Uber and Waymo are headed to court. Britain’s health service is hit with a ransom attack, and Snap’s first earnings report is a disappointment.
Each Saturday, Farhad Manjoo and Mike Isaac, technology reporters at The New York Times, review the week’s news, offering analysis and maybe a joke or two about the most important developments in the tech industry.
Farhad: Hello, Mike. What a great dinner we had the other night, right? I just wanted to let you know one thing about it, though: Don’ t even think about telling anyone what I said. There could have been some kind of “tape.” You know what I mean? Be careful, Mike. Be very careful.
Mike: I pledge to be honest with our readers, but not necessarily loyal to you, Farhad.
Farhad: O. K., let’s talk tech. Since it is a day that ends in Y, there are some new developments about Uber. As you know, Waymo, the onetime Google self-driving subsidiary, is suing Uber for alleged theft of its technology. Uber had asked the judge in the case to move the suit to a private arbitration process — but this week the judge denied that motion. This means the fight will happen in federal court, where potentially lots of juicy secrets will spill out. I can’ t wait!
Mike: We are in full agreement. There is nothing more awesome than when company executives are forced to testify about their personal experience and trade secrets in open court. I once reported on Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in a Facebook-related lawsuit, and it was my nerdy dream come true. Related: I need to have different, much better dreams.
Oh, and let’s not forget that the judge referred the case to the United States Attorney’s Office, which could mean eventual criminal charges for someone. That’s a bad look for any tech exec.
Farhad: In other Uber news: the company said that its long-awaited report on its workplace culture will be released sometime in early June. I hope you’ re bracing yourself.
Mike: It’s like tech’s version of the Starr Report: Hotly anticipated and most likely lascivious. I will report on it dutifully, and also haven’ t left my house without my laptop strapped to my back for months in case it drops in the meantime. I think my family is going to have an intervention for me soon.
Farhad: There was another big cyberattack this week. Britain’s National Health Service reported that 16 of its facilities, including hospitals, had been hit with a “ransomware” attack — meaning that the hackers were demanding payments in order to let doctors and others get access to patient files. I’ m not really sure what to say about this other than: This is probably just a preview of the next Bond movie.
Mike: I hope it stars Dave Bautista — he’s dreamy .
Seriously though, this attack seems superbad. Imagine if the doctor in charge of all your… ailments … was no longer able to see your patient history file, which by all measures must be extensive and detailed? I would be worried, for all of us.
Farhad: Um, thank you. Speaking of worrying, remember how earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security banned laptops and tablets on flights from the Middle East? Well, get ready for an expansion. Homeland Security now says that it will most likely expand the ban to flights from Europe, too. The original ban was in response to the threat that the Islamic State might hide some kind of bomb in portable electronics devices, the government says, and apparently that threat may extend to European flights as well.
I’ m really glad that I decided not to fly with the kids to Europe this summer. Kids on a plane with no iPad — it’s madness, man.
Mike: I dunno. While my first reaction is, “This seems like an egregious invasion of civil liberties, ” my second reaction is “No work during international flights? Sign me up!”
For real, though, I do wonder to what degree technology has advanced that we’ re worried about hard drive bombs and the like. Pretty soon we won’ t be able to take foil-wrapped burritos on board. And that day, my friend, is when I will shed a tear for America.
Farhad: Finally, Snap. The company that makes Snapchat went public earlier this year, and this week it had to issue its first earnings report. It was not pretty. The company reported a loss of $2.2 billion. Most of that involved a technicality — the company paid about $2 billion in stock-based compensation to employees. But even if you exclude that number, the rest of the report was pretty astounding. Snap’s revenue was $149 million, short of the $160 million analysts had expected. It also reported that its rate of user growth had declined. Also, it barely sold any of those camera-enabled sunglasses.
Were you surprised by the report?
Mike: So, I’ ve been kind of a Snap bear for a while, insofar as it seems to have the same problem as Twitter: It just can’ t stack up to Facebook’s user base, and Facebook has trained Wall Street to stare at whether or not the user numbers are growing each month.
That said, I was a bit shocked. Usually the first quarter right after an I. P. O. is a layup; give Wall Street expectations that aren’ t over the top, and outperform them to see the stock jump. Instead, the opposite seemed to happen. That’s not so great, and smacks slightly of Twitter’s early post-I. P. O. issues.
Farhad: I think Snap’s problem is kind of obvious — it has a bad app. Everyone has been saying this forever, of course, and it usually comes off as something an old person would say. Young people seem to have no problem understanding how to use Snapchat.
Mike: I mean, you are an old, not a young. So that makes sense.
Farhad: Yeah, I get that, but Instagram’s success with Stories — a feature it copied from Snapchat — shows how much better Snapchat might do with a better app. Instagram is easier for most people to understand, and lo and behold, its user growth is skyrocketing. Snap’s entire corporate attitude is exclusionary; it seems to not want to make an easier app so it can keep the place exclusive and cool. That’s a mistake, I say. Here’s a crazy idea: Make a better app; try to get some more users. Who knows? It could work.
Mike: I guess so, but then Snap wouldn’ t be as “cool” anymore, man.
