Meta’s Twitter competitor ‘Threads’ plays Peek-a-boo

Hey hey, this is Yawn. We like Mondays. They invite a lot of yawning and that’s pretty on brand for us which is cool.

We’re here to help you wake you up with some poppin’ tech topics.

Here’s what we’re covering today:

• Meta’s Twitter competitor ‘Threads’ briefly leaked on Play store 🧵

• Pokémon Go creator, Niantic, lays off 230 employees 😵

• NVIDIA startup acquisition bringing AI models to your phone 📲

• Apple first public company to hit $3 trillion valuation 📈

🧵 Meta’s ‘Threads’ leaked on Google Play store

Alessandro Paluzzi, a developer known for uncovering unreleased app features, tweeted about Meta's Twitter clone called Thread being released on the Google Play store. However, the app seems to have been removed since then, suggesting that its release was a mistake or premature.

Paluzzi shared screenshots of the app, showcasing the login screen where users can sign in with their Instagram accounts, and another screen displaying a list of followed accounts for users to choose who to follow on Threads.

From the screenshots, Threads appears to resemble Twitter, featuring character counts for posts, options to attach files, and familiar icons for liking, reposting, replying, and sharing posts.

Threads, previously known as "Project 92," has been in development at Meta since January, aiming to provide a platform that is well-managed for creators and public figures.

The leaked information about Threads sparked a potential challenge between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, with Musk expressing willingness for a "cage match" if Zuck agrees.

The app's appearance on the Google Play store suggests that an official release is approaching, although Meta has not provided an official release date or commented on the matter.

😵 Pokémon Go creator, Niantic, lays off 230 employees

Niantic, the AR studio known for Pokémon Go, is shutting down its LA development studio and laying off around 230 employees as part of a restructuring aimed at ensuring the company's financial stability.

The company's CEO, John Hanke, explained this decision as a necessity in an email to employees, citing the company's expenses outpacing its revenue. He mentioned that new projects in games and platform have not generated enough revenue to justify the investments made.

Last year, Niantic already shut down four projects and laid off 8 percent of its workforce. The company has faced skepticism regarding the metaverse concept, according to a Bloomberg report in May.

Hanke previously criticized Meta and advocated for a "healthy metaverse" that integrates the digital world with the real world through augmented reality.

📲 Nvidia startup acquisition bringing AI models to your phone

Last February, Nvidia acquired the two-year-old company, OmniML, who previously raised $10 million and seed funding and is known for building software that enables compression of machine learning models. The purpose of the software is to optimize the models for device usage rather than relying on cloud-based infrastructure.

This acquisition showcases Nvidia’s strategic vision of expanding its capabilities in AI and device-based machine learning and allows them the ability create custom profiles for its hardware suite.

By leveraging OmniML's expertise, Nvidia can optimize models for efficient deployment on lower-end hardware, benefiting autonomous machines and industrial applications.

📈 Apple first public company to hit $3 trillion valuation

Apple achieved a historic milestone as the first publicly traded company to reach a $3 trillion market value.

Alongside Microsoft and Nvidia, Apple contributed to the S&P 500's nearly 16% gain in the first half of the year, reflecting the influential role of tech companies (what’s up AI, VR, MR, AR 👀)

While Apple briefly surpassed the $3 trillion mark in January 2022, it experienced a subsequent decline due to growth concerns and industry-wide apprehension about rising interest rates.

Apple's resurgence to $3 trillion came with the announcement of its anticipated virtual reality headset called Vision Pro, obviously highlighting the company's ongoing innovation.

But something that will be interesting to watch over the next few years…

The iPhone (all hail Steve Jobs) still remains a significant revenue driver for Apple, accounting for over hlaf of the company's nearly $400 billion in sales last year. HALF!

How long will it take for the Vision Pro to come anywhere close to those numbers?

We’ll keep you updated…

✌🏼 until the next,
Roberto Nickson & Colby Shelton