Will's Weekly Roundup

July 3rd - July 9th

Will Sullivan
July 10, 2023

Will's Weekly Roundup is a curated list of tech, business, and startup headlines from last week to kickstart your Mondays.

Spread the word about Will's Weekly Roundup. Click the button below or forward this link: https://willsullivan.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Business

The business headlines you missed (or need to see again)...

Goldman - Goldman is looking for a way out of its partnership with Apple’s credit card and savings account. LINK

NYC Delivery - DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub are suing NYC over a minimum-wage law. LINK

Beyoncé - Sweden reported higher inflation numbers as a result of a Beyoncé concert. LINK

Pickleball - Major League Pickleball named a new CEO and COO. LINK

Yahoo - Yahoo plans to go public (again). LINK

Bang Energy - Monster will acquire Bang Energy out of bankruptcy for $362 million. LINK

Musk vs Zuck - The Italian government has invited Elon Musk to fight Mark Zuckerberg at the Colosseum in Rome. You read that right. LINK

Layoffs - Tech layoffs have disproportionately affected women. LINK

Airlines - JetBlue will end its partnership with American Airlines in the northeastern US. LINK

HQ Trivia - Former HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky launched a game show at his brick-and-mortar vintage shop. LINK

Drake - Drake's new poetry book sold out online despite haters saying it consists of discarded Instagram captions. LINK

Threads - Meta officially launched Threads, its Twitter competitor. The app has nearly 100 million subscribers after launching only five days ago. Threads is keeping its user count high by making it only possible to delete your Threads account if you delete your Instagram account. Additionally, Twitter is threatening to sue Meta for stealing trade secrets for its Threads app. LINK, LINK, LINK

Tech

The tech headlines you missed (or need to see again)...

Space - India is launching a rover to the moon on July 14. LINK

Bitcoin - Lightning Labs released a tool that lets AI transact and hold Bitcoin. LINK

ChatGPT - ChatGPT’s traffic is down 10% in June. LINK

Tooth Regrowth - The world's 1st "tooth regrowth" medicine moved to clinical trials in Japan. LINK

Lamborghini - Lamborghini announced it’s officially sold out of its supply of fully gas-powered cars as it begins a full-scale transition to hybrids and EVs. LINK

Defense - My favorite defense-tech startup Anduril will soon make missiles. LINK

Twitter Limit - To prevent data scraping by AI startups, Twitter is limiting how many tweets users can see per day. LINK

EV Batteries - Toyota announced a breakthrough EV battery capable of driving 745 miles that charges in just 10 minutes. LINK

Facial Recognition - Random US retailers are using random facial recognition apps to try to stop thieves, with predictably unreliable results. LINK

Translation - A research team at Oxford has trained AI to translate cuneiform and Akkadian into English. LINK

Watchlist

Startups and companies I’m keeping an eye on…

Humane, started by former Apple employees, is creating an AI-first post-smartphone future. The company recently announced that its first gadget will be a small clip-on AI device that you talk to. LINK

Slang AI is a digital phone concierge that answers questions, takes reservations, and satisfies callers. LINK

Neko Health, started by one of Spotify’s co-founders, uses AI-driven full-body scans to provide personalized preventative healthcare solutions. It recently secured $65 million in funding. LINK

Sol Reader is developing wearable e-readers (VR) that are designed to provide a more immersive and distraction-free reading experience. LINK

Outside Interests

Interesting internet finds…

Chestnut - Joey Chestnut won the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest again (62 dogs in 10 minutes). LINK

Fireworks - Fireworks cause $59 million of property damage every year. LINK

White House - Cocaine was found inside the White House. LINK

Rolls-Royce - Rolls-Royce released a $420K electric car. LINK

Vegas - MSG built a $2.3 billion giant sphere stadium on the Las Vegas Strip. Here’s what it looks like. LINK

Hotel Strike - 15,000 hotel workers in Southern California walked off the job in the "largest" strike in the industry in US history. LINK

July 4th - Over the 4th of July weekend, a record 43.2 million people drove more than 50 miles to spend time with friends and loved ones. LINK

Million vs Billion - A million seconds is 11 days. A billion seconds is slightly over 31 years. LINK

Sweden - Sweden is set to build an entire wooden city in the middle of Stockholm in 2025. LINK

Spotify - Spotify is trying to add full-length music videos into its app. LINK

Egypt - Some Egyptian mummies were found with traces of drugs from South America over 30 years ago. LINK

Immigration - 7 million immigrants have entered the US illegally since President Biden took office in January 2021. LINK

Midway - We are halfway through 2023. LINK

Visuals

Three visuals worth taking a look at...

Apple became the first company to hit a $3 Trillion market cap.

Meta's launches and shutdowns of apps and features.

Traffic to the Wiki page of the Supreme Court spiked again after its latest rulings.

Wisdom

Two quotes of wisdom...

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain." ― Vivian Greene

"Never look back unless you're planning to go that way." ― Henry David Thoreau