Good morning friends! Welcome back to Week in Review!
I'm back after a fun and relaxing couple of weeks away from my phone and my Twitter account. Although I missed writing the newsletter, Greg did an amazing job, so I won't be giving up on it anytime soon. There was so much happening this week that I had trouble narrowing down a topic, but I settled on Bezoss Blue Origin sue NASA.
This article can be downloaded from TechCrunch's newsletter page. Follow my Twitter @lucasmtny for more information.
The big deal
I had planned to write about OnlyFans this week for the newsletter and their rather shocking decision to ban explicit sexual content from their website in a bid for friendly with payment processors. But, I couldn't help myself and instead wrote an article for ole TechCrunch. If you are interested, here is a link.
Also, I must mention that I was away from all the discussion surrounding Apple's controversial child sexual abuse detection software. This software seems to compromise the integrity of personal devices. This is a worrying development, even though Apple claims it will not allow for a worse outcome. I hope to have the opportunity to speak with people in the decentralized computing community about how our monolithic dependence on just a few tech companies, with very little consumer input, is extremely bad. I will refer you to TechCrunchs Zack Whittaker's reporting on the subject. I know it will be something I return to here in the future.
Let's move on! Let's get to the point.
The federal government agencies are not often admired. Although great things have been achieved thanks to federal funding and the hard work of civil servants and civil servants alike, many agencies are seen as bureaucratic bloat and not worth passionately supporting. NASA is a little more sacred among technologists and the general public. American space agency has been a source for bipartisan enthusiasm. Its goal to return astronauts on the moon surface by 2024 has also been a source.
This brings us to this week's news. There was so much digital ink spilled about Jeff Bezos' little trip to the edge, champagne, cowboy hat and all, but there has been less attention to his lawsuit against NASA for space startups. We now know that this will delay development of a lunar lander by several months, potentially putting NASA's goal of returning astronauts to the Moons surface on time into doubt.
Blue Origin, a Bezos-owned startup, is protesting that they weren't awarded a government contract. Elon Musk's SpaceX received a $2.89 million contract to build a lunar landing pad. The contract was not just recently awarded. SpaceX had won it in April, and Blue Origin had already filed a complaint to the Government Accountability Office. This was before Bezos wrote an open letter promising a $2B discount to NASA, which had suffered budget cuts from Congress. NASA had hoped to win multiple contracts. NASA was not convinced by any of these maneuverings, which led Bezos' space startup to sue.
This little feud has prompted long-suffering Twitter users to find this little gem from Bezos 2019 speech, as transscribed by Gizmodo. It highlights Bezos dislike for how bureaucracy & greed have hindered NASAs ability reach for the stars.
To the extent that NASA programs are viewed as jobs programs, and that they must be distributed to the states where the Senators reside. This is going to change your objective. Your objective isn't to, you know what it is, get a man or woman to the Moon, but to get a women to the Moon while keeping X many jobs in my District. This is complex and not healthy. Today there would be three protests and the loser would sue the federal governments because they didn't win. Procurement is the biggest thing slowing down things. It's fascinating. It has become the biggest bottleneck, despite the technology being a great thing.
Blue Origin spokesperson said that the suit was an attempt to correct the problems in NASAs Human Landing System acquisition process. However, the lawsuit clearly shows how critical this deal is for Blue Origin's ability to retain top talent. It is worth asking if the startup can manage the reputational risk of suing NASA, delaying America's return to the Moon.
Other things
These are TechCrunch news stories which caught my attention this week:
OnlyFans prohibits explicit sexual content
Many people felt very visceral after OnlyFans decided to end its business. They also banned the posting of sexually explicit content. The decision seems to have been made because of the influence of banks and payment partners.
Musk unveils Tesla Bot
It is difficult to call this news. However, Elon Musk made a man in spandex and went about doing the robot. This led to hundreds of stories about the Tesla Bot.
Facebook launches a VR meeting simulator
Facebook has released one of the best virtual reality apps. It is a workplace app that allows people to host virtual reality meetings. Although no one asked for it, the company did a lot of PR for the app, which will allow headset owners to experience the pure joy of sitting in a conference hall.
This is a dumb idea. However, avatar-based apps for work are coming to your Zooms. Facebook has a convincing example. https://t.co/aGvOW6zm8U Lucas Matney (@lucasmtny) August 19, 2021
Social platforms struggle with Taliban presence
Social media platforms are being forced to clarify their policies regarding accounts that were operated by suspected Taliban members. Some platforms are now in an awkward position.
Facebook publishes transparency report on content
Facebook has released its first ever transparency report on content. It highlights which data was most popular over a time period. In this instance, it is a period of three months. The list of posts that have the greatest reach appears to be quite benign, as opposed to lists that highlight which posts receive the most engagement on Facebook. These lists are usually populated mostly with right-wing news sources and influencers.
Safety regulators are investigating Tesla Autopilot
Musk speaks of building a humanoid robot brand-named, but U.S safety regulators are worried about why Tesla cars on Autopilot crash into so many parked emergency vehicles.
Additional things
These are some of my favourite reads from the Extra Crunch subscription service this Week:
The Nuro EC-1
Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson are not the only Google self-driving projects employees who have launched an AV startup. Their company, Nuro is valued at $5B and has strong partnerships with top leaders in logistics, retail and food such as FedEx, Dominos, and Walmart. They seem to have mastered the regulatory hurdles with relative ease, at least so far.
Five keys for pitching VCs: A VC shares these 5 keys with a VC
How well entrepreneurs manage a fundraising process will determine its success. It is crucial for founders at this stage to be transparent, honest, and understand the value that meetings with investors and venture capitalists can bring, beyond the financial aspect.
A crash course on corporate development
Chances are you'll spend a lot time with corporate development teams if youre looking to be acquired. The environment for acquisitions is very favorable with a booming stock market, high levels of cash, and low-interest debt.
Thank you for reading! Until next week
Lucas M.
