Apple's ad mistake is a lesson for all tech companies

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Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Ever dream of packing it all in and moving to Southern Europe? You may have to rethink: The golden age of golden visas is already over. 

Apple under pressure

A Space Invaders arcade game. Brightly colored paint cans. A cute squishy toy. Each slowly succumbs to a hydraulic press. What’s left is a new iPad.

Apple’s ad, titled “Crush,” was meant to show how the new tablet can be a creative tool. Instead it debuted to derision. The company responded by pulling the ad from TV and apologizing, saying it “missed the mark.”

The damage to Apple’s business is likely to be minimal. First quarter iPad sales came in at $7 billion. In comparison, iPhone sales were almost 10x that. Apple is a $2.8 trillion giant. 

The reputational damage is to be seen. Thanks to the almost instantaneous backlash, the ad didn’t air widely. If the ad has changed your perceptions of Apple, let me know in the comments below.

But the ad, and the reaction to it, highlights our changed relationship with our devices. 

Apple’s iconic 1984 Super Bowl ad was about the promise of technology, of breaking free from drudgery, of revolution. 

Forty years on, creatives are concerned that AI will coopt their work or replace them entirely. Vinyl sales are booming. Teenagers are choosing dumb phones. Digital cameras are back. We’re tracking and limiting screen time for our kids. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that an ad portraying a powerful machine crushing much-loved tools of human creativity hit a nerve. 

Apple’s mistake should serve as a lesson to every tech company.

The dark heart of modern chess

Chess has never been more popular, but its ugly side has also never been more exposed. 

The same characteristics that have driven its popularity online — an easy-to-understand eight-by-eight grid, a strategy without chance or luck — have also made it a cheater's paradise. Meanwhile, rampant sexism festers at chess' heart.

One reporter’s quest to understand chess’ degeneration.

More of this week’s top reads:

• How spending has changed for young adults in the last 30 years.
• “Seriously underwater” mortgages are on the rise throughout the US.
• I've been offered every job I've interviewed for. I always ask five questions. 
• Three reasons Norwegians are so effective at work.
• OpenAI destroyed a trove of books used to train AI models.
• Meet the millennials who accidentally gamed the economy and wound up wealthy.

Curated by Matt Turner and edited by Jordan Parker Erb.

This is a shorter version of our flagship newsletter, which brings you in-depth analysis and summaries of the top stories from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

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