Boeing’s Starliner is a go for launch: What do we love? Going to space! What do we love more? A functioning and competitive market for space launch methods! Boeing’s Starliner is going to bring two astronauts to the ISS in May, and that’s great news for the market and Yours Truly. Read More
Can you acqui-hire a venture firm? Apparently, yes. Berlin-based venture firm Global Founders Capital and Rocket Internet have had close ties for some time. It turns out the ties are so close that instead of raising a new fund, GFC is going to invest off Rocket’s balance sheet moving forward. It’s the Microsoft-Inflection AI of the VC-startup studio world! Read More
Meta loves the fediverse: Meta’s work to integrate Threads with the fediverse is raising eyebrows, and some concerns. But thanks to other work in the open-source world, there’s a general belief that Meta won’t be a jerk when it comes to federated social media platforms. Read More
Iterative improvements in humanoid robots are a good thing: When we think about the companies developing humanoid robots, there’s one name we shouldn’t forget: Sanctuary AI. The company has been in the game for a while, and now has an updated model that features faster learning. Not quick learning compared to humans, of course, but this is the sort of upgrade that really adds up over time. Read More
Why did Kaiser share patient data with advertisers? The medical giant is blaming the mess on “certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile applications” that “may have transmitted personal information to third-party vendors.” Sure, OK, but why the hell did the people who served my therapist have that tech to begin with? Read More
Google Cloud is going strong: Search revenue increased 14.4% at Google in its most recent quarter, but Google Cloud stole the show, reporting a 28% improvement in revenue. That’s nearly double Search’s result and it’s therefore an important differential. I am not sure how much worse Google search could become to allow for greater monetization, but the cloud market clearly has lots of room to grow. Read More
Snap soars: Shares of Snapchat’s parent company only do two things on earnings days: rise sharply or plummet deep underground. It was the former this time ‘round, and Snap’s stock is up about 25% in pre-market trading today. Part of the reason is that its short-form video service, Spotlight, saw a 125% rise in total watch time, which indicates it could be a big winner if TikTok does exit the U.S. market. Read More
