On the eve of Disrupt, we reflect on the top stories from 8/30-9/5. Here are the 11 best stories from the past week.
- We announced the full agenda for Disrupt SF. We also put together a massive gallery of speakers attending the event. We’re kicking off Disrupt with the Hackathon on Saturday.
- A bunch of celebrity nude pictures (including Jennifer Lawrence) surfaced this week after hackers gained access to private iCloud storage data. Apple denied any breach of its systems, but they did concede that the attackers used standard phishing techniques to guess user names, passwords, and the answers to security questions. Alexia Tsotsis wrote an open letter to Jennifer Lawrence to discuss the topic at hand, and Matthew Panzarino argued that Apple should expand its two-factor security to cover all iCloud services. Matthew also makes a good case for Apple being more transparent about security.
- We’re entering a world in which people have less reason to drive everywhere they need to go. When does Uber become cheaper than owning a car? Speaking of Uber, we also put together a gallery of 9 weird-ass things Uber has done for publicity.
- Samsung unveiled several gadgets this week, including the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge, Gear VR headset, and the Gear S smartwatch. Darrell Etherington also took a deep dive into the development of the Gear VR.
- Elon Musk was right: Burning Man is Silicon Valley (or at least a microcosm of it).
- Late on Friday, Alibaba proposed to go public. The initial price is expected to hit at $60-66 per share with an initial valuation of up to $162 billion.
- Vinod Khosla wrote an inspiring piece about using intelligent failure to discover the solutions to our problems. Khosla argues that “the future will be built by those who will take risks and action to invent the world they want.”
- Twitter has changed a lot over the past 8 years, but one the biggest changes is coming. The timeline is going to be more algorithmic. Matthew Panzarino shares his thoughts on the change. Panzarino mentions that he will miss the straightforward timeline, but he doesn’t think it will ruin Twitter. Natasha Lomas also offers some insight on the increasing external pressure to monetize these social services. Lomas argues that “who I choose not to follow is as core a part of why Twitter is so useful to me as those accounts I do add to my follow list.”
- Danny Crichton wrote a piece called “It’s Time For VCs To Run To Their Bubble Bunkers.” Crichton argues that competition in the capital markets is good for startups. Being a VC is no longer the “cushy and instantly-profitable job” it once was. The bar has been raised.
- NVIDIA filed patent lawsuits against Samsung and Qualcomm. They claim that the companies are infringing on its graphics chip patents. NVIDIA ultimately wants to block the shipment of Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets until Samsung pays patent licensing fees.
- This is how Siri’s founders could have built the next Google. By making the call to cash out, the minds behind this incredible tech lost control of its destiny.