Welcome, of us, to Week in Review (WiR), Ztoog’s common column that rounds up the week in tech information. Dunno about y’all, nevertheless it’s felt like a protracted one — and I’m grateful for the prolonged weekend. For these observing Memorial Day, do take pleasure in. Those not, take the time off the place you’re in a position. We all want relaxation right here and there.
First, a number of PSAs.
This week, Ztoog Live hosted Flint Capital and Sensi.AI, a startup utilizing audio-based software program to observe sufferers and help medical workers and members of the family with care. To these of you who tuned in, many thanks. But when you missed it, to not fear — we’ll have the recording up shortly.
Then, in September, there’s Disrupt, TC’s annual convention. Whether you’re a startup rookie studying the ropes, a seasoned investor looking out for the following large factor or a founder hell-bent on altering the world, Disrupt will ship the instruments, data and connections that can assist you make it occur.
Now, on with the information.
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After 28 years, Windows positive factors RAR support: Devin writes about Microsoft bringing native support for the RAR archive format to Windows. Miraculously, it took the higher a part of three a long time for the .rar file to lastly be supported in Windows with none type of extra software program. That’s longer than I’ve been alive, pricey readers — to not date myself!
Netflix begins password crackdown: After a delayed launch, Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing is now starting to roll out to U.S. subscribers and different world markets. The streamer had initially deliberate to introduce “paid sharing” to U.S. subscribers within the first quarter of this yr however pushed the beginning date again to the summer time after seeing cancellations in markets the place it had already launched the modifications.
More layoffs at Meta: Meta is waging its newest spherical of layoffs on Wednesday, estimated to impression about 6,000 folks. These cuts are a part of the corporate’s so-called Year of Efficiency, wherein Meta is being massively restructured to save cash and flatten the group construction.
EU orders Meta suspension: In different Meta information, Meta was hit this week with a proper suspension order requiring it to cease exporting EU consumer knowledge to the U.S. for processing. Today, the European Data Protection Board introduced that Meta has been fined €1.2 billion (near $1.3 billion), which the Board confirmed is the most important nice ever issued beneath the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Meta pressured to promote: Meta, dominating the headlines as soon as once more this week, bought Giphy — the animated GIF search engine it acquired for $400 million three years in the past — to Shutterstock. The sale wasn’t voluntary, essentially; seven months in the past, the U.Ok.’s antitrust authority issued a ultimate order for Meta to promote Giphy, on the grounds that the merger lowered competitors.
WhatsApp adds message modifying: WhatsApp introduced one of many app’s most anticipated options this week — message modifying. WhatsApp customers can now modify a message inside quarter-hour of sending the message. The edited messages can have an “edited” tag subsequent to the time stamp to mark the change.
The drawback with paid verification: The pretend Pentagon assault hoax that went viral this week exhibits the perils of Twitter’s paid verification scheme. The gist? The mixture of paid blue checks and generative AI makes all of it too straightforward to unfold misinformation — and shortly.
Investing in India: Amazon plans to speculate $12.7 billion into its cloud enterprise in India by 2030, the e-commerce group mentioned Thursday, because it pushes forward to scale up the AWS infrastructure in the important thing abroad market at a time when it has pared again a number of different providers within the area.
Bigger and higher: Amazon launched its greatest pill this week. Called the Fire Max 11, it has an 11-inch display. The firm is pricing the machine at $229.99 — providing a less expensive possibility for customers than the ten.9-inch iPad and the brand new Pixel pill with a similar-sized display.
AI to construct web sites: This week at its annual Build convention, Microsoft launched Copilot in Power Pages — an AI-powered assistant for Microsoft’s low-code enterprise web site creation device — in a preview for U.S. prospects. Given prompts, Copilot can generate textual content, kinds, chatbots and net web page layouts and can create and edit picture and website design themes.
Ztoog (nearly) in Atlanta
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin (opens in a brand new window)
On June 7, Ztoog will host City Spotlight: Atlanta. We have a slate of wonderful programming deliberate, together with a fireplace chat with Ryan Glover, the co-founder of the fintech Greenwood, in addition to a panel that examines the enterprise ecosystem throughout the Atlanta area and identifies the most effective methods to lift and meet with native enterprise capitalists. But that’s not all. If you might be an early-stage Atlanta-based founder, apply to pitch to our panel of visitor buyers/judges for our dwell pitching competitors; the winner will get a free sales space at Ztoog Disrupt this yr to exhibit their firm in our startup alley. Register right here.
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In want of a podcast (or a number of)? You’ve come to the proper place — there’s no scarcity of choices out of TC HQ. This week on Found, the crew was joined by Sarah Sandnes, the co-founder and CTO of SafetyWing, which is creating a worldwide security internet for distant workers. Ztoog Live, in the meantime, featured Mark Rostick from Intel Capital and Garima Kapoor from MinIO, a startup that discovered a distinct segment promoting object storage whereas competing straight with Amazon S3.
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TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you realize when you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, think about signing up. Here are a number of highlights from this week:
Profitability over development: In this piece by Kate, 5 buyers defined their mantra for South Korean startups. Kate spoke to pick out buyers who make investments within the South Korean market to listen to their predictions for 2023, their funding technique, which sectors excite them and extra.
Cybersecurity downturn: Alex writes about how, on the again of fairly sturdy earnings studies and valuations, public cybersecurity firms are outperforming the broader know-how phase. Yet, funding for cybersecurity startups has flatlined.
Startups within the enterprise AI race: Another piece by Alex explores whether or not startups have a shot in enterprise AI. Given how profitable promoting software program to massive companies can show, he notes, the gamers aren’t chasing a small market.