Innovation is slowing down - Big Tech is to blame

Plus: Bobby Kotick (Activision CEO) has a second secret company to back GOP campaigns, Mortgage Rates Close In on 4%, and more ...

Good Morning and Happy Friday. Here is what’s on today’s edition:

• Innovation is slowing down-and Big Tech is to blame. (James Bessen via MIT Technology Review)

• Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has a second secret company that spent big money to back GOP campaigns. (Brian Schwartz via CNBC)

• Mortgage Rates Close In on 4%, Making Home Affordability Tougher. (Orla McCaffrey via Wall Street Journal)

• Meta's social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 users. (Alex Heath via The Verge)

• Remote hiring startup Deel's new feature gives businesses the option to fund payroll in crypto. (Mary Ann Azevedo via TechCrunch)

• Can You Be an NFT Artist and an Environmentalist?. (Charlotte Kent via WIRED)

• Amazon's Dash Cart smart shopping cart sees steady decline in usage. (Eugene Kim via Business Insider)

That’s it for today, see you on Monday!

— Jose Montes de Oca

P.S. Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.

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Today’s pick

Innovation is slowing down-and Big Tech is to blame. The great IT revolution is no longer promoting economic dynamism. It’s preventing it. (James Bessen / MIT Technology Review)

James Bessen @JamesBessen

My new piece in MIT Technology Review

technologyreview.comHow big technology systems are slowing innovationThe great IT revolution is no longer promoting economic dynamism. It’s preventing it.

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Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has a second secret company that spent big money to back GOP campaigns. The company, Norgate LLC, contributed $500,000 through two separate checks to the Senate Leadership Fund during the 2020 election cycle, according to federal filings reviewed by CNBC. (Brian Schwartz / CNBC)

Brian Schwartz @schwartzbCNBC

Scoop: Activision CEO @BobbyKotick has a second secret company that's spending big money to back GOP candidates, including at least $500,000 toward a super PAC run by allies of Mitch McConnell. The company is called Norgate LLC. h/t @CampaignLegal

cnb.cxActivision CEO Bobby Kotick has a second secret company that spent big money to back GOP campaignsActivision CEO Bobby Kotick has another secret company that he used to donate big money to Republican campaigns.

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Mortgage Rates Close In on 4%, Making Home Affordability Tougher. Mortgage rates hit their highest level in almost three years, further straining affordability in a market where prices have risen steeply. (Orla McCaffrey / Wall Street Journal)

Penelope Wang @PennyWriter

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan was the highest since May 2019, according to mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac @Orla_McCaffrey

wsj.comMortgage Rates Close In on 4%, Making Home Affordability TougherThe average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan was 3.92% for the week ended Thursday, the highest since May 2019.

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Meta's social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 users. Facebook has bet its future on virtual reality and the metaverse, rebranding to Meta and spending billions a year to build hardware and software that extends beyond traditional social media. (Alex Heath / The Verge)

Wagner James Au @slhamlet

Good scoop from @alexeheath. If you're wondering if 300K users are impressive, here's a data point: To this day, about 300K new Second Life accounts are created every month. So Horizon usage is comparing well to... a 19 year old metaverse platform.

theverge.comMeta’s social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 usersPeople are flocking to try Facebook’s early bet on the metaverse.

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Remote hiring startup Deel's new feature gives businesses the option to fund payroll in crypto. In 2019, Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang founded Deel, a startup that aims to help companies compliantly hire and pay talent remotely all around the world. (Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch)

Mary Ann Azevedo @bayareawriter

.@deel has figured out a way for employers to fund their payrolls in crypto...more here 👇🏽 techcrunch.com/2022/02/17/rem…

techcrunch.comRemote hiring startup Deel’s new feature gives businesses the option to fund payroll in crypto – TechCrunchIn 2019, Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang founded Deel, a startup that aims to help companies compliantly hire and pay talent remotely all around the world. The pair’s mission was earnest and their vision that remote work was here to stay preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, which only fueled demand for its o…

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Can You Be an NFT Artist and an Environmentalist?. Blockchain art’s carbon footprint is massive. Artists who care about the climate are trying new experiments. (Charlotte Kent via WIRED)

WIRED @WIRED

For artists who want to experiment with NFTs and blockchain, the desire to create environmental art seems to conflict with the actual goal of saving the environment. Can you be an NFT artist and an Environmentalist?

wired.trib.alCan You Be an NFT Artist and an Environmentalist?Blockchain art’s carbon footprint is massive. Artists who care about the climate are trying new experiments.

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Amazon's Dash Cart smart shopping cart sees steady decline in usage. Leaked document shows Amazon's ambitious physical stores plans are falling short of expectations, with far fewer people using its cashierless grocery carts than predicted. (Eugene Kim via Business Insider)

Eugene Kim @eugenekim222

New: Amazon’s Dash Cart, a smart shopping cart that lets you skip cashiers, is falling short of internal expectations. But customers love at least one thing about it.

businessinsider.comLeaked document shows Amazon’s ambitious physical stores plans are falling short of expectations, with far fewer people using its cashierle…Customers find Amazon’s Dash Cart too small for general use, but like that it keeps track of their grocery shopping in real time, the document says

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Thanks for reading to the bottom and soaking in our Newslit fuelled highlights for your morning.

I hope you found it interesting and, needless to say, if you have any questions or feedback let me know by hitting reply or on Twitter.

Take care,
Jose