Hello everyone. Welcome to the latest edition of Week in Review (WiR). This is a weekly newsletter that summarizes the technical news of the past few days (or so). We claim there is no better way to fix the news, but we are biased… yet! Trust us when we say it’s a labor of love.
Before we get into what’s happening this week, don’t forget that TechCrunch’s annual flagship conference, Disrupt, is just around the corner. This year’s Disrupt will feature six (yes, six) independent industry TC session events on stages featuring industry-specific programming tracks. Well worth the trek to San Francisco.
Before that comes the next TechCrunch Live session with SignalFire and ClassDojo. They will discuss ClassDojo’s mission to revolutionize education by building classroom communities.
Well, without further ado!
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fake drake: The song “Heart on My Sleeve,” featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, has been streamed over 250,000 times on Spotify and 10 million plays on TikTok. However, the two musicians had nothing to do with the song. An artist named “Ghostwriter” used his AI to generate songs. Amanda have a story
Apple goes into savings: As of this week, US Apple Card customers can open a savings account with Apple and receive up to 4.15% interest. Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs on banking features. The Savings Account is technically managed by Goldman Sachs. That means it’s covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. romance report.
Apple is considering opening up: Apple has so far kept its iPhone app distribution system relatively closed, allowing users to download apps only from the App Store. However, the company may soon add some gates to the walled garden. Ivan reports that Apple is considering allowing people to sideload apps on their iPhones, and may make some announcements related to that at the Worldwide Developer Conference in June. .
Big Apple Watch update: Apple Watch software is set to receive its biggest update since its release. Sara, citing a Bloomberg report, wrote that the updated watchOS 10 “brings greater enhancements” than the planned release for iPhones, iPads, Macs or Apple TVs. About the Apple Watch in 2023″
Love is blind, but sometimes canceled: Netflix had a serious problem with the livestream of the “Love Is Blind” reunion episode. Amanda I am writing. After a 75-minute delay, the streaming service pulled the plug on the live show due to seemingly unsolvable technical issues.
Microsoft removes Twitter. Microsoft announced this week that it would be removing Twitter from its advertising platform, about two months after Twitter announced it would start charging API users a minimum of $42,000 per month. With a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion and about $100 billion in cash on hand at the end of last year, the move is a bit of a stretch as Microsoft clearly has the cash to pay for what Twitter wants. looks like a statement. I will elaborate further on that decision.
Meta lays off more workers: Meta announced another mass layoff this week. Rebecca report. These are part of the 10,000 layoffs CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in March, many of them related to “low-priority projects.” The mass layoffs are part of a broader restructuring at Meta that Zuckerberg called a “year of efficiency” that began with his 11,000 layoffs announced in November.
No more check-in kiosks: Alaska Airlines recently launched a three-year, $2.5 billion project to improve the airport experience in hubs and focus cities such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. As part of the project, the airline is looking to modernize the lobby experience. As the company announced today, the most visible change here is the removal of his good old check-in kiosk. Frederick I am writing.
Snapchat’s AI is for everyone. Snapchat’s AI chatbot is open to a global audience, the company announced at this week’s Snap Partner Summit. The feature, which first launched in February, originally allowed paying Snapchat subscribers to chat directly in the app with AI chatbots powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology. Now available for free and upgraded with features like the ability to add chatbots to group chats, get location recommendations in Snapmaps and Lenses, share snaps with chatbots and receive chat replies will be Sara There are more.
Tesla cuts prices: Tesla has cut prices on its Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles twice this month. Tesla’s most popular models start at under $40,000 before incentives apply.
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Looking for podcast material to pass the time? As always, TechCrunch has you covered. This week, the Equity crew taped TechCrunch’s early stage founders’ event, covering topics ranging from rockets to revenue to how certain companies are cutting costs. At Found, Mammoth Biosciences co-founder Trevor Martin spoke about how the company uses his CRISPR system to detect and treat genetic diseases. Chain Reaction interviewed Jesse Pollak, leader of Base and he’s Head of Protocol at Coinbase. Our latest TechCrunch Live episode features Inspired Capital co-founder and partner Mark Batsiyan and Habi co-founder and CEO Brynne McNulty Rojas. Habi is a high-profile Colombian real estate startup that reached unicorn status last year. She — talked about their respective experiences in technology.
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TC+ subscribers have access to detailed commentary, analysis, and research. You will know this if you are already a subscriber. If not, please consider signing up. Here are this week’s highlights:
Photonics and AI: The increased computational power required to train sophisticated AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT may eventually hit a wall with mainstream chip technology. Could light-based chips, also known as photonics chips, be the answer? Maybe, but it’s not yet clear.
There is always money in the coffee stand. Blank Street claims to have cracked the code on how to make a chain of over 65 physical coffee shops have the right metrics to attract venture capitalists. They recently closed in a year of plummeting funding with a $20 million Series B round. Rebecca have a story
Should You Launch an AI Startup?: It seems like a great time for founders looking to launch an AI startup, especially now that OpenAI has released ChatGPT to the masses. But it may also be the other way around, depending on the investor you ask. Ron Try to get to the bottom of it.
