🌎 Tech's new battlefield

Plus: Taylor Swift knew FTX was trouble
🌎 Tech's new battlefield

Good morning, Quartz readers!


Here’s what you need to know

Microsoft sparked Elon Musk’s ire. The tech giant is shutting down a service that uses Twitter’s API rather than paying for it, provoking threats of legal action from the chief twit.

Tesla slashed prices for the sixth time this year. The markdowns, which attempt to compensate for the loss of some EV tax credits, were announced ahead of a muted first-quarter earnings report.

Disney made another agreement protecting its autonomy from Florida’s oversight. Governor Ron DeSantis’s appointees just discovered their authority was curtailed even in the utilities realm.

Snap’s CEO would love a TikTok ban, in the short term. Evan Spiegel’s refreshing honesty highlighted the catch-22 of a potential ban on the popular Chinese app.

Lydia Davis is boycotting Amazon. The award-winning author and translator will not sell her new book on Amazon as a form of protest against the company’s business model.

You can (legally) get high in these states today

It’s April 20th, the day stoner culture claims as its own (even if the date’s origins are a bit hazy).

Image for article titled 🌎 Tech's new battlefield
Graphic: Clarisa Diaz

There may be more celebrating than usual this year. Medical use of cannabis is now legal in 40 states and in Washington, DC, and recreationally in 21 of those states. Oh, and buzz around legalization is blazing across several holdout states.


Taylor Swift knew FTX was trouble

Gif: Giphy (Reuters)

“Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?”

This simple question helped save Taylor Swift from jumping on the doomed FTX bandwagon.


South Korean regulators raided a K-pop agency

120,000 won ($90): Music label Hybe’s failed per-share offer for K-pop agency SM Entertainment

On the last day of the offer period, SM’s stock value was higher than that bid. Hybe alleges a large trade of SM shares was made to artificially raise the company’s stock value, ultimately causing its tender offer to fail. Now regulators are taking a look.


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Surprising discoveries

If Germany’s cloud storage was put on floppy disks that were stacked on top of one other, its height would be out of this world. Way past the Moon, even.

Hershey is buttering up its popcorn business. The US chocolatier bought two plants to expand its SkinnyPop brand and help more toddlers cause controversial messes on planes.

The Crunchwrap Supreme was born out of countless hexagonal taco sketches. Creator Lois Carson’s creative process was a lot like Thomas Edison’s.

Carnivorous plants may use odor to attract prey. Specialized scents might explain why some mostly eat ants and others munch on bees.

Indians are getting biryani flown to them. Zomato is banking on nostalgia for hometown dishes to drive its food flight service.


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