2023-04-12
https://www.wsj.com/... “companies are responding to lingering labor shortages and rising wages by sending jobs overseas. In August, 7.3% of U.S. senior managers surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said they were moving more jobs abroad as a result of remote work.”
Wall Street Journal
Labor consultants say US companies, responding to labor shortages and rising wages, are outsourcing jobs overseas, expanding on pandemic remote work policies
Companies respond to labor shortages and rising wages by moving some positions abroad, labor consultants say
2023-03-21
“Apple grew 6% YoY in the premium market, expanding its share to capture three-fourths of the total sales in the segment. Apple could have grown more, if not for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max supply disruption” https://www.counterpointresearch.com/ ...
Counterpoint Research
Global premium smartphone sales rose 1% YoY in 2022, taking 50%+ of the smartphone market's revenue for the first time; Apple took 75% of the premium market
Although overall global smartphone sales in 2022 fell 12% YoY due to macroeconomic difficulties, global premium (≥$600 wholesale price) …
2023-03-08
AI is the new Google+ https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Wall Street Journal
Sources describe how Google stalled the release of a powerful chatbot for years due to the risk AI demos could pose to its reputation and search ads business
Researchers developed a powerful chatbot years before rival ChatGPT went viral. After management stalled its release, they quit.
AI is the new Google+ https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Bloomberg
A look at Google's scramble to add generative AI to its products, reminding some employees of the rush to infuse Google+ into every key service starting in 2011
Artificial intelligence was supposed to be Google's thing. The company has cultivated a reputation for making long-term bets …
2023-03-07
a bit surprising PE firms are not doing tons of these combinations https://www.wsj.com/... trusted (but washed) legacy brand with a bit of distribution & lift on online ad engagements (discount on auction ad prices) + parallel higher margin online product/service
Wall Street Journal
WeightWatchers is acquiring Sequence, a digital health company offering $99/month telehealth visits with doctors who can prescribe weight loss drugs, for $106M
Andrea Petersen / Wall Street Journal :
2023-02-02
“A popup window prompts users to write down the “ideal answer,” helping the software learn from its mistakes.” https://www.semafor.com/... if only search engines could allow for a confirmation bias feedback layer & allow spammers to self vote
Microsoft 365 Blog
Microsoft's Teams Premium hits general availability for $10 per user per month; AI-generated notes by OpenAI's GPT-3.5 are set to arrive “in the coming months”
As we face economic uncertainties and changes to work patterns, organizations are searching for ways to optimize …
“A popup window prompts users to write down the “ideal answer,” helping the software learn from its mistakes.” https://www.semafor.com/... if only search engines could allow for a confirmation bias feedback layer & allow spammers to self vote
Semafor
Sources: Microsoft plans to update Bing with OpenAI's GPT-4, a faster and richer version of ChatGPT, in the coming weeks; OpenAI plans to launch a ChatGPT app
2023-01-23
https://www.bloomberg.com/... at the same time there's Stripe, Amazon, tap to pay from Apple & Google, and banks tying up to push a Zelle parallel for online payments https://www.wsj.com/...
Wall Street Journal
Wells Fargo, BofA, JPMorgan, and four other banks are working on a digital wallet, managed by Zelle owner Early Warning Services, rolling out in H2 2023
Financial institutions behind Zelle are working on a wallet for consumers to use at online checkout — Big banks are teaming …
2023-01-19
for a monopoly platform it is better to let a device or platform die than to license it to someone else who will make it successful, which leads to outsiders questioning the failure. https://twitter.com/...
BuzzFeed News
Andrew Bosworth talks about Meta's decision to discontinue Portal and how the company nearly made a deal to license Portal's tech and platform to Amazon in 2020
Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth told BuzzFeed News how a deal to keep the Portal software going almost happened.
2023-01-14
the indy blogger & webmaster were used as placeholders to get legacy news publishers & legacy media to move into the channel. similarly with the indy video creator on YouTube. they are in the process of being replaced https://www.wsj.com/...
Wall Street Journal
YouTube is testing a hub of free, ad-supported streaming channels with select media partners, looking to compete with Roku, Paramount's Pluto TV, and Fox's Tubi
2023-01-04
“Microsoft is preparing to launch a version of its Bing search engine that uses the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT to answer some search queries rather than just showing a list of links, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plans” https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: Microsoft plans to release a version of Bing that uses OpenAI's ChatGPT tech to answer some search queries, possibly launching as soon as Q1 2023
Microsoft could soon get a return on its $1 billion investment in OpenAI, creator of the ChatGPT chatbot, which gives humanlike text answers to questions.
2022-12-15
“In February, Spotter said a $200 million funding round led by the Vision Fund had valued the company at $1.7 billion. Jellysmack has also raised funding from the Vision Fund valuing the company at more than $1 billion” https://www.wsj.com/... VF can create, then spot, the bubble
Wall Street Journal
A look at Spotter and Jellysmack, two companies offering YouTubers cash in exchange for up to five year of ad sales generated by licensing their old videos
Miles Kruppa / Wall Street Journal :
2022-11-22
“When asked by Reuters why the couple decided to buy a vacation home in the Bahamas and how it was paid for, a spokesman for the professors said only that Bankman and Fried had been trying to return the property to FTX.” https://www.reuters.com/... effective altruism
Reuters
Records: FTX, its executives, and SBF's parents bought 19+ properties in the Bahamas worth ~$121M over the past two years as “residence for key personnel”
Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, his parents and senior executives of the failed cryptocurrency exchange bought …
2022-09-15
when government spending hits 50% of GDP and you are not even in a recession, politics inevitably subsumes all other categories. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
The Block
Coinbase updates its app to let US users see a scorecard that evaluates members of Congress on crypto policy issues, register to vote, and find political events
- Coinbase is getting political: The exchange added new app features to help users evaluate lawmakers, register to vote and find political events.
2022-05-15
nice highbrow kick save by the rug pull community https://www.nytimes.com/...
New York Times
Abortion rights activists and nonprofits are looking at crypto to speed fundraising, but complexity and traceability of blockchain transactions hamper efforts
Activists and nonprofits are considering digital currencies as a way to raise funds. But can they really do anything other payment methods can't? Tweets: @rjcc , @bradmichelson , ...
2022-05-05
investing in growing an investment thesis. vs https://blog.google/... “we also launched a new Unreliable Claims policy on climate change, which prohibits content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus” https://twitter.com/...
CNET
Google removed 3.4B ads and 5.6M+ advertiser accounts in 2021, after implementing a three-strikes rule for deceitful practices, dangerous products, and more
2022-04-18
https://www.wsj.com/... “Apple's spending last year on its internal semiconductors would rank it as the 12th-largest chip company in the world by revenue. The sea change has Intel pivoting some of its attention to take on contract work fabricating chips”
Wall Street Journal
A look at Apple's yearslong effort to design its own silicon to replace Intel chips in Macs, including an interview with Hardware Technologies SVP Johny Srouji
2022-03-12
how many billions will Google's fourth EU fine be? https://www.wsj.com/...
Financial Times
EU and the UK open an antitrust probe into Google and Meta's Jedi Blue deal on online ads; EU is also probing whether Google acted without Meta's knowledge
Financial Times :
2021-12-22
https://variety.com/... smart buy for Microsoft. up next they need to buy something like Vimeo & then cross promote it the way Google cross promotes YouTube. they could really put the screws to YouTube by offering music labels a 5 year 100% revshare deal. :D
Variety
AT&T plans to sell its Xandr programmatic advertising marketplace to Microsoft; the deal would not include the ad sales business supporting DirecTV
Was one of the most botched and mismanaged assets I've ever covered — Deal likely came in under $1 billion — Xandr brings in roughly $300-$380m in revenue annually and loses betwee...
2021-11-02
is Zillow's PR team terrible on this or are executives trying to knock down the prices on new stock options? https://www.bloomberg.com/... “it seeks to recover from a fumble” = not a good look
Bloomberg
Sources: Zillow is pitching institutional investors on the sale of 7K homes for ~$2.8B to recover from buying too many, which it blames on its bidding algorithm
- Online listing giant has been buying thousands of homes — Zillow Group Inc. is looking to sell about 7,000 homes as it seeks …