Skip to main content

Deck.blue brings a TweetDeck experience to Bluesky users

With over 3 million users and plans to open up more broadly in the months ahead, Bluesky is still establishing itself as an alternative to Twitter/X. However, that hasn’t stopped the developer community from embracing the project and building tools to meet the needs of those fleeing the now Elon Musk-owned social network, formerly known […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/TBbEAPF

The week Jack stepped back

Hey all. Welcome back to Week in Review, the newsletter where we recap some of the top stories to cross TC’s front page over the last 7 days.

The most read story on our site this week was about Flowcarbon — a new company and “blockchain-based redemption story” (as Anita put it) launched by WeWork founder Adam Neumann. The goal, writes Anita, is to “sell tokenized carbon credits to companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint,” to which the only response I can think of is that Jennifer Lawrence “ok” gif.

Why is it on the blockchain? What’s a “Goddess Nature Token”? Find out in Anita’s post here, then listen to Lucas and Anita go deep on the topic on this week’s Chain Reaction podcast.

other stuff

Here are some of the other most read TC stories from this week:

Jack Dorsey steps down from Twitter’s board: For the first time since its founding in 2006, co-founder Jack Dorsey is no longer officially involved in the operation of Twitter. Late last year, he stepped away from the CEO role but remained on the company’s board of directors. As of May 25, he has exited the board as well.

Broadcom will buy VMware for a massive $61B: After a few days of rumors, Broadcom announced its plans to acquire VMware for a wild $61 billion. Ron’s got all the details of the deal — and as for why the chipmaker would drop that much on the virtualization company? Ron and Alex have you covered there, too.

Take-Two buys Zynga: The parent company behind games like Grand Theft Auto and BioShock now owns the company behind games like FarmVille and Words With Friends. We’ve known for a while that this was in the works, but the $12.7 billion deal was all finalized this week.

More tech layoffs: Another week of companies announcing or confirming layoffs — including cuts at Klarna, PayPal and grocery delivery companies Getir and Gorillas.

Google’s answer to DALL-E: Just last month, OpenAI showed off “DALL-E 2” — its AI model capable of taking a text prompt like “Shiba Inu wearing a beret” and generating an entirely new image from it. Now Google says they’ve got their own algorithm that’s even better — but, outside of comparison images Google provides (which, naturally, include more Shiba Inu in hats), we’ll have to take the company’s word for it. Citing “potential risks of misuse,” Google isn’t currently releasing any code or public demos.

Six computer generated images of shiba inu dogs doing various things.

Image Credits: Google Research

added things

We have a paywalled section of our site called TechCrunch+. It only costs a few bucks a month and it’s full of very good stuff! From this week, for example:

Know your potential investor’s thesis: Got a solid business and a polished pitch deck, but still getting turned down by investors? “A lot of the time, it doesn’t matter how good your company is,” writes Haje. “What matters is whether it matches up with your investor’s investment thesis.”

U.S. cannabis investors on why they’re planting seeds now: Recreational cannabis use is slowly becoming legal in more and more states — but it’s still illegal at a federal level, which deeply complicates things when it’s the core of your business. Anna Heim checked in with four U.S. cannabis investors for their thoughts on the state of the industry, and what’s keeping it from really catching fire.

It’s not business as usual (and investors are admitting it): After Y Combinator’s memo suggesting founders “plan for the worst” in the months ahead, investors are echoing that sentiment in memos of their own. Natasha Mascarenhas takes a look at memos from Reach Capital, Lightspeed ventures and more.



from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/9xoGu37

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

6 VCs explain why embedded insurance isn’t the only hot opportunity in insurtech

If you think embedded insurance is the only hot thing in insurtech these days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance together with other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, several investors told TechCrunch+. You see, insurtech startups often need to take into account the myriad rules and regulations in place when they seek to innovate and embed insurance into products, which might make it difficult to pull it off. And given the current emphasis on achieving cost efficiency to extend runways in the broader startup ecosystem, it appears investors are open to insurtech startups that can build a sustainable business model, regardless of it including embedded insurance. “Insurtech startups that do not offer embedded insurance, and rather provide other innovative solutions will still attract VC funding this year, especially if they can show cost-efficient and sustainabl...

Apple tvOS 16.4 update gives light-sensitive users a ‘Dim Flashing Lights’ feature

Apple released the tvOS 16.4 update to the public yesterday, bringing various improvements to the system, including a new “Dim Flashing Light” feature. The new accessibility option can detect flashes of light or strobe effects and then automatically dim the display of a video. The “Dim Flashing Light” feature is notable a s it will likely benefit Apple TV users with light sensitivity or, possibly, users with epileptic seizures. According to the Epilepsy Foundation , 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy, and approximately 3-5% of them are photosensitive. Photosensitive epilepsy is when seizures are triggered by flashing lights, patterns or color changes. Flashing lights can also cause headaches and migraines. The tvOS update is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD. It can be installed manually by going to “Settings,” “System” and then “Software Update.” If your Apple TV is set to update automatically, then it should be downloaded already. The other updates weren’t as signi...

Ivella is the latest fintech focused on couples banking, with a twist

Money can make people moody. There are layers of privilege, or lack thereof, that can make even the simplest conversation about bills feel like baggage to deal with. Translate that discomfort to relationships and it can feel like an awkward — and fragmented — dance on who pays which bill when (and how). Ivella , a Santa Monica-based startup, wants to build banking products for couples to take away some of these tensions. Led by CEO and co-founder Kahlil Lalji , the startup is launching with a split account product that just raised $3.5 million in funding from Anthemis, Financial Venture Studio and Soma Capital. Other investors include Y Combinator, DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder and Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia. Lalji, who helped creators with digital content before jumping into the world of fintech, says that the startup was born out of his own frustration at the expectation that couples would just use Venmo unless they were married. The best solution, so far, has been joint accounts...