Snapchat is focused on building and leveraging it's brand. I'm doubtful about the glasses, but something will stick.
snap.com
Aug 2016
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Uber is using the Amazon playbook. buff.ly
This is incredibly sad. The Moto G3 is the best phone I've ever owned. I suppose most of the team sayed with Google. theverge.com
Jul 2016
“No great company — and P&G is one of the greatest of all time — is built on only one competitive advantage.” stratechery.com
Five years after all the blogs and journalists told us Augmented reality would be a home run—it actually became one. techcrunch.com
@aronsolomon This is happening in so many areas. See all the design agencies that were purchased by larger companies in the last two years.
Nintendo has forced people to use their hardware. I wonder if the success of Pokemon Go, opens them up to building more for other platforms
Jun 2016
Spectacular long-form piece in NYT Magazine this morning—Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created? buff.ly
Apr 2016
RIM was in disbelief following the introduction of the iPhone in January 2007 edibleapple.com
“We want Prime to be such a good value, you’d be irresponsible not to be a member.” sec.gov
Mobile is eating the world. a16z.com
Mar 2016
It's interesting that technology companies and large consultancies (Deloitte E&Y) are the ones acquiring design firms.
I'm still waiting for Pandora's purchase of Rdio to result in some better products. When will the desktop player get an update?
Many Internet of Things concepts are things I don't want. Why does a refrigerator or toaster need to be connected to the internet?
Feb 2016
"Uber's redesign contained an unprecedented level of micromanagement by Kalanick, for whom it was a passion project" elischiff.com
Uber rebrands, tries to look more like Lyft.
Regardless of what you think about internet.org, the ambition and research behind it is spectacular. wired.com
Jan 2016
Nov 2015
It's also amazing how poor quality some OEM laptops are. No wonder Microsoft is trying to build their own hardware.
I'm always interested in the evolution of media properties. Ziff Davis is an interesting case study. fortune.com
Sep 2015
Will autonomous cars break Uber? techcrunch.com
Aug 2015
Comparing @Snapchat's losses to @Uber's isn't a fair comparison. Uber has massive revenue, Snapchat does not. businessinsider.com
The clock is ticking—Autonomous truck cleared to drive on US roads for the first time buff.ly
Uber is following Amazon's model, price everyone out of competition to remain the only player in the market. bbc.com
Cable hasn't discovered they are competing with the internet and apps, not Netflix—Cord-Cutting Weighs on Pay TV buff.ly
Jul 2015
The fastest-growing mobile phone markets barely use apps buff.ly
On another note, Vox Media seems to be doing everything AOL's @PatchTweet did, but better with their @Curbed and @Eater publications.
Uber and Lyft are winning the fight against Taxi's because people are voting with their wallets and time.
Its a shame to see Topolsky leaving after he's done such an incredible job. Excited for his next chapter though. buff.ly
Interesting that Pando is switching to a subscription model. pando.com
Jun 2015
May 2015
Once a sure bet, taxi medallions becoming unsellable usatoday.com
Free two-day shipping furniture—just another reason amazon prime is awesome.
Slot machines perfected addictive gaming. Now, tech wants their tricks—Engineering Addiction theverge.com
Freightliner has an autonomous truck. Not to undermine the achievment, but calling a truck The Inspiration... freightliner.com
Microsoft dropped the ball on the IE rebrand. Had a chance to move to something completely new.
"The damn tech companies did not steal your business, your opportunity and did not make you broke. The customer did." lefsetz.com
Whoa, Amazon will now pay users to select slower shipping.
Competition is a beautiful thing. theverge.com
Apr 2015
Mar 2015
I've got to believe that the smartwatch is a convoluted solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
Interesting conversation on HN about the closing of Gigaom and the decline of banner ads. news.ycombinator.com
Sad news. It appears that tech blog Gigaom is shutting down. buff.ly
"The site was a massive spaghetti-ball mess" said former MySpace VP of Marketing theguardian.com
Sad to see EA shut down Maxis. As a kid I spent countless hours playing SimCity, SimIsle, SimFarm and SimTower. gamerant.com
Feb 2015
Netflix, where the goal is to become HBO, before HBO can become them.
Some seriously thought provoking questions here. Is the internet the next TV? theawl.com
Jan 2015
Interesting to see that Teehan+Lax is joining Facebook. teehanlax.com
Dec 2014
In 2014 we finally killed files, discovered the sharing economy is the renting economy, social is dead. avc.com
Wild Card! After fighting all year with Amazon, Hachette partners with Gumroad to sell books directly to readers
Nov 2014
Oct 2014
This is too bad. Ownership or not Nokia is a legendary brand—Microsoft is finally dropping the 'Nokia' from Lumia. engadget.com
This is exactly what I was expecting Apple's watch to be. Curious how this all plays out. theverge.com
Sep 2014
Silicon Valley, the only place in the world with designers and engineers making $200,000 and living in an old GMC van finance.yahoo.com
Prediction—smart watches as presented are going the way of Google Glass. The future of tech wrist wear is FitBit and similar vital trackers.
Aug 2014
US cable giants calls on FCC to block cities' expansion of high-speed internet theguardian.com
Whoa, I wasn't aware Uber was sabotaging Lyft. I'm all for the service, but this is seriously dirty. theverge.com
Oh dear, if the Comcast/TWC deal goes through there will be riots—Comcast Spends $110k On Dinner For FCC Commissioner consumerist.com
Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles cbc.ca
Wow! P&G is planning to shed more than 50% of its brands—How Technology is Changing the World (P&G Edition) stratechery.com
Jul 2014
I don't exactly understand the Foursquare rebrand. They pivoted away from social to be a Yelp competitor, but I thought the brand was solid.
Then we will be left with one option, Uber. And while great now, with out competitors it may look more like Comcast in the future.
The taxi will be the loser in the end, because the company leveraging technology nearly always wins.
The Uber v. Taxi fight is a problem, because Taxi's are leveraging their power to lobby against Uber instead of improving their service.
Jun 2014
Talk about a win for Amazon PR—FAA Bans The Use Of Drones To Deliver Packages techcrunch.com
I'd love to see Netflix and Amazon enter the market as an ISP with Google.
May 2014
Companies that control the entire line from mfg to consumer are going to be the winners—E-commerce is a Bear buff.ly
Apr 2014
So Comcast charges services access to its subscribers, while charging its subscribers access to services? about.netflix.com
Yahoo focusing on what it does best, hold shares of Alibaba buff.ly
Interesting, workers are ditching Microsoft for software that is more consumer-friendly.
One big reason we lack Internet competition: Starting an ISP is really hard arstechnica.com
Mar 2014
Phones have made watches functionally obsolete. They are just pieces of jewelry that happen to show the time.
I still don't get the appeal of a smart watch beyond quantified-self initiatives. I think it is all media hype.
Of all the things Facebook is doing, internet drones are the most exciting. techcrunch.com
Notch turning away from Oculus Rift is not a good omen. thenextweb.com
Piracy is almost always a convenience problem, not a pricing problem.
Can someone work on this to bypass ISPs in the US? FB drones could bring internet to the developing world buff.ly
A look at the Buzzfeed newsroom. Review cjr.org
Interesting expiriment in crowdfunded journalism—The Great TechCrunch Flappy Bird Hunt buff.ly
Cortana, the AI from Halo is now available for your Windows Phone. theverge.com
Just like Tesla needs to sell $100k cars to bring affordable ones to market, Buzzfeed leverage listicles to fund quality journalism.
Everyone talks about the PayPal mafia, but nobody talks about the w00w00 mafia.
techcrunch.com
Feb 2014
Does anyone else feel the whole smartwatch thing is a dud? Sure it works for FitBit and quantified self, but these things with screens...
The internet is fucked theverge.com
Double-take that number—Facebook is buying WhatsApp for $16 billion theverge.com
So there is only one guy running Viral Nova? Pretty incredible considering the site has 65m monthly uniques.
Someone is writing about how Snap Chat can make money on Medium. Surely that is a sign the company is completely f'd buff.ly
A flash drive from 10 years ago vs. today. i.imgur.com
This Comcast, Time Warner deal makes me question legal monopolies. Internet speeds won't improve until there is more competition.
OK, now I know there is a PR firm behind all this—Flappy Bird iPhone on eBay selling for thousands of dollars bgr.com
The most intersting part of the 37signals announcement—We will be launching an online publication called THE DISTANCE 37signals.com
One decade after Steve Jobs tried to get OSX on the VAIO, Sony sells its PC business. engadget.com
A move that is absolutely detrimental to the one growing part of the economy, internet technology.
37signals is now Basecamp. I feel like everything I know is wrong...
Whoa, whoa! Crazy plot twist. Figure53 & FiftyThree: the other David and Goliath. figure53.com
The online music space is getting interesting. First @baboom, then @beats, now @steam_games. steamcommunity.com
Jan 2014
Why does Microsoft stick with IE's name? They'll never get developers to support anything called Internet Explorer.
inside.com, recode, First Look--2014 is shaping up to be an interesting year for online journalism. niemanlab.org
Svbtle opens up to everyone, Medium raises $25 million and it is snowing on the Gulf coast. Interesting day.
CloudFlare—Disclosure of National Security Orders is flawed, and causes no threat to national security. blog.cloudflare.com
OK @TechCrunch this is funny--Should Microsoft Acquire Yahoo for $53 billion? techcrunch.com
On another note, Honeywell execs should be freaking out that they are now competitors with Google.
So, Nest sells to Google for almost the same price SnapChat would have sold to Facebook.
Talking with eight people about TV at the bar last week, none had cable. Time Warner Loses 215,000 Cable Customers. bloomberg.com
So this is what happened to Inspector Gadget's messages. On another note, this seems much more useful than SnapChat.
gigaom.com
Best review of @jellyhq—Yahoo Answers for the Bourgeoisie.
Dec 2013
Nov 2013
I Believe In The Internet - The Content Industry Doesn't bradburnham.tumblr.com
Oct 2013
Aug 2013
Boston has started to slip from the tech radar as NY, Chicago and Atlanta grow. Devastating blow, especially to small development shops.
Wow, a big blow to tech companies in Boston — The Massachusetts Software Tax buff.ly
I'd argue that it would be much tougher to compete with Amazon in ecommerce than Google in search-I know apples and oranges.
People talk about Google v Apple all the time, but the most interesting battle is Amazon v Wal-Mart. It's a war of attrition and logistics.
On a lighter note quip.com looks awesome. Finally a product that can compete with Google Docs.
Jul 2013
How Microsoft spent a decade asleep on the job
theguardian.com
Well that is a way to gain marketshare — Nokia's Lumia 1020, a 41-megapixel Windows Phone camera theverge.com
How Driverless Cars Could Reshape Cities — And will likely destroy the auto industry. archive.nytimes.com
In Tech We Trust? A Debate with Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen youtube.com
Jun 2013
Technology, whether you like it or not, is the dominant economic and cultural force of our time, redefining art, music, media and more.
Brilliant headline — A link to the past: why Nintendo won't make smartphone games #Zelda theverge.com
Like a forest fire, clearing out the old is destructive. But what’s left behind is a clean slate — Fertile Ground marco.org
Some thought provoking ideas on the future of newspaper pay walls by @jeffjarvis buzzmachine.com
May 2013
This year China will add as many internet users as there are people in the United States.
Sony’s bread and butter? It’s not electronics. Life insurance accounted for 63% of the companies profits last year. buff.ly
My prediction that consumers won't bite on Facebook Home seems to be on target thus far. techcrunch.com
"Kodak employed 140,000 people. Instagram, 13. A digital visionary says the Web kills jobs, wealth -- even democracy" salon.com
I'm not sure that the company with a reasonably priced color e-ink could overtake Amazon in the e-reader market.
Mar 2013
Jul 2012
Jun 2012
May 2012
This is what happens in legal battles when companies actually care about their customers. Good job @Valve and @Blizzard gameinformer.com
Apr 2012
Jun 2011
A first look at #Microsoft #Windows8 UI. Windows Phone anybody? bit.ly
Dec 2010
#FCC really dropped the ball on #netneutrality . Mobile internet not neutral. bit.ly
Video: Wanna read Spanish without learning it? Enter World Lens. Hold up your phone to a foreign sign and it... tumblr.com
Maybe There is Hope for Silicon Valley (and the World) After All - “To say that I was blown away with what I... tumblr.com
Car Commuting Without Driving: Computerized Convoy Hits The Road - “Semi-autonomous driving could make your... tumblr.com
Nov 2010
Video: Soon the vehicle you drive will share the same applications you use with your iPhone, Android and... tumblr.com