A week's worth of tech news that takes you 5 minutes to read

Welcome to this week's Sunday Download! What we do is simple: we break down a week's worth of tech news in 5 minutes or less so you can stay informed and up to date.

This week we'll cover Big Tech, mobility, AI and Machine learning, science tech, futuristic tech, and everything in between.

In return, we ask that you share it with a friend or colleague instead of keeping the Smartology goodness all to yourself. While greed may be good on Wall Street, sharing is caring here at Smartology. 🤝

Lots of stuff to go through this week, so let's not waste any (more) time. Highlights of this week's issue include:

• Elon, Elon, and more Elon (the guy really couldn't stay out of the news this week)

• Amazon gets in the AI game

• Montana bans Tiktok (insert obvious "no one lives in Montana" joke)

Total read time: 4 minutes and 43 seconds. Let's goooooo! 🚀

The Musk of it all

Elon and his eccentric billionaire drama kept finding ways to creep into headlines this week. Here's a quick recap:

1. Twitter, as a corporation, is no more with recent court filings showing that the Twitter name has officially merged with Elon's X Corp. Musk has long said he wants to launch an "everything" or "X" app, so this move makes sense.

2. Elon continues his feud with Substack (a popular blog and newsletter site) as Twitter blocks Substack content from being shared. Substack recently launched a "Notes" feature with a familiar look and feel to Twitter. People are saying that this is Elon's retaliation.

3. Elon Musk is funding a new company dedicated to AI, just weeks after signing an open letter saying that AI development needs to slow down. The new company is called "X.AI" in an apparent nod to the future development of the X App.

Amazon gets into the AI game

It was only a matter of time before Amazon finally made its AI move. In a big announcement this week, Amazon announced the launch of Bedrock. This new AWS cloud service allows developers to build and scale generative AI chatbots and other applications in the cloud, using internal organizational data to fine-tune a variety of leading pre-trained large language models (LLMs) such as Anthropic, AI21, and Stability AI.

Is there a motive beyond just wanting to play in the AI space? Maybe. A recent article presented compelling evidence that Amazon’s cloud business could be slowing. The company reported 27% year-over-year revenue growth for its cloud services in Q3 2022, but the uptick slowed to a mid-20% rate by the tail-end of the quarter.

This could be a great move to grab more AWS business while cementing itself as the infrastructure backbone of the AI startup movement.

The cookie crumbles

Google intends to phase out third-party cookies beginning next year. These will be replaced with a 'Privacy Sandbox,' which will provide a better-tailored advertising system for user privacy. Privacy Sandbox will convert Chrome and Android into tracking tools, allowing firms to exploit that data without discovering the identity of users. The reform can potentially change how businesses generate money on the internet.

The article includes an interview with Victor Wong, Google's senior director of product management for Privacy SandBox, in which he describes how the new policy may impact the digital economy. Read more here.

Work-from-home holdouts being punished

Corporations want people back in the office and aren't afraid to break out the stick. This article talks about how companies are tired of the gentle approach to enforcing return-to-office protocols. This includes geo-located mandates, checking swipe cards, and placing employees are performance plans if they fail to meet attendance standards.

The likely shift in expectations is probably to the tech layoffs and how the corporations now hold all the cards.

Clay Solo Cups?

A new startup is looking to replace paper and plastic cups with cups made out of clay, water, and sand.

 GaeaStar, a startup based in Berlin and San Francisco, developed a special 3D printer that creates clay composite cups in “30 seconds or less.” GaeaStar says it is gearing up to introduce its products to the U.S. via a trial with Verve, the California coffee chain.

The best part is that when you're done with the drink, you can smash the cup Stone Cold Steve Austin style.

Montana bans Tiktok for all 500 residents

Montana became the first US state to pass a state-wide ban that prohibits the use of Tiktok inside state lines. This ban goes beyond just banning the app from government devices and creates a roadmap for other states looking to do the same.

The ban will take effect in January 2024; however, the bill would become void if Congress enacts its own national TikTok ban (which they probably won't). The bill also wouldn't apply if TikTok divests its US business from Chinese ownership (which also probably won't happen).

While multiple politicians and intelligence agencies have justified the ban on TikTok by citing national security concerns, it's worth pointing out that there is currently no tangible evidence that the Chinese government has utilized TikTok to spy on US users. Yet, earlier reporting has revealed that ByteDance personnel in China can and have viewed American user data.

Happy 4/20 this week! Your weed might suck...

Your weed might be significantly less potent than you think it is. Last week, researchers found that the THC content of cannabis items purchased from legal dispensaries in Colorado was frequently far lower than their labels claimed. In general, the THC content of the samples was found to be substantially lower than that stated on the packaging.

Customers may be consistently overpaying for cannabis since costs are largely based on the product's purported THC content. Read more here.

Rapid Fire

• Best gifts and gadgets for mom

• Yahoo starts pre-sale of NFL Sunday Ticket for $249

• Visa partners with PayPal, Venmo, and others to power interoperable digital payments

• Google TV adds hundreds of free channels

• This bike has square wheels (and it's freaking awesome)

• The US Navy wants AI powered fighter jets

• HBO Max rebrands as just MAX

• Microsoft Teams gets Snapchat Lenses

• Tech re-shuffling: Silicon Valley decreases while Austin, Miami, Chicago, New York, and Denver increase

• Android 14 is released for beta

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