10/23/2020: Weekly Newsletter
In an earlier version of this newsletter intro, I started to write: If I were to characterize this past week with some sort of 'theme' or thread, I would reference the famous words of Mark Twain, "history doesn't repeat itself but it does often rhyme." DOJ's lawsuit against Google on antitrust grounds seems eerily familiar to the Microsoft antitrust case faced in the late 1990s.
However, upon further reading and researching the issue, I was humbled by how unoriginal my thought was. Haha. (Insert face palm here.) Indeed, there are already many articles out there that have made this point. This one is very well explained by the AP...and much better stated than I could ever do...So I will urge you to read it instead!
This does make me wonder though if we are headed towards big tech becoming more and more regulated like a public utility. Only time will tell...
Money
Dept of Justice brings antitrust lawsuit against Google
PayPal will allow users to buy crypto and received license from NY DFS
Stripe acquires Nigeria's Paystack for $200M+
Bitcoin goes above $13,000
The 1MDB scandal continues on: Goldman fined $350M by Hong Kong regulator
Tech
300M Call of Duty downloads since launching mobile last year and how gaming companies are bringing other games to mobile phones
Quibi, the short video platform that raised close to $2B in funding, is already shutting down ~6 months after launch
How AI is helping to assess Alzheimer's risk by analyzing word usage
Super strong beetle skeleton could lead to innovations in new materials
Etc.
Want to get into the Halloween spirit without risk of COVID exposure? I highly recommend The Guest List by Lucy Foley as a great mystery read.
You can also get started on Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a suspensful read that we'll be featuring on the Not So Silent Reading podcast
And if neither of these intrigues you, I always highly recommend NPR's book concierge, which includes genres like "It's All Geek to Me" and "No Biz Like Show Biz".
