10 things in tech: Apple's big earnings - Activision strike

July 28, 2021

10 things in tech: Apple's big earnings - Activision strike - Insta update

tim cook peace sign — Roy Rochlin/WireImage/Getty Images

Good morning and welcome to 10 Things in Tech. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

Let's get started.

1. Apple and Alphabet breeze past earnings estimates. Despite the global chip shortage, Apple's fiscal third-quarter earnings surpassed Wall Street expectations. Take a look at the key numbers. Alphabet, Google's parent company, also defied expectations. See those figures here.

2. Employees lambast "Call of Duty" maker over its response to a sexual-harassment lawsuit. More than 1,000 Activision employees called the company's response "abhorrent and insulting." Plus, workers called for a strike today, per Bloomberg. Read more from the employees' letter.

3. Instacart's decision to replace CEO Apoorva Mehta came after years of chaotic management. Former employees said Mehta's "trophy hunting" approach to recruitment, a high executive turnover, and his vice-like grip on product development thwarted his ability to lead. Here's what else we know about his ouster.

4. Elon Musk said it's "debatable" whether Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" subscription is worth it. During the company's earnings call on Monday, Musk said customers who pay $199 for the subscription are "betting on the future." Here's what else he said.

5. Instagram has introduced new protections for teenage users. Starting this week, when people under 18 join the app, their account will default to private. Additionally, a tool that detects "suspicious" adult accounts will block them from interacting with kids. More on that here.

6. Watch a drone deliver a customer's Starbucks order. The dropoff was completed by Flytrex, a startup that is looking to revolutionize delivery services by working with major chains from McDonalds to Walmart. See the video here.

7. A Google executive in Singapore who has 40 hours of meetings a week explained how she avoids burnout. To mitigate "Zoom fatigue" and burnout, Stephanie Davis prioritizes self-care like yoga and sailing, and schedules three-minute stretch breaks on her calendar. Read her other pieces of "calendar magic."

8. Amazon rejects speculation about bitcoin payment plans as untrue. The company dismissed a report specifying its plans to accept bitcoin and to issue its own token, but said it's still exploring crypto. Here's what you need to know.

9. Amazon's companywide deal to use Workday's HR software ended after about three years. Announced in 2017, the deal struggled because the database behind Workday's software didn't scale as planned to support Amazon's workforce, sources said. More on that here.

10. NDAs create a culture of silence in Silicon Valley. To understand how nondisclosure agreements have formed Silicon Valley's culture of secrecy, we reviewed 36 agreements shared by tech workers at companies from giants like Facebook and Google to smaller startups. Here's what we found.

Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @JordanParkerErb.

Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.

Read the original article on Business Insider