Friday 30 September 2022

Tech: Musk's juiciest texts revealed

10 THINGS IN TECH

Happy Friday, readers! The air is getting cooler and Spirit Halloween stores have overtaken defunct big-box retailers, so you know what that means: It's nearly October.

Today, we're looking back to a simpler time — earlier this year. It was before Elon Musk had announced his decision to buy Twitter (and even longer before he announced his decision not to buy Twitter).

In those days, Musk was messaging industry heavyweights from Jack Dorsey to Sam Bankman-Fried's advisor. And now, as his legal battle with Twitter continues, some of those texts have been released — and there were some juicy revelations.

Let's take a look at the messages, shall we?

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1. A trove of Elon Musk's texts have been released. As part of Twitter's lawsuit against Musk, texts between the Tesla billionaire and other powerful figures, including Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, have been disclosed.

In a series of texts between Dorsey and Musk, Dorsey said he'd pushed Musk's addition to Twitter's board a year earlier, but Twitter's board "said no." Dorsey continued: "I trust you."
Meanwhile, a text exchange showed Döpfner encouraged Musk to buy Twitter in March. He added that the move would be "a real contribution to democracy."
In the crypto space, Sam Bankman-Fried's advisor told Musk the FTX founder was also possibly interested in buying Twitter. See more from their conversations.
But, despite support from many of Musk's billionaire buddies, conversations between Musk and the Twitter CEO himself show just how quickly the pair's relationship imploded.

As you can see, Musk's phone has been bombarded by texts from executives, bankers, and other notable figures from tech, finance, and media. We sifted through text logs from the likes of Reid Hoffman and Joe Rogan to find the juiciest private texts released.

Here's what we found.

In other news:

2. A musician who raised an AI "baby" has another experiment that could usher in a new world of art. Holly Herndon, an experimental musician and artist, created a digital twin of herself (named Holly+) to harmonize with. Her project highlights the advantages of AI, while proving it isn't merely a substitute for human creativity. Take an inside look at the future of art.

3. Google is shutting down its game-streaming service Stadia. After two years, Google announced it'd be shutting down the cloud-gaming service, saying it "hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected." Users will have access to their games through January 18 — here's what else users should know.

4. How much do Apple employees get paid? By combing through data, Insider was able to determine how much engineers, data scientists, and thousands of other employees at the tech giant make, and many salaries start in the six-figure range. See how much you could make at Apple.

5. Meta just announced a hiring freeze. According to Bloomberg, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the freeze, saying most team budgets would be reduced and warning employees of a potential restructuring. Get the full rundown here.

6. TripActions has filed confidentially for an IPO. A person familiar with the matter said the startup, which aims to modernize business travel, has filed to go public next year. TripActions is targeting a $12 billion valuation — a rare exception in the frozen IPO market. Read our exclusive report.

7. Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has filed for divorce. Scott, who was previously married to Jeff Bezos, is divorcing her second husband, Dan Jewett, after nearly two years together. Here's what to know about Scott, an award-winning novelist and Princeton grad.

8. Leaked screenshots reveal new pay scales that Amazon is using to increase compensation for warehouse workers. Amazon is raising starting pay for its 750,000 US warehouse workers to an average $19 an hour, but the amount of individual workers' pay bumps varies by location and their tenure — and some workers aren't thrilled. Here's how the raises will be allocated, and what workers told us.

Odds and ends:

9. Elon Musk says Tesla's Cybertruck will be able to "serve briefly as a boat." In a tweet, the Tesla CEO said the electric trucks will be waterproof and able to "cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren't too choppy." What to know about the Tesla Cyber… boat.

10. Amazon just announced several new smart home products. The lineup includes a new Ring camera with radar sensors, and Echo devices that can turn into Eero mesh Wi-Fi satellites. Take a look at all of Amazon's new gadgets and features.

The latest people moves in tech:

Twitch's SVP of global creators resigned from the livestreaming giant.
A top Apple exec is leaving after being filmed making crude remarks about women in a TikTok video.
Microsoft alum Bhavana Bartholf has joined Bank of America.
Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown is stepping down from the C-Suite to instead lead a research-focused unit. Here are eight other execs who've left the company this year.
Meet the 11 people leading Shopify after rampant turnover wiped out most of its C-suite.

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

Thursday 29 September 2022

Tech: Death of the moonshot

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10 THINGS IN TECH

Hey, I'm so happy to see you. I'm Jordan Parker Erb, and I have a question for you: What do driverless cars, hoverboards, and space elevators have in common?

Each of these ideas is a "moonshot," or a radical, potentially world-changing project that Big Tech companies have worked on in recent years.

But recently, amid a gloomy economic climate, companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are backing away from these kinds of ambitious long-term projects — and the golden era of moonshots may have run its course.

All of this, and more, below.

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1. Is the era of Big Tech moonshots over? For years, companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook dumped money and energy into radical, potentially world-changing projects. But recently, Big Tech firms have been scaling back their ambitions — and have instead turned to a Wall Street-appeasing pragmatism.

At Google, moonshot ideas have included driverless cars (now the self-driving startup Waymo) and internet balloons (the now-shuttered Loon). For Snap, it was the abandoned Pixy drone. Facebook attempted a speed-dating app and Hotline, a tool for creators and fans to interact.
But thanks to a tough market and some projects not paying off after years in the works, these companies are being forced to become more efficient — and cutting moonshots as a result.
Google has slashed projects that don't align with its CEO's broader mission to pursue artificial intelligence, Snap has turned to focus on its "core strengths," like messaging and its popular filters, and Facebook has shrunk its experimental products group. The group is now dedicated to short-form video, attempting to keep up with TikTok.

Inside the death of the moonshot.

In other news:

2. Apple nixed plans to increase iPhone 14 production. According to Bloomberg, Apple ditched plans to make more of the new iPhones this year because it hasn't experienced the surge in demand it originally anticipated. Get the full rundown here.

3. Twitter is telling advertisers their ads mistakenly ran on profiles selling and soliciting child sexual abuse material. In emails to advertisers and advertising agencies, viewed by Insider, the company said it had banned accounts that violated its rules and it was investigating what had happened. What we know so far.

4. Amazon temporarily shut down some warehouses in Florida. In preparation for Hurricane Ian making landfall in Florida, the ecommerce giant closed warehouse sites near Tampa and Orlando until Friday. Here's the latest.

5. Salesforce has quietly become a giant government contractor. Public contract data shows that over the past five years, Salesforce has racked up over 1,400 deals with federal agencies. Everything we know about the contracts.

6. Workers at Amazon warehouses will receive hourly pay raises. Wages will increase across the country by roughly $0.50 to $1 an hour, according to workers at two facilities. It comes after Amazon workers of all types have been pushing for higher pay for years. Read the full story here.

7. Hey, young people — Google wants you to use it more. In an effort to stay hip, Google is updating its most important products. It's added more vertical, TikTok-style videos in its search results, and has added a "vibe" feature for Google Maps, which will show curated pictures of an area that a user is searching for. A look at the TikTok-ification of Google.

8. Grimes said she couldn't afford a house in Austin without Elon Musk's help. The singer slammed housing prices on Twitter, saying despite being a successful artist, she couldn't afford a home that would fit her kids in Austin, where the average house costs over $820,000. Here's what else she said.

Odds and ends:

9. People are roasting BMW for unveiling a "hideous" SUV. Coming in at $160,000 and 644 horsepower, BMW's XM is a plug-in hybrid with dramatic angles, chunky wheels, and slim headlights — and some people hate it. Take a look at the "ghastly" XM.

10. Amazon just unveiled a Kindle you can write on. At its annual hardware event yesterday, the company debuted the Kindle Scribe, a device for both reading and writing. Here are the Kindle Scribe's coolest features.

What we're watching today:

Micron, Nike, and others are reporting earnings. Keep up with earnings here.
Silicon Slopes Tech Summit starts today in Salt Lake City.
POLITICO is hosting its 2022 AI & Tech Summit, beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
NFT Seattle kicks off today.

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

Wednesday 28 September 2022

Tech: Google, Hulu salaries revealed

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10 THINGS IN TECH

Look at you go! You're halfway through the week. Writing to you from New York, I'm Jordan Parker Erb.

Have you ever wondered how much you'd get paid if you were working at a Big Tech firm like, say, Google?

Well, we took the guesswork out of it for you by analyzing some data to determine just how much different companies pay their employees. And in many cases, it's a lot.

From engineers to execs, we've got tons of salaries to share with you. Let's get started.

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1. How much are Big Tech companies paying talent? By combing through data, Insider got a sense of how companies like Google, Hulu, and Disney pay their employees. The data excludes stock grants and other ways the companies may compensate staff, but offers a valuable guide to salaries for a variety of positions across firms.

At Google, where salaries for engineers, developers, and other employees often stretch into the six-digit range, the highest-paid employee in the data set was its chief people officer, who is paid a $1 million base salary. See how much Google pays its employees.
At Disney, the salaries Insider analyzed ranged from $99,288 to $180,000 per year, and included jobs in its streaming tech, consumer products, parks, studio, and other divisions. Get a look at Disney's salaries here.
Similarly, Hulu has offered between $93,150 and $242,000 per year to some candidates. Positions we looked at included data scientists, data engineers, senior analysts, and more — see how their salaries stack up.
Finally, take a look at Insider's Big Tech salary database to see how much Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Facebook, and other companies pay their workers.

In other news:

2. Meet the 26 most important VCs in Miami. Over the past two years, Miami's tech-startup scene has heated up as investors flock to the city. We asked venture capitalists and other prominent tech figures to identify the most esteemed startup backers in the area. Here are their picks for the VCs that every founder in Miami should know.

3. Some Uber drivers are worried they're being used as "drug mules." According to NBC News, some drivers are worried they're unknowingly delivering drugs via Uber Connect, the company's courier service. Here's what the drivers said.

4. Looking for a job at Netflix? You may be in luck. As subscriptions fall off, Netflix is looking to hire a slew of engineers and developers to bolster its year-old push into gaming. In the past month alone, the streamer has posted 33 jobs to help build out its mobile games business. A look at what we know so far.

5. An animal rights group is seeking the release of photos of monkeys that died during experiments for Elon Musk's Neuralink. The group claims UC Davis has photos of experiments that were performed on the monkeys — including cutting holes into their skulls to implant electrodes into their brains — as well as photos related to the animals' autopsies. More on that here.

6. A nonprofit is helping Ukrainian women in tech rebuild their lives and careers. Wtech, a nonprofit with a community of more than 5,000 Ukrainian women, has been helping female tech workers flee the country, stay safe, and readjust to their new lives abroad. Inside the nonprofit.

7. Apple is opening an office inside a decommissioned coal-fired power station in London. In 2023, the company expects to move more than 1,000 employees into the iconic building, located on the bank of the River Thames. Take a look inside the new office.

8. A leaked memo shows what Twitch's president told staff as the platform changed the way it pays top creators. Twitch's update to its creator monetization terms — which could result in pay cuts for some streamers — ignited a firestorm on social media last week. Read the president's note to employees here.

Odds and ends:

9. ICYMI: NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. It was part of a test to deflect dangerous asteroids headed toward Earth in the future (though that's not an immediate threat to civilization right now). Watch the footage here.

10. With iOS 16, you can easily remove an image from its background. For years, if you wanted to remove the background of a photo to isolate the subject, you needed to meticulously edit the photo in Photoshop. Now, you can do it with just a tap on your iPhone. We explain how to remove the background from an image.

What we're watching today:

Amazon is scheduled to unveil new devices, features, and services at an invite-only event today.
"Blonde," starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, premieres on Netflix.
The Bloomberg Technology Summit starts today in London.

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

Tuesday 27 September 2022

Tech: Another Amazon ‘Prime Day’

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10 THINGS IN TECH

Well, well, well, if it isn't another Amazon sales bonanza. That's right: Amazon has confirmed it's hosting another Prime Day-esque event, slated to take place next month. Details are sparse so far, but I'll be walking you through what we do know below.

I'm your host, Jordan Parker Erb. Let's get started.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

1. It's official: Amazon is hosting a second "Prime Day" sales event. Confirming a report by Insider's Katherine Long from earlier this year, Amazon has announced it will be holding another mega sale for Prime members in October. Here's what we know so far:

The "Prime Early Access Sale," will be held on October 11 and 12. According to a press release, it'll feature tons of "popular and giftable items" — right before it heads into its busy holiday season, known internally as "peak."
As with Prime Day, the Prime Early Access Sale is exclusively available to Amazon Prime subscribers. But as long as you sign up before the event ends on October 12, you'll be able to partake.
Amazon has kept details to a minimum, but it did offer a list of brands to expect, including Peloton, New Balance, Philips Sonicare, Lego, Samsung, and iRobot — and we're expecting the same quality of deals you'd find on Prime Day, if not better.

Everything you'll want to know about the sale.

In other news:

2. Putin granted Edward Snowden Russian citizenship. The ex-NSA contractor and whistleblower fled the US and was given asylum in Russia in 2013. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted him citizenship, amid sky-high tensions between the US and Russia. What we know so far.

3. Google employees are skeptical about the company's $1.2 billion contract with Israel's government. At an all-hands meeting, Google execs tried to assure employees that the controversial contract wouldn't support the country's sensitive military work — but some employees are still wary. Everything we learned from the leaked meeting audio.

4. Elon Musk's legal team is frustrated after Twitter's CEO canceled his deposition. Parag Agrawal has yet to reschedule after canceling an interview with Musk's lawyer the day before it was set to take place. More on Agrawal's alleged "no show."

5. A leaked org chart shows the people running Microsoft's big future bets. Last year, the company created a division for the company's big bets, from quantum to government IT. We got a look at a leaked document that outlines the people running the moonshot team — meet the 12 execs running the show.

6. Google saw a spike in searches for "how to leave Russia." The surge came in the leadup to a speech by Putin, wherein he announced a partial military mobilization of 300,000 reservists that would be drafted to fight in Ukraine. However, some men, in fields like banking and IT, will be exempt.

7. These 15 cloud-software companies are most likely to be acquired after Adobe's $20 billion Figma deal. We spoke with research analysts and Wall Street experts, who shared their picks for the private and public software companies that could be scooped up. From Canva to Miro, here are 15 likely acquisition targets.

8. Elon Musk's Starlink is now active in Iran. According to a think tank, SpaceX has activated the service as the country experiences disruption to its internet network. People in Iran have been reporting internet outages after protests over the death of a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody. Get the full rundown here.

Odds and ends:

9. A new Spotify feature recommends music based on what you're wearing. The app's new "Get Ready With Music" feature makes a custom playlist inspired by your outfit, your mood, and your "vibe." Here's how to make your own.

10. Some of your favorite shows are leaving Netflix. Come October, seasons of the baking competition show "Nailed It" and reality dating show "Love Is Blind" will be available — but fan favorites like "Schitt's Creek" and "The Notebook" will disappear. Everything coming to (and leaving) Netflix in October.

What we're watching today:

Intel Innovation starts today in San Jose, California.
Converge22, a conference on the future of Web3, starts today in San Francisco.
Forbes will publish the Forbes 400, its annual listing of the 400 richest Americans.
Today is Google's 24th birthday.
SAS Explore, an event for SAS software users, takes place virtually.

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.