Logan Bartlett / @loganbartlett:
A look at why Dotcom Bubble comparisons to the AI boom are off, vertical SaaS is up +3% last 12 months vs. horizontal SaaS down 35%, and other reflections on AI  —  This week I co-wrote Redpoint's 2026 Market Update for our Limited Partners with my colleagues @AdilBhatia and @lydianday.

Stephen Hackett, at 512 Pixels:

I’ve thought a lot about the bad timing Jones mentions. Had Apple stuck to the original timeline, and killed off the 2013 Mac Pro in favor of an iMac “specifically targeted at large segments of the pro market,” back in 2017, Apple could have avoided putting out the best Intel Mac ever, less than a year before the transition to Apple silicon.

Did Apple know in 2017 that 2020 was the year the M1 would make it out of the lab? Probably not, but it doesn’t make the timing any less painful.

Apple might not have had 2020 set in stone for the Apple Silicon transition, but in 2017, they definitely knew that Apple Silicon was the future. I think they knew that years before 2017, and in broad strokes, that’s why 2015–2020 was such a bad period for Mac hardware. They didn’t ship a retina MacBook Air until 2018. The 12-inch MacBook was beautiful but expensive and seriously underpowered. And nothing suffered more than the Mac Pro in that stretch. I think Apple knew that the future was on their own silicon, but in the meantime, they just couldn’t get it up for the last five years of the Intel era.

While I’m bitching about Netflix’s craptacular new video player on Apple TV, let me quote from a piece I wrote two years ago (also complaining about Netflix’s tvOS app):

Turns out there are two better ways:

1. If you use the Control Center Apple TV remote control on your iPhone, there’s a dedicated “CC” button.

2. In tvOS, go to Settings → Accessibility → Accessibility Shortcut, and set it to “Closed Captions”. Now you can just triple-click the Menu/Back button on the remote to toggle captions. (On older Apple TV remotes, the button is labelled “Menu”; on the new remote, it’s labelled with a “<”.)

But here’s the hitch: Netflix’s tvOS app doesn’t support either of these ways to toggle captions. Netflix only supports the on-screen caption toggle in their custom video player. I get why Netflix and other streaming apps want to use their own custom video players, but it ought to be mandated by App Store review that they support accessibility features like this one.

What Apple should have done right from the start with the tvOS-based Apple TV a decade ago is require all apps to use the system video player. No custom video players. It’s too late for that, alas. But the tvOS App Store review process ought to insist on compliance with these accessibility and platform compliance features.

You want to use your own custom video player? Fine. But apps with custom video players must support the “CC” button in the iOS Control Center remote control, must support the triple-click accessibility shortcut, must support the platform conventions for fast-forwarding and rewinding using the Apple TV remote control, etc. If your video player doesn’t comply, your app update doesn’t get approved.

Apple should use the App Store approval process for the benefit of users. Isn’t that supposed to be the point?

Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Mark Lanier, a TX lawyer and part-time pastor who beat Meta and Google in the LA social media case and said Zuckerberg was “rattled” on the stand  —  Plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier uses props and parables to challenge social-media giants, drugmakers and manufacturers …

Invincible VS has added perhaps the one character fans have been clamoring for the most: Conquest. The terrifyingly powerful and mentally unstable Viltrumite is the final character joining the roster at launch: may heaven have mercy on everyone else.

Revealed dramatically during the Evo Awards, developer Quarter Up describes Conquest as a striker who is capable of applying “immense pressure” and overwhelming opponents with powerful strikes. For example, he has a charging punch that builds speed and gains super armor the further it travels.

Today’s news finalizes the 18-fighter launch roster. Here is the full line-up:

Allen the Alien
Anissa
Atom Eve
Battle Beast
Bulletproof
Cecil Stedman
Conquest
Dupli-Kate
Ella Mental
Invincible
Lucan
Monster Girl
Omni-Man
Powerplex
Rex Splode
Robot
Thula
Titan

These characters won’t be alone for long. Quarter Up previously announced a Year 1 DLC roadmap that will add new fighters over the coming months, and we now know the first two characters that will arrive: The Immortal and Universa. The Immortal, as his name suggests, is a long-living warrior and a pillar of the Guardians of the Globe. Universa is new to fans of the Invincible animated series, having debuted in the recently released Season 4; we won’t reveal anything else if you haven’t watched yet.  

Additionally, Quarter Up also revealed the modes that will be playable in the game’s open beta from April 9-11. Players can try the Tutorial, Practice, and Ranked offerings. 10 characters will be selectable (Invincible, Atom Eve, Omni-Man, Allen, Battle Beast, Rex Splode, Robot, Monster Girl, Thula, and Bulletproof) across 6 arenas: Hometown Invasion (Night), The Moon, Ka-Hor’s Tomb (Day), Himalayas, Kinetic Chamber, and Training Room. Lastly, open beta players will also unlock a special Omni-Man character skin.

Invincible VS is set to launch on April 30 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The game also graces the cover of Game Informer magazine this month, and you can subscribe to read the digital issue now (with print issues arriving in the mail and to bookstores/newsstands soon). To learn more about the game, be sure to check out our exclusive feature detailing gameplay for Dupli-Kate, this video feature with co-creator Robert Kirkman discussing the game’s origin, and this piece shedding light on Invincible VS’ story mode.