Hello and welcome back to Week in Review, where we round up the week’s biggest stories. If you want this in your inbox every Saturday, sign up here.
Greg Kumparak is still on vacation, but don’t worry! He’ll be back at the helm next week to bring you our greatest stories. Until then, I’ve got you covered.
First for some quick business. australiabusinessblog.com+ is having an Independence Day sale, which gives you a 50% discount on an annual subscription. Need more? Editor-in-chief of TC+ Alex Wilhelm gives you all the reasons to take the plunge here.
Okay, let’s go to the moon! Yes, the moon. Space junk has crashed onto the lunar surface this week, leaving some eager observers scratching their heads. Was it from SpaceX? Did it come from a rocket launched in 2014 by the China National Space Administration? We still don’t know, but Devin Coldewey had a chat with Darren McKnight of LeoLabs, who built a network of debris tracking radars, to get some more insight.
Image Credits: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
other things
Speaking of space, ever wanted to gaze longingly into the depths of the universe and actually have something staring back? This should happen in two weeks, when the James Webb Space Telescope will release its first images. “This is further than humanity has ever seen,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at a media briefing this week. maybe the truth is Outside.
Fired Tesla Autopilot: The automaker laid off 195 employees this week in two offices in its Autopilot division. Those who were fired took on roles as supervisor, label maker and data analyst. Questions remain about what impact the layoffs will have on Tesla’s wider advanced driver assistance system. The remaining 81 employees of the Autopilot team will be moved to another office as the San Mateo office closes.
SPAC Subpoenas: A New York-based federal grand jury sent subpoenas to the board of Digital World, which is preparing to acquire Trump Media & Technology Group, Donald Trump’s media group responsible for Truth Social. According to an SEC filing, the subpoenas are an attempt to gather more information about “Digital World’s S-1 filings, communications with or about multiple individuals, and information about Rocket One Capital.”
Deepfake job apps: The FBI issued a warning this week that deepfakes are used along with stolen information for job applications. A part of this are even video interviews. “In these interviews, the actions and lip movements of the person being interviewed in front of the camera do not fully match the audio of the person speaking. Sometimes actions such as coughing, sneezing or other auditory actions are not in line with what is presented visually,” the FBI said in a statement announcing the disturbing news.
Party pooper: Welp, that 2020-era indefinite ban on unauthorized parties at Airbnbs is now permanent. This means no open invite parties and no parties with attendances over 16. The company said in a blog post that since they put the ban in place 2 years ago, there has been a 44% year-over-year drop in the number of party reports. There’s no partying, Garth.
Image Credits: DrAfter123 / Getty Images
audio stuff
On the australiabusinessblog.com Podcast Network, Sounding Board founder Christine Tao joined Darrell and Jordan on Found to talk about the issues she and her co-founder faced while raising money and how they created the type of customer that allowed for economies of scale.
And on Wednesday’s issue of Equity, Natasha Mascarenhas asked a question inspired by a recent post written by TC’s Rebecca Szkutak: What’s in the fine print for termsheets these days, and what does that tell us about who’s going to be in charge during the recession?
View our full summary.
added stuff
Want even more australiabusinessblog.com? Head over to the aptly named australiabusinessblog.com+, where we delve a little deeper into the topics our subscribers tell us they care about. Some of this week’s good things include:
The SEC again rejected bitcoin spot ETFs. What now?
The SEC’s decisions are not an industry first; the government agency has rejected more than a dozen bitcoin spot ETFs in the past year alone, while approving several bitcoin futures-based ETFs, Jacquelyn Melinek reports.
Reveal your Scope 3 emissions, cowards
Tim De Chant takes on the companies that claim they take CO2 emissions seriously. Basically, if they are serious, they will estimate their Scope 3 emissions and not undermine attempts to make Scope 3 disclosures default.
Pitch Deck Teardown: Wilco’s $7 Million Seed Deck
Haje is back with another pitch deck teardown, this week from Wilco, a company he covered financing last week. He’s pretty excited about Wilco’s deck because, he says, it’s 19 slides that tick all the boxes.
Image Credits: Wilco (Opens in a new window)
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