Amazon increases fees, ChatGPT comes to the enterprise, and Apple announces a press conference

Welcome to the latest edition of Week in Review (WiR), Techfullnews’ comprehensive newsletter summarizing the week’s most significant developments in the tech world. If you’ve been too swamped to keep up with the latest news, you’ve come to the right place. WiR is here to provide you with a concise recap of what you may have missed.

Teamshares: Disrupting Small Business Succession Plans

Teamshares, a New York-based startup with strong backing from venture capital, has emerged as a game-changer in the realm of small business acquisitions. Their approach involves quietly acquiring mom-and-pop shops, often at prices below market rates, but with a unique twist. Upon acquisition, Teamshares appoints a new president and allocates 10% of the company’s stock to its employees. The real game plan, according to co-founder and CEO Michael Brown, is to generate revenue through an expanding range of fintech products offered to the acquired businesses. This innovative approach capitalizes on the opportunity presented by small businesses lacking a clear succession plan.

Zepto: India’s Newest Unicorn in 2023

Zepto, an instant grocery delivery startup, has made waves by raising a remarkable $200 million in its latest funding round, elevating its valuation to a staggering $1.4 billion. This achievement stands out in an industry where many firms have faced significant challenges or failed to thrive. Zepto operates in seven Indian cities, processing a staggering 300,000 daily orders spanning everything from groceries to electronic gadgets. The company’s ambitious plans include an IPO slated for 2025.

OpenAI: ChatGPT Goes Enterprise

Building upon the viral success of ChatGPT, OpenAI is unveiling ChatGPT Enterprise, a business-focused iteration of their AI-powered chatbot application. ChatGPT Enterprise boasts “enterprise-grade” privacy and data analysis features in addition to enhanced performance and customization options, setting it apart from the standard ChatGPT. This move positions OpenAI to cater specifically to the needs of the business world, enhancing productivity and communication.

Google: BigQuery Studio for Data Analytics

Google has introduced BigQuery Studio, a groundbreaking addition to BigQuery, their fully managed serverless data warehouse. BigQuery Studio simplifies data analytics by providing a unified platform where programming languages like SQL, Python, and Spark can be used to run analytics and machine learning workloads at a massive scale, even reaching the petabyte range. Teams can seamlessly access data while enjoying enhanced controls for governance, regulation, and compliance, making it an ideal solution for enterprise-level data management.

Apple’s Upcoming Event: iPhone 15 Anticipation

Apple enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the company’s upcoming press conference scheduled for September 12. The event will once again take place at Apple Park in Cupertino. Anticipated as the centerpiece of the event is the unveiling of the iPhone 15. Additionally, expectations include the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 9 and a sneak peek at the Vision Pro, Apple’s AR headset, set to launch in 2024.

Google Flights: Insights for Smart Travel Booking

Google Flights is enhancing the travel booking experience by rolling out a new feature that aids users in determining the optimal time to book their flights. Leveraging historical trend data, this feature provides insights into when ticket prices have historically been lowest for selected destinations on specific dates. In some instances, Google will even offer refunds if fares decrease before departure, ensuring travelers make informed decisions.

Brazilian Phone Spyware Breach

A Portuguese-language spyware known as WebDetetive has been implicated in compromising over 76,000 Android phones, primarily in South America, with a significant focus on Brazil. WebDetetive is the latest phone spyware company to fall victim to hacking. Anonymous hackers exploited security vulnerabilities to compromise WebDetetive’s servers and access user databases. This breach raises concerns about the security of personal data and privacy in the digital age.

Amazon Adjusts Shipping Fees

Amazon is modifying its shipping fee policies, increasing the minimum for free shipping to $35 for customers without a Prime membership in select regions. Previously, the minimum for free shipping stood at $25. Amazon clarifies that this change is being tested on a regional basis and that all users within a specific region will encounter the same free shipping threshold.

Babylon Health: Financial Struggles and Restructuring

Babylon Health, a London-based telehealth startup previously valued at nearly $2 billion and backed by the founders of DeepMind, has faced a turbulent financial journey. The company’s U.S. shares became worthless, leading to insolvency. This week, the UK subsidiary formally entered administration while simultaneously selling a significant portion of its assets to eMed Healthcare UK, a new subsidiary of U.S. company eMed.

EU Empowers Users to Reject Algorithmic Manipulation

Internet users in the European Union are witnessing a significant shift in their experience on mainstream social networks. Thanks to the bloc’s Digital Services Act, users on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat can now easily decline “personalized” content feeds based on AI-driven algorithms. Instead, they can opt for a more straightforward news feed, displaying posts from friends in chronological order. This empowers users to take control of their online experience and opt out of algorithmic manipulation.

If you’re looking for engaging podcasts to fill your hours, TechCrunch offers several options that cover a range of topics, from the intricacies of successful leadership to the power of collective intelligence and digital asset management. These podcasts provide valuable insights and interviews with industry experts, making them perfect for the workday commute.

The Iconic Audi TT: A Legacy of Style and Performance

Google Messages Tackles Messaging Spam with New Features

Is Elon Musk Developing a Fighter Jet? Separating Fact from Fiction

How to Add Custom Notes in Apple Maps on iOS 18

Social Tech

Meta Announces Generative AI Stickers and AI Editing Tools

by George Mensah 2023-09-28

At its Meta Connect event today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced two new AI-powered features: generative AI stickers and AI editing tools.

Generative AI stickers

Generative AI stickers are a new way to express yourself in Meta’s messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook Stories. With generative AI stickers, you can create unique stickers by simply typing in a text prompt. For example, you could type “Hungarian sheep dog driving a 4×4” and Emu, Meta’s new foundational model for image generation, would generate a sticker that matches your prompt.

Generative AI stickers are currently in beta testing and will be available to English-language users over the next month.

AI editing tools

AI editing tools are a new way to edit your photos and videos using AI. With AI editing tools, you can change the style of your photos and videos, remove objects from the background, and even create new images and videos from scratch.

Meta demonstrated two new AI editing tools at Meta Connect: Restyle and Backdrop.

Restyle lets you reimagine the visual styles of an image by typing in prompts like “watercolor” or “collage from magazines and newspapers, torn edges.” Backdrop lets you change the scene or background of your image by using prompts.

AI editing tools will be available soon on Instagram.

Meta’s commitment to responsible AI

Meta has pledged to develop AI responsibly and ethically. The company says that it will indicate the use of AI in its images “to reduce the chances of people mistaking them for human-generated content.” Meta is also experimenting with forms of visible and invisible markers to help people identify AI-generated content.

Meta’s generative AI stickers and AI editing tools are exciting new features that have the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate and express ourselves. With these tools, we can now create unique and personalized content that is tailored to our specific needs and interests.

Social Tech

X Expands Community Notes to Video Content, but Experts Question its Effectiveness

by George Mensah 2023-09-24

X, formerly known as Twitter, has expanded its crowdsourced fact-checking system, Community Notes, to support video content. This means that approved members can now attach written notes to videos that contain misleading information. The notes will be visible to all users, providing them with additional context about the content they are viewing.

The expansion of Community Notes to video content is a welcome move, as it could help to reduce the spread of misinformation on the platform. However, some experts have questioned the effectiveness of the system, due to a few fundamental flaws.

One flaw is that, for a Community Note to become visible, it must first be approved by members on both sides of the discourse. This can create a situation where harmful or misleading content can go unchecked for a while before it gets tagged with the proper disclaimer, if at all.

Another flaw is X’s disproportionate implementation of its moderation, safety, and security features. For example, X has been repeatedly called out for censoring critical voices targeting the government in markets like India and the Middle East. This raises concerns about whether Community Notes will be applied fairly and consistently across all types of content.

Finally, some experts have criticized the fact that X is indirectly passing the onus of fact-checking to its most prolific users, rather than having a dedicated trust and safety team do the job. This is especially concerning given that Elon Musk famously gutted the company’s safety team soon after he took over.

Overall, the expansion of Community Notes to video content is a positive step, but it is important to be aware of its limitations. The system is still under development, and it remains to be seen how effective it will be in reducing the spread of misinformation on the platform.

In addition to the flaws mentioned above, here are some other concerns about the Community Notes system:

It is unclear how X will ensure that Community Notes are accurate and unbiased.
The system could be used to harass or silence certain users.
It could be used to spread misinformation itself, if it is not carefully monitored.

Overall, the Community Notes system is a promising experiment, but it is important to be aware of its limitations and potential risks. X should carefully monitor the system and make adjustments as needed to ensure that it is effective and fair.

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