👋 Hi, this is Gergely with a 🔒 subscriber-only issue 🔒 of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter. In every issue, I cover challenges at Big Tech and startups through the lens of engineering managers and senior engineers. The Pulse is a series covering insights, patterns, and trends within Big Tech and…
App developers in the European Union who choose to opt in to Apple's new business terms must pay an €0.50 "Core Technology Fee" or CTF for every app install over one million installs, a model that has the potential to bankrupt free or freemium app developers. Apple does not charge for the first one…
Some have asked me how I feel about Substack's recent decision to ban five (5) no-name Nazi newsletters and then say "see? we're doing what you asked! And you screeching leftists are making a big fuss over nothing!" I gave a quote to the Washington Post which I will just repeat here: "It’s honestly…
Exclusive Broadcom is tossing the majority of VMware's Cloud Services Providers as part of its shakeup of the virtualization titan's partner programs, say sources, leaving customers unclear who their IT supplier will be. The $61 billion purchase of VMware by Broadcom in November was swiftly followed…
Just over a year ago, we announced our intention to leave the cloud. We then shared our complete $3.2 million cloud budget for 2022, and the fact that we were going to build our own tooling rather than pay for overpriced enterprise service contracts. The mission was set! A month later, we placed an…
The U.S. government has stopped warning some social networks about foreign disinformation campaigns on their platforms, reversing a years-long approach to preventing Russia and other actors from interfering in American politics less than a year before the U.S. presidential elections, according to…
Facebook parent company Meta began handing out a new round of pink slips Wednesday, part of a months-long downsizing and restructuring effort that will trim 10,000 employees amid multiple waves of layoffs. Employees on the company’s technical teams were notified early Wednesday morning that their…
Adobe could face hefty fines related to its overly difficult and costly subscription cancellation practices due to an ongoing Federal Trade Commission Probe. On its quarterly financial call, Adobe told investors it has been cooperating with FTC staff since June 2022. The FTC believes Adobe may…
Judge James Donato is overseeing Epic v. Google, a case that could determine the future of the Android app store — but testimony in this case may have more repercussions for Google, too. On Friday, Judge Donato vowed to investigate Google for intentionally and systematically suppressing evidence,…
Question of authority Meta sues FTC, hoping to block ban on monetizing kids’ Facebook data Accused of violating kids' privacy, Facebook owner challenges FTC authority. Jon Brodkin – Nov 30, 2023 1:50 pm | 81 Credit: Getty Images | Chesnot Credit: Getty Images | Chesnot Story text Size Width * Links…
Sam Altman has been fired as CEO of OpenAI, the company announced on Friday. “Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,”…
Sam Altman will return as CEO of OpenAI, overcoming an attempted boardroom coup that sent the company into chaos over the past several days. Former president Greg Brockman, who quit in protest of Altman’s firing, will return as well. The company said in a statement late Tuesday that it has an…
In March, we shared our vision of a new future of software development with Copilot X, where AI infuses every step of the developer lifecycle. Since then, we’ve been working to scale and mature the underlying technology–and in the process we created something even bigger. Our vision has manifested…
Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. The Washington Post reported Friday that Reddit might cut off Google and force users to log in to Reddit itself to read anything, if it can’t reach deals with…
What is a Streaming SQL Engine? A streaming SQL engine keeps queries’ results up to date without ever having to recalculate them, even as the underlying data changes. To explain this, imagine a simple query, such as SELECT count(*) FROM humans . A normal SQL engine (such as Postgres’s, MySQL’s)…
October 11, 2023 Share this article A lot of people threaten to leave Twitter. Not many of them have actually done it. This was true even before Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform a year ago. But the parade of calamities since — cutting back on moderation, unplugging servers, reinstating banned…
A hacker is offering to sell records identifying names, locations and ethnicities of potentially millions of customers of genetic testing company 23andMe, beginning by touting a batch that would contain data of those with Jewish ancestry. A 23andMe spokeswoman confirmed that the leak contained…
By now, you may have heard about Elon Musk's handpicked CEO for X, Linda Yaccarino, and her disastrous interview with CNBC's Julia Boorstin at Vox Media's Code 2023 event. However, somewhat overlooked amid some of the more viral moments of the discussion, Yaccarino dropped some previously unknown…
Companies Openai LLC Microsoft Corp WARSAW, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A Polish watchdog is investigating Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O), opens new tab OpenAI over a complaint that its ChatGPT chatbot breaks Euro
“Happy to talk about it if this is interesting,” Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce, texted Elon Musk last spring. He continued, opaquely: “Twitter conversational OS—the townsquare for your digit
"Is Rust a great fit for this project?" I get this question quite frequently so I think it's time to write down my thoughts if it can avoid you some painful and costly mistakes. Short answer: no. Comi
Something happened to business software. You used to pay for it once, install it, and run it. Whether on someone’s computer, or a server for everyone, it felt like you owned it. And you did. Today, mo
The Federal Trade Commission has opened an expansive investigation into OpenAI, probing whether the maker of the popular ChatGPT bot has run afoul of consumer protection laws by putting personal reput
After multiple EU-based users complained about not being able to access Instagram’s Threads app through VPN, Meta confirmed that it is blocking such efforts. The company launched Threads last week, bu
June 29: Updated with statement from Facebook, from the author of the study, and from the editor of the academic journal that published the study. Facebook is the best human research lab ever. There’s
Advertisement Watch 6 July 2023 Technology reporters, BBC News BBC Thirty million users have signed up for Meta's newly launched Threads app on its first day, the company's chief Mark Zuckerberg says.
In an unexpected announcement today, Google Domains is “winding down following a transition period,” with Squarespace taking over the business and assets. Squarespace announced today that it “entered
Twitter has long been described, even by its most ardent users, as a hellsite. But under Elon Musk, Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative soc
Hiding malicious programs in a computer’s UEFI firmware, the deep-seated code that tells a PC how to load its operating system, has become an insidious trick in the toolkit of stealthy hackers. But wh
Joshua Bergen is a very productive person. His secret is the workspace app Notion. Bergen, a product manager living in Vancouver, uses it to plan trips abroad in meticulous detail, with notes and time
Updated on December 29, 2022, at 12:10 p.m. The dramatic, multidimensional implosion of Meta; the nuclear train wreck of Elon Musk’s Twitter; the momentous labor uprising against Amazon—it wasn’t just
The City of Melbourne is investigating how much of a system for reporting graffiti, using QR codes, has been vandalised. Key points: Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp says a number of QR codes used to r
Credit...Tim Robinson Your Memories. Their Cloud. Google, Apple and Meta offer near-limitless digital basements in which to store photos, videos and important documents, but you should keep a copy of
Elon Musk has reduced the company to a bare-bones operation, and employees are under a “zero-based budgeting” mandate to justify any spending.
By Kate Conger, Ryan Mac and Mike Isaac
Kate Conger, Ryan Mac and Mike Isaac have reported on Elon Musk and Twitter since early this year.
Elon Musk’s orders…
Enlarge / Founder Eugen Rochko said Mastodon would not "turn into everything you hate about Twitter." NurPhoto via Getty Images Twitter rival Mastodon has rejected more than five investment offers fro
Musk’s cult-like fans haven’t entirely lost faith in their leader yet, but it’s getting a lot harder for him to keep up his image
I hate it when I have to do this but here goes: I was wrong. I was very, very wrong. Back in October, when Elon Musk’s $44bn (£36bn) acquisition of Twitter was finalized,…
Sasha Solomon, a software engineer, joined others in the media business who lost their jobs this year after publicly taking on their employers.
By Katherine Rosman
In the middle of a workday, Sasha Solomon, a 34-year-old software engineer in Portland, Ore., put her French bulldog, Bosworth, on a…
A recent incident at Radio City Music Hall involving the mother of a Girl Scout is shedding light on the growing controversy of facial recognition, as critics claim it is being used to target perceive
Image: puhhha/Shutterstock Almost three-quarters (74%) of developers are actively looking for new roles or are open to fresh opportunities, according to research. Younger developers are more likely to
Keith Hoodlet