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☆ TikTok sister app Lemon8 is hiring staffers in New York for a US creator team as its downloads surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Dan Whateley | Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

ByteDance's fast-growing app Lemon8 is building out its creator partnerships team in the US. Lemon8, a social platform from TikTok's parent company that recently rolled out in the US, is starting to build out its creator partnerships team in New York as it looks to expand. The company also has similar creator partnerships roles listed on its jobs site for new hires in London, Jakarta, and Bangkok. ByteDance's push to build out its Lemon8 creator team comes at a tenuous moment for the company as its flagship app TikTok faces threats of a ban or forced divestment in the US. Outside of offering to pay some creators to post on its app, Lemon8 has suggested other incentives to encourage US creators to join its partner program.

☆ Twitter Blue's relaunch has been financially 'underwhelming' and embarrassed subscribers may soon be able to hide that they're a part of it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter Blue has been relaunched for three months, offering subscribers premium features for $11/mo. A new feature may soon be rolled out, allowing subscribers to hide their verification checkmark. A Twitter Blue subscription costs $8 per month if purchased through the website and $11 per month if purchased through an app for Android or iOS devices. The social platform has aimed to diversify its revenue streams since advertisers fled the platform in the wake of the billionaire's takeover last year. In an attempt to attract more users to Blue, subscribers may be able to toggle the visibility of their blue check marks, The Verge reported.

☆ TikTok users are making fun of Congress members for their questions to app CEO Shou Chew
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Meanwhile, TikTok creators are leading the way ridiculing members of Congress. “There needs to be an age limit in Congress,” one caption by user @rachelhannahh said about a clip of US Rep. Many of the TikTok video clips suggested Congress members don’t know how modern technology works. They believe members of Congress are detached from technology and unaware of how tech companies within their own country operate, resulting in easily mockable questions. “What color is the algorithm?” said user Christian Divyne in a video mocking some of the questions Congress members asked Chew.

☆ Elon Musk's Boring Company wants to build even more tunnels under Las Vegas, but the Loop's Teslas probably won't be self-driving, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's Boring Company wants to build even more tunnels under Las Vegas, a new proposal showed. The expanded Vegas Loop would include 65 miles of tunnels, TechCrunch reported. The Vegas Loop was approved in October 2021 by Nevada's Clark County, which is home to many casinos and the Las Vegas Convention Centre. It would also allow commuters to reach more casinos, shopping areas, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The City of Las Vegas did not comment to TechCrunch other than to say that no construction had begun.

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he's a 'little bit scared' of A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Altman, co-founder and chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., speaks during TechCrunch Disrupt 2019 in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a recent interview with ABC News that he's a "little bit scared" of artificial intelligence technology and how it could affect the workforce, elections and the spread of disinformation. "I think people really have fun with [ChatGPT]," Altman said in the interview. But his excitement over the transformative potential of AI technology, which Altman said will eventually reflect "the collective power, and creativity, and will of humanity," was balanced by his concerns about "authoritarian regimes" developing competing AI technology. Years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said whoever becomes the leader in AI technology "will be the ruler of the world."

☆ How buzzy weight-loss drugs like Ozempic became the next craze in the hottest part of healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Healthcare companies are launching programs left and right to prescribe trendy weight-loss drugs. And Ro, a startup that prescribes and sells products like Viagra and hair-loss pills to consumers, is going all in with a program it launched in January to prescribe the weight-loss drugs to patients online. CalibrateFirst developed to manage type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 medications regulate blood-sugar levels, which can help people curb cravings and feel fuller after eating. The weight-loss market for GLP-1 drugs is relatively new, and not everyone is on board. But for some companies, stepping into prescribing these new weight-loss medications seems to simply be the natural next step for growth.

☆ Why buzzy weight-loss drugs are the next craze for healthcare startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Healthcare companies are launching programs left and right to prescribe trendy weight-loss drugs. And Ro, a startup that prescribes and sells products like Viagra and hair-loss pills to consumers, is going all in with a program it launched in January to prescribe the weight-loss drugs to patients online. Even startups like Noom, which quietly started a program prescribing GLP-1 medications, could stand to benefit from the drugs' popularity after a tumultuous year for the startup. The weight-loss market for GLP-1 drugs is relatively new, and not everyone is on board. But for some companies, stepping into prescribing these new weight-loss medications seems to simply be the natural next step for growth.

☆ A fintech CEO is trying to raise more than $1 billion to fund bridge loans for startups impacted by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Brex CEO Henrique Dubugras is fundraising more than $1 billion in loans for startups affected by the SVB collapse. "We are trying to raise as much capital as we can," a Brex spokesperson told Insider. "As of yesterday, we've received $1.5 billion in requests from nearly 1,000 companies," a spokesperson for Brex told Insider. "The reason we're doing it is obviously we want to support a community, that's very important," Dubugras told TechCrunch. "[T]here are verification processes in place to ensure there is no fraud," a spokesperson told Insider.

After a bank run of $42 billion in withdrawals, Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday. The founders were banking at Silicon Valley Bank and wanted to switch banks immediately after being told by their venture investors that the bank was suffering from "liquidity issues." The go-to bank of Silicon ValleySilicon Valley Bank has been a pillar of the startup of ecosystem for four decades, acting as the go-to financial institution for VC fundraising and building strong ties with founders and investors alike. This helped bolster SVB's reputation as the go-to bank of Silicon Valley in the good times, but exacerbated the crisis when it hit Thursday and Friday. "If you're given responsibility to run this iconic Silicon Valley company, you need some humility."

☆ Half of Sequoia Capital's VC funds since 2018 have posted losses for the University of California's endowment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The University of California endowment has invested over $800 million in Sequoia funds since 2018. The returns show ten Sequoia funds across all stages and geographies are now underwater for the investor. The University of California's massive $28 billion endowment, a limited partner in 20 Sequoia Capital funds since 2018, is underwater on half those investments, according to documents obtained by Insider. Meanwhile ten of the Sequoia funds that UC Investments has invested in have been marked down in value on paper. One of UC Investment's largest commitments to Sequoia is $232 million earmarked for the 2022 Sequoia Capital Fund.

☆ Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sued over allegations the rocket company discriminates against older workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A spokesperson for Blue Origin did not respond to a request for comment. It's not the first time that Blue Origin has faced criticism from a former employee. In 2021, Alexandra Abrams, the former head of Blue Origin employee communications, published an open letter alongside a group describing itself as 21 former and current Blue Origin employees. At the time, a Blue Origin representative told Insider the company doesn't tolerate harassment and would investigate the claims. Do you work for Blue Origin or have insight to share?

☆ Two Google engineers built a ChatGPT-like AI chatbot years ago, but execs reportedly shut it down due to safety concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ex-Google engineers developed a conversational AI chatbot years ago, per The Wall Street Journal. Google is now racing to catch up with Microsoft's AI and plans to release its AI chatbot this year. "It caused a bit of a stir inside of Google," Shazeer said in an interview with investors Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan last month. But Google's AI plans may now finally see the light of day, even as discussions around whether its chatbot can be responsibly launched continue. Alphabet chairman John Hennessy agreed that Google's chatbot wasn't "really ready for a product yet."

☆ Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help police prosecute abortion seekers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Police make requests for social media user data to aid prosecution after a crime has been committed. ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx. Private content by users — such as location data or messages — requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before it can be turned over. She said because the platforms themselves are unlikely to prioritize user privacy, the burden to do so falls on the individual user. "All the angst directed social media services for being a pawn in law enforcement's game seems misdirected to me.

☆ The unraveling of fintech darling Vise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

It was April, and more than two dozen salespeople who worked for the fintech startup Vise had been ordered to a multiday off-site at the W Hoboken hotel in New Jersey to share exhaustive reports on their performance. Even salespeople at bigger, established, top-tier investment-management firms typically wouldn't close $250 million in a year, multiple sales employees said. (K-means clustering is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm often referred to as a form of AI, Vise's founders said). (Vise's founders disputed this, saying the company received updated financial data only once a day for its portfolio-construction engine.) And to address its "leaky funnel" of overestimating prospective sales, Vise was to stop outreach to new clients while it onboards and upsells to existing clients, the document said.

☆ After splitting with Kanye West, British audio startup Kano asks for funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The two would go on to discuss the beginnings of what eventually became the Stem Player. It was originally named the "Donda Stem Player," a reference to West's 10th studio album, Donda. Faced with "worse" terms and news of Ye's antisemitic comments, Kano didn't accept, Klein said. Despite recent outcry over Ye's antisemitic remarks, he has frequently raised eyebrows. The Stem Player, along with West's dedicated fanbase, drove great commercial success for the small London startup.

Not only have marketers been pausing ad spend en masse, YouTube is also battling TikTok for audiences and content creators. Industry insiders credit Mohan with building out the ad products that made YouTube Google's main growth engine for so many years. Tal Chalozin, CTO and cofounder of the adtech company Innovid, said that Mohan's expertise stretches across all of YouTube's ad business, particularly adtech. "He was leading product for the launch of YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, and the growth of YouTube Music," said one former YouTube employee. "It's now Neal and YouTube against TikTok, and that's the existential battle for short-form video monetization and creators," Norman said.

☆ A new app that lets people create avatars and hang out with friends in virtual bedrooms made its debut 3 weeks ago, and it's already taking Asia by storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Reena Koh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bondee is a new social networking app created by a Singapore-based tech company. Bondee's popularity remained strong against rumors of credit card info leaks. Bondee is a social networking app that allows users to connect with up to 50 of their closest friends in a virtual plaza. In the early days of its release, the app's creators were battling rumors of credit card info leaks. The company has also rejected all claims accusing the company of leaking credit card information, as reported on CNA.

☆ LockBit ransomware group threatens to publish stolen Royal Mail data - TechCrunch
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 7 (Reuters) - UK's Royal Mail, which has been grappling with a cyberattack for about a month now, was added to ransomware group LockBit's dark web leak site this week, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. LockBit was threatening to publish "all available (Royal Mail) data" on Thursday, according to the report. Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss (L-R), co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini, on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention in Miami, Florida. Crypto exchange Gemini will reduce its headcount by 10%, a spokesperson told CNBC on Monday. Other crypto firms like Crypto.com, Coinbase , Kraken, and Genesis have eliminated positions since Nov. 11, the day that Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy. Gemini has been embroiled in an intense spat with Silbert's Genesis Trading, a crypto lending firm that generated rich returns for Gemini clients through Gemini's high-yield lending product, known as Gemini Earn. Genesis filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 19.

☆ Instagram just released 'Quiet Mode' — its own version of 'Do not disturb'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Instagram unveiled new features for users to manage their time and preferences on Thursday. "Quiet Mode" is intended to help those who are driving or studying. On Thursday, Instagram revealed a new feature called "Quiet Mode" which is now available to users in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. While the feature is available to users of any age, Instagram will prompt teenagers who spend too much time on the app to enable Quiet Mode at night. Features like "Quiet Mode" show that the increase hasn't gone unnoticed by platforms like Instagram— which is the most popular app among 18-24 year olds, according to TechCrunch's review of a study by Data.ai.

☆ Tesla faked a 2016 video promoting its self-driving technology, according to a senior company engineer's deposition testimony
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla staged a video showing its self-driving capability, according to a company engineer's testimony. Tesla's director of Autopilot software, Ashok Elluswamy, revealed the information in a deposition in July 2022. Tesla has come under increasing scrutiny recently for its self-driving technology. Musk, however, posted that video on Twitter in 2016 as evidence that Tesla could drive itself. In footage that didn't make it into the final video, according to TechCrunch, the test car crashed into a fence in Tesla's parking lot, Elluswamy said in his deposition, according to Reuters.

Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crypto company Digital Currency Group (DCG) is at the center of the industry's latest meltdown after one of its companies, Genesis, froze customer withdrawals in November. Here is what we know about the many companies Digital Currency Group owns:COINDESKDCG acquired crypto news website CoinDesk in 2016 after previously investing in the outlet. Genesis' crypto lending arm, Genesis Global Capital, announced in November its crypto lending arm would stop making new loans and blocked customers from withdrawing funds, citing the market dislocation caused by the collapse of FTX. Genesis Global Capital had partnered with a number of other crypto companies, including crypto exchange Gemini, to offer a crypto lending product. DCG itself owes $1.675 billion to Genesis' crypto lending arm, according to a November letter Silbert sent to shareholders.

☆ ChatGPT and generative AI look like tech's next boom. They could be the next bubble.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Generative AI is the catchall term for artificial intelligence that can create something new — text or images for example — from existing data, when given prompts. OpenAI's generative AI tools can seemingly do anything from write poetry and code to producing frame-worthy art, triggering huge excitement in the space. How generative AI generates revenue is unclearAll of this might be justifiable if there was a clear path for AI firms to make money. Some of the hype around generative AI may be justified and the technology feels genuinely exciting. But to avoid another bubble, investors would do well to quiz the fundamentals of generative AI businesses, before handing out hefty valuations.

Instagram announced on Monday that it would put its Create button back in the center of its main navigation bar and remove the Shop tab. While the dedicated Shop tab will disappear, Mosseri said in his Reel that “you’ll still be able to shop on Feed, in Stories, in Reels and in ads.” Instagram also stated on its help page that it would “continue to invest in shopping experiences that provide the most value for people and businesses across feed, stories, reels, ads and more.”The Shop tab, along with the Reels tab, was introduced to the in-app navigation bar in 2020, according to TechCrunch. The decision to redesign the navigation bar to include these tabs instead of the Create or Activity functions was controversial, sparking backlash from users who felt the platform was prioritizing businesses and influencers. The Reels tab, which is currently in the center position of the navigation bar, will move a space to accommodate the Create tab. In recent months, high-profile users like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have called out Instagram for overpromoting Reels.

☆ Infrastructure innovation derailed: How Facebook's failed plan to turn a century-old railway into a commuter bridge may serve as a warning for The Boring Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elon Musk's tunnel infrastructure company has completed just one known project. While reporters and consumers immediately questioned whether Musk was serious about creating The Boring Company, early progress on its development silenced critics for several years. It's unclear whether The Boring Company will submit additional bids for tunnel projects in the future or complete the scheduled additions to the Vegas Loop. Despite its failed plan to materialize the Dumbarton Rail Bridge project, Facebook has continued massive infrastructure undertakings, largely in the form of submarine cable acquisition and development. Representatives for Facebook and The Boring Company did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

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