Hello, everyone, and welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s newsletter, covering the tech industry news from the past week (or so).This week marks OpenAI’s first developer conference, where the Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence startup announced host new products. But this is far from the only noteworthy project.
In this issue of WiR, we focus on Brian’s review of the 16-inch M3 Max MacBook Air and M3 iMac 24-inch; Mozilla’s bet on the future of decentralized social networks; Ford closure A company that develops apps for plumbers, electricians, and other trades; Tim Cook’s ideas for generative artificial intelligence. Also on the agenda are WeWork’s formal bankruptcy filing, Bumble’s appointment of a new CEO, and the fiasco of electric car startup Arrival.
As always, there’s a lot to overcome – so we won’t delay.But first, a reminder Register here If you haven’t done so already, get WiR in your inbox every Saturday.
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OpenAI hosted a developer day: OpenAI hosted its first developer conference on Monday, and the company had a lot to discuss.Some of the more noteworthy projects announced include Tools for creating custom “GPT” (i.e. domain-specific chatbots), New text-to-speech model, text-to-image model DALL-E 3 APIand an improved version of OpenAI’s flagship model GPT-4, called GPT-4 Turbo.
apple attack: Brian reviewed Apple’s new 16-inch M3 Max MacBook Pro and M3 iMac 24-inch. He found that the iMac was lacking and not necessarily worth upgrading from the 2021 model, except for the M3 chip, which brought “impressive” performance improvements over the 2021 model. The already powerful M1. As for the M3 Max MacBook Pro, Brian reports that at $2,500 (plus some pricey add-ons) it manages to bridge the gap between the Mac Studio and MacBook Air.
Mozilla is betting on a decentralized future: Sarah spoke with Carolyn O’Hara, senior director of content at Mozilla, who outlined Mozilla’s strategy, which involves the “fediverse” – a collection of decentralized social networking applications, such as Mastodon, that communicate with each other through the ActivityPub protocol. ” Yuan said, it’s about rethinking social networks from scratch.
Ford shuts down SaaS app for field work: Kirsten reports that Ford has shut down VIIZR, a software-as-a-service company that developed an app with Salesforce to help tradesmen such as plumbers, locksmiths, and electricians schedule on-site appointments, send invoices, and manage customers. Announced in December 2021, it is an independent company majority-owned by Ford and with Salesforce as a minority investor.
Apple bets on generative artificial intelligence: Apple CEO Tim Cook refuted the idea that the company is lagging behind in the field of artificial intelligence during Apple’s fourth-quarter earnings call, stressing that Apple’s recent technological developments “wouldn’t have been possible without artificial intelligence.”Generate artificial intelligence technology for Report This indicates that the company expects to spend $1 billion annually developing generative AI products.
WeWork bankruptcy: as expectedFlexible office space company WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with more than $18.6 billion in debt, the once-ambitious startup co-founded by Adam Neumann and funded by SoftBank, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs announced. Bankruptcy.
Slack’s loss, Bumble’s gain: Dating app Bumble announced a major move this week: replacing founder CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd with Slack CEO Lidiane Jones.Jones only Started as CEO Last year, another founder, Stewart Butterfield, took over as Slack’s CEO. While Bumble now has a clear line of succession, the move puts Slack in a difficult position, Ron and Sarah wrote.
Arrival failed to deliver: Eight years ago, the company set out to make electric vehicle production “fundamentally more efficient.” Harry wrote that so far, due to missed production targets, insufficient cash reserves, layoffs and pivots.
vocal
It’s winter and the weather isn’t getting any warmer (at least in New York), and I think there’s no better place to be than cooped up indoors listening to podcasts. If you’re in need of material, TechCrunch has some that should definitely be on your radar.
this week in fairStarting with Klarna’s third-quarter results, the team delves into the encouraging signs for the fintech startup market. From there, they looked at buy now, pay later consumer behavior and fintech fundraising results with a 2021 flavor.
at the same time, established Nasrat Khalid of Aseel is featured in the company, which began as an e-commerce company helping local Afghan artisans sell products to customers around the world. It has evolved into working in humanitarian aid, providing emergency food supplies, as well as turkeys, to people in need in Afghanistan.
TechCrunch+
TC+ subscribers have access to in-depth commentary, analysis, and surveys—if you’re already a subscriber, you know this. If you are not yet, Consider signing up. Here are some highlights from this week:
Another disappointing superconductor: A new, so-called room-temperature superconducting material is not what the scientific community had hoped for, Tim writes. The possibility of researchers discovering a room-temperature superconductor becomes even slimmer as a Nature paper detailing the material faces retraction. .
Klarna is taking steps towards IPO: Swedish fintech Klarna is taking steps toward an eventual IPO, Mary Ann and Alex write. The company has initiated legal entity restructuring procedures to set up a holding company in the UK, an important early step in its plans for an initial public offering, a Klarna spokesperson told TechCrunch+.
The legacy of unicorns is not over yet: It’s been 10 years since Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee coined an incredibly catchy moniker for a then-rare startup: the unicorn. TechCrunch+ spoke with Lee about how she feels about the term 10 years later, now that her venture has also become a unicorn. Ten years.