Elizabeth Lopatto

Senior Reporter

Elizabeth LopattoDec 1, 2022

a16z: Let’s put the Future behind us.

Future, which had a run of a year and a half, was the VC firm’s transparent attempt to market their investments. (This is called “talking your book.”) They’re shutting it down. Here’s what a16z’s Margit Wennmachers said at the start:

Say I’m ‘Mr. Smarty Pants’ or a very interesting analyst, I think the question should be: Should I try to get this into The New York Times or should I get it into Future? We want to help advance the narrative about the future, and how technology shapes it. Because if we do that, our companies will have an easier time flourishing.

Turns out the media business is actually very hard!

Andreessen Horowitz's buzzy tech publication Future is shutting down

[Business Insider]

Here’s what we know about Elon Musk’s Neuralink event

Elizabeth LopattoNov 30, 2022

Elizabeth LopattoNov 28, 2022

Need a heart transplant? Perhaps you should organize a motorcycle rally.

The number of organ donors jumps 21 percent per day during motorcycle rallies, compared to before and after the rallies. That’s six additional transplant recipients for every two rallies!

After Major Motorcycle Rallies, More Organs Available for Donation

[medpagetoday]

Elizabeth LopattoNov 28, 2022

More like “valar morghulis,” right, Pete?

Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures had a 19 percent stake in the now-bankrupt BlockFi, The Wall Street Journal reports. Another crypto bet from the venture capital firm also went bankrupt: Vauld Group. The last time I saw Thiel IRL, he was shilling Bitcoin at a Bitcoin conference.

Bitcoin Booster Peter Thiel Takes a Hit in BlockFi Bankruptcy

[WSJ]

Elizabeth LopattoNov 28, 2022

Apple and Elon Musk clearly do not see eye-to-eye on moderation.

Apple is famously so prudish that in Epic v Apple, it had a fit in court about a banana. As a result, a judge later ruled that the banana — its name is Peely, and it is from Fortnite — may appear nude in court.

In a later tweet, Musk told my colleague Jake Kastrenakes that Apple was making some kind of moderation demand about Twitter.

Elizabeth LopattoNov 28, 2022

Another FTX hearing, also at 7AM PT.

To be honest, I want to know what DC has against California. Not only is the Senate doing a hearing on Thursday at 7AM PT, the House is doing one next week at the same time. Annoying! Rude! Anti-innovation!

Elizabeth LopattoNov 23, 2022

To those about to rock, we salute you.

It sort of feels like the salute (or sniper check lol) emoji is the emoji of 2022. Anyway, here’s a meditation on its use by departing Twitter employees:

According to Mr. Clowes, the former Twitter engineer, the army of saluting emojis was “probably one of the more tragically beautiful mass people group things” he has ever seen.

Saluting in Solidarity

[The New York Times]

Can Elon Musk turn Twitter into an ‘everything app’?

Verification is an old nemesis for Musk.

Elizabeth LopattoNov 18, 2022

Elizabeth LopattoNov 17, 2022

Masayoshi Son owes Softbank almost $5 billion.

You may remember Son from encouraging Adam Neumann to be crazier at WeWork. Anyway it looks like he made some other bad investments, too:

The widening losses in SoftBank’s various investment vehicles have also added billions of dollars to the tab that SoftBank’s founder owes the group in relation to its technology bets. This is because SoftBank fronted Son the money to invest in its technology-related funds, which he is under no obligation to repay for many years.

Masayoshi Son owes $4.7bn to SoftBank following tech rout

[Financial Times]