Weekly Links #9

Here is a weekly selection of significant news, insightful information bits and interesting analyses from the digital and technology world. Published every Thursday.

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• Antiwork – a radical shift in how we view “jobs”
  
  Something that has been on my mind for a while now: Our society’s outdated definition of “jobs” and “work”. A significant change is needed.
• Snapchat Said to Seek Up to $19 Billion Value in Funding
  
  This valuation leaves me scratching my head. It might have to do with that I have nobody to really use Snapchat with, even in my extended social network, which is pretty diverse and global. This suggests me that Snapchat is still an app mainly used by teens and young twenty-somethings (which there are not many in my network), which means that it is not actually well-established yet in general. Obviously investors seem to believe that this will happen eventually. I still have my doubts. No matter how much some pundits rave about Snapchat’s new Discovery feature. But who knows, maybe everyone just speculates on that Facebook eventually will end up buying Snapchat for $25 billion or so.
• An Open Letter to Tim Cook Regarding the App Store 70 / 30 Revenue Split
  
  Good thoughts. There are also some intelligent alternative suggestions mentioned in the corresponding Hacker News threat. I fully agree with that Apple should reduce its own revenue share at least in some scenarios. It would support developers and all iOS users would benefit from it.
• The Software Revolution
  
  Y Combinator president Sam Altman has some concerns about the future.
• 100% Unemployment
  
  Related: A software engineer explains why he thinks that even his tasks will be automated one day.
• Could driverless cars own themselves?
  
  An interesting philosophical question that comes up with the rise of autonomously operating cars and machines.
• Microsoft is interesting again — very
  
  I wrote something similar a couple of weeks ago.
• The Unbearable Lightness of Tweeting
  
  It seems as if the impact that a link in a tweet might have on referral traffic can only be overestimated.
• How much does privacy cost? According to AT&T, about $29
  
  This is unacceptable behavior by the American telecommunication giant AT&T: Customers of a new fiber optic service who do not want their online activities to be tracked for marketing purposes are asked to pay more for their broadband connection.
• Is Apple building a car?
  
  Well-reflected thoughts about Apple’s future role in the car business.
• Why Tesla’s battery for your home should terrify utilities
  
  It might be a mistake to see Tesla as a car maker. The company’s bigger future could be a vertically integrated energy company.
• Xiaomi Actually Likes Google, and Five Other Things We Just Learned
  
  Meanwhile, China’s Xiaomi, the world’s third biggest phone maker, sees itself as an Internet company.
• Hyperloop Is Real: Meet The Startups Selling Supersonic Travel
  
  This is real innovation which could completely change the world. Also worth mentioning: Investor Shervin Pishevar wants to take returns from an upcoming Uber IPO and fund the Hyperloop.
• Short Surfaces Quick Reads To Help You Power Through Your Saved Article Queue
  
  I am a huge fan of “read later” services such as Instapaper and Pocket. This new iPhone app here, called Short, is built on top them. Not sure if this really needs to be a separate product but nice to see things happening in this field.
• Who Learned the Most from the New Yorker’s Jonathan Ive Profile?
  
  You might have read or at least started to read the very long profile of Apple’s senior vice president of design, Jonathan Ive, published by The New Yorker. So have many many writers from other publications, who all figured they could create articles by summarizing and rewriting the original post. Matt Buchanan compiled a list about who “learned” and republished what from the profile. A very typical example for how the ecosystem of digital journalism works.
• Why Samsung’s Design Stinks
  
  The hierarchical and conformist Korean work culture is a big competitive disadvantage for Samsung in the race to create products that can compete with Apple, as this insightful article explains.
• Why Startups Want This 28-Year-Old to Really Like Them
  
  A profile of Ryan Hoover, the founder of the quite popular social voting platform for new (tech) products, Product Hunt.