Weekly Links #16

Here is a weekly selection of important information bits, thoughtful opinion pieces and interesting analyses from the digital and technology world. Published every Thursday.

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• China Triumphs as Silicon Valley Primps
  
  This considerable statement comes from nobody less than Michael Moritz, the chairman of Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful and influential Venture Capital firms.
• Ad blocking is every publisher’s problem now
  
  As somebody who does not use ad blocking tools, it is easy for me to underestimate the phenomenon, which seems to be pretty significant.
• Getting a Visa Took Longer Than Building Instagram, Says Immigrant Co-Founder
  
  Visa issues are extremely common among people working in the tech industry and who do work or want to work from the SF Bay Area. Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger struggled with this, as well.
• Questioning the Euro tech narratives
  
  A couple of common myths, debunked.
• European culture is not confined to national borders – let’s not use copyright to force it to be
  
  Word: “The logic of territories simply does not apply to the Internet”
• Apple and Microsoft have more offshore cash, pay lower foreign tax rates, than almost any other Fortune 500 companies
  
  The concentration of cash money that neither is being put to work nor being properly taxed is a concerning development.
• Rise of the Machines: The Future has Lots of Robots, Few Jobs for Humans
  
  Nothing new in the headline and this article, except one tiny comment: “My proposed solution is to have some kind of a guaranteed income that incentivizes education.” Not a stupid thought. Considering the importance of education for individual and collective well-being and wealth, it might make sense to pay people to get higher education, instead of charging them for getting education as it is practiced in most countries.
• Tidal’s secret weapon isn’t celebrities: It’s Live Nation
  
  You might be tired to read about Tidal. But this piece helps to understand why the service actually might be able to impact the music and streaming landscape more than what many observers expect.
• Edit Office files right from your browser with our new Office Online integration
  
  Dropbox and Microsoft are getting so cozy with each other that it seems only a question of time until they’ll announce an acquisition.
• Instant messaging: BBC News on chat apps
  
  The BBC employs a dedicated “apps editor” whose task it is to figure out ways to distribute news and interact with the audience through chat apps such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
• The billionaire’s typewriter
  
  A critical take on the popular publishing platform Medium.
• Are You Working in a Start-Upor Are You In Jail?
  
  Good one. From a certain angle, there are similarities.
• What It’s Like to Have a Friend With an Apple Watch
  
  Soon many of us will be able to find out ourselves.
• I Quit: What Really Goes on at Apple
  
  Speaking about Apple: This former employee really hated working for the company.
• Here’s Why You Should Care About Holacracy
  
  I did not know too much about Holacracy, a new type of system of organizational governance utilized among others by several successful tech companies. So this article was quite valuable.
• Longtrepreneurial thinking
  
  Outstanding and inspiring essay about the benefits of being an entrepreneur who does not focus on the exit.

And recently on meshedsociety.com:

• Facebook Messenger embraces cannibalization, lets users skip the time sink called “news feed”
• For humans, seeing Artificial Intelligence as a threat is a quick way out of an uncomfortable situation
• Tidal means that artists finally acknowledge streaming as the future of music consumption
• Uber, the network economy and why we need a system upgrade