Roundup: Apple Car is (finally) dead

Read to the end for a more evidence of an access journalist’s close ties to tech CEOs

I have to admit, it’s hard to write or even think about anything but Dune: Part Two right now! I’ll be seeing a for a third time not long after this finds its way into your inbox, and I truly think it’s an incredible achievement by Denis Villeneuve. I’ve long been a fan of his films and admired the visual aesthetic he’s been honing over years, but Dune: Part Two does feel like a tangible step up from his previous work.

If you do want to hear me talk more about Dune while pairing it with tech criticism, you can tune into the livestream I’m hosting along with Ed Ongweso Jr. and Brian Merchant on Friday at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT. You can set a reminder over on YouTube.

With that said, this week I have some comments on the long-awaited announcement from Apple that it’s finally ditching its car project, along with the usual recommended reads, labor updates, and other tech news you might have missed.

As I’m sure you saw, I reviewed Kara Swisher’s Burn Book this week and how it misrepresents the role she played in Silicon Valley. Over on Tech Won’t Save Us, I interviewed Ben Wray about the failure of the European Union’s Platform Work Directive and what that means for gig workers’ rights in Europe. We also discussed Uber’s first annual profit. That same day CEO Dara Khosrowshahi unlocked his $136 million in stock options.

Finally, I also spoke to Molly Taft for a piece she wrote in The Guardian about Shell’s latest effort to use tech solutions to cover how it’s still boiling the planet with all its fossil fuel production.

Have a great week!

— Paris