Welcome, associates, to Week in Review (WiR), Ztoog’s common e-newsletter protecting the foremost occasions in tech over the previous few days. Haven’t had your eyes glued to the headlines? Not to fret. That’s our job, and we’ve compiled them within the nifty little digest that’s WiR.
In this week’s version of WiR, we cowl a $70 system that may spoof an Apple system, hackers stealing Americans’ well being knowledge from an IBM system, and Elon Musk pledging to battle Mark Zuckerberg in a correct cage match. Elsewhere, we highlight X, the social community previously often known as Twitter, slowing down entry to rival web sites; Better.com going public; and TC’s impressions of Baldur’s Gate 3.
It’s quite a bit to get to, so buckle up. Oh, and when you haven’t already, enroll right here to get WiR in your inbox each Saturday.
Most learn
An inexpensive Apple spoofer: Attendees at Def Con, one of many world’s largest hacking conferences, noticed that their iPhones have been displaying pop-up messages prompting them to attach their Apple ID or share a password with a close-by Apple TV. Turns out it was part of a analysis undertaking — a $70 system that may spoof an Apple system and trick unsuspecting customers into sharing their password.
Americans’ well being information stolen: Millions of Americans had their delicate medical and well being info stolen after hackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability within the extensively used MOVEit file switch software program raided techniques operated by tech big IBM. The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which is chargeable for administering Colorado’s Medicaid program, confirmed on Friday that it had fallen sufferer to the MOVEit mass hacks, exposing the information of greater than 4 million sufferers.
Musk versus Zuckerberg: In June, X CEO Elon Musk challenged Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a practitioner of Brazilian jiujitsu, to a cage battle — for charity. After repeated delays on Musk’s finish, final week, Musk promised that the battle was nonetheless occurring. But shortly afterward, Zuckerberg mentioned that he and Musk couldn’t conform to phrases, together with a venue and date, and that it was time to “move on.”
X slows down entry: X was discovered to have throttled site visitors to web sites that the social community’s proprietor, Elon Musk, publicly dislikes. The platform slowed down the pace it takes when accessing hyperlinks to a handful of internet sites, together with The New York Times, Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, Reuters and Substack.
Better.com goes public: Digital mortgage lender Better.com’s proposal to mix with Aurora Acquisition Corp. through a SPAC (particular objective acquisition) has been authorized by shareholders. The firm had initially begun planning to go public in May 2021 however was plagued with layoffs, high-profile govt resignations, a housing market slowdown and detrimental publicity that compelled it to push again its IPO.
Baldur’s Gate 3, reviewed: Baldur’s Gate 3 is a Dungeons & Dragons recreation by and by, Taylor stories in her first impressions piece, however you needn’t be aware of that world or these techniques to get pleasure from it. Whether you need to smooch vampires or watch the world burn, the sport’s a role-playing expertise like no different, she writes.
A wise ring to compete with Oura: Indian health and diet monitoring startup Ultrahuman has fast-followed its debut good ring final yr with a second era of the system, which formally launched in June. Natasha, who reviewed it for TC, discovered it to be an enchancment upon the unique in a number of methods, together with (very importantly) within the form-factor division.
An EV battery with larger vary: CATL, the Chinese battery big and a serious provider to Tesla, has unveiled its newest product that goals to resolve electrical automobiles’ charging and vary limitations. Dubbed Shenxing, or “god-like movement,” the battery is ready to refuel as much as 400 kilometers (250 miles) of vary in 10 minutes.
Audio
In want of some listening materials to entertain and inform? Look no additional than Ztoog’s rising secure of podcast episodes.
On Equity, the crew kicked off with an replace on former FTX exec Sam Bankman-Fried heading to jail, then obtained into Better.com going public, Monday.com’s progress, Vinfast including to the SPAC checklist, the Inflation Reduction Act’s anniversary and two shiny spots in 2023’s enterprise panorama.
Meanwhile, Found spotlighted Marco Zappacosta, the co-founder and CEO of Thumbtack, a startup that runs a market for dwelling companies and past. Zappacosta talked about his uncommon path to entrepreneurship, which included virtually getting a level in neuroscience earlier than deciding to start out an organization with out having an present concept.
And Chain Reaction spoke with Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, alongside Ztoog+ editor in chief Alex Wilhelm. Among different issues, they dove into what’s going on with the bitcoin spot ETFs within the U.S., why it issues and the chances of the SEC approving one within the close to future.
Ztoog+
TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you realize when you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, contemplate signing up. Here are just a few highlights from this week:
A surprisingly robust jobs market: After the large firms carried out mega layoffs in the beginning of this yr, it could be pure to suppose that the tech unemployment price would skyrocket. But Ron writes about how — if we take into consideration tech jobs as comprising purely IT, engineering and developer sorts of roles — then these jobs are positively nonetheless in demand and much less affected than you may think.
What do CTOs do, precisely?: Haje writes about how technical blind spots imply traders are guiding founders within the mistaken route. Premature optimization isn’t useful to anybody. But having a CTO with the precise expertise, information and experience for the stage an organization is at seems to be examined solely not often within the funding course of.
A room-temperature superconductor? Not so quick: If there was any hope remaining that LK-99 is likely to be a room-temperature superconductor, it’s just about lifeless now. Tim writes that dozens of research printed within the final week or two have coalesced round this conclusion, lower than a month after a sensational preprint paper was printed by a crew on the Quantum Energy Research Centre.
Get your Ztoog repair IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse your self in all issues startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo flooring, there’s one thing for everybody at Disrupt. Save as much as $400 whenever you purchase your go now by September 18, and save 15% on prime of that with promo code WIR. Learn extra.