Can E3 Survive Without Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft? We May Find Out This Year

Credit: E3

As IGN reports(Opens in a new window), Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are all expected to give the first physical E3 event in four years a miss. That’s based on “multiple knowledgeable sources,” but all there companies have yet to officially confirm their decision not to attend.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/can-e3-survive-without-nintendo-sony-microsoft-we-may-find-out-this-year

Why are so many tech companies laying people off right now?

Image: The Verge

Let’s be real, none of these companies are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy — in fact, they were recently minting money.

The answer is that investors have changed how they’re evaluating companies, says Michael Cusumano, the deputy dean at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Generally, when companies are growing really fast — like when revenue is shooting up 20 percent or 30 percent a year — nobody cares about profits, Cusumano says. But we’re not in a growth period right now, so investors are being more cautious.

But we’re not in a growth period right now, so investors are being more cautious.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/26/23571659/tech-layoffs-facebook-google-amazon

Three months ago, he was laid off from Twitter. Now, his competing app Spill is funded.

Image Credits: Spill

Like Twitter, Spill will have a live news feed where users can post “spills,” a reference to the phrase “spill the tea.” Spill is also building a feature called “tea parties,” where users can host both online and IRL events, then get in-app bonuses to apply to things like boosting their posts — these bonuses will also be for sale.

“We’re really leaning into meme culture, making it easier to put text on images or gifs — little touches and tweaks like that have been really exciting,” Terrell said.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/30/three-months-ago-he-was-laid-off-from-twitter-now-his-competing-app-spill-is-funded/

Starling Medical’s new urine-testing device turns your toilet into a health tracker

Image Credits: Starling Medical

If you enjoy some good toilet technology, then I think “urine” for a treat. Starling Medical is poised to launch its at-home urine diagnostic patient-monitoring platform, dubbed “StarStream,” that doesn’t rely on the traditional catching containers or dipsticks.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/27/starling-medical-urine-health/

Ticketmaster apologises for Taylor Swift tour sales fiasco

Taylor Swift said it felt like fans suffered “multiple bear attacks” in their attempts to secure tickets

“We need to do better and we will,” Joe Berchtold, president of Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, told lawmakers on Tuesday.

According to Senator Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the US Senate committee on consumer rights, Ticketmaster is responsible for 70% of ticket sales in the US.

“In truth, there is no other choice. It is a monopoly,” she told MSNBC last year.

Regarding the Swift tour, she added: “The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64384304

This startup hopes to take on Canva, raising a $11.6M Series A for its design platform

“With Kittl we allow users to create professional-grade designs fast and easily by removing the barrier of a tough learning curve. Our features are designed to make complex design processes simple and accessible with a few clicks. Our competitors either focus on basic tools that only allow a small range of creative freedom, or they take a lot of training and practice to get good at.”

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/26/this-startup-hopes-to-take-on-canva-raising-a-11-6m-series-a-for-its-design-platform/

Google releases Flutter 3.7, teases future of app development framework

Having grown from humble beginnings on Android and iOS, Google’s Flutter SDK can now help you create apps for mobile, desktop, web, and more, all from a single Dart codebase. Since launch, over 700,000 Flutter apps have been published across various platforms.

Overall, the Flutter framework is clearly still moving full steam ahead, moving ever closer to the dream of perfect “write once, run anywhere” apps and games.

https://9to5google.com/2023/01/25/flutter-forward-teaser/