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ek slash special offer. Welcome to tech news briefing it's Thursday February 8th. I'm Alex Osala for the Wall Street Journal.

Coming up on today's show, Apple's hardware and software simply work better with other Apple products.

This is a feature, not a bug.

And it's made the company a lot of money.

But has it become a liability?

W.S.J. Technology columnist Christopher Mims joins us.

And then, Elon Musk's companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, have helped make him

the richest man in the world. They've also enriched the company's board members, some of whom

also have close personal relationships with Musk.

W.S.J. reporter Emily Glazer tells us about the money and drugs that tie Musk to some

Tesla and SpaceX directors and how those relationships could impact the companies.

But first, Apple has long protected its so-called Wald Garden or its closed ecosystem of hardware and software.

That makes it very difficult for Apple customers to use devices outside of the ecosystem

...