Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 12/15 – Google To Adopt Vaccine Mandate?

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Is Google the first Silicon Valley company to adopt a vaccine mandate? A new foldable phone from Oppo. Why the US might ban you from investing in DJI. Twitter gets auto captions. And a look at the up and coming Chinese ecommerce giant that you might have already heard of, but definitely need to be aware of going forward. Sponsors: Masterworks.io/ride Findyourfidelity.com Links: Google tells employees they’ll lose pay and will eventually be fired if they don’t follow vaccination rules (CNBC) Oppo’s Find N is an impressive first folding phone (The Verge) Twitter adds auto captions feature to make videos more accessible (TechCrunch) Apple and Google's mobile duopoly likely to face UK antitrust action (TechCrunch) US to blacklist eight more Chinese companies including dronemaker DJI (Financial Times) How Shein beat Amazon at its own game — and reinvented fast fashion (Rest of World) Submit top stories of the year to us! https://chrismessina.me/topstories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Wednesday, December 15th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough. Today is Google the first Silicon Valley company to adopt a vaccine mandate,

a new foldable phone from Appo, why the U.S. might ban you from investing in DJI, Twitter gets auto captions, and a look at the up-and-coming Chinese e-commerce giant that you might already have heard of, but definitely need to be aware of going forward. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. According to a leak memo seen by CNBC,

Google has apparently told employees that they must comply with the company's vaccine policies by January 18th or lose pay and eventually face being terminated, quoting CNBC. A memo circulated by leadership said employees had until December 3rd to declare their vaccination status and upload documentation showing proof or to apply for a medical or religious exemption. The company said after that date, it would start contacting employees who hadn't uploaded their status or were unvaccinated, as well as those whose exemption requests weren't approved. The documents said employees who haven't complied with the vaccination rules by the January 18 deadline will be placed on paid administrative leave for 30 days. After that, the company will put them on

unpaid personal leave for up to six months, followed by termination. A Google spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. While much of the tech industry continues to push back, return to work plans, and companies large and small prepare for a flight, future, Google is requiring its workforce to eventually come into the physical offices three days a week at some point in the new year. And it's showing limited patients for those who refuse to get vaccines, which have been widely available for months. The Biden administration has ordered U.S. companies with 100 or more workers to ensure their employees are fully vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19 by January 18. A federal court issued a stay on the order in early November,

putting a halt to the administration's efforts. We expect that almost all roles. We expect that almost all roles at Google in the U.S. will fall within the scope of the executive order, Google's memo said. Anyone entering a Google building must be fully vaccinated or have an approved accommodation that allows them to work or come on site. The company said, adding that, quote, frequent testing is not a valid alternative to vaccination, end quote. Look at old Oppo, dropping a ton of product lately. Apo has unveiled a foldable phone called the Find N with a 7.1 inch internal display and a 5.49-inch outer display, as well as a Snapdragon 888 chip, up to 12 gigabytes of RAM and 512 gigabytes of SSD storage,

coming to China on December 23rd for around $1,200. Quoting Sam Bifford in The Verge. Oppos' chief product officer Pete Lau told reporters in a briefing that the company had been working on this phone since 2018, with the final find end, the result of six generations of internal development. I can believe it. I've been using it since last week, and it's a surprisingly impressive. and refined product. The Find End features similar design to Samsung's Galaxy Z-Fold series with a large, squareish folding OLED panel on the inside and a smaller screen on the outside that can be used

when the phone is closed. The 120 Hertz inner display is 7.1 inches diagonal and has a slightly landscape 9 by 8.4 aspect ratio, unlike the Z-fold display, which is taller when unfolded. This means you won't have to rotate the phone 90 degrees with the fold horizontal to watch videos, at their largest size. There are dual stereo speakers located at the bottom of the phone, too, which further improves the experience of quickly opening the phone to watch a video. The screen looks great. Lau confirmed that it's a Samsung-made panel, but says Apo has heavily customized it and holds its own patents. The screen is protected by UTG ultrafing glass, and Apo rates it for 200,000 folds the same as Samsung. The crease in the panel is wider, but much less visible than in the

Galaxy Z-Fold 3 because it wraps around a unique teardrop-shaped hinge that Laos says is also heavily patented and costs $100 to build alone. Another benefit of this design is that the phone folds shut without leaving a gap between the two halves of the display. You can feel the crease under your finger, but it's difficult to see in regular use from all but the widest of viewing angles. The outer screen is much more like a regular smartphone than the Z-folds at 5.49 inches with an aspect ratio of two to one, it's actually very usable. If it weren't for the folded device being twice as thick as a regular phone, it would feel like the compact Android flagship that no one else is making. The hinge does make for a larger bezel on the left side of the screen,

of course, but it's not intrusive. My biggest complaint about the outer screen is that it's only 60 hertz, which wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but feels jarring when the bigger, much smoother inner screen is right there. The rest of the fine end spec sheet is what you'd expect from a 2021 Android flagship. There's a Snapdragon 888 processor and up to 12 gigabytes of RAM and 512 gigabytes of storage. The main camera is 50 megapixels using the same Sony IMX-766 processor from the OnePlus 9 Pro and Apophon, and is joined by a 16 megapixel ultra-wide and 13 megapixel 2X telephoto. The battery is 4,500 Mela-Amp hours and can be charged at 33 watts with a super VOOC cable or 15 watts wirelessly. There's also 10 watt reverse wireless charging and standard

cheese support. A fingerprint sensor is located in the power button. One obvious concern is durability, and it's one that I can't speak to after having had such a short time with the FindN. But I can speak to the design, and I think Oppo has a winner here. The FindN is sleek and easy to use, whether it's open or closed. It strikes the balance between both configurations better than any other foldable phone to date, end quote. has rolled out automatic video captions with support for over 30 languages, but this will only work with videos you upload going forward. It does not work with previously uploaded videos, quoting TechCrunch. Auto captions will be available on web, iOS and Android, and over 30 languages,

including English, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Thai, Chinese, Hindi, and many more. The captions could become useful in Twitter's new vertical feed the company began testing last week. The feed, if rolled out publicly would make the app's explore tab resemble TikTok serving one piece of algorithmically recommended content at a time, including videos. On feeds like this, caption videos have become expected because they make it easier to scroll through feeds when you're in a public place and headphones aren't in reach. But unlike the video caption features on TikTok and Instagram reels, which allow users to edit the captions text before posting, Twitter won't let users tweak its captions. That means users won't be able to correct any errors to make the automated

captions more accurate, end quote. A couple of regulatory stories real quick. The UK's CMA has issued an interim report voicing concerns over Apple and Google's, quote, vice-like grip on the mobile ecosystem, hinting at future antitrust action coming down the pike next year, perhaps. Quoting TechCrunch, the UK's antitrust watchdog has given the clearest signal yet that interventions under an upcoming reform of the country's competition rules will target tech giants Apple and Google, including their duopolyistic command of the mobile market via iOS and Android,

their respective app stores and the browsers and services bundled with mobile devices running their OSs as well. Publishing the first part of a wide-ranging mobile ecosystem market study, which was announced this summer, the Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA said today that it has provisionally found Apple and Google have been able to leverage their market power to create, quote, largely self-contained ecosystems, end quote, and that the degree of lock-in they wield is damaging competition by making it, quote, extremely difficult for any other firm to enter and compete meaningfully with a new system, end quote. The regulator also said, it's also concerned consumers could be facing higher prices

versus what they would have to pay in a more competitive market, including for Apple phones, apps, subscriptions, and purchases made within apps, end quote. And sources are telling the financial times that the U.S. will ban investment in eight Chinese companies, including DJI, for their alleged involvement in the surveillance of Uighur Muslims. The U.S.S. Treasury will put DJI and other groups on its Chinese military industrial complex companies blacklist on Thursday, according to two people briefed on the move. U.S. investors are barred from taking financial stakes in the 60 Chinese groups already on

the blacklist. The measure marks the latest effort by U.S. President Joe Biden to punish China for its repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the country's northwestern region. This week, since time, the Facial Recognition Software Company postponed its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong after the Financial Times reported that the U.S. was set to place the company on the blacklist. The other Chinese companies that will be blacklisted on Thursday include Megvi, since time's main rival that last year halted plans to list in Hong Kong after it was put on a separate U.S. blacklist.

and dawning information industry, a supercomputer manufacturer that operates cloud computing services in China, end quote. To be clear, I don't believe this means you won't be able to buy a DGI drone. This isn't a product ban, just a ban on investing in these companies. And finally today, let me educate you about an up-and-coming company that you might want to put on your radar. TikTok was the first Chinese social media company to break through in the West. And now it looks like online retailer Sheehan might be the first Chinese e-commerce company to break through as well. Sheein's 2020 sales reportedly hit $10 billion thanks to knockoff items, a nimble supply chain, and social media support, quoting rest of world. Over the past decade, thousands of Chinese clothing manufacturers have begun selling directly to international consumers online,

bypassing retailers that traditionally source their products from the country, equipped with English, language social media profiles, Amazon seller accounts, and access to nimble garment supply chains, they fueled the acceleration of trends and flooded closets everywhere with a wave of impossibly cheap clothes. Capitalizing on this shift are companies like Cheyenne, the most successful, well-known, and well-funded online retailer of its kind. Sheean is now one of the world's largest fashion companies, but little is known about its origins. It was founded in 2012 under the name She Inside and reportedly began by selling wedding. dresses abroad from its first headquarters in the Chinese city of Nanjing. A spokesperson for

Sheehan denied it ever sold wedding dresses, but declined to specify other details about its history. The company says its founder, Chris Zhu, was born in China, though a since-deleted press release described him as from the U.S. Sheen eventually expanded to offer apparel for women, men, and children, as well as everything from home goods to pet supplies, but its core business remains selling clothes targeted at women in their teens and 20s, a generation who grew up exploring their personal style on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. Its clothes aren't intended for Chinese customers, but are destined for export. In May, the company became the most popular shopping app in the U.S. on both Android and iOS, and the same month, topped the iOS rankings in

over 50 other countries. It's the second most popular fashion website worldwide. By 2020, Sheehan's sales had risen to $10 billion, a 250% jump from the year before, according to Bloomberg. In June, the company accounted for 28% of all fast fashion sales in the U.S., almost as much as both H&M and Zara combined. The same month, a report circulated that Sheehan was worth over $47 billion, making it one of the tech industry's most valuable private startups. Sheehan declined to say whether the sales or valuation figures were accurate. Sheehan's fast growth has brought with it a series of controversies. Numerous designers accused it of stealing their work, and brands like Levi Strauss and Dr. Martins sued the company for trademark infringement. The former later settled for an undisclosed

sum, while Sheehan said it doesn't comment on ongoing litigation. It was also skewered for selling culturally or historically offensive products like swastika necklaces. Most notably, advocacy groups and journalists have uncovered evidence that Sheehan's $11 bikinis and $7 crop tops were being made by people working under brutal conditions, while environmental experts warned those same items were often only being worn once before getting thrown away. At the heart of these issues is Sheehan's aggressive business model. Comparisons to fast fashion giants like H&M missed the point. It's more like Amazon, operating a sprawling online marketplace that brings together around 6,000 Chinese clothing factories. It unites them with proprietary internal management software that collects near

instant feedback about which items are hits or misses, allowing Sheehan to order new inventory virtually on demand. Designs are commissioned through the software, some original, others picked from the factory's existing products, a polished advertising operation is layered over the top, run from Sheehan's head offices in Guangzhou. Through its manufacturing partners on the ground in China, Sheehan churns out and tests thousands of different items simultaneously. Between July and December of 2021, it added anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 skews. Stock-keeping units or individual styles to its app each day, according to data collected by rest of world. The company confirmed it starts by ordering a small batch of each garment, often a few dozen pieces, and then waits to see how

buyers respond. If the cropped sweater vest is a hit, Sheehan orders more. It calls the system a large-scale automated test and reorder or LATR model. Fast fashion is well known for its very frequent replenishment of products, said Shang-Lu, a professor at the University of Delaware, studying the global textile and apparel industry. But Sheehan is totally different. From January to October of 2021, Lou's research found the company offered more than 20 times as many new items as Zara and H&M. Amazon's activity in China may have inadvertently contributed to Sheehan's success. Starting around 2013, the e-commerce giant began aggressively recruiting manufacturers in the country to sell cheap products abroad on its third-party marketplace. As Chinese sellers joined the platform, Western consumers were flooded with

thousands of new brands selling basic goods from kitchen supplies to electronics chargers under unfamiliar names like NurtPau, Free Tree, and B-S-T-O-E-M, Boston. Amazon gave these factories the enormous opportunity to cut out Western middlemen and begin learning about the tastes of American shoppers. In turn, Amazon was able to undercut the prices of its competitors, and by 2020, 40% of its third-party sellers were based in China. But the partnership between Amazon and Chinese manufacturers eventually began to sour. Customer complaints about counterfeits and dangerous products from China were putting a dent in the tech company's reputation, and this September, Amazon banned hundreds of Chinese merchants for allegedly using fake product reviews.

Many of the sellers weren't entirely happy with Amazon either, which required them to abide by an ever-shifting set of policies and pay hefty fees for services like warehousing and order fulfillment. Rising frustration with Amazon among Chinese sellers opened a window for Xi'in, which recruited many of them to supply its own platform. But Sheehan didn't just try to compete with Amazon. It joined it. The company offers thousands of of its own products on Amazon's marketplace, including some that have become bestsellers. Amazon wet the palette for online shopping, taught Americans how to shop online, and created the habit, said Allison Malmiston, a China market analyst at Doxy Consulting in Hong Kong,

Sheehan realized that and decided to optimize it, end quote. Rather than mimicking Amazon directly, Sheehan grew by bringing traits of China's gamified e-commerce market to the rest of the world. Online shopping in the country has evolved into a form of entertainment, featuring live streamers, sales and enticing pop-ups that compel consumers to scroll through the newest products. Chau Bao, a domestic Chinese e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba, helped pioneer interactive features like custom product recommendations and even built a mini-social network into its app. Sheehan has used similar components on its platform, including a point system that reward shoppers

for making purchases, leaving reviews, and playing mini-games. Malmston said that Sheen has learned a lot from the strategies of Chinese e-commerce companies. Shean brought that style of shopping to the West, and it really works with Gen Z, she said, end quote. Quick reminder, Twitter space tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. We're going to be discussing the top tech stories of the year. And a reminder that you can and should pre-send your votes for what those top stories are by going to Chris Messina.m.m.m.m. slash top stories and filling in your submissions there.

Or I guess you could just join us tonight and raise your hand. See you there.