It's the weekend, reader! I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I have soooo many chores to do. One of them includes looking at my finances — moving is expensive. You know what else is sneaky expensive? All those subscriptions like Microsoft OneDrive and Adobe Creative Suite, which add up quick.
So I was super excited that my teammate Paayal Zaveri wrote about how this model could actually change soon. It's apparently a Sign of the Times.
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1. The market crash could finally break Big Tech's addiction to subscriptions.
Paying for things with a subscription has become the norm, in our personal and work lives, Paayal Zaveri writes. But it is not always the most consumer friendly. In the business world, companies want to know exactly what they're paying for and why, especially during a downturn.
That's why industry experts told me usage-based pricing, or paying for only what you use, has gained ground. The market crash could push this to become even more popular.
Even if companies don't totally abandon subscriptions, they'll have to introduce some element of usage-based pricing, Tien Tzuo, CEO of billing-management company Zuora told me.
Many hope usage-based pricing is a positive change that forces software companies to earn customers' business each month and could break tech's reliance on subscriptions — maybe finally bringing some innovation back to how we pay for software.
Read my full story here.
Top tech stories of the week:
2. "I outsourced my memory to AI for 3 weeks." Our writer tried an AI app to remember what he read online. His take? It's an effective tool, but might be making his actual memory worse in the long run. Read his story.
3. More than 500 Salesforce employees wrote to execs demanding layoff answers. The company's response was unsatisfactory to some. "It further cements the divide," one person said. Read the leaked messages.
4. "I visited a discount store that sells Amazon and Target returns. Here's what I found." Insider's Aaron Mok takes us inside Everyday Crazy Hot Deals, a liquidation center that buys and sells returned merchandise. Check it out.
5. Amazon has warned employees not to share confidential information with ChatGPT. This came after Amazon saw cases where its answer "closely matches existing material" from inside the company. Get the scoop.
6. You have less than 10 weeks left to let anyone outside your home use your Netflix login for free. Tell your mom, brother, friends, and friends of friends who somehow got a hold of your password. Here's what to know.
7. A married couple with a 4-month-old baby were both let go during Google's mass layoff. Allie was on maternity leave, while her husband Steve was set to go on paternity leave in a few weeks. They said they would now work full-time on their business: "This was the push that we needed." Here's what they told us.
From our tech analysis team:
8. Salesforce is now facing the very real threat of activist shareholders overthrowing its board. The company could also be forced to sell some of its mega-acquisitions, like Slack and Tableau. What's happening inside Salesforce.
9. Layoffs are a nail in the coffin for the metaverse. The metaverse was already a loose concept, but after a shaky stock performance, technological hurdles, and semiconductor geopolitics, mass layoffs could spell doom for the concept. Read why.
10. The great cloud slowdown won't last forever. That's according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who shared his plan for how Microsoft can rebound with the economy. Here's what he said.
Today's team: Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego, Paayal Zaveri in San Francisco, Lisa Ryan in New York, and Hallam Bullock in London.
