What a week! Following Musk's 5pm deadline to either "get hardcore" or quit with 3 months severance, several hundred Tweeps bade their farewells. Hours before the deadline, Musk tried asking some folks to stay and even softened up to remote work, but it was too little too late. What an absolute shitshow...

Wait... They shipped what!?

DuckDuckGo released App Tracking Protection for Android users.

Backstory: Last year, Apple launched App Tracking Transparency (ATT) on iOS. This let users opt-out of sharing their Advertising ID (IDFA), meaning that apps could no longer serve targeted ads based on a users broader internet usage data.

While it was a win for consumer privacy, the move severely impacted advertising campaigns on the likes of Facebook, while boosting Apple's own ad business.

Details: DuckDuckGo's App Tracking Protection for Android is a free feature that blocks third-party trackers within apps. Some highlights include:

• Apps blocked from sending data to third-party tracking companies

• In real time, users can see what specific data apps are trying to track

• The feature must be enabled in DuckDuckGo's Android browser

Why it matters: While Apple's ATT feature restricts access to a users IDFA, DuckDuckGo's offering goes a step further by directly blocking data requests from third party trackers.

The move is undoubtedly a privacy win for Android users, but does no favors whatsoever to platforms such as Facebook and Snap, as well as companies with business models that rely on mobile advertising.

Companies with android-heavy user bases may see some decline in attribution effectiveness over the coming weeks, but this should be fairly limited as the feature's impact is constrained by DuckDuckGo's relatively small market share.

Features & products hot off the press

Big tech

• Apple to launch MLS Season Pass in February 

• TikTok rolls out its research platform API in beta 

• Google rolls out a slew of new Maps, Search, and Shopping features 

• WhatsApp broadens business directory and search features 

• Intel unveils a realtime deepfake detector 

• Xbox rolls out console <> Discord voice chat integration

• Cruise expands SF robotaxi to daytime hours 

• Lyft to partner with Motional and launch a robotaxi service in LA

General and early-stage

• Notion tests generative-AI writing feature 

• OnlyFans ships a feature letting creators sell merch to viewers

• Loom ships a Speaker Notes product 

• Samara unveils its backyard small homes product 

• Tapo launches a low-cost smart security system 

Getting 1% better at building product

• Execution - Top 10 mistakes in running a growth team, by John Egan 

• Strategy - Product opportunity hill climbing, by John Cutler

Broader tech happenings

• Too swift. Ticketmaster facing antitrust scrutiny following ticket debacle

• Transparency FTW. FCC orders ISPs to show all fees and limits

• Branching out. Fiat to explore subscriptions and car sharing

• Enron 2.0. New FTX chief condemns SBFs corporate control failures

• Bye bye. Hundreds of Twitter employees resign on Musk's deadline

Courtesy of mindless Twitter scrolling

@roshanpatel

@tracyalloway

And that’s a wrap for today. Stay tuned for more!

- Amol