News
Second Wave: As individual cities including Leicester and Preston face a second lockdown, the UK government has this week imposed further quarantine rules for holidaymakers returning from European countries and made masks mandatory in almost all indoor settings. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced fines of up to £100 on those breaking the law on masks as a further 98 deaths were reported on Friday alone. As the remainder of the summer begins to dwindle, the likelihood of returning to normality by the end of the year seems less and less likely.
Microsoft, TikTok and Trump: This week Trump escalated his campaign against Chinese tech companies, signing an order banning US transactions with TikTok owner ByteDance and Tencent’s WeChat. This follows his declaration that he would be banning TikTok unless the app was sold to an American owner, which prompted Microsoft to reveal late stage acquisition talks. Historically avoiding the limelight and caustic press that Facebook et al. have come to expect, it will be interesting to see Satya Nadella’s foray into the social media & advertising arena, and any change in what has been a fairly bland perception of Microsoft post-2000. Link
Short Read
The history of Lego interfaces: if you’re a Lego fan (or a product creator), this designer breaking down the history of “interface blocks” is seriously well done. Link
Long Read
Cooking the Books in Silicon Valley: Headspin, the network performance software provider, got caught this week restating its revenues down from $100m to $15m after an internal audit. The mammoth $1.6bn valuation plummeted to $250m almost immediately, which raises questions (and eyebrows) around Silicon Valley’s one big Achilles heel: FOMO. Link
Interesting Things
The Goldman Sachs incubator: After last year appointing DJ-cum-investment banker David Solomon to replace Lloyd Blankfein as CEO, Goldman’s appetite for a disruptive approach in the 2020s was clear. So it’s interesting to see how they’re doing with GS Accelerate, the eponymous incubator programme launched in 2018 that narrowed 2,200 applications down to 13 investments. Link
Nikola Revenue: The controversial public automaker finally declares its first sale! Great news? Well, not quite. The measly $36,000 Q2 revenue was for the installation of a solar panel at CEO Trevor Milton’s California home, according to an SEC filing. Number of cars (or parts) made still sits at a nice round 0. Link
Trump back in banking: In what is one of this year’s most bizarre twists, Trump is getting into investment banking. The US President has demanded a percentage of the sale of TikTok if Microsoft close the deal before his 45 day business embargo is imposed. Link
Population Density: Saw this map this week - 50% of the US population live in the blue ares. Perhaps a pre-election insight as to why the country remains so divided politically.
Why Sports Betting is Broken and How to Fix it: Spoiler: the house always wins. Link