Brand Confusion and Controversy in Tech and Music

Apple is coming for Block’s Square dongle with a new ability to accept payments just using your iPhone. The dilemma that is the Spotify/Neil Young situation. OpenAI is an interesting raise. Fireblocks is an interesting raise. And why has the r/antiwork subreddit suddenly gone private?

Sponsors:

• Smith.ai promocode techmeme for $100 off signup
• Linkedin.com/ride

Links:

• Apple to Rival Square by Turning iPhones Into Payment Terminals (Bloomberg)
• Spotify Takes Down Neil Young’s Music After His Joe Rogan Ultimatum (WSJ)
• Facebook’s Cryptocurrency Venture to Wind Down, Sell Assets (WSJ)
• OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman ridicules start-up fundraising process (CNBC)
• Fireblocks raises $550 million in Series E funding, now valued at $8 billion (The Block)
• Anti-Work Subreddit Suddenly Goes Private to Clean Up After ‘Brigading’ (Bloomberg)
• Anti-work subreddit implodes after rough Fox News interview (Mashable)
• Valve will start selling the Steam Deck on February 25th (The Verge)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices