Welcome back to Review Week. This week we’ll dive into the recent layoffs at Meta; The repercussions of the battle between WordPress and WP Engine; And whether Cybertrucks are too big to be located in Europe. Let’s get into it.
Multiple teams at Meta have experienced layoffs this week. The company confirmed the layoffs in a statement to TechCrunch and noted that changes have been made to reallocate resources. The cuts reportedly affected teams working at Reality Labs, Instagram, and WhatsApp, though Meta declined to comment on the record about the number of employees affected and the organizations they were part of.
AWS CEO Matt Jarman He has harsh words for remote workers: Go back to the office or quit. The CEO recently told employees who don’t like the new five-day in-person work policy that “there are other companies around.” Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees there would be a full return to the office starting in 2025, up from about three days last year.
Waymo gave software engineer Sophia Tong Promo codes for free rides as an apology for the honking I photographed late at night over the summer that was caused by self-driving cars. However, when Tong realized that the value of the codes had no maximum, she tried to use her last code to ride on Waymo for 24 hours. Her plans were eventually cut short, but she continued for 6.5 hours.
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news
Optimus gets some human help: Videos from Tesla’s “We, Robot” event showed Optimus mixing drinks, mingling with people and even dancing. Although they look impressive, later reports indicate that the robots were operated remotely by humans. Read more
ChatGPT comes to Windows: OpenAI has begun previewing a dedicated Windows application for ChatGPT. The company says the app is an early release, and will arrive before the “full experience” later this year. Read more
Too big for Europe?: The Tesla Cybertruck is facing backlash in Europe, where transport regulators point out that its bulky design with sharp edges violates European safety standards and could put pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists at risk. Read more
More Drama Word: As the dispute between WordPress and WP Engine continues, an internal blog post revealed Automattic’s plan to enforce the WordPress trademark using “nice and not-so-nice lawyers.” Read more
X wants to sell your data: An update to X’s privacy policy indicates that it will allow third-party “collaborators” to train their own AI models on X data, unless users opt out. This means the company is looking at licensing data to AI companies as a potential new source of revenue. Read more
More smartphones accessible: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued rules requiring all cell phones sold in the United States to be compatible with hearing aids. This news comes two years after the US Food and Drug Administration made hearing aids available to all Americans without a prescription. Read more
Baiju Raveendran speaks: The founder of embattled edtech group Byju’s has admitted that he made mistakes and that his startup, once worth $22 billion, is now worth “zero”. Read more
Casio ransomware attack: Japanese electronics giant Casio has confirmed that many of its systems remain unusable. The company sees “no prospect of recovery yet” nearly two weeks after being hit by a ransomware attack. Read more
CapWay is closed: A Y Combinator-backed fintech company that sought to provide financial services to those living in banking deserts has shut down after a potential acquisition fell through, founder Sheena Allen confirmed to TechCrunch. Read more
Can AI make us feel less lonely?: AI-based mental health app Manifest wants to combat the “loneliness epidemic” affecting Generation Z by turning emotions into personalized daily affirmations. Read more
analysis
Artificial Intelligence Weapons Controversy: Silicon Valley is debating whether AI weapons in the US should be fully autonomous, meaning an algorithm would make the final decision to kill someone. Some in the defense technology industry see it as necessary to keep up with global competition, but others believe humans should always make the final call. As Margo McCall writes, The fear is that once one country implements autonomous weapons, other countries may feel compelled to follow — and the moral consequences will be enormous. Read more
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