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☆ An Apple and Tesla exec who quit to build his own startup now has a star-studded list of investors
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"I felt there was something left in me to build a zero-to-one startup," said Sukemasa Kabayama, the co-founder and CEO of Uplift Labs. The opportunity to work for not just one but two tech giants was "very rewarding" for Sukemasa Kabayama. I was thinking, it would be much more exciting to really build something from scratch, from the ground up. "I was thinking, it would be much more exciting to really build something from scratch, from the ground up." Uplift Labs

☆ Kanye West’s Partners Flee, Putting His Future in Fashion and Business in Doubt
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | Inti Pacheco | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kanye West publicly aspired to become the Steve Jobs of apparel. His erratic behavior and anti-Semitic comments have cost him key partners, derailed his earnings and jeopardized his future in fashion and entertainment. Adidas on Tuesday became the latest partner to cut ties with Mr. West, who goes by Ye, citing the musician and fashion-brand owner’s recent string of anti-Semitic comments. In a statement, Adidas said it “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.”

☆ The iPhone will be irrelevant one day. We already know how it will happen.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Michael Gartenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The iPhone has become a "nonsubstitutable infrastructure," columnist Michael Gartenberg says. The iPhone — with iOS and the App Store — has maintained such a dominant position in the mobile industry for so long, it has achieved the status of what's known as "nonsubstitutable infrastructure." Nonsubstitutable infrastructure is something that so strongly holds users, a competitor can't get them to replace it. The New Jersey Turnpike is nonsubstitutable infrastructure. Despite this, it's inevitable that the iPhone and the Apple ecosystem will be replaced by something else.

☆ Oracle is steering clear of talent from major tech hubs in the cloud giant's latest more to save money and curb labor costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's part of the cloud giant's plan to curb labor costs that insiders say is starting to hurt morale. Oracle is steering clear of job-seekers in major tech hubs. These guidelines come amid other hiring restrictions implemented at the cloud giant, which employees say are further tanking already low morale. In some cases, hiring managers are being asked to backfill formerly US-based roles with candidates from Eastern Europe to save money. Oracle is trying to cut $1 billion in costs and has already had two rounds of layoffs in recent months.

☆ Apple raises prices on its TV and Music streaming services
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple on Monday increased monthly and annual subscription prices in the U.S. for its streaming services Apple TV+ and Apple Music. Apple TV+ has been competitively priced against other streaming services, some of which have also raised prices in recent months. Apple Music and Apple TV+ are a small part of Apple's services business, which also includes search licensing fees, hardware warranties, App Store sales, and other businesses. "The change to Apple Music is due to an increase in licensing costs, and in turn, artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music," said Apple in a statement. "We also continue to add innovative features that make Apple Music the world's best listening experience.

☆ Steve Jobs never locked the front door of his Palo Alto house, which had an English-style cottage garden full of wildflowers and 'stuff you could eat,' U2's Bono says in memoir
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Steve Jobs never locked the front door of his modest Palo Alto house, Bono wrote in his memoir. The U2 frontman described the house as "low-key" and said Jobs grew food in his cottage garden. "Steve lived with his wife, Laurene, and their three kids in a low-key Tudor-style house on a prosperous street in Palo Alto, California," Bono wrote. "Their Anglophilia also inspired a cottage garden full of wildflowers and stuff you could eat, with a gate opening yards from a front door he never locked." Walter Isaacson, Jobs' autobiographer, similarly noted that he usually kept the back door unlocked and didn't have a security fence.

☆ An 'instinctively conservative' Tim Cook was willing to trying something new — then take responsibility when it failed. Bono says it's probably one reason Steve Jobs tapped him to be CEO.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bono wrote about the time he convinced Apple CEO Tim Cook to put U2's album on iPhones for free. He said this leadership trait was likely one reason Steve Jobs chose Cook as his successor. Cook, Bono wrote, "never blinked," during the backlash, and said Bono talked the company "into an experiment." "We ran with it," Cook told Bono, according to the musician. "Probably instinctively conservative, he was ready to try something different to solve a problem," Bono wrote.

☆ Steve Jobs and U2 ate quiche and drank green tea as they thrashed out a deal that marked the end of the band's refusal to do commercials
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In 2004, U2 told Steve Jobs that the band's single "Vertigo" would be a "perfect fit" for Apple's ads. U2 thrashed out the deal at Jobs' home in Palo Alto, California, per the memoir. Bono recalled the band's trip to Steve Jobs' "low-key Tudor-style" home. He told Jobs: "We don't want cash. As part of the deal, Apple produced a special-edition U2-branded iPod and offered the band's single "Vertigo" exclusively through iTunes.

☆ U2 asked Steve Jobs for Apple stock in exchange for appearing in a now-famous 2004 iPod commercial
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

U2 manager Paul McGuinness asked Steve Jobs for Apple stock for the band's iPod commercial. Steve Jobs turned down the request, but U2 later struck a deal to appear in the now-famous ad. "We don't want cash," the musician told Steve Jobs. "We just want to be in the iPod commercial." Steve Jobs called the exchange of Apple stock "a dealbreaker" and declined the offer.

☆ Bono Is Still Trying to Figure Out U2 and Himself
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +28 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk Bono Is Still Trying to Figure Out U2 and HimselfThere are different Bonos to different people, including the man himself. You say, “But you’re U2 — you don’t need that.” What’s interesting is that we want that. But I also wrote the book to try to figure out what was going on with U2. They sound like U2 songs. Do they sound like U2 songs?

☆ Apple's top designer is leaving the company three years after taking over from Jony Ive
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple's vice president of industrial design, Evans Hankey, is leaving the company, Apple confirmed to CNBC on Friday. Hankey took over for former Apple design chief Jony Ive three years ago when he left to start his own independent firm. Still, she was often quoted in the media after new products were launched, discussing specific design decisions and the way Apple's design team works. "Apple's design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple. The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience.

☆ Apple’s industrial design chief to depart company three years after Jony Ive
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN Business —Apple’s industrial design chief who most recently oversaw the design of products including the iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac computers is leaving the company. Evans Hankey was one of two people promoted to oversee the design team after the departure of Apple (AAPL)’s longtime product designer, Jony Ive, in June 2019. “Apple’s design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple,” a spokesperson said. Hankey stepped into the role after Ive left to start his own design company, LoveFrom. In December 2021, Hankey and Dye offered Wallpaper, a design and lifestyle publication, a rare look inside how Apple’s design team approaches new products.

☆ First-Edition Apple iPhone Sells for More Than $39,000 at Auction
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Apple’s then-CEO Steve Jobs holding the new iPhone during his keynote address at MacWorld Conference & Expo in 2007. For the price of dozens of brand new iPhones, a buyer purchased a first edition of Apple Inc. game-changing device for more than $39,000. LCG Auctions, a Louisiana-based auction house, sold an unopened 2007 iPhone on Sunday, according to the auction house. They didn’t name the buyer, but said he lived in Australia.

☆ Help! I'm back in the office but can't figure out what I'm supposed to wear
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Hanna Howard | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Dear Work It Out,I'm back in the office 3 days a week and have somehow forgotten how to dress myself in anything other than soft pants. Please help me figure out how to put as little thought into this as possible, yet look fashionable and like a boss. "Since uniform dressing has gotten the tech founder treatment over the years, it may seem more limiting than it needs to be. It doesn't have to be that you only wear black turtlenecks," Hardy says. In fact, plenty of people who aren't Big Tech CEOs embrace uniform dressing.

☆ Someone just paid over $39,000 for a 15-year-old iPhone—more than 50 times its original price
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

That's how much the bidder paid this weekend for a factory-sealed model of the first-edition iPhone — their winning bid topped out at $39,339.60. The 8GB smartphone was sold by LCG Auctions on Sunday. Steve Jobs first unveiled the original iPhone in 2007, and Apple quickly sold millions of units. In addition to the 8GB of storage the phone also featured a 2-megapixel camera. For context, the base model of the recently-released iPhone 14 has 128GB of storage and sports a 12-megapixel main camera with an ultra wide lens.

☆ An unopened first-generation iPhone from 2007 still in its original box has sold for more than $39,000 at auction
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A first-generation iPhone from 2007, still unopened in its original box, has fetched more than $39,000 at auction. That's more than 65 times its original price of $599, or roughly $860 in today's dollars. An original iPhone just sold for $39,339.60 at auction. Its price at sale is more than 65 times its original price when the phone first came out. The newest iPhone today, the iPhone 14, has a 6.1-inch screen, a 12-megapixel camera, and up to 512 GB of storage.

☆ With product innovation lagging, Silicon Valley bets on a fresh coat of paint
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN Business —When Google unveiled its new Pixel 7 smartphone lineup earlier this month, the devices looked largely the same as the year prior. Google has also swapped the stormy black (a stormy black) option on the Pixel 6 for obsidian (still black) on the Pixel 7. The emphasis on a new color palette for devices isn’t unique to Google. Apple’s new iPhone 14 lineup comes in Starlight (a champagne color) and midnight (black), and the company has previously unveiled two shades of green (“green” and “alpine green”) and purple (“purple” and “deep purple”). “Color names that are descriptive but odd can spark positive reactions because the consumer likes being able to ‘solve the puzzle,’” she said.

☆ An unopened first-generation iPhone from 2007 in its original box could auction for more than $30,000 — 50 times its original price
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A first-generation iPhone from 2007 still in its original box is currently up for auction and could fetch upwards of $30,000. The unused 8GB iPhone originally cost $599 when it first hit the market. A first-generation iPhone from 2007 is currently on the auction block, and the auction house listing it estimates it could fetch $30,000 or more. The unused 8GB iPhone is still unopened in its original box. It cost $599 when it was first released, meaning it would be auctioning for 50 times its original price if it is sold for the $30,000 estimate.

☆ Silicon Valley's not-so-secret thing for turning everyone into millionaires is angel investing. Here's how they do it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Once only for the superrich, angel investing is now open to anyone with a few thousand dollars. With an estimated 360,000 active angel investors, it's become a favorite pastime in Silicon Valley. "It felt like gambling," David Spreng, a veteran venture-debt investor who's been angel investing as a side hustle for more than a decade, said. He wrote his first angel check shortly thereafter, a $1,000 investment in an electric-aircraft maker. The currency of Silicon Valley"Your currency, for lack of a better term, in Silicon Valley is you either started a company or you angel invest, right?"

☆ Elon Musk reportedly goes on 'exploratory journeys' and likes to show friends a chart of the benefits of MDMA and mushrooms over alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Grace Kay | Allana Akhtar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk likes to discuss the benefits of MDMA and mushrooms with friends, The New York Times reported. The billionaire likes to share a chart that shows MDMA and psychedelic mushrooms are healthier than alcohol use, one person who Musk shared the chart with on vacation told the publication. For the past 20 years, Musk has attended nearly every Burning Man festival — often accompanied by his younger brother, Kimbal Musk, the Times reported. Researchers have not compared health benefits from alcohol and psychedelic mushrooms head-to-head. Apple founder Steve Jobs previously touted the practice of microdosing on psychedelic drugs, such as LSD or psilocybin mushrooms in order to promote creativity.

☆ Compass is in a precarious position. It's worth a fraction of its IPO valuation, it's never turned a profit, and employees say the former centerpiece of the business — its vaunted tech tools for agent
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Reffkin (left) and Compass cofounder Ori Allon. Tech had been central to Compass' original missionFor years, Compass executives, including Reffkin, credited the company's tech with its meteoric rise in the residential-real-estate business. Though Compass' tech team still has 700 people, many more than any rival brokerage, the September layoffs seemed to initiate what insiders expect to be continuing cuts to the unit. "Robert is like Steve Jobs but without the insight," the veteran engineer who left Compass earlier this year said. Reffkin (left) and Allon ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

☆ The idea of Jeff Bezos 'scared' me away from trying to buy the Phoenix Suns, says Shaquille O'Neal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The idea of bidding against the second-richest person in the world is understandably intimidating, even if you're legendary former NBA big man Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal, a 7-foot-1 Hall of Famer, says Bezos' massive net worth "scared" him away from his plans to make a bid for ownership of the NBA's Phoenix Suns. "Nobody on this planet can compete with Big Man JB," O'Neal told TMZ Sports on Saturday, referring to Bezos, adding: "Because you know what? Bezos is one of multiple billionaires reportedly considering a bid for the Suns, according to ESPN. The Suns franchise is currently worth $1.8 billion, and could reportedly sell for at least $2.5 billion, according to a recent Forbes report.

☆ I binge-listened to tech podcasts for a week, and what I learned about Silicon Valley is kind of scary
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

2: The hosts don't know what they don't knowThe problem is, VC podcasts don't stick to the core issues of venture capital. 3: The hosts want us to believe what they don't knowThere's a shocking amount of this kind of drivel on the tech podcasts. This is what a good tech podcast should do: Use access to the best and most successful investors and innovators to illuminate the way Silicon Valley works. But that's not what matters in the world of tech podcasts. But after 40 hours of listening to tech podcasts, I feel kind of bad about it.

☆ The quiet success of Tecton, a $900 million startup, has turned rivals Snowflake and Databricks into co-investors — and fanned a fierce debate over the future of AI
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Matthew Lynley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tecton, which specializes in a technology called feature stores, was a more divisive subject among industry insiders. Both Databricks and Snowflake have invested heavily in real-time data pipelines, including in Tecton's latest funding round. But it was hardly alone among machine-learning startups in commanding a high valuation with nominal revenue. Many investors wondered whether Tecton's feature stores were "a feature, not a product," as Steve Jobs famously called Dropbox. That skepticism remains, and some insiders expect a roll-up of overvalued machine-learning startups that attack one piece of the workflow, including Tecton.

☆ Mark Cuban says baby boomers went from 'fighting the man to being everything that was hated in the 60s and 70s'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Cuban says baby boomers went from "fighting the man" to becoming what they'd hated in the 60s and 70s. Last week, the billionaire said on a podcast that he believes Gen-Z is the "greatest" generation. Cuban said Zoomers have a greater consideration for mental health and are changing the workplace. But for so many, to go from 'fighting the man' to being everything that was hated in the 60s and 70s is disappointing." But despite their economic success, baby boomers are about seven times more likely to share misinformation on social media, a 2019 study from researchers at Princeton and New York University found.

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