Morning Brew - ☕ Turbulence

Plus, retailers and robots.
February 03, 2023

Emerging Tech Brew

Vanta

Happy Friday. Meta reported earnings Wednesday night, and in a surprising turn of events given the state of the tech economy recently, the news was…pretty good! Or, at least, investors liked it—its stock jumped nearly 20% after hours Wednesday night.

What resonated with investors? An increasingly familiar combination of cost-cutting measures and doubling down on AI, among other things. The $40 billion stock buyback it announced probably didn’t hurt either…

In today’s edition:

5G is still causing headaches for some airlines
What retailers want from robotics

Jordan McDonald, Katishi Maake, Dan McCarthy

CONNECTIVITY

5G is still causing turbulence

An airplane running into radio airwaves Francis Scialabba

After over a year of delays, concerns, and prohibitions, the 5G C-band deployments are still potentially causing some disruption in the world of airfare.

The FAA in January proposed a new rule requiring airlines to replace or retrofit the radio altimeters in their planes before a proposed deadline of February 1, 2024.

  • The proposed rules mark another development in a saga that began in December 2021, when the FAA set flight restrictions for pilots over fears that C-band 5G could potentially interfere with some cockpit safety systems.

Why it matters: The spat has been a thorn in the side of telcos, delaying C-band rollouts that they see as critical to expanding 5G networks and which they spent a collective $81.2 billion to secure the right to.

Now, the FAA is looking to require airlines to replace certain altimeters due to concerns that 5G interference could cause altimeters to malfunction, issuing erroneous warnings to pilots about their altitude.

Big picture: If the newly proposed rule from the FAA becomes a requirement, airline trade associations told us that airlines are “committed to complying” and ready to take on any potential costs associated with the upgrades—but that compliance is contingent on suppliers like Honeywell, Thales, and Raytheon manufacturing enough of the necessary parts before the proposed deadline. Read the full story here.JM

        

TOGETHER WITH VANTA

SOC it 2 ’em!

Vanta

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This means you can close more deals, nail revenue targets, and lay a foundation of dependable security practices, with Vanta automating up to 90% of the work to help you get there.

Spots in Vanta’s program are extremely limited, so be sure to fill out this form and see if you qualify—pronto. 

ROBOTICS

Retail’s robotics boom

Robotic arm and Earth Francis Scialabba

We’re not quite at Ex Machina yet, so humans can still use robots to help improve society without consequences.

The last decade has been rife with upgrades, from seamless checkout to delivery drones, geared toward making companies’ and consumers’ lives easier, and integrating robotics has become more common among retailers, grocery stores, and restaurants—both on the front and back ends.

But before robots reach sentience, what’s the next step in the evolution of automation? Retail Brew spoke to a handful of industry experts to get their thoughts on how the industry will evolve in 2023. We’ve pasted in an excerpt below, but click here to read the full piece.

Where do you see robotics becoming more common in retail?
Jonathan Morav, head of product strategy, Fabric: In the future, there won’t be a single element of the retail ecosystem that is not impacted by the adoption of automation and robotics at some level.
Retailers will have robots surveying shelves and counting or replenishing inventory to e-commerce order fulfillment where robots will be used to pick, pack, or deliver orders out of warehouses or even in the backs of retail stores in dense urban areas. This will ultimately extend downstream toward last-mile deliveries, where robots and autonomous vehicles will be making deliveries to end customers.

Read the full piece from Retail Brew here.KM

        

TOGETHER WITH CYTONICS

Cytonics

Breakthrough therapy on track for FDA approval. Cytonics is developing the first and only therapy to treat osteoarthritis, the most common joint disease affecting 600m people. The treatment, called CYT-108, is currently headed to phase 1 human clinical trials, a key step in acquiring FDA approval for widespread sale. Invest in Cytonics ahead of this major breakthrough.

COOL CONSUMER TECH

Apple

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

The new HomePod reviews are in: Here’s one from The Verge, which includes an in-depth look at the device both as a speaker and as a smart-home hub. And here’s another from Engadget, which says the sequel is “much better than the first.”

Galaxy brain: Samsung unveiled a whole bunch of new devices at its Unpacked event on Wednesday. The most eye-catching announcement, in our view? That Samsung is working on AR and VR devices with partners like Google, Meta, Qualcomm, and Microsoft. Here’s a full list of what Samsung announced at the event.

One last thing. Sony’s new PSVR2 headset is apparently not exactly flying off the shelves. After lower-than-expected preorders, the gaming giant reportedly cut its forecast for Q1 shipments of the device in half to ~1 million, down from its original goal of 2 million, per Bloomberg. Anyway, if you do want one, they ship Feb. 22 and cost $550. Oh, and you also need a PS5 to use it.—DM

BITS AND BYTES

collage of a car with battery and lithium mines Francis Scialabba

Stat: GM announced a direct, $650 million investment into Lithium Americas this week. The money will help develop a mine in Nevada that could produce enough lithium for 1 million EVs each year.

Quote: “As a result of ChatGPT, the LaMDA team has been asked to prioritize working on a response to ChatGPT…In the short term, it takes precedence over other projects.”—An internal Google memo reported by CNBC

Read: An answer to the question that’s on everyone’s mind: Why is generative AI so bad at depicting hands?

Make money moves: Money Scoop is a 3x-a-week personal finance newsletter that makes you smarter about your money. You’ll learn how to better invest, budget, spend, manage your taxes, and much more, all for free

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Intel is cutting pay for mid-level managers and above, including a 25% cut to CEO Pat Gelsinger’s base salary. The move comes after its Q4 earnings showed declining revenue.
  • OpenAI released a public beta version of a tool meant to sniff out AI-generated text, although it acknowledged that the program is limited in its current state.
  • Meta is shutting down Echo VR, one of its most popular VR gaming titles.
  • AMD saw its 2022 revenue jump 44%, bucking the trend in the broader chip industry, but forecast a 10% YoY drop in revenue for Q1.
  • Rivian is reportedly laying off 6% of its staff, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

GOING PHISHING

Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

  • An activist investor sent a letter to Amazon demanding it bet aggressively on AI-generated AmazonBasics.
  • Passwords like “1234” remain one of the biggest security threats.
  • Scientists think that something called, um, “cyborg cells” could have a chance at helping treat cancer.
  • Microsoft is reportedly not planning to enhance Bing not with GPT-3 but with GPT-4.

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GOING PHISHING ANSWER

We haven’t seen any such investor demands of Amazon.

         

Written by Jordan McDonald, Katishi Maake, and Dan McCarthy

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