Top Tech Week in Review, March 12-17, 2023
Transcribed from the Top Tech Minute as heard on America in the Morning
Thanks for listening. This is the week in top tech.
Here's the top tech stories from March 13th through the 17th 2023. The FTC has sent letters demanding more information to eight separate unnamed social media platforms to determine what they have done to reduce deceptive advertising on the different platforms. And the crypto markets were also hit hard by the closing of Silicon Valley Bank, which was shut down by California financial regulators this week after a bank run in an update to this story, we learned later in the week that not only did Silicon Valley National Bank close, but so did New York based Signature Bank, as well as Silvergate, all three crypto friendly banks that closed within the month of March.
Visit the top tech talk show next week to see a special report on all three major crypto banks that closed within the last month. Other cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Paxos both admitted to having about $240 million stored in signature bank Binance, the largest cryptocurrency trader by volume. Announced today they would release $1 billion of their Stablecoin USD into Bitcoin, Etherium and other crypto tokens to stabilize the market.
The news of the pop up by the Fed and Binance sent cryptos soaring today, regaining many of the losses over the last year and an update to this story. Cryptos continue to trade higher with Bitcoin up at 26,800 and Etherium at 1745 by close of business on Friday, March 17th. Facebook's media corporation announced today that it would cut 10,000 jobs this year, making it the first tech company to announce a second mass layoff around as the industry braces for a downturn.
Their first mass layoff was announced last fall and amounted to over 11,000 workers or 13% of its workforce. Better Corp applied for FAA certification for their air taxi style fixed wing aircraft, AC 300. They believe they have an easier path to certification because it can be certified under FAA's existing rules for airplanes. Bristow Group and Air New Zealand have both put in orders pending the FAA's approval, and JET creator Sam Altman has released its World Coin ID protocol, using an eyeball shaped hardware device to verify a human's identity before making purchases online.
Hundreds of Google employees staged a walkout today in Zurich, Switzerland, when more than 200 other Google employees were laid off. Google announced they would have to lay off 12,000 employees or more than 6% of its global workforce. New York based quantum chip maker CQ announced today they have made a computer chip that can operate at temperatures colder than space.
Quantum computers require such cold operating speeds because they can calculate a million times faster than current chip technology. And open A.I. has announced they have already released T4, which has been described as being more reliable, creative and able to handle much more nuanced instructions compared to its predecessor. In one example, Gtb four can be shown pictures of ingredients and then come up with a recipe for your dinner.
A16z Corporation's head of policy, Brian Quintets, said at the Future Industry Association conference in Boca Raton that the SEC is completely out of control in regulating crypto companies. Representatives from other crypto companies attending the conference said that lack of regulatory clarity would stifle U.S. innovation in crypto. The Orlando Museum of Art announced an opening of its new exhibition, including Nfts from Fabio Sandoval's collection.
The digital artwork would be on displays in the museum, including works from former baseball player turned NFT artist Micah Johnson. And social media influencers on YouTube were sued over their actively promoting the FTC's exchange to their millions of followers on the channel. Most of the YouTubers have already scrubbed their channels and replaced it with messages. Apologies arising for promoting the FTC's exchange, which still could owe its creditors as much as $3.1 billion.
And that's this week's top tech news stories. Be sure to visit the http://toptechtalkshow.com for more podcasts and news about the tech industry. I'm Chuck Palm.