Hey, associates! Welcome again to Week in Review, the place each Saturday we recap a handful of the highest TechCrunch tales from the previous seven days. Want it in your inbox? Get it right here!
This week marked the in-person return of TechCrunch Disrupt, with our group taking the present again into the actual world after two years absolutely digital. It was one helluva present, with appearances from folks like tennis legend (turned investor) Serena Williams, comic (additionally turned investor!) Kevin Hart, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer, and Figma CEO Dylan Field. Congrats to Minerva Lithium for profitable the Startup Battlefield competitors!
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Google’s Ping-Pong robotic: “As if it weren’t enough to have AI tanning humanity’s hide (figuratively for now) at every board game in existence,” writes Devin, “Google AI has got one working to destroy us all at Ping-Pong as well.”
Elon expects large Twitter layoffs: Musk reportedly needs to chop as much as 75% of Twitter’s workforce — roughly 5,600 jobs — if/when his acquisition of the corporate goes via. That quantity appears fairly absurd. Even a lot smaller layoffs have compounding results on issues like group morale and productiveness — simply think about the quantity of information/perception that disappears if the majority of an organization is let go.
Kanye West is shopping for Parler: Well, that’s a headline I by no means, ever, ever would’ve predicted. “Kanye West, the rapper who also goes by the name Ye, has reached an agreement to buy ‘uncancelable free speech platform’ Parler,” writes Manish, “in a move [the involved parties say] will help individuals express their conservative opinions freely.”
Stability AI raises $101 million: The firm behind the AI-powered picture generator Stable Diffusion and music-generating system Dance Diffusion has raised $101 million at a reported valuation of $1 billion.
Netflix explores cloud gaming: Just as Google provides up on its cloud gaming efforts, Netflix is diving in. At Disrupt this week, Netflix’s VP of Gaming mentioned the corporate is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering,” saying that Google’s shuttered effort was a “technical success” with “issues with the business model.”
audio roundup
Here’s what’s up in TC podcast land this week:
- Equity was dwell and in particular person! After years in pandemic mode, the Equity crew (Alex, Natasha, and Mary Ann) kicked off Disrupt by recording a present face-to-face for the primary time.
- On Found, Darrell and Jordan caught up with Jerrica Kirkley and Matthew Wetschler and realized the story of Plume, their telehealth firm that focuses on transgender care.
techcrunch+
What had been TC+ members studying most behind the paywall? Here’s a peek:
2023 VC predictions: After a wild few years of ups and downs, what’s going to enterprise capital seem like in 2023? Contrary Capital founder Eric Tarczynski weighs in.
Ron explores Celonis and its $13 billion valuation: Celonis won’t be a reputation that everybody acknowledges…however the 11-year-old data-processing firm has managed to boost billions of {dollars} in the previous few years alone. What are they doing so proper? Ron Miller takes us on a deep dive.