Hello hello! Welcome back to Week in Review, a newsletter where we quickly round up the most read TechCrunch stories of the past week. The idea is that when you have a busy few days, you should check out the review period of the week and still have a good idea of what’s in technology. Want it in your inbox? Register here.
of Read more This week’s story was about Battlegrounds Mobile India, a popular battle royale title that has reached an audience of tens of millions in India. When the players woke up, the game was suddenly banned from both Google Play and the Apple App Store by order of the Indian government. why? That… isn’t exactly clear yet, but Manish has a list of everything we know so far.
Other things
New Gmail for everyoneUse Gmail? Don’t be surprised if it looks different soon. The company has announced that the “Material You” interface update it has been testing this week will be rolling out to all users in the coming weeks. Don’t like the new styling? For now, at least, you can find a hidden toggle in the Settings menu to toggle it back.
Instagram Bad Activity(s): As far as anyone can tell, TikTok seems to be eating Instagram’s lunch. Will the answer to Instagram be more like TikTok? Recent updates — like a focus on full-screen video and more content from people you don’t follow — have made Insta’s interface feel more and more TikTok-y… and, well, the complaints have been loud. Although Instagram is at least pretending to listen, it has said it will roll back many of the changes. Maybe.
Rivian dismissalEarlier this month, rumors swirled that Rivian was about to be fired; Sure enough, the company confirmed this week that it is cutting 6 percent of its workforce as part of a “restructuring plan.”
A penny for your questions?OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 can generate amazing art seemingly out of thin air, but sometimes getting the exact results you want can require some…good stuff. This startup wants to “sell a net string of words with predictable results” on DALL-E 2 and similar systems. An interesting story made better by the oh-so-Seussian opening image, which I note was created by someone (and Favorite with that).
Fixed meta closures.Did you know Meta had a social app for couples? Probably not! The so-called fix, was part of Meta’s new product testing efforts, and this particular test seems to have ended. Meta announced this week that Tuned will be discontinued on September 19th. The app was meant to help couples communicate and “create a joint diary” of photos/videos/etc. It doesn’t help that when the pandemic starts, many couples probably don’t have anywhere to go, so they probably don’t have trouble meeting up.
Audio stuff
Is downsizing your company a good thing? Natasha and Anita focused on that question in Wednesday’s Equality class. Meanwhile, in Chain Reaction, Lucas and Anita chat about Minecraft, say “thank you” to NFTs, and Lauren goes on The TechCrunch Podcast to discuss why (as we learned last week) Netflix is bleeding customers.
More things
If you’re a TechCrunch+ subscriber (a) thank you! And (b) we’ve got something cool for you this week. such as:
3 views on Amazon One Medical purchase: Like it or not, Amazon is buying a medical. Good thing? Bad thing? Alex Wilhelm, Walter Thompson and Miranda Halpern weigh in with their views.
8 How to install fintech VCsWhat are fintech investors looking for now? Mary Ann Azevedo confirms eight of the top investors in the space.
Could the CHIPS Act spark another American startup renaissance?The US Senate apparently wants more semiconductor production stateside – but chip manufacturing is expensive. Is this “potential cash injection” an opportunity for new startups to change their ways? Haje said: “Those weird theories you studied as part of your PhD thesis? Time to dust it off.
