Happy Nice Mall

At this point in 2021, technology was eating up the world and the stock markets.

Right now… ehhh, not really.

A Nasdaq index of nearly 100 tech stocks is down 14 percent from the end of December, which is significantly more than drops in collections of U.S. stocks that aren’t as tech-heavy. Tech superstars including Facebook, Alibaba and Tesla Ranking of the world’s most valuable companies.

More governments has try to check how tech companies work. some technology investors and observers They’re starting to ask if a decade-old boom in startups has lost its power and is really happening this time around. cryptocurrencies must have their moments but instead the price drops. Initial public offerings mostly on vacation.

At many points in the last decade, many people (including me) have asked if the tech bubble is over, and they were mostly wrong. I will not predict the future, instead I will try to use this moment for technology. Some strange things are happening.

Right now, some faith in the ever-evolving march of technology seems to have evaporated. It’s not exactly a bursting balloon. More like a (perhaps temporary) lack of belief in the great magic of technology.

What’s going on?

Look, the world is mobilizing to stop the occupation in Ukraine, the coronavirus pandemic is entering its third year, and governments trying to suppress rising consumer prices. These forces and other troubling events make investors think more carefully about where they put their money, and in some cases, tech companies, start-ups or Bitcoin no longer feel like good bets.

Prior tech maniacs including in the first months of the pandemic, has proven to be temporary, and that could be it too. But again, it does something to feel this time it’s different. Maybe.

With each passing day, a technology company whispers its sales won’t grow with infinityand her stock price falls into crater. Zoom Video Communications, one of the tech companies that previously proved necessary during the pandemic with its share price soaring to match, is now back in its February 2020 share price.

This is a powerful symbol. People with money are currently saying no to buying stocks in hopes of future blockbuster sales. This is a root cause recent loss of faith in publicly traded companies Including stock trading app Robinhood, startup electric vehicle company Rivian, and Chinese on-demand ride company Didi.

Dan Ives, a technology investment analyst at Wedbush Securities, said that he believes the world’s digital transformation has only just begun and that technology companies will continue to grow and become stronger.

But he said investors are rethinking their ability to continue growing at the rate some startups did a year or two ago. In some corners, “the foam in the tech market has clearly emerged,” said Ives.

Diminishing optimism is hitting young tech startups. Prices that investors pay for start-ups in the early stages of development peaked in the second half of 2021, according to a recent study. financial presentation from startup investment firm Redpoint Ventures.

Dan Primack, a journalist at Axios, said two months ago: “The go-go era is history“For tech start-ups and other types of startups.

Primack knows that similar predictions have been repeatedly unfounded, but has shown evidence that investors are no longer throwing cash at those who utter the word “innovation.” Being reckless and even financially irrational has long paid off for investors in startups, and Primack’s point is that the wealth is no longer as great as it used to be.

Again, all of this could come to a head, and technology could continue to add wealth and importance. I also know that many of you haven’t shed a tear over cratered stock prices. Facebook and Netflix. Fair. Blind belief in technology is not very good for us, but belief in technology has also been beneficial.

This optimism in technology has given companies money and freedom for us. mobile laptopsDoritos Delivery in 15 minutesand more options for working away from an office. If the tech party becomes less generous, the changes we take for granted could disappear in ways that could be both potentially devastating and healthy. We’ll see.

Tip of the Week

Just say no to photo locations

Brian X ChenA consumer technology columnist for The New York Times recommends a personal security step for our smartphone cameras.

When you use your iPhone or Android camera, Apple and Google ask your permission to share your location with the camera software. This is for “geotagging” or pinpointing where you took a photo.

This information is used to automatically create photo albums based on your location, such as your trip to Spain. This can be helpful, but it’s important to ask yourself if marking the location on every photo you take is worth the privacy risks.

Imagine meeting someone on a dating app and sending that person a selfie message from your favorite cafe. If you’re there every morning, you might not want a stranger near you to know the exact location of a place you frequent.

My general advice is to keep geotagging off by default and only turn it on in certain situations, such as when you’re traveling on vacation and want to remember where you are when you take a photo.

To check if geotagging is enabled on an iPhone, open the Settings app, tap Privacy, select Location and tap Camera. Click “Never” to disable geotagging.

On Android, open the Camera app, tap Settings (or the image that looks like a gear) and turn off Location tagging.

Before you go …

• Digital assistance for Ukraine: A city public transport application in Kiev redesigned Within 24 hours, alerting residents of incoming Russian attacks and helping them find shelter and essential supplies, The Guardian reported.

  And from the Washington Post: How is the West tearing down Russia’s propaganda wall?Technology to circumvent Russia’s internet censorship, and texts containing information to foreigners in Russia that reject the Kremlin’s official line on war. (Subscription may be required.)

• How Google learned to lobby: A decade ago, an uprising of ordinary people and small web companies helped sink congressional bills on online copyright. Protocol Writer He said Google learned from this episode both how to rank the power of angry internet users and the necessity of being an insider in Washington. The company is now using these strategies to combat congressional antitrust proposals that will affect it.

• It is the first international blockbuster movie from China’s video game industry. And almost perfect Copy of an existing role-playing game from Japanaccording to my colleagues Ben Dooley and Paul Mozur.

hug this

Look at that teeny tiny lemur! He hugs a stuffed toy while being weighed. (Thanks to Tim Hunter, a reader of On Tech from Durham, NC, for suggesting this.)

One fix: wednesday newsletter He misidentified Tasty’s deal with Instacart. Viewers will have the option to purchase materials from Instacart’s app and not from TikTok.

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