Twitter Takeover & Elon Musk Updates

A Week in Review: Updates and News

Greetings, readers! Lucas remains on leave for several more days, and I, Greg, am again covering this week’s Week In Review. For those unfamiliar, I joined TechCrunch during the era of intense MySpace Top 8 deliberations. At that time, the ability to request a ride via a mobile app felt akin to possessing futuristic magical powers.

A quick announcement before we proceed with the week’s highlights: Brian Heater’s popular robotics summary is transitioning into a regular newsletter. It’s also receiving a new, more polished title: Actuator.

Actuator Newsletter Launch

While the precise launch date for Actuator is still being finalized, you can subscribe to receive updates directly. Sign-up is available here.

Catching Up on the Latest News

Below is a compilation of the news stories you may have overlooked this past week.

Key Developments: A summary of significant events.
Industry Trends: Emerging patterns and shifts in the tech landscape.
Product Announcements: New releases and updates from various companies.

Stay tuned for further updates as they become available. We aim to provide a concise and informative overview of the most important happenings in the technology world.

A Significant Development

Regardless of your familiarity with Unity, it’s highly probable you’ve encountered creations developed using it. This 2D/3D engine is the driving force behind a vast number of video games across various consoles and platforms. Its applications extend beyond gaming, with studios utilizing it for animated films and automotive companies employing it in vehicle design.

This week, Unity announced a substantial acquisition – its largest to date – with the $320 million purchase of Parsec. While corporate acquisitions are commonplace, a Unity Senior Vice President indicates this could signify a larger strategic shift for the company.

What exactly is Parsec? Beyond being a distance unit often debated by Star Wars enthusiasts.

Initially, Parsec was designed to stream games from a high-performance PC to less powerful devices, or to enable remote multiplayer gaming for titles lacking native support. This functionality remains available.

However, the shift to remote work during the pandemic revealed that Parsec’s gaming-focused features – such as low-latency streaming and broad input device compatibility – were equally valuable for game developers working remotely. The company actively catered to this new audience, introducing dedicated plans and features. This strategic pivot proved successful, resulting in an acquisition nearly 13 times their previous $25 million funding within a year.

Marc Whitten, Unity SVP, suggests this acquisition marks Unity’s increased investment in cloud technologies.

“We view Parsec as a strong foundational element for our broader cloud-based ambitions,” he stated. “Expect further developments from us in this area.”

Considering Parsec’s existing capabilities, several cloud-based opportunities emerge. Unity could leverage Parsec to simplify multiplayer integration for developers. Alternatively, they might establish a game streaming service, similar to Stadia or Amazon Luna, showcasing Unity-powered games without requiring downloads. Another possibility is offering cloud-based hardware rentals to accelerate iteration and broaden testing capabilities for smaller studios.

For those currently using Parsec for remote gaming, rest assured: the company confirms its free application will continue to be supported.

Extra Crunch subscribers can find an in-depth analysis of Unity’s growth authored by Eric Peckham.

Recent Developments

Ariana Grande's Fortnite Integration

The history of Fortnite is set to be a fascinating study. Initially launched as a relatively modest tower defense title, the game underwent a significant transformation when it adopted a free-to-play Battle Royale format. This shift propelled it to become one of the most globally recognized and played games ever created. Fortnite now functions as a dynamic environment, showcasing the potential of a developer with complete control over its engine and substantial resources for content development. A prime illustration of this is the recent in-game Ariana Grande “concert,” featuring players engaging in aerial combat against a demonic entity, traversing rainbows, and dancing with a colossal Ariana Grande avatar. The event’s replay has already garnered millions of views on YouTube.

Twitter's Website Redesign

This week saw a comprehensive overhaul of Twitter’s website, a change that, as often happens with popular platforms, sparked some negative reactions from users. The complaints extended beyond typical aesthetic preferences, such as rounded corner radii, with several users reporting that the new font choice induced headaches.

Apple Clarifies Child Safety Feature Implementation

Apple announced last week the introduction of features designed to enhance child safety. These include a system to alert parents to explicit images sent or received by minors via iMessage, and a function to automatically compare iCloud Photos against known databases of child abuse imagery. While safeguarding children is universally acknowledged as a positive goal, security experts have voiced concerns regarding the potential for governmental misuse, extending beyond the intended scope of abuse imagery detection. This has reportedly led to internal debate within Apple, with “over 800 messages” exchanged among employees on the company’s internal Slack platform. Apple has since been working to provide clearer explanations of how these features will operate, and Craig Federighi of Apple acknowledged that the initial communication “became quite muddled in terms of understanding.” Further details can be found in our interview with Apple’s head of Privacy.

Xiaomi Unveils CyberDog

The robotic dog landscape now includes a competitor to Boston Dynamics’ Spot. Xiaomi introduced CyberDog this week, a quadrupedal robot intended to demonstrate the company’s robotics expertise and provide a development platform. Xiaomi plans to offer these units for approximately $1,500, but with a limitation: only a thousand will be produced initially, and sales will be restricted to select “Xiaomi fans, engineers, and robotics enthusiasts.”

Lowercarbon Secures $800M Investment

Lowercarbon Capital, a climate-focused fund led by Chris and Crystal Sacca, has raised $800M to invest in companies addressing the climate crisis. Sacca notes that fundraising for a climate fund amidst an unprecedented heatwave and widespread wildfires likely proved beneficial. The question of whether technology can effectively address the planet’s challenges remains open, but inaction is certain to yield negative results.

FEMA Conducts Emergency Alert System Test

If you received a test alert from the National Wireless Emergency System this week, there was no cause for alarm. It was a scheduled test. If you did not receive the alert, this was also not a cause for concern, as the system is opt-in. A genuine emergency alert will be broadcast to all enrolled devices. Hopefully.

Additional Considerations

A greater number of organizations ought to transition towards a remote work arrangement.

Is your business attempting to compel employees to return to the workplace before they are comfortable? Consider sharing this piece by Karl Laughton, COO of Insightly, which details the positive outcomes and data-supported benefits the company has experienced since adopting a remote structure.

Dear Sophie: Is it permissible to employ an engineer currently undergoing green card sponsorship by a different employer?

You have identified an ideal candidate and wish to extend a job offer, however, a complication exists: they require an EB-2 green card, and another company has initiated the sponsorship procedure. The feasibility of proceeding depends on several factors. In the newest installment of Dear Sophie, immigration lawyer Sophie Alcorn clarifies the EB-2 process and potential obstacles.