Tech
- One of Squares co-founders passed away at the age of 35 last week WashingtonPost. At the same time Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya says in Recode Decode that people in Silicon Valley are very unhappy (see more comments further down) Recode
- What appears to be Chinese hackers have targeted U.S. and European universities in pursuit of research of maritime military secrets WSJ
- Facebook announced they’re planning big leap towards making your conversations more private by adding end-to-end encryption WSJ here’s Mark’s comment all-in-all on the privacy shift Facebook
- Instabridge files for bankruptcy 7 years after its founding and USD 7 M later DiDigital
Media
- AT&T breaks up Turner and makes significant changes in WarnerMedia expecting significant layoffs in its new push to become Warner Media WSJ
- Spotify reached 1M subscribers in India first week after launch Variety
Transportation
- Voi raise another USD 30 M from Creandum, Project A and several of the earlier investors. Wow – certainly impressed. 3 months post their USD 50 M round another USD 30 M to enable expansion across Europe. Impressive attention and somewhat of a FOMO feeling from VCs? TechCrunch| on the FOMO sensation I had to dig deeper on unit economics for the ride sharing services and got a tip about this one Ark-invest – according to Ark-invest, it is not all a downhill ride. DiDigital published an interview with the founder on Friday as well (Swedish) DiDigital
- Volvo will cap the speed of its cars to 180 km/h starting 2020 for better safety TheGuardian
- Grab – the Southeast asian ridesharing company – announced it has received USD 1.46 Bn in funding from investors with a lead from SoftBank Vision Fund Techcrunch
XR
- Varjo showcased their retinal VR displays at MWC Venturebeat
- Microsoft files for AR companion app to the Hololens that seems to have features enabling easier AR for many users Hothardware
- More rumours about Apple’s anticipated AR-glasses emerged this week claiming they’ll be out 2020 and work in a way such as the iPhone will conitnue to do most of the work Appleinsider
Statistics
- The Infinite Dial announced their yearly review with the following observations:
- Online audio has reached a new high in weekly time spent listening, potentially driven by podcasting and smart speakers.
- Podcasting has reached a milestone, with the majority of Americans now saying they have ever listened to one.
- Along with the increases in podcast listening, audiobook consumption also surged, indicating a trend towards increased spoken word audio consumption.
- Social Media usage appears to have stalled. Facebook and Twitter have declined, especially with younger users.
- Smart speaker ownership continues to grow, approaching one in four Americans age 12+. The average smart speaker user possesses two devices. Slideshare
Binge
- “The new Skam” premiered on SVT – Eagles. Co_Made is an investor in the production company for transparency SVTPlay
Podcast
- I’ve thought a lot about what Chamath Palihapitiya considers as a giant ponzi scheme – basically the whole VC industry. I still haven’t landed in if I agree or not – meaning I don’t think he’s way off pointing fingers in this podcast. I do welcome the discussion and all aspects of the same thoughts process Recode
Politics & Finance
- The US posted a record trade deficit despite President Trumps trade tariff efforts WSJ
- Investors betting on GE WSJ
- The US are trying to find a path in which asset managers and brokers have to put their clients best interest first. Apparently that hasn’t been the case… WSJ
