Red flags and green flags for tech in 2025
Plus the troubles with covering tech, Trump throws TikTok a lifeline and Sharesies reports record.
Happy Friday!
Wow. We made it through our first week back and your guys support has been epic! Hitting the ground running with a steady stream of new subscribers has been exactly the right start to our year. In celebration, this newsletter will be going out free to all and kicks off with a Friday Feature from me asking a question near to my heart - why aren’t there more tech journalists? Then we crack into our Daily Shot of news starting with one of the best tech journos we do have, Chris Keall over at Herald and his Red + Green tech flags for 2025.
Let’s get into it!
From 3G shutdown to AI slop: Tech red flags and green flags for 2025
Unpacking the brutal Pacific Edge share slump
Record trading on Sharesies platform
Trump throws TikTok a lifeline
Blue Origin successfully launches New Glenn rocket into space
Your weekend fuel list of what to watch, read and listen to
Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed this week and thank you to for sticking with us over the break. 2024 was a sometimes tough but transformative year for us at Caffeine and I am sure many of your can relate.
Here’s to making 2025 not just about surviving but absolutely thriving.
Finn, Lauren & the Caffeine Team
From 3G shutdown to AI slop: Tech red flags and green flags for 2025 - Cracking feature from Chris Keall at the Herald laying out what we should be watching out for this year in tech - both good and bad. On the green flag side Keall points to a potential breakthrough year for Rocketlab and Bluesky as well as a return to long form content more generally. Red flags include the death of 3G, Meta’s AI people and the growing problem of AI slop. I think AI slop in particular is going to be an absolute nightmare this year and if you pay close attention to any of your feeds, they’re likely already covered in more slop than you realise. Definitely worth checking out his whole piece here.
Unpacking the Pacific Edge news: We saw a brutal share price slump earlier this week for Dunedin-based biotech company Pacific Edge, down 55% after its biggest customer said it would cease purchases come February. Before the announcement shares were worth over $100m, plunging to under $50m following. It’s a remarkable fall for a company that just three years ago was worth over a billion in market cap. So what should other medtech companies learn from Pacific Edge’s woes? Well Tim Hunter over NBR has done a great deep dive into the decision by Medicare (the customer in question) to drop Pacific Edge. It’s a dense piece but does a great job of elucidating the complex environment US-aimed companies must navigate and the potentially expensive results of getting it wrong. Read more here.
Record trading on Sharesies platform: As mentioned many times on the newsey, I love rummaging for alternative economic indicators and this is a fun one. Investment platform Sharesies reported retail investors are feeling more confident with record trading over the three months to December. The Sharesies Index score of 55 indicates user sentiment moved into the confident range for the first time since 2022. Sharesies said combined Australian and New Zealand trading on the platform of $3.12 billion in the last quarter of 2024 was nearly double the previous record. Read more here.
Trump throws TikTok a lifeline: Whether or not TikTok actually helped Trump win the election, he certainly seems to think it did and now he is throwing the company a lifeline. Reuters (via RNZ) reports that the new administration may keep TikTok alive in the United States if there is a viable deal, according to the incoming National Security Advisor. The law gives authority for a 90-day extension for the app's Chinese owner ByteDance to complete a divestiture as long as a viable deal is on the table. That would essentially buy President Trump time to keep TikTok going as a deal was sorted, potentially with Elon Musk if previous reports are to be believed. There is even news out this morning that TikTok CEO Shou Chew will be given a place of honour at Trump’s inauguration, marking a remarkable turnaround from him trying to ban it in 2020. Read more here.
Blue Origin successfully launches New Glenn rocket into space: Remember the billionare space race? Well it’s still happening and it just kicked up a notch as Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin launched its new mega-rocket into orbit for the first time. Tech Crunch reports the rocket lifted off at 2:03 a.m. ET on January 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and crossed the official boundary into space a few minutes later. Shortly after, a second-stage burn placed the rocket’s upper section into orbit around the Earth.
It was the rocket’s inaugural launch but seemed to be an overall success with the company stating that reaching orbit safely was its main objective. Wasn’t completely without incident though as the rocket’s first stage exploded on the way back down to Earth. The company hopes to launch again this spring, and plans as many as eight New Glenn launches this year. Maybe with Elon so distracted by life in the White House, Bezos will take the lead? Read the full piece here.
Here’s what’s on our radar. Hit us with your own recommendations.
Watch: The Brutalist - This movie is already cleaning up the award circuit and will be an Oscar shoe-in. If you haven’t heard already, it’s a nearly 4 hour epic telling the story of a brilliant architect fleeing WW2 and the price both he and his family pays to try rebuild their life in America under the wing of a ruthless businessman. Much smarter people than me have spilled a lot of ink on this one so all I will say is that despite it’s mighty run time, I was never bored once. It’s an incredibly impressive film.
📖 Read: The Golden Road by William Dalrymple - I am a massive nerd for world history but if I am completely honest with myself, it’s often not so much been ‘world’ history as ‘slices of Europe, America and maybe Japan’. Hence why it was a pleasure to pick up this excellent book providing a great introduction to the crucial role ancient India played in creating our modern world. It’s an undertold story and beautifully written and researched.
📺 Watch: Any David Lynch content but specifically Twin Peaks: With the tragic news that iconic director David Lynch has passed away at 78, there is no stronger recommendation I can give you than watching literally anything the man made. If you need just one to start with though, Twin Peaks remains the all time classic.
Five Cocktails Dreamt Up in David Lynch’s Paris: In honour of the great man, instead of a single cocktail, follow this link for a great interview with the head barman and drinks list recommendations at Silencio, David Lynch’s own bar.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co. Look after yourselves this weekend and we’ll see you Monday.