The feds are taking a hard look at big tech, Trump is state visiting the UK, and the end is finally nigh for iTunes.
Among the many features that had Apple fans cheering at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference was the announcement that dark mode is coming to its mobile devices. But the federal government beat Apple and the other tech giants to the punch with its own version of tech dark mode; news that left the entire Nasdaq in the red. CNBC on the latest moves: Nasdaq drops, enters correction territory as regulation fears batter Alphabet, Facebook and Apple. “Alphabet shares pulled back 6.9% after reports said the Justice Department is preparing to launch an antitrust probe on Google. Meanwhile, Facebook dropped 8.4% after The Wall Street Journal reported the Federal Trade Commission would be able to look into Facebook’s practices and how they impact digital competition. Amazon shares fell 4.8% after The Washington Post said an arrangement between the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department put the e-commerce giant under the FTC’s microscope. Apple also slipped 1.2% after Reuters reported the Justice Department received jurisdiction to investigate the company’s practices.” (I never really understood the desire for dark mode in the first place. Aside from cat videos, the whole internet era has been dark mode.)
+ Bloomberg: Google, Facebook and Apple Fall on Antitrust Scrutiny.
Son of a Gun
“I’d been told repeatedly by gun owners — often from the back of whatever crowd I was addressing — that my arguments for gun control had little credibility because I knew nothing about guns or gun culture. Eventually I came to see some truth in that assertion. If there was a gun culture of Second Amendment zealots, there was also an opposing gun-control culture made up of people who knew little about guns except that guns were bad. People, in other words, like me.” In the NYT, Gregory Gibson explores his own relationship with guns to try to find some answers about the killing of his son. I’m not sure he finds any. And that might be the point. A Gun Killed My Son. So Why Do I Want to Own One?
+ “‘I was told, ‘You’re going to be fine in the long-term,’ and that’s not right … It throws you back when you realize you’re not out of the woods yet, and this terrible day is not entirely behind you.” Time: They Survived Mass Shootings. Years Later, The Bullets Are Still Trying to Kill Them.
Pompous and Circumstance
“As Air Force One touched down, Trump opened his state visit by calling popular London Mayor Sadiq Khan a ‘stone cold loser.'” Yes, President Trump’s UK state visit is underway. Here’s the latest from CNN and BBC. At one point during their meeting, the Queen gave Trump “an abridged first edition of Winston Churchill’s book, The Second World War. (Trump should have given her William Barr’s abridged version of the Mueller Report…)
Poppy Seeds
“Related to the other children. As it turned out, the sperm bank had sold her sperm not from the man she had carefully selected, but from a completely different donor. She discovered the identity of the man whose sperm she was given, and learned that his medical history was far from pristine.” NYT: Their Children Were Conceived With Donated Sperm. It Was the Wrong Sperm.
+ “A form of pain relief that is popular around the world is finally gaining traction in the US.” NYT: The Rise of Laughing Gas in the Delivery Room. (The key is to keep inhaling it for the next 18 years…)
Cliff Hangers
“Earning a little more money may not automatically increase their standard of living if it boosts their income to the point where they lose access to some or all of those benefits. That’s because the value of those lost benefits may outweigh their income gains.” The Conversation: Getting poorer while working harder: The cliff effect.
+ The Guardian: Helsinki’s radical solution to homelessness. (Spoiler alert: They give people homes.)
Lucky Thirteen?
“Thirteen is when most girls go through seventh grade. When puberty arrives, with its blooms of acne and social anxiety. When the world begins to feel incredibly small. In the case of Olivia Moultrie, it’s also when she signed a six-figure deal with Nike, becoming the youngest pro women’s soccer player in the history of such things, moving with her family to Portland to train with the Thorns, the dominant franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League.” SI: Project: Phenom. Is 13-year-old Olivia Moultrie the grand experiment that American women’s soccer needs right now?
DJT, CNN, ATT? STFU…
“I believe that if people stoped using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!” WaPo: Trump urges customers to drop AT&T to punish CNN over its coverage of him.
Meltdown
“Thirty-three years ago, on April 26, 1986, a series of explosions destroyed Chernobyl’s reactor No. 4, and several hundred staff and firefighters tackled a blaze that burned for 10 days and sent a plume of radiation around the world.” With the HBO miniseries on the subject now complete, InFocus provides a look at Photos From the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster.
Death Star Explosion
After a death, people try to come up with something nice to say. That’s going to be tough now that Apple finally killed iTunes. Here’s all the good stuff Apple announced at WWDC today.
Bottom of the News
“Nearly 50 years ago, one man ‘invented’ the modern smiley face. Then, another man halfway across the world made it into a multimillion-dollar cash cow.” The Hustle on The $500m smiley face business.
+ James Holzhauer was on pace to break a Jeopardy record today. Did he make it?
+ CNN: Up to 25 cups of coffee a day still safe for heart health. (At least I’m covered until noon or so…)
