Here are the top trending news from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a tab.
1)
Biden wants ByteDance to sell stake in TikTok
The Biden administration is putting enormous pressure on Bytedance to sell its entire stake in TikTok to an American company, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal. The Biden administration is hopeful that this will completely end the possibility of Chinese government’s surveillance over the data of American consumers. The timing of the Wall Street Journal could not have been more conspicuous considering that barely few hours from now the TikTok CEO will be testifying before the congress. TikTok currently is not only facing uncertain future in the U.S. but also in the European markets. However, the Chinese short video app has denied that it indulges in data surveillance on behalf of China’s Communist government.
2)
Stripe raises $6Bn at a lower valuation
American payment processor startup Stripe has raised $6.5 Bn at a discounted valuation of $50 BN, which is a far cry from the $95 Bn valuation it boosted almost two years ago. Stripe said that the most of the capital received through current funding will be used for providing liquidity to the current and former employees as well as for tax obligation. Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs and Temasek were the main participants in the latest funding round. Rumors have been going around that Stripe may opt for an IPO in the coming years but there has been no official confirmation about it. In its hey days, Stripe was America’s most valued startup.
3)
Baidu unveils ChatGPT style Chatbot ‘Ernie Bot’
China’s search engine giant Baidu has finally lifted the curtains on its eagerly awaited chatbot. Named as Ernie Bot, it is widely considered as Baidu’s response to OpenAI’s chatbot sensation ChatGPT. However, Ernie Bot showed very limited capabilities in the press meet, disappointing the market as well as the analysts. According to media reports, the response provided by Baidu’s chatbot lacked the human like precision that the ChatGPT has come to known for. With Ernie Bot clearly failing to impress the investors, Baidu’s shares tumbled as much as 10% in the Hong Kong stock market during morning trading session on Thursday.
4)
Elon Musk questions OpenAI’s Profit Motive
While OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to hog all the limelight, tech billionaire Elon Musk seems to be least impressed by ChatGPT’s growing fame. Musk, who was also the founding member of ChatGPT’s parent organization has questioned OpenAI’s transition from a non-profit organization to a profit seeking organization. Musk even questioned on Twitter whether such a transition is permitted under the law in the first place. For all those who are not aware, OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization by Sam Altman.
5)
Google is officially giving up on its AR smart-glasses Google Glass
Remember Google Glass, the tech product that one point had back a talking point in the tech community. Well, the latest news is that Google has put a complete full-stop to its AR smart-glass project. Google had initially launched Google Glass as a consumer product in 2015. However, following a lukewarm response from consumers, the tech giant restricted the sale of the product only to enterprises & developers and also rebranded the product as Google Glass Enterprise. But even these steps could not yield positive results, forcing Google to end for once and all one of its most ambitious tech projects. The company said that it stop the software support for the product in September this year.