Someone who has done a lot of thinking about what Web3 represents is Moxie Marlinspike. In a recent piece on his blog he talked about the growing use of blockchain, cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFT), and how they all collide into a mashup called Web3 that doesn’t quite live up to expectations. We discuss this story and much more on this week’s Rundown.
Intel Executive Changes Afoot | 0:49
A year after Pat Gelsinger took the reins of Intel, more executive changes are coming. EVP and GM of the Client Computing Group Gregory Bryant is leaving for new challenges and is being replaced by the current Chief Revenue Officer, Michelle Johnston Holthaus. Also announced is a new CFO, David Zinsner, who joins from Micron. The departure of Bryant is interesting from a timing perspective, given he was the lead for Intel’s CES show this year. His replacement has been at Intel for 25 years and she is likely to strengthen ties to the OEM market. Zinsner’s hire is said to complement the aims of Gelsinger when it comes to Capex planning.
Read more: Intel Changes Senior Executives: VP That Led CES is Out, New CFO
Developer Cripples Own Libraries | 5:07
If your applications freaked out last week you may not have been alone. The popular NPM libraries Colors and Faker, which receive nearly 25 million weekly downloads on GitHub, were updated with a bunch of random gibberish on the console, including shouts of “liberty” and non-ASCII characters. The intital impressions of a hijack were soon found to be intentional, as the developer Marak Squires purposely added the new features as a protest against large companies that rely on free software without contributing back to open source or paying developers for their efforts. Squires said back in November that he will no longer be supporting commercial entitties with his modules and that those groups either need to fork his projects or pay him a six-figure salary to use them. Reaction to the move has been mixed in the community.
Read more: Dev corrupts NPM libs ‘colors’ and ‘faker’ breaking thousands of apps
VMware has made Tanzu a real thing as of this week. The former Project Tanzu is now a shipping platform that is generally available. First announced in 2019, the platform is a response to the microservices trend in cloud computing that embraces technologies like containers and Kubernetes. VMware’s stated goal for Tanzu is to bridge the apparent gap between containers as a tool for power users and the platform needed to use the effectively. Stephen, we were at VMworld when Tanzu was announced.
Read more: VMware brings Tanzu Application Platform into GA to ease Kubernetes adoption
in a year where companies are weighing the merits of going back to in-person events, GSMA has decided that Mobile World Congress is going to happen no matter what. The announcement from the industry group that their flagship industry tentpole is going to proceed in Barcelona at the end of February was announced this week to some interesting fanfare. Coming off the recent CES in Las Vegas which featured light foot traffic and a sparse showing of presenters the questions about whether or not GSMA will see many attendees for the event remain. 2020 was the first year in three decades without the show and 2021 saw the event pushed back to the summer.
Read more: GSMA: MWC Barcelona Must Go On, COVID Be Damned
Moxie Marlinspike Spins a Web3 | 14:46
Web3 is the hot new term taking the Internet by storm. If you still weren’t sure what Web2.0 was supposed to do then you won’t miss much because the next version is here. It has something to do with blockchain and crypto I think. But someone who has done a lot of thinking about what Web3 represents is Moxie Marlinspike, who has the best Internet name ever. In a recent piece on his blog he talked about the growing use of blockchain, cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFT), and how they all collide into a mashup called Web3 that doesn’t quite live up to expectations.
Signaling a Change at Signal | 22:28
Speaking of Moxie Marlinspike, he’s out of a job as of this week. On Monday he announced that he’s replacing himself as the CEO of Signal, the encrypted messaging app. Executive chairman and founder of WhatsApp Brian Acton is stepping in until a replacement can be found. In the statement, Marlinspike said that he’s looking to find someone with fresh energy and commitment to lead the app. The popularity of Signal has been growing rapidly given changes made to WhatsApp by parent overlord Meta Facebook. Signal does not rely on ad revenue to fund the project, instead seeking donations. There are questions about the long-term sustainability of the platform, especially with a potential unknown stepping in to lead them in the post-founder waters.
Read more: Moxie Marlinspike has stepped down as CEO of Signal
Networking Field Day 27 is January 26-28
Cloud Field Day 13 is February 16-18
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