Elon’s huge week – TechCrunch

Hello!

I’m Greg Kumparak.

I’ll be heading up Week in Assessment for the foreseeable future, along with your former host Lucas Matney diving into cryptoland with the launch of a publication and podcast referred to as Chain Response. He’s not going too far, and I’m positive he’ll cease again in every so often.

If my identify appears acquainted, it could be as a result of I took over Week in Assessment just a few instances whereas Lucas was AFK/touching grass/not watching a display screen. Or it could possibly be since you’ve been studying TechCrunch for a very long time. I’ve been round this place for over a decade; I’ve worn quite a lot of hats in that point. (Metaphorical hats. I’ve received a giant ol’ head, most precise hats don’t match proper.)

That’s all I’ll say about me, for now, as a result of this isn’t the Greg in Assessment publication. However come say hi on Twitter. Inform me what you want most about Week in Assessment because it has existed to date. I don’t intend to alter a lot in regards to the format, however I’m all the time all the way down to do extra of what folks like.

the massive factor

Lucas all the time began the publication off with the week’s “huge factor”… and, nicely, the massive factor this week was, inarguably, Elon Musk providing $44 billion to purchase Twitter, and Twitter accepting. In the event you have been taking a look at our listing of most learn posts for the week, you would possibly suppose it was the solely factor that occurred in tech this week. No joke.

I’m fairly positive nearly all the things that may be stated about Elon, Twitter and the mix of Elon and Twitter… has been stated. Sizzling takes, not-so-hot takes… all takes, of all temperatures, have already been taken. I’m a believer that when you have nothing good to say, the neatest factor you possibly can say is nothing.

[ … pause for effect]

Fortuitously, I’ve loads of good pals which have stated loads of good issues!

Ron was fast out of the gate with some ideas on how Twitter has developed since he joined in 2007, and the place it may go from right here. Natasha identified that, with various Twitter staff out of the blue much less blissful and sure extra wealthy, this could possibly be the beginning of a complete new wave of startups. Devin questioned… nicely, all the things about it.

In the event you in some way end up saying “Wait, Elon’s shopping for Twitter?”, right here’s our recap of the complete wild journey.

different issues

Imagine it or not, different stuff occurred this week! Like:

PayPal confirmed it’s shutting down its SF workplace: Our personal Mary Ann Azevedo broke the information that PayPal is parting methods with its SF workplace, with the corporate saying it’s evaluating its “international workplace footprint” primarily based on how the pandemic has modified the way in which we work. It feels like SF staff will be capable of work nearly or commute all the way down to the San Jose HQ.

Snap constructed a selfie drone?: It’s lovable, however I’m having a tough time seeing how this turns into something greater than a goofy aspect mission for the corporate. “Maintain on pals, don’t take that selfie. Let me get out the drone. Maintain on, let it boot up. One sec. Wait, no drones allowed right here? It’s advantageous, we’ll be quick. I’m not killing the vibe! You might be. Welp, battery is useless, gimme a minute.”

Somebody discovered a Pixel Watch: In information that throws me again to the wild gadget running a blog days of 2010*, somebody discovered what seems to be a prototype of a Google-made Pixel smartwatch sitting forgotten at a restaurant. Google’s huge I/O occasion kicks off in just some weeks, so I’d count on to listen to extra about this then. (* “Oh no, how was the iPhone 4/Gizmodo factor over a decade in the past,” he says to himself as he crumbles to mud and blows away.)

added issues

We’ve a paywalled part of our website referred to as TechCrunch+. It prices a couple of bucks a month and it’s filled with superb stuff! From this week, for instance:

The 9 startups growing tomorrow’s batteries: From constructing smarter units to battling local weather change, we want higher batteries if we need to preserve shifting ahead. However what’s really taking place within the house? TechCrunch newcomer Tim De Chant kicked issues off with a bang (zap?) with a deep dive on 9 firms which have collectively raised over $4 billion in hopes of cracking the subsequent period of battery tech. Plus he received a pun within the headline, which is a win in my e book.

YC’s Dalton Caldwell on the best way to get into YC: A number of weeks again at our TechCrunch Early Stage occasion, Y Combinator’s Dalton Caldwell led a session on what he appears to be like for when a startup applies. The session and the Q&A thereafter have been filled with precise, actionable perception from somebody who is aware of extra in regards to the accelerator’s utility course of than maybe anybody else, and on this submit I’ve collected most of the bits that stood out to me most.

Must you put any of your 401(okay) into crypto? This week Constancy introduced that it’s going to enable retirement account holders to take a position as much as 20% of their 401(okay) into bitcoin. However must you? The superb Anita Ramaswamy explores the dangers and rewards.