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Quick hits
Hot EV news: A Chinese startup develops self-heating EV batteries that extend a car’s mileage in cold weather.
Duck yeah: Apple refines auto-correct in latest iOS, making it easier to cuss in a text.
Talking ChatGPT: OpenAI unveils iPhone app allowing you to talk to ChatGPT.
WeWorkin’ it: WeWork’s founder bought clothing brand American Giant.
SEC vs. crypto: The SEC sues Coinbase for failing to register as an exchange, days after suing Binance for operating an illegal trading platform.
Open, not public: Microsoft-backed OpenAI has no plans to go public, CEO Sam Altman told a conference in Abu Dhabi.
AI stock boost: GitLab’s stock soars 35% on plans for a “ModelOps” AI feature expected to bring in new revenue.
Mixed message?: Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz organized “SF Tech Week” a year after moving out.
Cheese fusion: Wisconsin and Seattle are becoming ‘hotbeds’ of nuclear fusion power startups.
Podcast layoffs: Spotify will lay off 200 people, mostly from its podcast division.
Aussies embrace 4-day workweek
The 100.80.100 model is catching on in the land down under. That’s where employees make 100% of their pay working 80% of their normal hours—as long as they maintain 100% productivity. So far, 10 small and medium companies have given it a try, with 4 of them adopting a 4-day workweek permanently and the rest choosing to extend their trials.
Notably, all 10 companies report maintaining or increasing productivity levels, with 7 companies reporting productivity gains despite the cut hours. Companies noted the gains in recruitment and retention as well as reductions in absenteeism.
Circular logic
Seattle is hosting the Circularity 23 conference to explore possibilities for a circular economy with more sustainability and less waste. Startups like clothes subscription service Armoire, outdoor gear exchange facilitator GeerGarage, and recycling provider Ridwell are taking part.
“This is a meeting to determine how we can save humans and civilization for the next several centuries,” Washington’s governor said a keynote address. “There is a no more consequential time in our history on Earth and the kind of work that we’re doing together.”
How pricey consultants use ChatGPT
Nearly half of McKinsey’s 30k workers use ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, the consulting firm’s AI guru told a tech conference.
The most common uses are coding (the company claims productivity gains as high as 55%); customer engagement (e.g., chat bots); content generation (think personalized ads); and content synthesis (combining data points and services in new ways).
Apple’s new $3k ‘face computer'
Apple unveiled its Vision Pro headset, the company’s first major new product in a decade. CEO Tim Cook called it a “revolutionary new product” capable of shifting “the way we look at technology and the role it plays in our lives.”
Conspicuously absent from the choreographed announcement were the words “virtual reality.” Critics noted that the $3,499 price is 7X more than competitors like Meta Quest 3; and that, as impressive as it is, it’s still a face computer.
Novice to nerd in 10 days
You can become a semiconductor processing technician in just 10 days—if you can take the heat. Arizona’s Maricopa Community Colleges introduced a $270 rapid training course to become a semiconductor technician, which typically pays around $50k in the U.S.
The state needs 20k skilled workers for chip factories coming online from Intel and Taiwanese chip giant TSMC.
AM radio fights back
More than four dozen House members signed onto the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require all new cars and trucks to receive AM broadcast signals. Major carmakers, including Tesla and BMW, are omitting AM tuners because of electromagnetic interference.
“When the power goes out and cell networks are down, the car radio is often the only way for people to get information, sometimes for days at a time,” an AM radio operator told lawmakers.
Table of Contents
The Weekly Pulse
Tech hiring trends
Despite monthly see-sawing, tech sector employment and technology jobs across the economy have risen steadily in the last 2 years, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association (”CompTIA”). In May, the overall economy added 45k jobs while the tech sector shed nearly 5k. In April the script was flipped, with the tech sector adding 19k jobs as 100k jobs were eliminated elsewhere.
“As a percentage of the overall tech workforce, monthly fluctuations remain relatively small, both on the upside with tech occupation gains and the downside with tech sector employment losses,” a CompTIA researcher said.
What We’re Reading
Meta’s former CTO has a new $50 million project: ocean-based carbon removal (MIT)
Reddit to Lay Off About 90 Employees and Slow Hiring Amid Restructuring (WSJ)
Bitcoin Coders Feud Over Whether to Crush $1 Billion Frenzy for Memecoins (Bloomberg)
Microsoft Is Bringing OpenAI’s GPT-4 AI model to US Government Agencies (Bloomberg)
US government’s proposal to boost EV sales is challenging but not impossible (CNN)
A scientist and musician are collaborating to turn cosmic ray data into art (NPR)
Companies in the News
San Jose-based augmented reality startup Squint raised $6M in seed funding led by Arc. They’re hiring product designers, software engineers, and executive assistants.
Ohio-based Axuall, a clinical workforce intelligence company, raised a $20M Series B led by Noro-Moseley Partners. They’re hiring engineers, product managers, and product owners.
Orlando-based Red 6, an outdoor AR company, raised a $70M Series B led by RedBird Capital. They’re hiring creative designers, software engineers, and pipeline engineers.
San Francisco-based AI platform MindsDB raised $25M led by Mayfield. They’re hiring product designers.
Singapore-based workforce management platform Hybr1d raised $3.2M in pre-seed funding led by Global Founders Capital. They’re hiring IT support specialists.
Podcasts of the week
How to be a Better Human: How to stop finding self-worth in your job
Ted Talks Daily: 5 steps to fix any problem at work
Huberman Lab: Dr. Immordino-Yang: How Emotions and Social Factors impact learning:
Recruiter Corner
Increasing workplace diversity and inclusion
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace has been shown to not only improve innovation, but also increase creativity, productivity, and overall profitability. Achieving diversity and inclusion in the workplace requires a concerted effort and a fundamental shift in mindset, starting with the hiring process. Explore a few ways for recruiters to create more diverse and inclusive hiring process.
Startups hiring now
- Squint: AR platform on a mission to accelerate human potential | 4 open roles
- Ello: AI reading coach that works with real books | 2 open roles
- FrontRow: Movie/TV investment platform | 9 open roles
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