Techmeme: Delivery startup Gorillas lays off half of its “global office workforce”, ~300 staff, and plans to reassess its operations in Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Belgium (James Vincent/The Verge)

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May 24, 2022, 6:10 PM

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Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Microsoft unveils Project Volterra, an ARM-powered developer kit to explore “AI scenarios” coming in 2022, as Windows gains support for neural processing units — Today at Build 2022, Microsoft unveiled Project Volterra, a device powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform that's designed …

João Carrasqueira / XDA Developers:

Microsoft debuts Power Pages, a low-code website builder, and Power Apps Express Design, which can turn images into an app with controls and data storage — It's that time of the year again when Microsoft holds its Build developer event, and with it comes a ton of news for all kinds of Microsoft products.

More: SiliconANGLE, InfoWorld, Computerworld, The New Stack, TechRadar, Engadget, The Official Microsoft Blog, IT PRO, Tom's Hardware, Thurrott, ZDNet, OnMSFT.com, TechRepublic, Neowin, TechCrunch, Petri IT Knowledgebase, and TechCrunch. Tweets: @fxshaw

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft plans to support third-party Windows 11 widgets later in 2022, letting developers offer them as “companion experiences” to their Win32 or PWA apps — Widgets might appear on the Windows 11 desktop soon, too — Microsoft is planning to support third-party widgets inside Windows 11 later this year.

More: Windows Blog, PCMag, Liliputing, OnMSFT.com, WinCentral, BigTechWire, Thurrott, Windows Central, and WinBuzzer

Tweets: @tomwarren and @daniel_rubino

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft debuts Dev Box, a cloud service offering Windows 365-integrated developer workstations, in private preview; a public preview arrives in a few months — It's Windows 365 for developers — Microsoft put PCs in the cloud with Windows 365 last year, and now, it wants to entice developers …

More: InfoWorld, SiliconANGLE, Visual Studio Magazine, Petri IT Knowledgebase, WinBuzzer, MobileSyrup, Microsoft Tech Community, Protocol, DEVCLASS, BigTechWire, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Windows Central, TechRadar, and Thurrott

Simon Jessop / Reuters:

Flowcarbon, a blockchain-based carbon credit trading service backed by WeWork's Neumann, raises $32M led by a16z and $38M from selling its Goddess Nature Token — LONDON (Reuters) - Flowcarbon, a blockchain-enabled carbon credit trading platform backed by WeWork founder Adam Neumann …

More: TechCrunch, VICE, Andreessen Horowitz, Gizmodo, Protocol, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, Business Wire, Axios, Decrypt, The Block, FinSMEs, and Web3 is going just great

Tweets: @ariannasimpson, @profgalloway, @thestalwart, @hausfath, @jamesmoore_org, @jtemple, @stshank, @mayazi, @weareflowcarbon, @cdixon, @bennetttomlin, @hilzfuld, @mayazi, @anitaramaswamy, and @katearonoff

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

Google Research announces Imagen, an AI text-to-image generator rivaling OpenAI's DALL-E 2, but decides “not to release code or a public demo” at this time — The AI world is still figuring out how to deal with the amazing show of prowess that is DALL-E 2's ability to draw/paint/imagine …

Source: Google Research. More: The Register, Engadget, Analytics, MSPoweruser, Silicon Republic, PetaPixel, The Verge, Android Headlines, 9to5Google, and Slashdot

Tweets: @jeffdean, @multimodalart, @ak92501, @jjvincent, @iscienceluvr, @yoavgo, @jjvincent, @parmy, @gonzauri, @nabeel, @cgarciae88, @jasonbaldridge, @joshelman, @billyperrigo, @jelleprins, @jjvincent, @daveleeft, @kevin2kelly, and @michael_nielsen

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:

As Street View for Google Maps turns 15, Google announces updates such as historical imagery on Android and iOS, a smaller camera system for its cars, and more — Street View for Google Maps launched 15 years ago this week, and Google is taking advantage of the anniversary to drop some updates …

More: The Keyword, Gizmodo, MacRumors, The Keyword, The Verge, TNW, SlashGear, 9to5Google, Android Central, CNN, Fortune, Fossbytes, Mashable, and GSMArena.com

Tweets: @wittednote and @google

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Stripe launches an apps marketplace to bring third-party tools directly into Stripe, starting with 50+ apps from companies like Dropbox, Mailchimp, and DocuSign — Payments processing and financial infrastructure giant Stripe has launched a new apps marketplace, designed to bring third-party accounting …

More: CoinDesk, PYMNTS.com, Stripe Blog, and Bitcoin Magazine

Tweets: @stripe, @patrickc, @patio11, and @ow

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Niantic debuts Visual Positioning System, a developer platform for building location-aware AR apps, and Campfire, a location-based social network for its games — The maker of Pokémon Go is releasing its AR map for other apps and a location-based social network called Campfire

More: CNET, TechCrunch, Niantic, Road to VR, SiliconANGLE, The Information, and Protocol

Tweets: @reneritchie and @verge

Melissa Repko / CNBC:

Walmart plans to expand drone deliveries with DroneUp to cover 4M households in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia from 37 stores in 2022 — - Walmart is expanding drone deliveries across six states with operator DroneUp, bringing its total network to 37 sites by year-end.

More: Walmart Inc., Wall Street Journal, PCMag, The Verge, The Hill, Supply Chain Dive, PYMNTS.com, Gizmodo, Barron's Online, TechCrunch, DroneDJ, and Engadget

Tweets: @melissa_repko, @hypervisible, @modeledbehavior, and @noahpinion

Krystal Hu / Reuters:

New Jersey-based Semperis, a cybersecurity startup offering tools to protect enterprises using Microsoft Active Directory, raises a $200M+ Series C led by KKR — U.S. cybersecurity software firm Semperis said it has raised over $200 million in a funding round led by private equity firm KKR & Co Inc …

More: govinfosecurity.com, SC Media, Business Wire, CRN, SiliconANGLE, SecurityWeek, and Tech News

James Vincent / The Verge:

Delivery startup Gorillas lays off half of its “global office workforce”, ~300 staff, and plans to reassess its operations in Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Belgium — An unsustainable business or just a side effect of the tech downturn? — Grocery app Gorillas …

More: TechCrunch, Sifted, Insider, PYMNTS.com, Protocol, gorillas.io, Silicon Canals, Silicon Republic, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @yattisoni, @sarthakgh, @slingshotcap, @carnage4life, @sameer_singh17, @carnage4life, and @mparts_

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

As Snap's growth warning sends its stock down 43.04%, other tech stocks drop too: Meta by 7.62%, Pinterest by 23.64%, Alphabet by 4.95%, and Twitter by 5.55% — - Snap CEO Evan Spiegel warned of slowing growth in a note to employees made public on Monday. — His message sent a chill across the digital advertising industry.

More: Cointelegraph and The Technology Letter

Tweets: @tiernanraytech and @jason_kint

Kif Leswing / CNBC:

Snap's stock closes down 43.04% after Evan Spiegel warns employees the company will miss its Q2 revenue and earnings targets and plans to slow hiring in 2022

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:10 PM ET, May 24, 2022.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

CEOs at Nexstar, Sinclair, and Tegna, plus some analysts, say they expect deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast TV industry under Trump's FCC

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Don Lemon, who sued Elon Musk and X after a deal fell apart, says he's leaving X on November 15, citing X's new ToS that moves legal disputes to Texas courts

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:

German royalty licensing group GEMA sues OpenAI and subsidiary OpenAI Ireland in Munich Regional Court, claiming ChatGPT violates copyrights of lyrics

More News

Wall Street Journal:

Internal memo: Lyft will slow hiring, cut the budgets of some departments, and grant new stock options to some employees to make up for its eroding share price

More: Bloomberg

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

In a letter, 42 Democratic lawmakers urge Google to stop collecting and retaining unnecessary user location data that could identify people seeking abortions

More: Associated Press, wyden.senate.gov, VICE, CyberScoop, The Register, and Politico

Tweets: @asymmetricinfo, @accountabletech, @lauren_feiner, @tonyajoriley, and @daveixd

Paresh Dave / Reuters:

Clearview AI expands sales by offering private companies and organizations a facial recognition tool allegedly using data collected with subjects' permission

More: ComputerWeekly.com and Protocol

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

Microsoft says 10M+ players stream games with Xbox Cloud Gaming; in September 2021, Nvidia said GeForce Now had 12M+ users; Google has not shared Stadia numbers

More: SiliconANGLE, XDA Developers, and OnMSFT.com

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Chrome now lets all desktop users right-click an image and perform a Lens search to translate text, identify an object, get the original source, and more

More: BGR, Android Police, iPhone in Canada Blog, Search Engine Land, 9to5Google, Tom's Guide, Android Central, Android Headlines, and The Verge

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Mexico-based Nowports, an automated digital freight forwarder in Latin America, raises a $150M Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by SoftBank Latin America Fund

More: Crunchbase News and Reuters

Tweets: @ycombinator, @ponchodelosrios, and @bayareawriter

Ann-Marie Alcántara / Wall Street Journal:

San Mateo-based Firework, whose tools help companies livestream shopping events, raises a $150M Series B led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 at a $750M valuation

More: PR Newswire, PYMNTS.com, Firework, TechCrunch, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, and FinSMEs

Earlier Picks

Gené Teare / Crunchbase News:

Monte Carlo, which uses AI to monitor data reliability, raises a $135M Series D led by IVP at a $1.6B valuation, bringing its total funding to $236M

More: TechCrunch, SiliconANGLE, nocamels.com, Globes Online, Monte Carlo Data, Forbes, and FinSMEs

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Cribl, which helps companies monitor and analyze data created by their infrastructure, raises a $150M Series D led by Tiger, a source says at a $2.5B valuation

More: FinSMEs, CRN, SiliconANGLE, Cribl, PR Newswire, and VentureBeat. Thanks:@kellyengemoen

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

How Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's $419M donation to US local and state election officials in 2020 has become a target of right-wing conspiracies

More: NBC News. Tweets: @issielapowsky, @teddyschleifer, @ianclucas, @justinhendrix, @radicalalarmist, @issielapowsky, @protocol, @protocol, @protocol, @tianaej, @issielapowsky, and @issielapowsky

Financial Times:

Filings: at Amazon's first annual shareholder meeting helmed by Andy Jassy on May 25, the company will oppose all 15 proposals, the most it has faced since 2010

More: New York Post, Fortune, and Protocol

Tweets: @jasonwardcictar, @uniglobalunion, @quinnypig, and @muradahmed

Cade Metz / New York Times:

A look at a San Francisco townhouse that became a hub for Ukrainian tech workers fleeing the war and entrepreneurs from Russia, Belarus, and Georgia opposing it

Tweets: @wboscoho, @f_bartoloni, @trippmickle, and @billste00228417

Adam Beam / Associated Press:

California's State Assembly passes a bill to let parents sue social media companies if children become “addicted” to their products; the bill needs a final vote

More: Gizmodo, Insider, California Legislative Information, and Techdirt

Tweets: @zavalaa, @carnage4life, @johnwilson, @mehnazakberaziz, @drantbradley, @rvawonk, @raymonddurk, @rmoneyryan2012, @thatjenmonroe, @mmasnick, @mmasnick, @mmasnick, @zavalaa, @cathygellis, @daphnehk, @pt, and @mmasnick