Weekly Links #26

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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• The Agency
  
  Incredible insights into Russia’s disinformation campaigns.
• The Good, The Bad and The Robot: Experts Are Trying to Make Machines Be “Moral”
  
  Moral is one of the main ingredients of what makes us human. However, robots will need some of it, too. Fascinating read.
• It’s Official: Everyone Has the Same Plan for Tech’s Future
  
  This piece sums it all up pretty well. “The powerful consumer tech companies of our era, from Google to Microsoft to Apple to Samsung to Amazon and beyond, have begun to want, and build, almost exactly the same things.” And one wonders what happens next.
• The Servitude Bubble
  
  Umair Haque is criticial about the so called “sharing economy”. I don’t fully agree with everything he writes, but he makes some important points.
• What is Code?
  
  An important question that – in my opinion – everyone should at least have a general answer to. This piece helps.
• Many tech startups are just making up their profit and revenue numbers
  
  No surprise really. This industry is not directly about being honest. But which industry is anyway.
• LinkedIn Has Fundamentally Changed How You Interact With People
  
  While Twitter is struggling with growth issues and a change of leadership, LinkedIn is getting closer from a feature point of view. This will be exciting to watch.
• New York Times blocked employees from viewing its homepage
  
  This for sure is a powerful way to make the staff aware of the strategical importance of mobile.
• The redistribution game for news
  
  Publishers might not like it, but it looks as if they have to deal with middle men inserting themselves between their content and the users. At least for moment (Disclosure: I’m biased).
• Digital News Report 2015
  
  Comprehensive summary about the state of digital news. One quote from the report: “France, Germany, and Japan have the strongest allegiance to traditional media and they have been slower to adopt new digital trends such as smartphones and social media. “
• 13 European tech companies became ‘unicorns’ in the last year
  
  I wonder how long it takes until the term “unicorn” will be common knowledge among the broader population.
• US tech funding
  
  53 insightful slides by Silicon Valley-based VC firm Andreessen Horowitz trying to prove that there is no serious tech/venture capital bubble, or at least none comparable with the Dotcom era.
• If we are in a VC bubble, how would the bust play out?
  
  But lets assume that Andreessen Horowritz is wrong: How would the bubble bust? This comment thread on Hacker News describes various possible scenarios.
• Marriott Adds In-Room Netflix to Select Hotels
  
  I can just assume that hotels must represent a highly attractive market for Netflix.
• Apple Music is a major mess, and it won’t beat Spotify
  
  We’ll see if it still feels that way once Apple Music is available and everyone can try it. But based on Apple’s presentation and the information released by the company, I feel the same as the author.
• Messaging App Firm Line Launches Paid-For Music Streaming Service In Japan
  
  In Japan, Line beats Apple Music by launching the country’s first on-demand music streaming service. Until know, the Japanese have still fancied physical media.

And this week on meshedsociety.com:

• The rise of the permanent group chat