Gm. Yesterday was one of the best days of the year: the NFL season opener. My Patriots took a tough L, but hey, at least it wasn’t as bad as what happened to the Giants, right? In any case, I hope your teams won, and I especially hope your fantasy teams won.

— Stephen Flanders

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🏠 TECH

The Google Antitrust Case

Google dominates the search market. Everyone knows this. There’s a reason “Google it” has become a household phrase.

But, is this dominance legal?

If you ask the DOJ, the answer is a solid no.

And they are taking Google to court over it in the biggest tech case in 25 years.

A Long Time Coming

This case has been in the works since all the way back in 2020.

Basically, the DOJ is arguing that Google unfairly limits the competition by signing exclusive search engine deals with tech giants like Apple, since these deals ensures Google controls around 80% of the market.

And they might have a case on that one, as those deals cost Google tens of billions of dollars a year. The odds that any competitor would be able to foot those bills are slim to none.

But are those deals illegal? That’s where things get a bit trickier.

A Murky Case

Google would argue no for five main reasons:

• Paying for default search engine placement is no different than a food company paying for prime placement in an aisle. It’s a standard marketing expense.

• Google’s payments support the development of other browsers, such as Firefox.

• It’s not that hard to switch away from Google.

• When Google isn’t the default option, people often go out of their way to make it so.

• The rise of AI presents fresh challenges for Google.

In simplest terms, Google isn’t doing anything every other company in the country isn’t also doing. And for those reasons, the DOJ’s allegations are completely baseless.

We’ll have to just wait and see what side Judge Amit P. Mehta takes.

The Bottom Line: Monopoly is a bad thing, but the DOJ’s case here doesn’t look especially strong.

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🏠 TECH

Wonderlust SZN

There are not many things better in life than new Apple products.

Which is why Tuesday’s Wonderlust event is so damn exciting.

Apple is dropping a whole bunch of new heat:

• The iPhone 15, which is expected to be the first iPhone with USB-C charging.

• The Apple Watch Series 9, which will come with a brand new chip that should improve processing speed.

• AirPods equipped with USB-C, fresh software improvements, and health features including body-temperature sensing and a new hearing-test function.

• More details on iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 17.

Is the event lacking the pizzazz of a Vision Pro? Yes. Are we unfortunately missing out on the M3 MacBook? Also yes. But that doesn’t mean this event isn’t important for Apple.

Apple is in a sales slump, and the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods constitute about 60% of its total revenue. It would do them well to nail these releases.

And for the sake of us getting more cool stuff, I really hope they do.

The Big Picture: It’s a perilous time for Apple. Let’s see if they can wonder wander themselves back onto the right path.

🏃‍♀️ QUICKIES

What else is going on?

• The Department of Energy just poured a truckload of money into Zinc batteries.

• Hey teachers, stop relying on AI writing detectors.

• Flexport is rescinding dozens of job offers.

• The M3 MacBook might actually not be a thing this year.

Stat: 20 to 40 Million Tonnes: The amount of Lithium discovered in a US volcano, which could be very useful considering how in-demand Lithium is.

Rabbit hole: How Do You Know When Your Art Is Good? (Ask Polly)

🤩 MONDAY MOTIVATION

What a win.

🧠 POLL

The Ultimatum was my choice, but I can’t complain about Love Island winning:

For this week:

🛠️ FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across this weekend that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

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💉 DOPAMINE HIT

This is so fake but damn it’s scary to think it might be real one day.

@aisport88

In the future, humans will be overwhelmed by machines #fyp #football #soccer #artificialintelligence #robot #airobot #AI

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