Live from DCSW 🎤 🙌

👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we are live from DC Startup Week, where Team 3Advance will be hosting two fantastic sessions, including tomorrow’s not-to-be-missed ChatGPT Workshop. But we still have time to bring you all the latest appenings in the tech world, with stories covering Microsoft, Tesla, Netflix, and Character.AI. Our Stat of the Week looks at X’s advertising woes. And What’s dAppening has a cool story from Zimbabwe, where they are using crypto and a little bit of gold to fight currency hyperinflation.

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Takes 🎬️

🚦Microsoft finally gets the green light on Activision deal. For a moment there we thought that the UK regulators had scuppered one of the biggest deals in tech history. Turns out the Brits are happy enough for Microsoft to take over the gaming giant. Get the who, why, and when here.

🎮 Netflix begins testing cloud gaming in the US. Netflix has certainly had a patient approach in its plans to become a significant gaming platform. But while patient, those plans are steady. The next stage is a cloud gaming experience for US subscribers, which has started testing. Details are here.

🚗 Tesla launches an API for third-party services. It might not be surprising to learn that Tesla launched an API for its vehicles, given the tech involved in its cars, but the interesting aspect is that all roads may lead to a fully-fledged Tesla App Store. Find out more here.

🤖 Character.AI launches group chats with people and multiple AIs. Feel that there is something missing from your friendship circle? The a16z-backed chatbot Character.AI thinks you’re missing AI companions, and it’s added them to the platform. Get the story here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: $10 AD

💳🤑 X – Low Spend by VISA Questions “Returning Advertisers” Claim

Last week, we touched on some of the problems with X/Twitter. And this week, we wanted to expand on that by pointing out a nugget of information uncovered by Media Matters. In an interview, X CEO Linda Yaccarino claimed that big advertisers were returning to the platform, citing VISA as an example. The report found that VISA spent $10 on X advertising in the 12 weeks leading up to the interview. TEN DOLLARS. For context, it had spent just shy of $80K on advertising on Twitter in the three months prior to the Musk takeover. Ouch. #AdBlues Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

🪙📈 Crypto – Zimbabwe Designates Gold-Backed Token as Payment Method

We’ve all experienced the impact of inflation over the last year, but the extra couple of bucks you pay for eggs is nothing compared to the hyperinflation in places like Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The latter has long faced a battle to keep its currency from becoming worthless, but it has now found an interesting solution – crypto. The ZiG token is now a legal payment method in the southern African country. The key, though, is that the ZiG is not just digital money; each token is backed by real gold from the country’s reserves. Working in a similar fashion to stablecoins, which are backed by real dollars, the strategy may work to stabilize the country’s economy in the face of brutal currency inflation, as long as the gold reserves are verified. Zimbabwe officials have promised to quadruple the gold supply to support the ZiG pilot scheme. #DigitalGold Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance…

We’re hanging out live at DC Startup Week! Paul, Kate, Rishi will be there all week, and the rest of the team will join us in the nation's capital to participate in DC Startup Week 2023. This year, 3Advance is one of the proud title sponsors for DC Startup Week 2023, and we’re hosting some not-to-be-missed sessions:

🤖 ChatGPT Hands-On: Wednesday, 1-3pm at Expansive Co-working.

📣 Founder Panel: Friday, 11.30am Friday at the National Building Museum.

🎪 3Advance Booth: All Day Friday at the National Building Museum.

Register here, then check out session details here.

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