Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 05/12 – The Everything Everywhere All At Once File Overflows

Starting point is 00:00:00 On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech Meme Right Home for Thursday, May 12th, 2022. I'm Brian McCullough today. Other algorithmic stable coins are now teetering. Meta is cutting back even when it comes to the Metaverse. Could an Instacart IPO lead us out of this darkness? Disney's streaming business is holding up for now and the AR demo that was the most exciting thing to me from the I.O. keynote yesterday. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Look, a lot of today is going to come to you from the everything everywhere, all the at once file. Things continue to be dicey out there. After USTs collapse, most rival algorithmic stable coins are now below the dollar peg. Tether and USDC, the two largest, are mostly holding

Starting point is 00:01:22 their dollar pegs, but they're not algorithmic, right? Tether, the largest stable coin of any flavor, briefly dropped to a 24-hour low of 96 cents, though. So yeah, things are teetering all across the ecosystem, quoting Bloomberg. Most rival algorithmic stablecoins, which use a complex combination of computer code and trader incentives to maintain their pegs of one-to-one to the dollar, are also below that threshold, though not at the 80% extreme seen by TerraUSD on Wednesday. Maker-Dals die slipped 0.4% before recovering to its peg, and Phi slipped 0.5%. Neutrino USD fell 20% over the same period of time, according to data from coin market cap. TerraUSD or UST and its related token Luna had a long way to fall.

Starting point is 00:02:09 They both recently climbed into the top 10 tokens by market value after Terra founder Du Kwan established the Luna Foundation Guard, which bought billions of dollars of Bitcoin to back it up. Investors had rushed to take advantage of yields that might reach almost 20% on Anchor Protocol, which is powered by the Terra blockchain. On Wednesday, Kwan announced measures aimed at bringing TerraUSD back to the dollar peg, which includes minting Luna at an increased pace. The total circulating supply of Luna has surged to 1.46 billion tokens from 377 million yesterday data from researcher Masari Show, end quote. It's unclear to me how much of this turmoil is what is affecting the price of other coins,

Starting point is 00:02:51 but Bitcoin dropped below 26,000 briefly for the first time since December 2020, down 15% in a mere 24 hours. Ether dropped to as low. as 1,720, its lowest level since July 2021, which means micro strategy, remember them. They're the company that made a massive Bitcoin bet. Well, that bet is now underwater on paper as Bitcoin trades around $28,000 this morning. Microstrategy holds 129,218 BTC, bought for an average of $30,700. I saw this article this morning speculating that at this point, 40% of Bitcoin holders are underwater, and that 50% of all crypto traders at the end of 2021 had gotten into crypto for the first time in that year. So if that was you, you're likely down to no matter what you invested in.

Starting point is 00:03:45 So given that environment, you know what would not be helpful to overall market confidence? I don't know. Maybe something like the CEO of Coinbase having to come out and say there's, quote, no risk of bankruptcy, after Coinbase said in a. recent filing that its users might lose all their crypto if the exchange were to go bankrupt. Quoting the Financial Times. Coinbase stock fell 23% after it reported a significant slide in its revenues, which missed analysts' expectations, as well as a sharp fall in trading volumes in its first quarter results on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:04:18 The poor results together with concern over a regulatory filing later that day prompted chief executive Brian Armstrong to state on Twitter that Coinbase had, quote, no risk of bankruptcy, end quote. His comment came after a new disclosure suggested customer. could be on the hook for claims against the exchange, sparking alarm among Coinbase's users. According to the filing, the crypto that Coinbase holds in custody for users, quote, could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings and such customers could be treated as our general unsecured creditors, and quote, as a result, users may find the platform, quote, more risky and less

Starting point is 00:04:50 attractive, end quote, potentially hurting its financial health, the filing said. But Armstrong rushed to reassure users apologizing for failing to communicate proactively when the new wording was added. Quote, there is some noise about a disclosure we made in our 10Q regulatory filing today about how we hold crypto assets. Armstrong wrote on Twitter, adding that rather than being at risk of going bust, the exchange changed its terms to satisfy a regulatory requirement. Analysts at Wedbush noted that Coinbase was, quote, flush with cash and still investing, quote, aggressively during the downturn. In its first quarter results, the company reported greater losses than expected by Wall Street, 430 million in losses compared with the 4.3 million in losses compared

Starting point is 00:05:28 with the 47 million in losses that analysts had estimated and predicted that trading volumes and user numbers would continue to fall in the current quarter. Coinbase shares have lost 67% of their value since the start of the year, with their price falling below $100 for the first time since the company went public in April last year. At the time of its IPO, Coinbase shares were worth $381, end quote. I hinted at this on the Twitter space last night, but as Coinbase is approaching around or under $12 billion in market cap, could they be a takeout target? There's not a lot of big tech platforms in this regulatory environment that could take out a rival that has crashed to new lows. But you could see Wall Street banks and others might eye something like Coinbase as a pretty, tempting asset. And more. Andrew Bosworth told Reality Labs staff that meta plans to cut or delay some

Starting point is 00:06:32 projects and details will be forthcoming soon. Meta says there won't be layoffs, but remember, Reality Labs is what meta is betting the farm on. Reality Labs is where they're trying to build out the Metaverse. Quoting Insider, Reuters saw a summary of comments made by Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth made to Reality Lab staffers during a weekly Q&A session on Tuesday. A meta spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that Bosworth told staff that the division would not be able to afford some projects and others would have to be postponed. Reality Labs cost meta two, $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2022 and $3.3.3 billion in the final quarter of 2021. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors in an April conference call that the company would slow the pace of some of its

Starting point is 00:07:14 investments. So far, the company has announced Reality Labs is working on a high-end VR headset called Project Cambria and a pair of AR glasses called Project Nazar, end quote. And SoftBank reported a $26.2 billion full year loss for its Vision Fund unit. leading the group to a $13.13 billion annual net loss as stocks decline and inflation rises, quoting the journal. The world is in a chaotic situation, said Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, citing COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, quote, In this chaotic world, the approach we at Softbank should take is defensive, end quote. Mr. Sahn said the company was making new investments at a slower pace this fiscal year.

Starting point is 00:08:03 He predicted that the total for the year would be only a quarter or half the level of the previous year when SoftBank made about $46 billion in investments through its Vision Fund and Latin American funds. Mr. Sons said he would select his targets with stricter due diligence and be careful of investing in Chinese companies. Because the 475 companies we have invested in are gradually reaching harvest soon, we can manage to survive, Mr. Sons said. We may not be able to plant new seeds in the next year or two, but I expect the stock market to start recovering after one or two years, end quote. Among the many signs of tribute, Littering SoftBank's 117-page earning statement was an investment loss of $26.2 billion in the first

Starting point is 00:08:43 three months of this year in its principal funds. Those are the Vision Fund 1, which has completed its investments, the Vision Fund 2, which is still making new investments and the Latin American funds. The publicly listed stocks that compose much of the first Vision Fund have fallen by more than half since the start of the year. D.D. is down more than 80% since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange last summer, which was followed by run-ins with Chinese regulators that led Didi to plan to delist from the NYSE, end quote. So if we're ever going to stop this doom and gloom cycle, someone is going to have to step up into the breach.

Starting point is 00:09:22 Will it be Instacart? Sources are telling Bloomberg that Instacart confidentially filed documents for an IPO, which could happen as soon as 2022, though the timing could slip or the startup could stay private. Quote, Instacart is working with banks, including Goldman Sachs Group and JP Morgan Chase and company on an offering, said the people, who added that other banks may be included later. A representative for Goldman Sachs didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for J.P. Morgan declined to comment. A beneficiary of the coronavirus

Starting point is 00:09:51 pandemic, Instacart's pace of growth has decelerated. It announced in March that it was cutting its valuation about 40% to $24 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The company was previously valued at $39 billion in March 2021 in a funding round that included Andreson Horowitz, Sequia Capital, and D1 Capital Partners as well as Fidelity, and Tiro Price, and Associates Instacart's public debut could come at a turbulent time in the stock market. Only two IPOs of more than $500 million have priced this year in the U.S. Excluding blank check firms, 52 companies have raised $4.4 billion this year compared with 201 listings for a total of more than $71 billion during the same period in 2021,

Starting point is 00:10:33 according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Their performance of these newly public companies generally has been disappointing. the Renaissance IPO ETF is down 48% in the past year, end quote. Worth noting that the U.S. Senate voted 51 to 50 to confirm privacy expert Alvaro Badoia to the Federal Trade Commission, replacing former Commissioner Rohit Chopra, and establishing a Democratic majority for the first time on the FTC this far into the Biden presidency, quoting the verge. Vice President Kamala Harris voted to break a 50-50 tie on the Senate, Florida,

Starting point is 00:11:13 finalize Badoia's confirmation. Bodoia will replace former commissioner Rohe Chopra, who left the FTC last year to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Before his confirmation, Badoia was a Georgetown law professor with a focus on privacy law, founding the University's Center on Privacy and Technology in 2014. In his academic career, Badoia explored the disproportionate effects of surveillance on minority groups, particularly regarding facial recognition technology. Badoia was first nominated to the FTC last September, but his confirmation process was stalled by Republican opposition to his nomination. After several canceled and rescheduled committee hearings and votes last year, the Senate Commerce Committee voted 14 to 14 in March, requiring a motion to discharge by

Starting point is 00:11:53 Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring a final vote to the floor, end quote. Disney's streaming subscribers hit 205.6 million globally in Q2. Disney Plus added 7.9 million to reach a total of 137.7 million. Hulu added a mere 300,000 to reach 45.6 million subscribers, and ESPN Plus added 1 million to reach a total of 22.3 million subscribers. So, no Netflix hangover here, or is it just in the mail? Quoting the Hollywood reporter. Disney CFO, Christine McCarthy, also suggested that Disney Plus subscriber growth could slow down in coming quarters. It is worth mentioning that we had a stronger than expected first half of the year,

Starting point is 00:12:42 McCarthy said on the quarterly earnings call, adding that some markets expected to go live in Q3 are in Eastern Europe, including Poland, which may be impacted by the war. However, a stronger content slate in the second half of the year should keep Disney Plus growing. Disney's Media and Entertainment Distribution Division, which includes streaming, had revenues of $13.5 billion in the quarter up 9% from a year ago. Streaming led the way with revenues up 23% to 4.9 billion. Linear networks were up 5% to 7.1 billion. The Academy Awards helped bolster ABC, with advertising revenue up from the same quarter a year ago, partially offset by a decrease in viewership, and to a lesser extent, fewer units delivered, the company said, end quote.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Some more news out of I.O. Google released Android 13 Beta 2 with finer privacy controls and improved material U theme system, the ability to change the language of each app, and more. Quoting NeoWen. With Android 13, privacy and security are very important focuses for Google. Users will have more control over the files they give apps access to, for example. files and media has been removed, and two new categories have taken its place, photos and videos and music and audio. Another way that Google is preserving privacy is by no longer needing users to grant location to apps just to enable Wi-Fi scanning.

Starting point is 00:14:00 To protect the data you may have copied to the clipboard, Google is adjusting Android so that you get a notification when an app accesses your clipboard. The system will also erase your clipboard history after a short period, so apps are blocked from copying information. While this is good from a privacy perspective, it sounds as though it could become annoying if you're trying to copy and paste between apps, especially if your phone is a bit sluggish. To ensure we are as safe as possible, Google is going to introduce the Settings and Privacy Settings page. Here you'll see such things as app security screen lock, Google's security

Starting point is 00:14:30 checkup, and find my device settings, and any request Google wants you to make to tighten your security settings. Aside from all the features mentioned, Android 13 will also improve the tablet experience. It brings better multitasking on tablets and an updated taskbar so you can switch between single tablet view and split screen. To enter split screen mode, just drag and drop a second app onto your screen from the taskbar library, and it will share the screen with the app already open, end quote. I think we touched on this yesterday, but it looks like Google is taking another run at trying to make Android tablets a thing, andth times the charm, I guess. And finally today, because I really didn't mention it yesterday, I just want to highlight the most impressive demo from the I.O. Keynote,

Starting point is 00:15:19 Google teased an early look at lightweight AR glasses that could display the text of a conversation transcribed and translated in real time, quoting TechCrunch. It remains to be seen how fully featured these specs would be if they ever actually come to market, but live in real-life subtitles and a wearable heads-up display is a big deal if the execution is right. The video is a stark contrast from the bombast of the original Google Glass announcement at I.O. Gone are the skydivers and extreme sports enthusiasts in their place is a subdued promo that demonstrates real-world value. Unlike the deluge of pixel announcements, Google's making no promise that such a product will ever actually come to market. Today's Google I.O. debut was no doubt a way to gauge

Starting point is 00:16:00 interest in a product that isn't quite fully baked. The video included a simulated point of view of what such a display could look like, affording the speaker to look directly at a subject while reading their words. Questions around efficacy, pricing, and more remain, but if the execution is there, it's easy to see some true value in a product that marries AR hardware, with the company's longstanding work in translation and transcription software. At the very least, it's one of the most compelling use cases we've seen for a wearable AR display.

Starting point is 00:16:27 If Google could find similarly useful implementations for things like Maps, it might eventually have a winner on its hands here, and quote, I go deeper on my impressions of this in the Twitter Spaces bonus episode this weekend, but click through on the last link in the show notes to actually see the demo for yourself. This afternoon is the most meaningful

Starting point is 00:16:54 North London Derby in recent memory. Arsenal go away to Spurs, and if we win, we're back in the Champions League for the first time in five years. Later this afternoon, you should spare a thought for me as I try to watch the game. The thing about football is when you actually care about the outcome of a match, like really, really care, it is no fun at all, just 90 minutes of agony. Come on, Arsenal, talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 05/12 – The Everything Everywhere All At Once File Overflows

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