The Weekend by The Information Staff

Every Saturday

The Weekend

By The Information Staff

Know what happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends and people shaping culture, technology and everything in between.

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Recent Editions

The La La Land Life of Venture Capitalist Brianne Kimmel

The La La Land Life of Venture Capitalist Brianne Kimmel

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 2, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It’s peak out-of-office message season in Silicon Valley, and not just because of the Fourth of July weekend. Tech layoffs are popping off everywhere. Venture dealflow has slowed to a crawl. The economic headwinds are fierce and giving certain people super bad feelings. Plus, after two-plus years of... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It’s peak out-of-office message season in Silicon Valley, and...

Truth or Consequences: Would You Take an AI-Powered Polygraph Test to Prove You Hadn't Cheated on a Spouse?

Truth or Consequences: Would You Take an AI-Powered Polygraph Test to Prove You Hadn't Cheated on a Spouse?

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 25, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Even before the Supreme Court’s earth-shaking rulings this week that struck down states’ gun restrictions and ended women's right to an abortion, Americans were losing faith in the highest court in the land. On Thursday, Gallup reported that trust in the Supreme Court has never been lower, with only 25% of... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Even before the Supreme Court’s earth-shaking rulings this week...

San Francisco's Tentative Comeback

San Francisco's Tentative Comeback

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 18, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Nick Wingfield, senior editor at The Information, here, sitting in for your regular newsletter maestro, Jon Steinberg. Is it 2018? That was the last time Bay Area venture capitalists and techies could brag that the Golden State Warriors were champions. For the two seasons prior to this one, San Francisco’s... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Nick Wingfield, senior editor at The Information, here, sitting...

It's Silicon Summer, Baby

It's Silicon Summer, Baby

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 11, 2022 8:00am PDT

It's Silicon Summer, Baby

It's Silicon Summer, Baby

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 11, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! This is Jillian Goodman, The Information’s opinion editor, taking over for your usual newsletter-er, Jon Steinberg.The official start of summer isn’t for ten days yet, but here at Weekend, we’re already in full sunglasses mode. I’m filling in for Jon this week while he enjoys some much-needed vacation, and by... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! This is Jillian Goodman, The Information’s opinion editor,...

Garry Tan vs. Chesa Boudin: The San Francisco Political Scene Gets a New Tech Combatant

Garry Tan vs. Chesa Boudin: The San Francisco Political Scene Gets a New Tech Combatant

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 4, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Though “normal” is relative in these pandemic times, this summer is offering at least a semblance of normalcy when it comes to travel. (Or revenge travel, as we’re now calling it.) By the time this newsletter lands in your inbox, I’ll be on a plane heading abroad for a two-week break—my first foreign travel... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Though “normal” is relative in these pandemic times, this...

How Taylor Lorenz Became America's Most Polarizing Tech Reporter

How Taylor Lorenz Became America's Most Polarizing Tech Reporter

By Jon Steinberg · May 28, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! I wish I was writing you in happier circumstances, and could simply talk up Annie's riveting profile of Taylor Lorenz, below. But this has been a tragic week. The mass murder of 19 kids and their two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, has been on all of our minds. Unfortunately, the hopelessness you're probably... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! I wish I was writing you in happier circumstances, and could...

“I Felt Like I’ve Been Taking Crazy Pills”: After a Meltdown, Crypto Pros Assess the Damage

“I Felt Like I’ve Been Taking Crazy Pills”: After a Meltdown, Crypto Pros Assess the Damage

By Jon Steinberg · May 21, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Feeling numb to the latest Elon Musk scandal, I went looking for another celebrity feud to obsess over for awhile. There was no way I was wading into the toxic cesspool that is Amber vs. Johnny. And I could care less about Ted Cruz’s opinion of Pete Davidson.But the Wagatha Christie trial? Oh, my friends, this... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Feeling numb to the latest Elon Musk scandal, I went looking...

Pete Buttigieg Wants Everyone to Buy an EV. Just Not Necessarily From Elon Musk

Pete Buttigieg Wants Everyone to Buy an EV. Just Not Necessarily From Elon Musk

By Jon Steinberg · May 14, 2022 8:00am PDT

Pete Buttigieg Wants Everyone to Buy an EV. Just Not Necessarily From Elon Musk

Pete Buttigieg Wants Everyone to Buy an EV. Just Not Necessarily From Elon Musk

By Jon Steinberg · May 14, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! This was one of those weeks when I was glad that I follow the Doomscrolling Reminder Bot (@Doomscroll_bot) on Twitter. I needed those hourly reminders—“Hi, are you doomscrolling?”—to close the browser window and catch my breath. It’s not every week when $200 billion in crypto goes poof! in a... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! This was one of those weeks when I was glad that I follow the...

He Sold His Company for $310 Million. One Year Earlier, He Was Bloody and Broken in a Psych Ward

He Sold His Company for $310 Million. One Year Earlier, He Was Bloody and Broken in a Psych Ward

By Jon Steinberg · May 7, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! When you’re not celebrating the mothers in your life this weekend (hot tip: you can still order last-minute bouquets on Bloomnation), I recommend reading Annie’s powerful profile of Andy Dunn. I first learned about Dunn and the menswear e-commerce brand he co-founded, Bonobos, in the late-2000s when I was... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! When you’re not celebrating the mothers in your life this...

WTF Is a VTuber? Who Are the Muskiest Men in Tech? And Why Is This 28-Year-Old an 'Absolute Nightmare' for Web3 Evangelists?

WTF Is a VTuber? Who Are the Muskiest Men in Tech? And Why Is This 28-Year-Old an 'Absolute Nightmare' for Web3 Evangelists?

By Jon Steinberg · Apr 30, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! We’re on week three of Elon–Twittergate and the hits just keep on coming. (Get it? Because Elon likes the weed. Anyway...) It seems like months since the rumors about Musk’s takeover began spinning, and we’ve got months more until the deal closes. Predicting how this drama ends is impossible, but if Musk’s past... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! We’re on week three of Elon–Twittergate and the hits just keep...

Rosie the Riveting: The Stunning Success Story of Fanhouse Founder Rosie Nguyen

Rosie the Riveting: The Stunning Success Story of Fanhouse Founder Rosie Nguyen

By Jon Steinberg · Apr 23, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! If you were one of those insatiably curious kids who liked to rip apart toasters or ham radios and figure out how to reassemble them (a pretty common hobby in Silicon Valley, I’d wager), you’re going to love Stephen’s story about Lumafield. The CT scanning startup, with offices in Cambridge, Mass. and San... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! If you were one of those insatiably curious kids who liked to...

Art by Clark Miller

The Crypto Prince and the Ethereum Killer: A Tale of Two Blockchain Billionaires

By Jon Steinberg · Apr 16, 2022 8:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

The Crypto Prince and the Ethereum Killer: A Tale of Two Blockchain Billionaires

By Jon Steinberg · Apr 16, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! In a week that saw the world’s richest man sucking up all the oxygen in the newsroom, it is important now for us all to step away. To take a deep breath, to celebrate Easter or Passover or Ramadan with our families, to watch some NBA playoffs (go Warriors!), to play outside with our kids or animals. Sing it with... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! In a week that saw the world’s richest man sucking up all the...

Tech Workers Return to the Office, With New Norms and New Expectations

Tech Workers Return to the Office, With New Norms and New Expectations

By Jon Steinberg · Apr 9, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Our company returned to three days of in-person work this week, and we clearly weren’t alone. Downtown San Francisco, where The Information’s headquarters are located, was noticeably less of a ghost town, with salad joints, coffee bars and bike lanes all back to bustling (the hot spring weather may have... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Our company returned to three days of in-person work this week,...

What's Behind the Marc Andreessen–Jack Dorsey Crypto Holy War?

What's Behind the Marc Andreessen–Jack Dorsey Crypto Holy War?

By Jon Steinberg · Apr 2, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It’s been a few months since two Silicon Valley titans started passive-aggressively sniping at each other on Twitter, and I'm still thinking about what it all meant, and why it all started. The war of words, blocks, and memes between Jack Dorsey and Marc Andreessen wasn’t only fascinating because of the... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It’s been a few months since two Silicon Valley titans started...

The Information Weekend's Special Kids and Tech Issue

The Information Weekend's Special Kids and Tech Issue

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 26, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! As the father of two tween girls, I eagerly anticipated the results of The Information’s first-ever survey of tech parents. The report is fascinating, both for the questions it answers, and the new ones it raises. How many hours of screen-time per day is “normal”? Is anyone out there actually letting kids use VR... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! As the father of two tween girls, I eagerly anticipated the...

Paris Hilton, Bored Apes and the Making of a Hollywood Crypto Cabal

Paris Hilton, Bored Apes and the Making of a Hollywood Crypto Cabal

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 19, 2022 8:00am PDT

Paris Hilton, Bored Apes and the Making of a Hollywood Crypto Cabal

Paris Hilton, Bored Apes and the Making of a Hollywood Crypto Cabal

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 19, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Before you jump ahead to Margaux’s cover story about the Hollywood cabal behind a surge of celebrity crypto investments, I wanted to share another story from one of this weekend’s contributors.Katia Savchuk, a former reporter at Forbes, was born in Ukraine and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of four. Two weeks... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Before you jump ahead to Margaux’s cover story about the...

Photographs by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Other Sides of Sunny Balwani

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 12, 2022 8:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Anita Raghavan’s investigation into the life of Sunny Balwani began with a photograph. While googling around for images of the reclusive ex-president of Theranos, who went on trial this week for his part in the Elizabeth Holmes scandal, Anita stumbled over a 1988 yearbook from the University of Texas at Austin. There,... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Anita Raghavan’s investigation into the life of Sunny Balwani began...

Tech Workers Respond to the Realities of War, While Tech Leaders Grapple With the Realities of Their Own Power

Tech Workers Respond to the Realities of War, While Tech Leaders Grapple With the Realities of Their Own Power

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 5, 2022 8:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!More than any other industry, tech attracts a global workforce. According to one 2018 report, 71% of tech workers in Silicon Valley are foreign born. And tech leaders have never been shy about their desires for the US to reform its immigration laws in order to attract even more foreign talent. So it should come... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!More than any other industry, tech attracts a global workforce....

Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Becoming Travis Kalanick

Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Becoming Travis Kalanick

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 26, 2022 8:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!The world has watched armed conflicts unfold through social media before—the civil war in Syria, to name one, produced indelible images that rocketed around the internet. But there’s never been anything like what’s transpired this week in Ukraine. For every devastating account of Ukrainian civilians fleeing the... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!The world has watched armed conflicts unfold through social media...

Mapping Playboy's Digital Reinvention, Where NFTs Are the Magazine and the Metaverse Is the Mansion

Mapping Playboy's Digital Reinvention, Where NFTs Are the Magazine and the Metaverse Is the Mansion

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 19, 2022 8:00am PST

Mapping Playboy's Digital Reinvention, Where NFTs Are the Magazine and the Metaverse Is the Mansion

Mapping Playboy's Digital Reinvention, Where NFTs Are the Magazine and the Metaverse Is the Mansion

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 19, 2022 8:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!For most of our kids’ lives, my wife and I have avoided giving them much technology. We’re not puritanical about it, but we saw little upside in letting our two girls own their own phones, tablets, smartwatches, or gaming consoles. But now that they are 12 and 10 years old, the daily drumbeat to let them have all of... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!For most of our kids’ lives, my wife and I have avoided giving them...