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Unpacked

Unpacked
IRS Direct Tax Filing: the end of Intuit's lobbying Thirty-eight years since the launch of e-filing, the IRS will pilot its own tax filing system ending...
a year ago
112
a year ago
Thirty-eight years since the launch of e-filing, the IRS will pilot its own tax filing system ending two decades of Intuit's regulatory capture of the tax software market
Unpacked
NVIDIA Explained: Origins, GPUs and AI stock bump | EP8 NVIDIA has seen their valuation 5x over the last 5 years and is now worth more than $2 trillion. In...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
NVIDIA has seen their valuation 5x over the last 5 years and is now worth more than $2 trillion. In the latest episode, we dive a few layers deep into the company. We start with the origin of the company and the launch of their first GPU in 1999 which unlocked several...
Unpacked
Apple's (reluctant) App Store changes, and Semafor tries AI news This week, we dive into two meaty topics. First, we dig into Apple’s recent App Store changes to...
a year ago
80
a year ago
This week, we dive into two meaty topics. First, we dig into Apple’s recent App Store changes to support third party payments in the US (sort of), and additionally support side-loading of apps (i.e. supporting non-Apple app stores) in the EU. Spoiler: Apple is pushing the limits...
Unpacked
AI-enabled SaaS vs Moatless AI Several enterprise SaaS companies have announced generative AI features recently, which is a direct...
a year ago
77
a year ago
Several enterprise SaaS companies have announced generative AI features recently, which is a direct threat to AI startups that lack sustainable competitive advantage
Unpacked
Tech's Pledge To Fight AI Election Interference & Twillio’s woes with Segment | EP 6 Last week, 20 tech companies across Big Tech, social networks and AI providers signed a voluntary...
a year ago
76
a year ago
Last week, 20 tech companies across Big Tech, social networks and AI providers signed a voluntary pledge to fight election interference from AI-generated content going through 2024. We dive into the timing of the announcement (2024 is a big election year across the globe), some...
Unpacked
YouTube, Ad Blockers & the Advertising "Tax" Though it looks like big vs small tech at first glance, poking into how ad blocker companies operate...
a year ago
75
a year ago
Though it looks like big vs small tech at first glance, poking into how ad blocker companies operate and their “whitelisting” programs will likely change your opinion
Unpacked
Reddit's IPO Filing & India's AI Regulation | EP 7 Here are the highlights from the podcast episode. You can find a longer form analysis on both topics...
11 months ago
69
11 months ago
Here are the highlights from the podcast episode. You can find a longer form analysis on both topics in the podcast episode - Spotify | Apple Podcasts. The podcast follows the same core principles as the writing (primarily analysis driven with occasional opinions sprinkled in)....
Unpacked
FTC's case against Amazon is misunderstood The case makes a nuanced argument about how Amazon abused monopoly power through anti-discounting...
a year ago
68
a year ago
The case makes a nuanced argument about how Amazon abused monopoly power through anti-discounting measures and tying in Prime with Fulfilled by Amazon
Unpacked
Klarna, Buy Now Pay Later & first mover advantage The company got to profitable growth by cementing its first mover advantage and doubling down on...
a year ago
56
a year ago
The company got to profitable growth by cementing its first mover advantage and doubling down on retailer relationships but faces competition from incumbent giants
Unpacked
2024 Predictions: AI, Media, Advertising & more They say predictions is a bad business - You get it right, people say "duh". You get it wrong, you...
a year ago
48
a year ago
They say predictions is a bad business - You get it right, people say "duh". You get it wrong, you are terribly wrong. So, of course we are kicking off with 2024 tech predictions. Listen in for hot takes across AI, Media, Advertising & more.
Unpacked
Regulating AI: The case for a mechanisms-based approach Targeting specific mechanisms mitigates AI risks more effectively, is easier to get consensus on,...
a year ago
35
a year ago
Targeting specific mechanisms mitigates AI risks more effectively, is easier to get consensus on, and avoids unintended consequences of brute force approaches
Unpacked
Instagram limits political content, and Google's consumer play with Gemini Last week, Meta announced that they will not proactively recommend political content across their...
a year ago
30
a year ago
Last week, Meta announced that they will not proactively recommend political content across their recommendation surfaces including Reels and Threads. We dive into criticism Meta has gotten in the past, what led Meta to this decision, the increasingly dispersed media landscape...
Unpacked
OpenAI's web crawler and FTC missteps OpenAI launches a default opt-in crawler, continuing to scrape the Internet, while the FTC focuses...
a year ago
30
a year ago
OpenAI launches a default opt-in crawler, continuing to scrape the Internet, while the FTC focuses on an obscure consumer deception investigation into OpenAI.
Unpacked
Apple Watch pulls blood oxygen feature, and how big a deal is the GPT Store really? Listen now | In the second episode of this year, we peel a few layers beneath Apple's decision to...
a year ago
29
a year ago
Listen now | In the second episode of this year, we peel a few layers beneath Apple's decision to pull the blood oxygen feature after losing a patent battle against Massimo. We then pivot to understanding the GPT Store and our analyses / hot takes on how big a deal this really...
Unpacked
Uber Ads: Accelerating the path to profitability What makes advertising attractive is that it's a 100% margin product that can subsidize the lower...
a year ago
27
a year ago
What makes advertising attractive is that it's a 100% margin product that can subsidize the lower margin core business.
Unpacked
Instacart IPO: Race against market saturation The company's journey to IPO is impressive but long-term upside hinges on the success of its...
a year ago
21
a year ago
The company's journey to IPO is impressive but long-term upside hinges on the success of its long-term bets like ads and the enterprise platform
Unpacked
StackOverflow's pivot: From disruption to opportunity OverFlowAI takes the company’s core asset, exposes answers in a highly usable interface, and in turn...
a year ago
20
a year ago
OverFlowAI takes the company’s core asset, exposes answers in a highly usable interface, and in turn creates a loop using gen AI to fire up the content engine.
Unpacked
Data Scraping in the Spotlight: Are Language Models Overstepping by Training on Everyone's Content? As I wrapped up the research for this piece and was about to start writing, OpenAI had a perfect...
a year ago
19
a year ago
As I wrapped up the research for this piece and was about to start writing, OpenAI had a perfect announcement to go with it - they are temporarily disabling the “Browse with Bing" feature on ChatGPT. If you haven’t used it before, this is a feature available to paying Plus users....
Unpacked
Y Combinator W23 batch, AI value chain and startup trends YCombinator (YC), the renowned Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator, recently announced their...
a year ago
18
a year ago
YCombinator (YC), the renowned Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator, recently announced their Winter 2023 cohort and, unsurprisingly, ~31% of startups have a self-reported AI tag.
Unpacked
Generative AI and the Future of News - a tale of two worlds Last week, the New York Times reported that Google is testing an AI tool that enables news...
a year ago
17
a year ago
Last week, the New York Times reported that Google is testing an AI tool that enables news organizations to create content using AI. It is unclear what the exact capabilities of the product are but based on one comment from Google, it helps with tasks like headlines and modifying...
Unpacked
DOJ v. Google: Case outline & arguments analysis The DOJ is going after specific anti-competitive mechanisms, and the specifics of Google's onerous...
a year ago
16
a year ago
The DOJ is going after specific anti-competitive mechanisms, and the specifics of Google's onerous Android deals might be the smoking gun
Unpacked
The EU's war on behavioral advertising Meta recently conceded that in-app behavioral advertising in the EU can no longer be opt-in by...
a year ago
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a year ago
Meta recently conceded that in-app behavioral advertising in the EU can no longer be opt-in by default, marking the end of an era. The regulators won, at least for now.
Unpacked
Zoom's AI policy backlash & customer data in model training Listen now (27 mins) | Zoom came under fire recently for silently changing their terms of service in...
a year ago
14
a year ago
Listen now (27 mins) | Zoom came under fire recently for silently changing their terms of service in a way that allows use of customer data (read your video and audio recordings) for training Zoom features. In this episode, we unpack the timeline of events that followed, Zoom's...
Unpacked
Highlights: First Quarter of Unpacked Bold product moves, AI things accelerate, Tech policy in the front seat, Interesting things...
a year ago
13
a year ago
Bold product moves, AI things accelerate, Tech policy in the front seat, Interesting things continue. This post is a bird’s eye view of the seventeen articles published on Unpacked in the past quarter.
Unpacked
Twitter Pays Creators: The Momentum Towards Revenue Sharing Amidst fierce platform competition, creators stand to gain a lot from the emergence of...
a year ago
Unpacked
Instagram Threads: The Problem With The "Everything for Everyone" Approach In recent times, Twitter has been through a roller coaster of events. What started with Elon Musk's...
a year ago
12
a year ago
In recent times, Twitter has been through a roller coaster of events. What started with Elon Musk's turbulent acquisition has now been followed up by a series of controversial product decisions. To list a few: Twitter limited the number of daily tweets
Unpacked
Meta, News Outlets and the Canada Online News Act On Thursday last week, the Canadian Senate finally passed into law the Canada Online News Act, which...
a year ago
12
a year ago
On Thursday last week, the Canadian Senate finally passed into law the Canada Online News Act, which will force tech giants (predominantly Meta and Google) to pay news organizations in Canada for content that is shared on these platforms. The foundational premise of the law is...
Unpacked
Epic Games, Google and App Store Monopolies In a surprise win for the makers of Fortnite, a jury ruled that Google engaged in anti-competitive...
a year ago
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a year ago
In a surprise win for the makers of Fortnite, a jury ruled that Google engaged in anti-competitive conduct by suppressing other app stores and banning alternate payments