Leah 'AntiTrustButVerify' Nylen

Google Must Limit Default Contracts to One Year, Judge Rules Alphabet Inc.’s Google must renegotiate any contract to make its search engine or artificial intelligence app the default for smartphones and other devices every year, a federal judge ruled.

Final Google judgment dropped www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Ultimate Legal Fight Over Who Decides the Rules in America Ninety years after the Supreme Court ruled on regulatory independence, the issue is again at stake.

For Businessweek, I wrote about the Supreme Court arguments Monday that could reshape the federal government as it’s been known for the past century www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Ultimate Western Gift Guide for Cowboys and Dreamers When I grow up, I want a cowboy!

Today's favorite gift guide find: $222 for a set of six pewter napkin rings shaped like saddles for horses. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

FTC Examining Whether TP-Link Misled US Consumers About Its China Split The US Federal Trade Commission is examining whether TP-Link Systems Inc., a California-based wireless router maker, may have deceived consumers by allegedly concealing its connections to China since ...

From @sisco.bsky.social and Kate O'Keefe www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Constellation in Settlement Talks With DOJ Over Calpine Deal Constellation Energy Corp. is hashing out a settlement with the US Justice Department to pave the way for the closure of its landmark $16.4 billion acquisition of closely held Calpine Corp., a deal th...

My colleague @sisco.bsky.social with the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Or a $195 stainless steel lunch box www.prada.com/us/en/p/stai...

Auto Fragrance - D.S. & DURGA D.S. & Durga makes immersive fragrances in Brooklyn, NY. Founded by husband-and-wife team David (D.S.) and Kavi (Durga), the perfumer-owned house invites exploration and highlights that Perfume is Arm...

Like a $60 car air freshener www.dsanddurga.com/collections/...

Fancy Versions of Everyday Items Make the Best Gifts 17 splurgy presents they’d never buy themselves.

Apparently "fancy versions of everyday items" are in this year.

Maybe watches are the new diamond ring? You must save for at least 3 months to buy.

I mathed wrong. They're 3x+ my monthly salary.

The Best Food and Drink Gifts of the Season The ultimate gift guide for people who like to cook, bake, eat and drink.

A separate guide for the "foodie" in your life where the cheapest thing is $14 (!) for a fancy box mix of brownies. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

An entire section dedicated to watches that cost 2x+ my monthly salary.

MATCH Pewter Venezia Cake Stand MATCH Pewter's Venezia cake stand features an elaborate filigree engraving. A gorgeous pedestal for your most tempting culinary creations.

$555 for a cake stand made out of tin match1995.com/products/ven...

Bamboo Toothpaste Squeezer Shop the Bamboo Toothpaste Squeezer by Lorenzi Milano at ABASK.

$780 for a "luxury" toothpaste squeezer
www.abask.com/en-us/produc...

100 Luxury Gifts That Blend Nostalgia, Glamour and Holiday Joy These gifts celebrate the past and will be treasured long into the future.

One of my favorite things about December is all the unhinged gift guides that come out. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Finally, his decision to use 2025 numbers (versus 2020 numbers, for the year the case was filed) was clearly the decisive factor. He notes that in 2021 TikTok had only 93 million active users and today that number is 170 million.

Boasberg dismisses that because he says controlling 54% of a market doesn't give someone a monopoly. "Nothing, in short, suggests that a market share of 54% produces monopoly power, even if the Court nudges the figure upward to Meta's roughly 60% share of active users. "

The FTC had argued a more narrow definition of the market where Facebook controlled 54% of time spent on social networking apps, 59% of monthly average users, and 62% of daily active users.

Judge Boasberg today released a new version of the Facebook decision, with fewer redactions. Some highlights:
- He decides that Meta doesn't have a monopoly because if you include YouTube and TikTok in the market they only control 30% of time spent on social networking apps.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer mediev…

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher www.goodreads.com/book/show/61...

Half Sick of Shadows Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a …

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian www.goodreads.com/book/show/49...

Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle, #1) After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old …

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn www.goodreads.com/book/show/50...

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices Featuring stories by a bestselling, cross-genre assortm…

Sword Stone Table - short story retellings of Arthur www.goodreads.com/book/show/56...

It was supposed to be an alfredo lasagna. But the alfredo sauce was terrible and the proportions all off. It would be better described as "undercooked lasagna noodles floating in an ill-conceived sauce of buttery flour."

OMG, I'm so glad you wrote about this. A friend of mine accidentally used an AI slop recipe to make lasagna for a dinner party last month and it was...not good.

To this day I am not allowed to bring dessert to my family's T-day celebration because of the one year I "ruined" Thanksgiving by ...making the pumpkin pie with a gingersnap crust.

Google Judge Signals Concerns Over DOJ-Backed Ad Exchange Sale The judge overseeing the US Justice Department’s antitrust case over Google’s ad tech monopolies said she is concerned about how long a forced sale of the company’s advertising exchange might take and...

A dispatch from today’s closings in US v Google (ad tech) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Special thanks to @superwuster.bsky.social and @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy for their thoughts, which inspired mine

Don’t Expect AI To Disrupt Google’s Monopoly on Search A judge said artificial intelligence would upend Google’s dominance, but two new books argue that monopolies rarely fix themselves.

I read some books and wrote an essay for Bloomberg Weekend:

Boasberg finds that Meta isn't a monopoly for two reasons: 1) any market must include YouTube and TikTok (the FTC argued those companies are video entertainment not social networking) and 2) once those companies are in Meta holds less than 50% of the market (though exact market share is redacted).