Hello guys! happy friday While Greg, our Fearless Review Week leader, enjoys parental leave, I’m filling in, compiling the latest on the tech news front. It’s been another roller coaster of a week as the economic winds are brutal, depressing and chaos reigns on Elon Musk’s Twitter. In the midst of all this, Boston Dynamics unveiled an improved duo robot, Wikipedia launched a redesign, and major universities banned TikTok from their campus networks. Yes – a lot happened.
Before we get down to business, a friendly reminder that TechCrunch Early Stage 2023 is on April 20th in Boston. It’s a one-day conference for founders who are in the early stages of growing their companies, who have built a product but don’t know how to monetize it, and who have an idea but don’t know where to get funding. To a viable business. In the early stages, experts share advice on protecting intellectual property, setting up cap tables, developing target customers, and more. You won’t want to miss it.
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Alphabet makes deep cuts: Google parent company Alphabet announced on Friday that it is cutting 6% of its global workforce, or about 12,000 roles. Paul Reports. In an open letter published by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, the narrative echoes that of other companies that have cut back in recent months, suggesting the company was “hired for a different economic reality” than today’s protests. .
Twitter prohibits third-party clients that: After shutting down popular app makers like Tweetbot and Twitterific, Twitter has quietly updated its developer agreement to block third-party Twitter clients entirely. Twitter’s 5,000-some-word “limits” section Developer agreement “It has been updated with a clause prohibiting access or use [to] The Licensed Materials create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.” This decision doesn’t seem like it will generate much goodwill at a time when Twitter is facing challenges on many fronts.
Hastings’ retreat; Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced Thursday that he is stepping down after more than two decades at the company. Taylor He wrote. While the news of his departure came as a shock, Hastings said in the announcement that Netflix plans for the next term of leadership “for several years.” Netflix has promoted COO Greg Peters to work alongside Ted Sarandos, maintaining its co-CEO structure in Hastings’ absence.
College students, no TikTok for you. Public universities across a wide range of US states have banned TikTok in recent months, and two of the nation’s largest colleges followed suit earlier this week. as a Taylor According to reports, the University of Texas and Texas A&M University have taken action against the social app, which is owned by its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance – blocking campus network and device users from accessing TikTok. The recent spate of bans was inspired by executive orders issued by several state governors.
Wikipedia makes corrections: This week, Wikipedia, used by billions every month, got its first desktop makeover in more than a decade. Sarah He wrote. The Wikimedia Foundation, which powers the Wikipedia project, has launched an improved interface aimed at making the site more accessible and easier to use, including improved search, a more accessible tool for switching between languages, improved headings with frequently used links, and more.
Pour one for AmazonSmile: Just days after announcing significant layoffs, Amazon said it would end its AmazonSmile donation program, which donates 0.5% of all eligible purchases to charities. Amazon said the program “hasn’t grown to have that impact.” [it] At first there was hope, but as Roman Of note, since 2013, Amazon has donated $400 million through AmazonSmile. The termination appears to be a further cost-cutting move.
Payment Date for Data Breach Victims: If you’re one of the nearly 77 million people affected by a T-Mobile breach last year, a few bucks may be coming your way. Devin reports that the company will pay $350 million to be split between clients and attorneys, and $150 million for “information security and related technology.” The breach appears to have occurred early last year, after which T-Mobile customer data sets were put up for sale on various criminal platforms.
Catching and Dropping Robots: TechCrunch Brave Matt Burns This week, Hyundai-backed Boston Dynamics wrote a demo video about the Atlas robot, which features gripper hands that can pick up and drop anything it can hold. The claw-like grip consists of one fixed finger and one movable finger; Boston Dynamics says the controllers are designed for heavy lifting, like Atlas holding a keg over his head during a Super Bowl commercial. Oil
Dungeons and Dragons: After weeks of fan backlash and protest, Witches of the Coast — the Hasbro-owned publisher of Dungeons & Dragons — has announced that it will now license Dungeons & Dragons’ core mechanics under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This gives the community a “worldwide, royalty-free, non-excludable, non-excludable, irrevocable license” to publish and sell works based on Dungeons & Dragons – a major change of heart for the gaming giant, which was considering a new implementation. A license that requires certain Dungeons and Dragons content creators to start paying 25% royalties.
Audio summary
Whether it’s to pass the time on the go or to liven up your morning run, TechCrunch may have a podcast to suit your needs. In equity focused startups this week, Natasha, Mary Ann And Rebecca He hopped on the mic to talk about a variety of news this week, including Sofia Amoruso’s new fundraiser, Welcome Homes, and compliments-focused social media apps. Meanwhile, Gigfinesse founder and CEO Mir Huang shared how his struggle to book music gigs as a youth inspired him to start the company, which connects artists to stages for live shows.
TechCrunch+
TC+, Deep Dives, Surveys, Guest Posts, and General Analysis TechCrunch’s premium channel is jam-packed with content this week (as always). Here are some of the most popular posts:
In response to the Twitter flood of information: Carly He wrote about the Twitter data breach that exposed the contact information of millions of users. as if Untitled blog post, Twitter said it had conducted a “thorough investigation” and found “no evidence” that Twitter user data was recently sold online using a vulnerability in Twitter’s systems. But she said it’s not clear whether Twitter has technical means, such as logs, to determine whether any user data has been leaked.
The Last Unicorns: VCs think most unicorns aren’t worth $1 billion. Rebecca He looks at the current investment landscape, recognizing that many of the companies that reached unicorn status last year may lose out as the economy worsens.
Sex in the workplace; Women-founded startups raised 1.9% of all VC funds in 2022, down from 2021 Dominic Madori He wrote. That percentage is a significant drop from the 2.4% all-female team that gathered in 2021. While the decline is to be expected, it is nonetheless severe. Aside from 2016, the last time an all-women-led startup raised a lower percentage of funding was in 2012, another funding period fueled by economic uncertainty and elections.
