⚰️ RIP Internet Explorer
Charlie Bit My Finger is Back, No More 'Not Responding' Windows, & Amazon looks to buy a Hollywood Studio
So, what happened this week in the Tech & Startup world? 🌍 China lands on Mars, Twitter struggles with a racist AI, and Bitcoin has a bad week.
To get this every week for free, make sure to sign up below ⬇️
The Grapevine Newsflash 🔥
11 tech & startup stories in 145 super-duper short seconds.
😎 Snapchat Glasses! Snapchat has announced a new set of augmented reality glasses at its 2021 annual conference. Watch the full conference here.
😢 The TikTok CEO Steps Down. Zhang Yiming has stepped down as the founder and CEO of TikTok. You can read his leaving letter here. Still confused as to how TikTok has conquered the world? Check out this great YouTube video here that explains it all.
✔️ Blue Check Envy Being ‘verified’ on Twitter has been a privilege only reserved for some… until now. The blue tick that has been viewed as an indicator of legitimacy and influence will soon be available for anyone to request. Is this the start of Twitter preventing bots and fake accounts?
🚀 China Lands On Mars? China has become the second country to land a rover on Mars. Read more here.
🥛 Honey & Oatmilk? Oatly IPO’d yesterday and rocketed up 20%. Is Oatly really worth $10bn? Great question. The team at Freetrade have written a brilliant article here (although we’re slightly biased), that gives you all the info you need to make your own decision. Looking for more insights like this? Sign up to their daily market analysis newsletter here.
🤖 Twitter’s Racist AI? Twitter automatically crops larger images of groups to make them clearer to users. The problem? The algorithm had an underlying bias, favouring white individuals over black people and women over men. Read more here or find out how bias AI works here.
📉 China Cracks Down on Crypto! Bitcoin sunk 30% this week after China threatens to enforce its ban on cryptocurrencies. Read more here. However, the US Federal Reserve opened the conversation around a digital dollar similar to what China have done with a digital Yuan… one to watch.
🧱 Chinese Tech Wall Big tech is clashing with China this week. Google’s controversial plan to launch a censored search engine, ‘Project Dragonfly’, in the country has officially been terminated. Meanwhile Apple is under fire for storing the data of its Chinese customers within China, something that some see as enabling the government to better track its citizens.
🎬 Prime…Amazon Prime The Hollywood studio behind 4000 films including James Bond, Rocky… and most importantly Legally Blonde, are in talks to be acquired by Amazon. A few years ago that would be ridiculous to write, but nowadays it feels like a logical move. An expected price of $6-9bn would make it Amazon’s second largest acquisition after Whole Foods. If this goes through, expect Amazon Prime to really kick off.
🚫 RIP ‘Not Responding’ Microsoft is shutting down Internet Explorer. It’s a sad end to an era for the tool that has once had a 92% market share. Chrome is now top-dog, with 65% followed by Safari at 10% and Microsoft Edge at 8%. It’ll join the early internet graveyard with AOL, Tumblr, Blackberry, My Space and many others. Looking for a throwback? Check out the top Internet Explorer memes here.
📹 “Ouch Charlie” The iconic ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ video is set to be removed from YouTube and auctioned as an NFT. Having hit 880m views, we expect it to go for a lot of money (perhaps more than the $473,000 that was paid for ‘Disaster Girl’).
Sharing The Grapevine 🔥
Show us some appreciation by clicking on the big green button below to share the Grapevine with co-workers, friends, family, or enemies (even they deserve high-quality news…).
If you share it on LinkedIn, be sure to tag us so we can say thanks!
Want to have a chat?
Shoot us an email at founders@onthegrapevine.co
Don’t follow us on LinkedIn?
Over & Out,
Nick, Louis, & Goofy