Chore-Hailing App 🚗 🧽

👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we bring the news of Uber Tasks, a new feature that will allow you to book participating Uber drivers to do all manner of chores. It’s hardly ground-breaking, given chore-booking apps already exist, but it looks like a smart move from Uber to extend its reach, while also allowing drivers to earn more cash. We also have news this week on Humane Ai Pin, YouTube’s AI clampdown, and Samsung’s ChatGPT rival, Gauss. Our Stat of the Week looks at an incredible deal between Apple and Google. And What’s dAppening holds its head in its hands as trading of “worthless” NFT jpegs for eye-watering sums seems to have returned.

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Takes 🎬

🚗🧹 Uber – Drivers Will Now Do Your Chores

Need your lawn cut? Your clothes ironed? Decorations put up for the Holidays? Pretty soon, you may be asking your Uber driver to do it (for a fee, of course). Uber is piloting Uber Tasks, a new feature on the app that allows you to book participating drivers for chores. The idea itself is not exactly revolutionary, as there are already online chore marketplaces like TaskRabbit and Thumbtack, but it is a big leap for Uber. On the face of it, though, it makes a lot of sense: Your Uber driver may be an adept gardener or a dab hand at shoveling snow, so why not use the app to hire them? For the drivers, it gives some flexibility for earning a living. Uber itself, while reporting steady(ish) profits recently, has found growth difficult. It is piloting other programs, such as flight and train booking services, as well as in-app advertising. But this could be the feature that sets it on a path to be a true “everything app”. The Uber Tasks feature will roll out as a “small pilot” in select North American cities in the coming weeks. #UberTasks Read more here.

📌🤳Humane Ai Pin Pre-Ordering Begins

What to make of the Humane Ai Pin, which has finally been unveiled after years of hints and teasers? Priced at $700 and requiring mobile subscription costs of around $24, it has been described as a screen-less smartphone, allowing you to call, text, take photos, and do most of the other stuff your phone will do by using a laser to project the screen onto a surface (like your hand). The AI Pin will also be connected to ChatGPT, as well as Bing’s other generative AI tools. We think the Verge put it best when it said that, while impressive in its features, “It’s not yet entirely clear what you’re supposed to use it for.”. Pre-ordering has opened for early access subscribers, but even if you’re ready to shell out the 700 bucks, it won’t actually arrive till next year. #AiPin Read more here.

📱Samsung announces Gauss, a rival for ChatGPT. Such has been the success of ChatGPT that little attention is being paid to rival products. Still, there are some hopes that Samsung can make a splash with its chatbot, Gauss, which will launch next year. Still, Samsung has a decent advantage, given there are well over 1 billion Samsung phones used around the world right now. Details of Gauss are here.

🚫 YouTube is cracking down on AI clones of musicians. We’ve speculated before that AI mimicking (ripping off?) artists’ music might start some very messy legal battles in the future. YouTube is trying to anticipate that by banning accounts that clone artists’ music using AI. Read about it here

🧐 Stat of the Week: 36%

🍏🤑 Apple’s Huge Slice of Google Ad Rev

In tech circles, there has long been intense speculation on what exactly Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on Safari. Everyone knew it was worth billions, but eyebrows were raised when it was reported that Apple actually takes a cut of over one-third of Google’s ad revenue on Safari, with experts estimating that it’s worth about $20 billion a year to Apple. The 36% figure was previously unknown to the public, but details emerged through testimony from an expert witness in Google’s court case with Epic Games. #AppleSlice Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

🪨💸 “Pet Rocks” Reignite NFT Sales

NFT holders felt the heaviest brunt of the crypto winter, but is the euphoria back? Two “Pet Rock” pictures have recently sold for six-figure sums. The NFTs do nothing; they are simply crude drawings of a rock. What does this tell us? We have always advocated NFTs for utility, collectibles, conferring ownership, or artworks, but this is something else entirely. It may be a maneuver to drum up interest in the collection (some of these “Rocks” were selling for upwards of $1 million in 2021), but it probably says nothing about the future of NFTs. For us, the “health” of the NFT sector will be evident in offering utility to sports tickets, access to musicians, expediency for realtors, ownership for baseball card holders, and so on. Meaningless jpegs are emblematic of the worst excesses of crypto. Traders should not get swept up by the euphoria (again). #NFTRock Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance...

This week we’re doing a Community Shoutout for Netcito, the monthly peer-networking group that our CEO, Paul has been a member of for almost five years now. Netcito convenes monthly leader forums and community-wide learning events that help entrepreneurs achieve breakthrough results in their business and life. Netcito was founded by Peter Mellen in 2007 and now boasts dozens of groups servings 100s of entrepreneurs in Washington DC, Philadelphia and along the East Coast. Today, Paul is a member of DCito, and encourages CEOs everywhere to find a trusted networking group like this. In Paul’s words, “Netcito has been a huge influence over me since I joined back in 2019. Every month, I have the support and guidance of some incredibly kind and successful leaders as I work through whatever issue is most pressing in my business. Sure, my network has grown, but most importantly, my capability as a leader is multiplied…” For more information, visit Netcito.com. Tell them Paul sent you! 👌

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