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Well, the weather outside is… entirely dependent on where you are, we suppose. For this newsletter, let’s imagine sunshine, some pristine beaches, a nice gentle cooling breeze and some piña coladas, because if we’re going to make up some fictional weather, we might as well make it pretty, right? — Christine and Hey

The australiabusinessblog.com Top 3

• Surprised, but also not surprised: FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison of Alameda plead guilty to criminal charges, Darrell writes.
• $eeing i$ believe: Twitter now pulls stock and cryptocurrency prices from TradingView and automatically displays them in search results. Ivan show you how to make them appear in your next tweet.
• Another Okta breach: Okta has confirmed it is responding to another major security incident after a hacker gained access to source code following a breach of its GitHub repositories, Carly reports.

Startups and VC

Text-to-image AI exploded this year as technical advancements vastly improved the fidelity of art that AI systems could create. Controversial as systems like Stable Diffusion and OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 are, platforms like DeviantArt and Canva have adopted them to power creative tools, personalize branding, and even invent new products. Kyle as he takes you on a tour through a brief history of diffusion, the technology at the heart of modern image-generating AI.

Speaking of AI, Amanda reports that Unstable Diffusion, a group trying to monetize AI porn generation, has raised more than $56,000 on Kickstarter from 867 backers. When Kickstarter changed its mind about what kind of AI-based projects it will allow, the crowdfunding platform shut down Unstable Diffusion’s campaign.

And in only partial AI news:

Avoid 3 common sales mistakes startups make during a recession

Image Credits: Anthony Lee (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images

Analysts estimate that IT spending will increase in 2023, but tell that to SaaS sales teams trying to contract with customers who have been instructed to cut spending.

“What every business needs right now is efficient sales,” said Anand Shah, CEO and co-founder of Databook.

In a guest post from TC+, he explains why reactive moves like increasing sales quotas or raising prices are wrong moves that don’t move the needle.

“Make real changes to meet the needs of your buyers. Use the macroeconomic background to drive the necessary improvements in sales productivity.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

australiabusinessblog.com+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams lead the way. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

That adblocker window popping up when you try to open a new website is annoying, but Bag says we should find the good in it – heck, even the FBI says you should use an ad blocker, he writes. Why? Apparently “cyber criminals buy ads to impersonate legitimate brands, such as cryptocurrency exchanges” and they are so good that it’s hard to say it’s not the real deal. Stay safe, everyone!

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