Tech Trials and Global Shifts

Again, could Gaming, and Microsoft specifically, be the thing that cracks the App Store open? More hints of consolidation in the semiconductor industry that is massively in flux. A major milestone in self-driving cars has been passed. Could hybrid cable-fiber networks compete with 5G. And in the weekend longreads suggestions, what operating systems do NASA’s spacecraft actually run on?

Sponsors:

• ForHims.com/tech
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Links:

• Microsoft told employees it plans to release a browser-based app for the Xbox Game Pass streaming service next year that will get around Apple App Store rules: 'We absolutely will end up on iOS' (BusinessInsider)
• Microsoft app store playbook swipes at Apple, Google (Axios)
• AMD Is in Advanced Talks to Buy Xilinx (WSJ)
• Waymo Begins Fully Driverless Rides for All Arizona Customers (Bloomberg)
• Google Assistant finally works with some third-party apps (Engadget)
• Comcast says gigabit downloads and uploads are now possible over cable (ArsTechnica)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• Inside the US campaign to cut China out of the tech supply chain (NikkeiAsia)
• Why media formats (like Snapchat Stories and TikTok music videos) become hits? (Medium/Eric Feng)
• THE MASK BARONS OF ETSY (The Verge)
• A Major Online Learning Platform Was Created by a Subterranean Religious ‘Cult’ Whose Leader Has Been Accused of Violence and Abuse (OneZero)
• Definitely not Windows 95: What operating systems keep things running in space? (ArsTechnica)

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