The Download: alternative aviation fuels, and drone-delivered bubble tea
June 2020
Venture capitalists sell themselves as the top of the heap in Silicon Valley. They are the talent spotters, the cowboys, the risk takers; they support people willing to buck the system and, they say, deserve to be richly rewarded and lightly taxed for doing so.
This largely white, largely male corner of finance has backed software companies that grow fast and generate large amounts of money for a shrinking number of Americans—companies like Google, Facebook, Uber, and Airbnb.
But they don’t create many jobs for ordinary people, especially compared with the companies or industries they disrupt. And things have been slowing down. Recently, venture capitalists have found fewer and fewer ideas that fit their preferred pattern. Read the full story.
—Elizabeth MacBride
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ This cool Twitter account tweets out text graphics throughout the ages.
+ How to check out a once-in-a-decade supernova, using nothing more than your backyard telescope.
+ If you’ve got three weeks to spare, this guide to interrailing through Europe should keep you occupied.
+ How invested are you in the mismatched celebrity couple drama?
+ Lou Reed: icon of cool, master of tai chi.
