Welcome, people, to Ztoog Week in Review (WiR), a digest of the previous few days in tech happenings.
As I write this, snow’s gracing New York City — an more and more uncommon deal with because of our altering local weather. And that feels becoming in mild of the Apple Vision Pro’s imminent launch. After all, one of many guarantees of headsets just like the Vision Pro is that they transport the wearer away from the stresses of on a regular basis life to extra optimistic realities — at the very least for a spell.
Brian went palms on with the Vision Pro this week. His impressions? It’s transporting, all proper — however very expensive.
There’s a first rate chunk of stories to recap this week, so let’s get to it. But first, a reminder to enroll right here to obtain WiR in your inbox each Saturday should you haven’t already performed so.
News
“Quiet supersonic” jet: NASA and Lockheed Martin have lastly taken the wraps off the X-59, an plane which will form the way forward for each navy and civilian air journey, Devin writes.
Byju’s valuation reduce: BlackRock has reduce the worth of its holding in Byju’s, slashing the implied valuation of the Indian startup to about $1 billion from $22 billion in early 2022.
Notion launches a calendar app: Notion, the extremely standard note-taking and challenge administration service, has launched a stand-alone calendar service. Frederic has the complete story.
Samsung’s Galaxy S24: Samsung held a press convention this week the place it introduced its newest flagship telephones — all powered by AI in some kind or one other.
Layoffs at Google: After laying off over 1,000 staff throughout a number of divisions final week and chopping 100 jobs at YouTube, Google CEO Sundar Pichai despatched a memo to its employees warning extra layoffs are anticipated this yr.
Analysis
CES chases off sex tech: Despite being an business that caters to a common human expertise, sex tech has all the time had an uneasy affiliation with CES, Haje writes. And this yr, the convention successfully managed to chase the sex tech business off its present flooring — for higher or worse.
Podcasts
On Equity, Alex and Mary Ann chewed via funding rounds galore from Pomelo, Tandem and Briq — and additionally mentioned how C-suite executives really feel about AI and the enterprise.
Found featured Magic Spoon co-founder and CEO Gabi Lewis. Magic Spoon creates cereal flavors that play on our nostalgia for Froot Loops and Cocoa Puffs with a grown-up high-protein twist.
And on Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Monica Long, the president of Ripple, the blockchain-based digital cost community and protocol.
Ztoog+
TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you understand should you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, think about signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:
Unicorn membership: Cowboy Ventures’ founder Aileen Lee penned a long-awaited follow-up to her authentic 2013 article through which she coined the time period “unicorn.”
Private fairness in 2024: Alex and Anna write about how PE companies may very well be the final resort for startups struggling to exit.
Reddit, IPOing: Reddit might lastly go public this yr. Alex examines what that might imply for the corporate — and others making an attempt IPOs this yr.