WebProNews

Author: Matt Milano

  • Ericsson Mobility Report: 5G Subs Top One Billion in 2022

    Ericsson Mobility Report: 5G Subs Top One Billion in 2022

    5G subscriptions hit a major milestone in 2022, topping one billion globally and growing by 136 million in Q4.

    Ericsson just released its Ericsson Mobility Report Q4 2022 Update, detailing the state of the wireless industry around the world. Globally, mobile subscriptions hit 8.4 billion, with mobile broadband accounting for 86% of all mobile subscriptions.

    According to the report, 5G not tops one billion subscriptions globally. Some 235 service providers are now offering commercial 5G services, with 35 providers offering 5G standalone (SA) networks.

    Interestingly, while there are 8.4 billion mobile subscriptions, only 6.1 billion of them are unique mobile subscribers. Ericsson says the difference is attributed to some individuals having multiple devices, subscriptions that are optimized for different types of calls, as well as some inactive subscriptions.

    Overall, however, the report shows the speed with which 5G is being adopted, outpacing its predecessor.

  • Get Ready For a Major Microsoft Teams Performance Boost

    Get Ready For a Major Microsoft Teams Performance Boost

    Microsoft Teams is on the verge of receiving a major performance boost thanks to a complete rewrite that should be released next month.

    The Verge has learned from sources familiar with the matter that Microsoft has been completely rebuilding Teams, with a focus on improved performance. The new version is slated to have the 2.0, or possibly 2.1, designation.

    Rish Tandon, former Microsoft Teams’ CVP of Engineering, teased these coming improvements as early as mid-2021:

    It appears the architecture change is finally paying off, paving the way for this current rewrite of Teams. Microsoft has already begun testing the new version internally, with plans to release a preview in March.

    According to The Verge’s sources, “the app should use 50 percent less memory, tax the CPU less, and result in better battery life on laptops.”

    Given Teams’ status as the most widely used corporate messaging platform, a boost this significant is good news indeed.

  • China’s Scientists Are Working to Circumvent US Chip Sanctions

    China’s Scientists Are Working to Circumvent US Chip Sanctions

    China’s scientists are going on the offensive against US chip sanctions as the country tries to keep its semiconductor industry running.

    The US has been working to restrict China’s access to advanced chip technologies and has increasingly been convincing its allies to do the same. Some reports have suggested China’s semiconductor industry is on the verge of collapse as a result, and Beijing is pouring billions into the industry to help it weather the challenges.

    According to Bloomberg, China’s scientists are now joining the fray, coming up with ways to compete with the US. One of the leading strategies put forth by two academics is to amass a portfolio of patents that could be weaponized in the semiconductor wars. In their proposal, Luo Junwei and Li Shushen said the country’s scientists should focus on patenting materials and methods necessary for the next generation of chip design.

    “We should vigorously promote the spirit of scientists who pursue originality and resist low-level, repetitive follow-up research,” the scientists wrote.

    This development is just the latest that illustrates the high-stakes nature of the semiconductor industry and why countries are increasingly viewing the industry as a matter of national security.

  • It’s Not Just You…Microsoft Outlook’s Spam Filters Are Borked

    It’s Not Just You…Microsoft Outlook’s Spam Filters Are Borked

    Users’ inboxes were flooded with spam Monday, an apparent issue with Microsoft Outlook’s spam filters not working.

    According to Mashable, the Twitterverse is ablaze with reports of inboxes filled to the brim with spam messages. The emails ranged from random — but not necessarily harmful — emails to blatant phishing attempts.

    There does not appear to be an explanation for the issue, nor is there a time frame for when it will be fixed. Mashable reached out to Microsoft for comment, but has not received a response.

    We will update this story as more information becomes available.

  • Akamai Is Taking on the Cloud’s Top Dogs With Linode

    Akamai Is Taking on the Cloud’s Top Dogs With Linode

    Akamai is hitting the ground running with its Linode purchase, using it as the backbone of its cloud ambitions.

    Akamai made its name as the world’s leading content delivery network (CDN), but has been aggressively transforming itself into a cloud provider. It’s $900 million purchase of Linode was a major piece of that transformation and the company is using it as a launchpad to challenge the cloud industry’s giants.

    Last week, Akamai unviled its Connected Cloud service, and promised a “a fundamentally different approach to cloud.” The company plans to build “three new enterprise-scale core cloud computing sites” in the US and Europe. The new sites are expected to go live by the end of Q2 2023 and will be based on the Linode assets. The sites will also serve as a template for 10 additional core sites the company will deploy throughout the year.

    The company also plans to roll out out at least 50 distributed sites in 2023, greatly expanding cloud computing’s reach, especially in remote locations.

    In what is sure to be good news for many companies, Akamai plans to bring CDN economics to cloud egress pricing in an effort to help drive down cost. This has been a growing concern for many companies, with cloud computing costs growing much faster than many expected.

    “The cloud’s next phase requires a shift in how developers and enterprises think about getting applications and data closer to their customers. It redefines how the industry looks at things like performance, scale, cost, and security, as workloads are no longer built for one place but are delivered across a wide spectrum of compute and geography,” said Dave McCarthy, Research VP, IDC. “Akamai’s innovative rethinking of how this gets done — and how it is architecting Akamai Connected Cloud — puts it in a unique position to usher in an exciting new era for technology and to help enterprises build, deploy, and secure distributed applications.”

    “We’re taking a fundamentally different approach to cloud computing — building on 25 years of experience scaling and securing the internet for the biggest companies in the world,” said Tom Leighton, Akamai’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Akamai is building the cloud the next decade needs.”

  • FTC Commissioner Resigns, Pens Scathing Op-Ed About Lina Khan

    FTC Commissioner Resigns, Pens Scathing Op-Ed About Lina Khan

    FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson is resigning, penning a scathing op-ed in The Wall Street Journal condemning Chairwoman Lina Khan.

    Lina Khan was a controversial choice to lead the Federal Trade Commission, with some in the tech industry opposed to her appointment over her long-standing criticism of Big Tech. Since taking over the agency, Khan has increased regulatory scrutiny of tech companies.

    In her op-ed, Wilson argues the case that Khan has taken the FTC beyond the rule of law, and she can there no longer stand by and “enable her”:

    Much ink has been spilled about Lina Khan’s attempts to remake federal antitrust law as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Less has been said about her disregard for the rule of law and due process and the way senior FTC officials enable her. I have failed repeatedly to persuade Ms. Khan and her enablers to do the right thing, and I refuse to give their endeavor any further hint of legitimacy by remaining. Accordingly, I will soon resign as an FTC commissioner.

    Wilson accuses Khan and her allies of breaking with established law and “decades of bipartisan precedent” in the pursuit of their agenda:

    Since Ms. Khan’s confirmation in 2021, my staff and I have spent countless hours seeking to uncover her abuses of government power. That task has become increasingly difficult as she has consolidated power within the Office of the Chairman, breaking decades of bipartisan precedent and undermining the commission structure that Congress wrote into law. I have sought to provide transparency and facilitate accountability through speeches and statements, but I face constraints on the information I can disclose—many legitimate, but some manufactured by Ms. Khan and the Democratic majority to avoid embarrassment.

    Wilson also takes aim at Khan’s past criticism of Big Tech and argues that it disqualifies Khan from serving as an impartial judge in cases involving the companies she has railed against in the past.

    Consider the FTC’s challenge to Meta’s acquisition of Within, a virtual-reality gaming company. Before joining the FTC, Ms. Khan argued that Meta should be blocked from making any future acquisitions and wrote a report on the same issues as a congressional staffer. She would now sit as a purportedly impartial judge and decide whether Meta can acquire Within. Spurning due-process considerations and federal ethics obligations, my Democratic colleagues on the commission affirmed Ms. Khan’s decision not to recuse herself.

    Commissioner Wilson’s op-ed is a lengthy read, one in which she continues to detail her allegations of abuses of power on Khan’s part.

    Most interestingly, Wilson’s position is an increasingly rare one in US politics. Wilson is currently the only Republican FTC Commissioner. As such, she repeatedly calls out her Democratic colleagues at a time when cracking down on antitrust abuses is one of the few things that lawmakers and regultors on both sides of the aisle can agree on.

  • Google Has Abandoned Fastlane App Automation Tool

    Google Has Abandoned Fastlane App Automation Tool

    Google appears to have abandoned yet another project, with the open-source Fastlane app automation tool the latest in a long list.

    Fastlane is an automation tool for building and releasing iOS and Android apps. Google acquired the company in early 2017 and supported its continued development for several years.

    Peter Steinberger, PSPDFKit founder, noted on Mastodon that the Fastlane project no longer has any active maintainers on GitHub:

    Good luck. Google abandoned Fastlane, it has no maintainers currently.

    RT @testableapple Ridiculous and long-lived nightmare. CI is especially scared.

    @FastlaneTools, what if I say this tiny PR might mitigate this issue?”

    Josh Holtz, Fastlane’s lead maintainer, chimed in, saying that he was still involved but had been struggling with his schedule to find time for the project:

    @jesusfdiaz @steipete Still working on it! Just been struggling schedule wise with a new addition to the family in October 🤷‍♂️

    But almost back to a new normal over here which should make things easier

    In response to a question about Google no longer sponsoring the project, Holtz confirmed that has been the case for more than a year:

    @steipete @jesusfdiaz This is facts ☺️ Have not been paid/sponsored since November-ish of 2021

    Holtz said Google still owns the copyright for Fastlane, but is not contributing anything toward its development, making the project a labor of love:

    @leohidalgo Yup, Google owns the IP… the community just does all (majority) the work these days 🤷‍♂️

    Edit: I think I meant copyright instead of IP but… hello Hackernews 👋

    Google has a long history of abandoning projects after they gain traction. In fact, the company has such a notorious reputation for doing so that it had to reassure cloud customers that they could, in fact, depend on the company long-term.

    It’s a shame to see Fastlane join the list of Google abandonware.

  • GoDaddy Suffered Multi-Year Breach, Malware Installed On Servers

    GoDaddy Suffered Multi-Year Breach, Malware Installed On Servers

    GoDaddy has informed customers it suffered a multi-year breach, one that involved hackers installing malware on its servers.

    GoDaddy said it started receiving complaints from customers in December 2022. Some customers reported their websites intermittently redirecting to other domains. The company investigated, but the issue was difficult to prove since it appeared to be happening randomly across its customer base.

    Ultimately, the company realized it had been hacked and malware was responsible for the unusual behavior:

    As our investigation continued, we discovered that an unauthorized third party had gained access to servers in our cPanel shared hosting environment and installed malware causing the intermittent redirection of customer websites. Once we confirmed the intrusion, we remediated the situation and implemented security measures in an effort to prevent future infections.

    In the company’s 10-K filing, it acknowledged the breach was the result of a multi-year campaign against the it:

    Based on our investigation, we believe these incidents are part of a multi-year campaign by a sophisticated threat actor group that, among other things, installed malware on our systems and obtained pieces of code related to some services within GoDaddy.

    GoDaddy says it is applying the lessons it has learned from this breach in an effort to improve security. The company also says “these incidents as well as other cyber threats and attacks have not resulted in any material adverse impact to our business.”

    Despite its assurances, it’s a safe bet many customers will likely start migrating away from GoDaddy to more secure hosting services, something that will likely have a major impact on its business.

  • Where Is Bao Fan? Billionaire Chinese Banker Is Missing

    Where Is Bao Fan? Billionaire Chinese Banker Is Missing

    Bao Fan, a prominent tech banker and head of China Renaissance, has gone missing, sparking fresh fears of another Chinese tech crackdown.

    Bao Fan is one of China’s leading financial CEOs, having founded China Renaissance in 2005 after stints at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. According to The Guardian, quoting local news outlet Caixin, Bao Fan has been unreachable for two days, sparking a 50% drop in the company’s stock price. The price eventually regained 30%, but the questions about the CEO’s whereabouts remain.

    “[We] believe that everyone has had a restless night. At this time, [we] hope that you do not believe in or spread rumours,” the company said in a message to employees, seen by The Wall Street Journal.

    The incident is reminiscent of Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s disappearance in early 2021 amid Beijing’s crackdown on the tech and finance sector. Ma went missing for months before finally reappearing in a state media video. The fact that it was a state media video did little to reassure investors and fans that he was ok. Interestingly, Ma has since agreed to give up control of the Ant Group, the financial company at the heart of China’s regulatory efforts surrounding Ma.

    Many fear Bao Fan’s disappearance could be indicative of a similar crackdown on China Renaissance.

    Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, told The Guardian he was “not aware of the relevant information” about Bao’s disappearance.

    “But I can tell you that China is a country under the rule of law,” he added. “The Chinese government protects the legitimate rights of its citizens in accordance with the law.”

  • Snap Is Cutting Google and AWS Cloud Spending

    Snap Is Cutting Google and AWS Cloud Spending

    Snap is cutting back its cloud spending, reducing how much it pays both Google Cloud and AWS.

    Snap relies on both cloud providers to power its operations. Like many tech companies, however, Snap is looking to cut costs and operate more efficiently. According to Business Insider, CFO Derek Andersen said the company had identified its cloud contracts as an area to cut back, with cloud expenditures second only to employee pay in cost.

    As a result, the company has “restructured and renewed to achieve lower pricing and better ongoing leverage in those relationships,” Andersen said.

    There was likely quite a bit of room for negotiation, with the company signing a five-year, $2 billion deal with Google in 2017. Similarly, the company had signed a $1 billion deal with AWS that lasted through December 2021.

    “We’ve focused intently on efficient unit-cost management by engineering our products efficiently, and by migrating among cloud services and products to drive down our unit costs,” Andersen said.

    The efforts appear to be paying off. While Andersen did not say exactly how much the company had reduced its cloud costs, he did say that infrastructure cost per daily user had dropped from $2.78 two years ago to $2.31 today.

    Snap’s actions illustrate the dilemma many companies now face. The pandemic helped fuel a record-breaking rush to adopt cloud services in an effort to better support remote and hybrid work. The pandemic also helped drive record sales for many tech companies. As the pandemic has waned, however, many companies are now paying for massive cloud contracts at a time when business is nowhere near as profitable as it was a year ago.

    While the cloud segment has been relatively insulated from the economic downturn, that could quickly change as more companies follow Snap’s lead.

  • FTC Launches ‘Office of Technology’ to Tackle Big Tech

    FTC Launches ‘Office of Technology’ to Tackle Big Tech

    The Federal Trade Commission is stepping up its efforts to reign in Big Tech, launching a new Office of Technology.

    Big Tech has increasingly been in the crosshairs of politicians and regulators across the political spectrum. In the US, the FTC is one of the main agencies tasked with reigning in Big Tech, and it is forming a new office to help achieve that goal and keep up with the rapid changes that happen within the tech industry.

    The agency described the goal of the office in its press release:

    The Federal Trade Commission today launched a new Office of Technology that will strengthen the FTC’s ability to keep pace with technological challenges in the digital marketplace by supporting the agency’s law enforcement and policy work.

    “For more than a century, the FTC has worked to keep pace with new markets and ever-changing technologies by building internal expertise,” said Chair Lina M. Khan. “Our office of technology is a natural next step in ensuring we have the in-house skills needed to fully grasp evolving technologies and market trends as we continue to tackle unlawful business practices and protect Americans.”

    FTC CTO Stephanie T. Nguyen will head up the new office, which will have its own dedicated staff.

    “I’m honored to lead the FTC’s Office of Technology at this vital time to strengthen the agency’s technical expertise and meet the quickly evolving challenges of the digital economy,” said Nguyen. “I look forward to continuing to work with the agency’s talented staff and building our team of technologists.”

    The FTC says the new office will focus on three primary areas, including strengthening and supporting law enforcement investigations and actions; advising and engaging with staff and the Commission on policy and research initiatives; and highlighting market trends and emerging technologies that impact the FTC’s work.

  • Google Reportedly Pays Apple for Chrome Search Revenue on iOS

    Google Reportedly Pays Apple for Chrome Search Revenue on iOS

    In what is sure to be a problem for both companies, an alleged secret non-compete agreement has come to light involving Chrome on iOS.

    According to The Register, Google pays Apple a portion of the revenue it receives from searches in the iOS version of its Chrome web browser. This arrangement is above and beyond what Google pays Apple to be the default search provider on the iPhone and iPad.

    The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a 356-page report in mid-June 2022 detailing the relationship between Google and Apple. Below is an excerpt from that report:

    Google pays Apple a share of the search revenue it earns from browser traffic on iOS in the following contexts: in return for being the default search provider on Safari, Google pays Apple a share of revenue derived from Safari search traffic; and pursuant to various commercial arrangements, Google pays Apple a share of revenue derived from [x] search traffic.

    The Register’s sources have told the outlet that the redacted “x” in the above text stands for “Chrome.”

    Such an arrangement would be relatively unusual since Apple doesn’t actually do anything worthy of receiving a portion of Google’s Chrome search revenue. A clue to the reasoning behind the deal may rest in a private antitrust lawsuit brought against both companies by the Alioto Law Firm in San Francisco.

    “Because more than half of Google’s search business was conducted through Apple devices, Apple was a major potential threat to Google, and that threat was designated by Google as ‘Code Red,’” the complaint argues. “Google paid billions of dollars to Apple and agreed to share its profits with Apple to eliminate the threat and fear of Apple as a competitor.”

    The Register reached out to attorney Joseph M. Alioto, who was not surprised by this report. He did, however, point out the legal issues if such a secret non-compete agreement truly exists.

    “The division of the market is per se illegal under the antitrust laws,” said Alioto.

    If The Register’s sources are correct, and the two companies have colluded to the degree reported, it could be exactly the smoking gun regulators need to take more definitive action against Apple and Google specifically, as well as Big Tech in general.

  • DocuSign Is Laying Off 10% of Its Staff

    DocuSign Is Laying Off 10% of Its Staff

    DocuSign has filed paperwork with the SEC indicating it plans to lay off 10% of its employees, or roughly 700 individuals.

    DocuSign experienced rapid growth during the pandemic as record numbers of people worked remotely, making digital document signing a critical component of day-to-day operations. As many companies have experienced, however, with the economic downturn has come a reduced need for many of the products and services that were flying high just months before.

    The company described the layoffs as a “restructuring plan”:

    On February 16, 2023, DocuSign, Inc. (the “Company”) announced a restructuring plan (the “Restructuring Plan”) that is designed to support the Company’s growth, scale and profitability objectives. As part of the Restructuring Plan, the Company expects it will restructure and reduce its current workforce by approximately 10%, primarily in the Company’s worldwide field organization.

    Interestingly, the company expects to pay $25 to $35 million to implement this plan:

    The Company currently estimates that it will incur charges of approximately $25 to $35 million in connection with the Restructuring Plan, consisting primarily of cash expenditures for employee transition, notice period and severance payments, employee benefits, and related costs as well as non-cash expenses related to vesting of share-based awards. The Company expects that the majority of the restructuring charges will be incurred in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, and that the execution of the Restructuring Plan will be substantially complete by the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

  • Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Is Retiring

    Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Is Retiring

    Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, is retiring after 23 years of leading some of the company’s biggest innovations.

    T-Mobile announced Ray’s intention to retire by Fall 2023, with Executive Vice President and Chief Network Officer Ulf Ewaldsson taking his place. Throughout his tenure, Ray helped the company transition from a 2G carrier to the 5G powerhouse it is today.

    During that time, Ray was a fixture in the company’s commercials, quarterly calls with investors, and the company’s biggest product announcements.

    “Under Neville’s network leadership we have accomplished so much together, and it’s amazing to think that milestones he’s helped T-Mobile achieve – the many network firsts, breakthroughs and innovations – have brought us to where we are today, taking the crown as the nation’s overall network leader,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. “There are so many things Neville has contributed to this company but one of the most important has been his commitment to building the best, most effective Technology team in this industry that will continue to deliver for our future. Neville and his team have worked tirelessly to bring the Un-carrier from last to best in network performance and made T-Mobile’s network a true competitive weapon. What’s even more exciting is that we’re just getting started! As this next chapter of the Un-carrier story is beginning to unfold, we owe a lot of gratitude to Neville for all he’s done to carve this path that will continue to lead us into the future!”

    Sievert continued, “This has been a thoughtfully planned succession and I am thrilled we have an excellent leader in Ulf Ewaldsson to lead our Technology teams. When Ulf joined T-Mobile four years ago, he brought years of experience and deep network strategy leadership capabilities that allowed him to hit the ground running and bring our leading 5G network to life. That’s exactly what he did – and what he will continue to do as President of Technology, leading the best team in our industry! Our goal is always to build a strong bench of leaders who are ready to fill key positions when they’re needed, and this is a perfect example of that approach.”

    Ewaldsson joined the company in 2019 after a 27-year career at Ericsson. He was quickly promoted to EVP and Chief Network Officer in 2021. Ewaldsson has played a crucial role in helping T-Mobile achieve many of its recent milestones, especially in the 5G race. There’s no doubt Ray will be missed, although Ewaldsson certainly has the experience needed to succeed him.

  • Microsoft/Parallels Deal Brings Windows 11 to Apple Silicon

    Microsoft/Parallels Deal Brings Windows 11 to Apple Silicon

    Microsoft and Parallels have reached an agreement allowing the latter to bring Windows 11 to Apple’s custom chips.

    Parallels is a popular solution for Mac users that need to run Windows apps. While the company has already made the transition to supporting Apple’s M-series custom chips, Windows 11 was a major sticking point, leaving users stuck on Windows 10.

    The two companies have reached a deal, however, that will finally bring an Arm-based Windows 11 to Apple’s new machines via Parallels. Alludo, Parallels parent company, announced the news:

    Alludo, a global technology company helping people work better and live better, today announced that Microsoft has authorized the use of Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise installed in a virtual machine with Parallels Desktop for Mac for customers on Mac with Apple silicon. IT administrators can now enable their users to run Windows 11 on Arm on the Parallels platform, with the support from Alludo and assurance that Microsoft has authorized this solution.

    There are some serious limitations to Windows 11 running in Parallels. Specifically, according to a Microsoft support document, anything that requires additional layers of virtualization is unsupported. As a result, Windows Subsystem for Android, Windows Subsystem for Linux, Windows Sandbox, and Virtualization-based Security (VBS) will not work.

    Nonetheless, the news is sure to be welcome by Mac users that need or want to run the latest version of Windows inside Parallels.

    “At Alludo, we believe that all employees should have the freedom and flexibility to choose where, when, and how they do their best work. Therefore, the vision for our Parallels portfolio has been to allow users to access their applications on any device, anywhere,” said Prashant Ketkar, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Alludo. “In line with our vision, we are excited to see that, in collaboration with Microsoft, Arm versions of Windows can run in a virtualized environment on Parallels Desktop on the latest Mac systems running Apple’s powerful M-series chips.”

    “Three years into the ’new’ world of hybrid work, IDC research indicates that equality of access to enterprise resources is still a top concern for hybrid work and digital workspace strategies,” said Shannon Kalvar, IDC Research Director. “Mac is increasingly an integral part of enterprise’s digital workspaces, and Windows on Arm is a key component in ensuring they have equal access to all corporate resources.”

  • Intel Slashes Employee Pay Rather Than Reduce Dividend

    Intel Slashes Employee Pay Rather Than Reduce Dividend

    Intel is showing where its priorities are, slashing employee pay in an effort to maintain its quarterly dividend.

    Intel is in trouble, with the company losing $8 billion of its market value in what has been described as a “historic collapse” that was triggered when the company warned it would miss analysts’ revenue expectations by billions.

    According to SemiAnalysis, the company has now resorted to cutting employee pay in an effort to make its quarterly dividend. Principal Engineers, grades 7 to 11, will see a 5% cut. VPs will see a 10% cut and executive leadership will see a 15% cut. CEO Pat Gelsinger’s pay will drop by 25%.

    According to The Oregonian, hourly employees’ pay won’t be cut, nor will their annual bonuses. They will, however, lose out on other incentives, such as merit-based raises, quarterly profit-sharing bonuses, and more.

    “These changes are designed to impact our executive population more significantly and will help support the investments and overall workforce needed to accelerate our transformation and achieve our long-term strategy,” Intel spokesperson Will Moss said. “We are grateful to our employees for their commitment to Intel and patience during this time as we know these changes are not easy.”

    Intel’s strategy is an incredibly dangerous one since it risks alienating the very employees and engineers the company needs to turn things around. Cutting employees’ pay, in the middle of an economic downturn no less, sends a clear message to employees that they are not as important to leadership as lining investors’ pockets.

    Our money is on this decision coming back to haunt Intel, with the company likely to start losing its top talent to companies that won’t sell them out.

  • DOJ Is Ramping Up Antitrust Investigation of Apple

    DOJ Is Ramping Up Antitrust Investigation of Apple

    Apple may be in for trouble ahead, with the Department of Justice ramping up its antitrust investigation into the iPhone maker.

    Rumors began circulating in mid-2022 that the DOJ was looking at a possible antitrust suit against Apple. The company has come under increased scrutiny for how it runs the App Store, although the DOJ’s focus expanded to include how Apple interacts with hardware developers.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, the DOJ is now escalating its investigation, which covers Apple’s policies regarding third-party apps in iOS, as well as whether the company abuses its position to favor its own apps and services.

    The Journal’s sources say the DOJ’s escalation includes “more litigators now assigned to the case and new requests for documents and consultations with companies involved.”

    The DOJ is also looking at Jonathan Kanter’s possible role. Until now, Kanter, one of the agency’s top antitrust officials, has been sidelined over a potential conflict of interest since Kanter has been a long-time antitrust attorney and critic who has represented companies in cases against Apple. The DOJ is eager to have him involved in the case, however, and has been investigating whether it is possible to do so.

    The Journal’s sources could not confirm the final decision regarding Kanter but said he would likely be involved in any case against Apple.

    If the DOJ’s probe moves forward, it could spell significant trouble for Apple in the US and bring the company under similar regulatory restrictions as those being imposed by the EU.

  • Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is pulling out all the stops to improve the company’s Bard AI, asking employees to spend 2-4 hours helping.

    Bard is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company is playing catch-up to OpenAI and Microsoft, with the latter planning to add ChatGPT’s successor to its Bing search engine. Despite Google’s long history with AI development, Bard’s launch did not go well, with the AI getting an answer wrong in the company’s ad, knocking $100 billion off of Alphabet’s value.

    Pichai is eager to see Bard improve and is recruiting Googlers throughout the company to achieve the goal, according to a memo seen by Business Insider.

    “I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential,” Pichai wrote. “The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly.”

    In this memo, Pichai is clearly trying to generate and channel excitement, asking employees to “contribute” their time toward the effort.

    Full memo, courtesy of Insider:

    Hi Googlers,

    Excited to see us opening up Bard for an internal dogfood to help us get it ready for launch. This is an important step as we work to develop the technology responsibly – a big thank you to the Bard team and to everyone who is spending time testing it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find instructions on how to participate at go/bard-dogfood.

    I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential. This will be a long journey – for everyone, across the field. The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly. That’s why we have thousands of external and internal testers testing Bard’s responses for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information. Let’s embrace the challenge and keep iterating, including with users and developers.

    And remember, some of our most successful products were not first to market. They gained momentum because they solved important user needs and were built on deep technical insights. Over time, we earned user trust and more people began to rely on them.

    Here is where we can use your help: Channel the energy and excitement of the moment into our products. Pressure test Bard and make the product better. I would appreciate it if each of you contributed in a deeper way with 2-4 hours of your time. See below for more detail.

    AI has gone through many winters and springs. And now it is blooming again. As an AI-first company, we’ve been working towards this for many years and are ready for it. Let’s stay focused on delivering amazing experiences for our users and launch things we can all be proud of.

    -Sundar

  • AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet founder Praveen Seshadri, who sold his company to Google Cloud in 2020, has harsh words for the tech giant.

    Seshadri posted a blog on Medium outlining his experience with Google after the company acquired his AppSheet. The founder seems to confirm what many investors and analysts have feared, painting a picture of a company that is floundering and has lost much of what made it special:

    I joined Google just before the pandemic when the company I had co-founded, AppSheet, was acquired by Google Cloud. The acquiring team and executives welcomed us and treated us well. We joined with great enthusiasm and commitment to integrate AppSheet into Google and make it a success. Yet, now at the expiry of my three year mandatory retention period, I have left Google understanding how a once-great company has slowly ceased to function.

    Seshadri then goes on to highlight the crossroads Google is at as Microsoft and its OpenAI-powered Bing threaten the company’s search dominance:

    It is a fragile moment for Google with the pressure from OpenAI + Microsoft. Most people view this challenge along the technology axis, although there is now the gnawing suspicion that it might be a symptom of some deeper malaise. The recent layoffs have caused angst within the company as many employees view this as a failure of management or a surrender to activist investors. In a way, this reflects a general lack of self-awareness across both management and employees.

    Read More: Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Ultimately, Seshadri boils Google’s issues down to four specific things:

    (1) no mission, (2) no urgency, (3) delusions of exceptionalism, (4) mismanagement.

    Interestingly, Seshadri makes a similar observation to the one we made here at WPN when we compared Microsoft and Google and drew the conclusion that Google has become risk-averse compared to its Redmond rival:

    Google can no longer seek success by avoiding risk. The path forward has to start with culture change and that has to start at the very top. Google’s senior executives should look at what Satya Nadella did at Microsoft and execute a similar playbook.

    Seshadri’s blog is a lengthy one, detailing far more than we can cover in this article. Nonetheless, it’s an outstanding read and illustrates why it increasingly seems that Google is in real trouble.

  • Microsoft’s Azure Business Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s Azure Business Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s Azure division appears to be the latest part of the company hit with layoffs, with 150 personnel impacted.

    Microsoft announced in January that it planned to lay off 10,000 employees but did not provide details about which divisions would experience cuts. The company’s plans have only become apparent as layoffs have occurred. Yesterday news broke that LinkedIn was the latest division to experience downsizing, following similar action across the HoloLens, Surface, and Xbox teams.

    According to The Information, Microsoft’s Azure division now joins the list. A source told the outlet that approximately 150 individuals in the company’s digital cloud acquisition team had been let go. The team is responsible for “convincing medium-size companies to adopt cloud services such as Azure server rentals and Microsoft 365 productivity apps.”

    Interestingly, the impact on the Azure team goes beyond just sales personnel. Azure test engineers, systems administrators, and product managers have posted on LinkedIn within the last few days, revealing they had been laid off.

    Gaurang Deshmukh, Software Test Engineer at Microsoft, was one such individual:

    With an extremely heavy heart, I have to announce that I was one of the employee impacted by #Microsoft layoffs. Despite this setback, I’m extremely grateful for my experience at Microsoft as Software Test Engineer in Azure for Operators #A4O org for over 3 years.

    Christopher Teahan, Azure Cloud Administrator, was another:

    I was laid off from #Microsoft this week, it was a great experience working for a start up like Affirmed Networks for 4 years and then transitioning to a larger company as part of the Microsoft acquisition back in 2020. I was at Microsoft for almost 3 years and learned a lot being part of the IT and BIS teams and working on the migrations of our legacy IT systems and tools to the Microsoft’s. Working on #Azure projects and transiting legacy systems to the cloud has been amazing and I am thankful for all I’ve learned at Microsoft. I will miss being part of the Azure for Operators organization and everyone I have worked with over the past 6-7 years, but it’s time for a new challenge and journey!

    During the economic downturn, the cloud segment has been one of the more resilient elements of the tech industry. While tech layoffs have become an almost daily occurrence, it is odd that the Azure team has been this heavily impacted.

  • Ford Announces $3.5B LFP Battery Plant in Michigan

    Ford Announces $3.5B LFP Battery Plant in Michigan

    Ford unveiled plans to build a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Michigan, a $3.5 billion investment that will create 2,500 new jobs.

    LFP is a new battery chemistry for the automaker, one that offers a number of advantages over traditional nickel cobalt manganese (NCM). LFP batteries are more durable, can be charged faster, and use less high-demand materials in their construction.

    Ford’s new Michigan-based plant, BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, will create both NCM and LFP batteries, initially employing 2,500 workers. The company will be able to ramp up beyond that initial number as demand increases.

    “We are committed to leading the electric vehicle revolution in America, and that means investing in the technology and jobs that will keep us on the cutting edge of this global transformation in our industry,” said Bill Ford, Ford executive chair. “I am also proud that we chose our home state of Michigan for this critical battery production hub.”

    Initial production at the new plant is slated for 2026, but the company plans to incorporate LFP batteries in the Mustang Mach-E as soon as this year, and in the F-150 Lightning in 2024.

    “Ford’s electric vehicle lineup has generated huge demand. To get as many Ford EVs to customers as possible, we’re the first automaker to commit to build both NCM and LFP batteries in the United States,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “We’re delivering on our commitments as we scale LFP and NCM batteries and thousands, and soon millions, of customers will begin to reap the benefits of Ford EVs with cutting-edge, durable battery technologies that are growing more affordable over time.”

    News of the investment was welcomed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer:

    “Ford’s $3.5 billion investment creating 2,500 good-paying jobs in Marshall building electric vehicle batteries will build on Michigan’s economic momentum,” said Governor Whitmer. “Today’s generational investment by an American icon will uplift local families, small businesses, and the entire community and help our state continue leading the future of mobility and electrification. Let’s continue bringing the supply chain of electric vehicles, chips, and batteries home while creating thousands of good-paying jobs and revitalizing every region of our state. Since I took office, we’ve secured over 30,000 auto jobs and landed multiple electric vehicle and chip-making factories. We’re on the move, so let’s keep our foot on the accelerator.”