The Verge’s latest insights into the ideas shaping the future of work, finance, and innovation. Here you’ll find scoops, analysis, and reporting across some of the most influential companies in the world. Our coverage also includes interviews with innovators and policy makers at the frontiers of business and technology on Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel’s Decoder; a behind-the-curtain look at Silicon Valley with Alex Heath’s Command Line; and exclusive reporting on Microsoft’s strategy in Tom Warren’s Notepad.
”All access” subscriptions get you into Jim Cramer’s investing club, CNBC streaming, plus access to CNBC’s “Pro” membership that gives you stock ratings, price targets, and portfolio monitoring.
Otherwise, CNBC Plus will start at $14.99 a month, with a limited-time offer of $99.99 per year. The service’s launch follows Comcast’s plans to spin off its NBCUniversal television channels.
If the phrase “Hawk Tuah girl” means nothing to you, I urge you to continue in blissful ignorance. If “Hawk Tuah shitcoin scam” resonates, you’ll enjoy Katie Baker’s rundown of what, exactly, happened.
[www.theringer.com]
Netflix filed the lawsuit in Califonia federal court Monday, claiming Broadcom subsidiary VMware has cloud software that infringes on five Netflix patents. As reported by Reuters, Netflix says VMware’s vSphere platform for deploying and managing virtual machines infringes on Netflix patents related to virtual-machine communications.
The House is currently scrambling to pass a spending bill that would avert a shutdown. There is a better way. A more fun way. A meme.
As a longtime admirer of CoinDesk’s journalism and ethos, I was disgusted that their new owners, Bullish — more like Bullshit, am I right? — pulled a story about Justin Sun. Now top editorial staff have been fired.
The head of the ubiquitous chip design firm on the ‘breathtaking’ pace of AI.
It’s not just big tech companies finding confusing new ways to merge — Weber just announced that it’s “combining” with the Blackstone griddle company, and that Blackstone founder and CEO Rager Dahle will become the new CEO of the combined company when all is said and done.
Roger was on Decoder in 2021 talking about how he’d started the company in 2015 and what it was like as his griddles — and the smashburgers you can make on them — started going viral on TikTok during the pandemic. We’ve been interviewing grill company CEOs nearly every summer since — they are some of the most interesting episodes we do.
[www.weber.com]
This deep-dive from Sherwood explores how things are progressing at Snailbrook, the company community that Musk is building to house SpaceX and The Boring Co employees — if they can be persuaded to move there.
Those that do seemingly prefer to rent, according to Real-estate agent Judah Ross:
“I get the sense from a lot of the employees that they’re not ready to commit. They’re not sure about planting roots here, buying it, or they’re just not sure what Elon’s gonna do.”
Last year, Joseph Inzerillo announced SiriusXM’s new logo (below) and plan to conquer new audiences. Now he’s out, as the company cuts spending on marketing to “high-churn” streaming audiences with plans to cut an additional $200 million in annual costs.
CEO Jennifer Witz announced it’s “doubling down” on automotive customers, using streaming as a companion in the app and in Teslas.
The company, Embodied, announced this week it had lost funding and will close up shop, reports Aftermath. That will brick Moxie, its cloud-connected $799 educational robot.
The company won’t offer refunds or warranty and repair services. That leaves caregivers with distraught kids and robots that shut down despite otherwise functioning hardware — a situation consumer protection groups have lobbied the FTC to go after.
Henry Farrell, co-author of Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy, notices that LLMs do an awful lot of things done by middle management. What if the wrong people are worried that AI will take their jobs?
[www.programmablemutter.com]
The company’s new AI chief on working for Microsoft, the OpenAI relationship, and when superintelligence might actually arrive.
AI investment is massive even though AI profits are not. How are investors justifying this pricey gamble on the future?
I don’t know who needs (or wants) to hear this, but Taco Bell announced the start of a “Live Más Drive Thru Cam” tour with big Idiocracy vibes today:
Fans can capture their drive-thru moment with a digital photo takeaway and, if they choose, opt-in for an opportunity to have their photos featured in Taco Bell’s Big Game ad campaign
It’s in Los Angeles now and will move to Taco Bell-listed locations in Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Florida.
Matt Levine on some fintech weirdness is pretty sublime. Turns out old-school banks have some advantages, specifically that they are not going to simply lose track of your money.
[Bloomberg]
Thousands of people say they’ve collectively been locked out of more than $30 million due to the bankruptcy of fintech middle-man Synapse.
CNBC reports federal agencies like the FDIC don’t cover nonbanks like Synapse, and “the estate of Andreessen Horowitz-backed Synapse doesn’t have the money to hire an outside firm to perform a full reconciliation of its ledgers.”
