Right now, the space industry resembles a line for a rollercoaster at a theme park: Thousands of satellites are in development or waiting in the wings to be launched, but there aren’t enough rockets to take them there, creating a bottleneck, according to a recent report from McKinsey.

Even still, things are getting crowded on the other end. Approximately 7,500 satellites are in orbit around Earth, with an average of around 50 more launching every week, according to McKinsey.

Cumulatively, investment in the launch industry over the past decade totaled $26.8 billion, according to Space Capital’s Q1 2023 Space Investment Quarterly report. Much of that is thanks to SpaceX, which accounted for 34% of investment in the last 10 years.

But that sizable sum might not be enough to break the logjam, at least for the moment.

Keep reading here.—JM

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Ransomware attacks exploded as a threat to cities late last decade—and they’ve remained a persistent threat since.

Security firm Sophos’s 2022 report on municipal ransomware found 58% of state and local government organizations experienced some kind of incident in 2021, and they tended to be worse at stopping attacks and protecting data than private-sector organizations.

Why are cities so vulnerable, and how can they avoid becoming the next cybercrime headline?

Keep reading here.—TM

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

A COO is in charge of overseeing the day-to-day of a business while also keeping an eye on the big picture. It’s a careful balance. At a startup, this job also means filling in key areas when needed to make sure things run smoothly and the business keeps growing. An example: Right now, I’m our interim head of marketing!

What’s the most compelling tech project you’ve worked on, and why?

It’s probably what I’m working on right now. We’re bringing AI to calendars through Clockwise AI, a first-of-its-kind conversational calendar experience, powered by GPT. By leveraging natural language processing, Clockwise AI lets you communicate with your calendar in the same way you communicate with an assistant.

If you aren’t familiar with Clockwise, we analyze data like individual schedules, preferences, and habits across multiple people’s calendars at once. But for the first time, thanks to AI, we have the ability to understand exactly what you want when it comes to your calendar. That’s powerful.

Keep reading here.—AS

Stat: 300,000. The number of “concurrent listeners” to a Twitter Space in which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced he would run for president. The New York Times noted that DeSantis claimed “probably over 10 million people” logged on for the event or later tuned into a recording of it.

Quote: “Five years ago, everyone would have said the clear leader in AI was Google…now most people would probably say it’s Microsoft.”—Sheila Gulati, managing director of venture firm Tola Capital and a former manager at Microsoft, to The Information

Read: Where memory ends and generative AI begins (Wired)

Catch up on the top Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Adobe integrates generative AI into Photoshop
• Tech talent is shifting beyond—and within—the Bay Area
• Washington has eyes on AI, tech talent, and data sharing