Pants Back On! 🏢👔

👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover the end of an era (kind of). Zoom Inc wants to end remote working for its employees, a hugely symbolic shift for the company that facilitated so much WFH culture through the pandemic. This is not the end of remote working, however, and the story probably says more about Zoom wanting to recapture growth than any huge cultural shift. Also this week, we have news on a new bot from OpenAI, a super expensive Tinder subscription, and some stats on Amazon’s terrific Q2. Finally, What’s dAppening looks at the huge news that PayPal is launching a stablecoin.

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Takes 🎬️

🔍🏢 Zoom – Employees’ Office Return Is More than Symbolic

Oh, the irony. Despite many tech companies reversing their policies of letting employees work remotely indefinitely, there is a lovely symbolism in Zoom, yes, Zoom, demanding that employees now return to the office. The company that made its fortune in the remote working environment of the pandemic believes having employees in-house is the key to growth, which has been on a downward trend post-pandemic (Zoom stocks are about 15% of what they were at their peak), and, we might add, due to the growing popularity of rivals like Microsoft Teams. But while there is symbolism here, we should not believe it is a sign that things are returning to the way they were. Around 12% of American workers are still fully remote, while Zoom (and many others) still offer hybrid working plans. Indeed, some might consider the announcement to be a carefully-maneuvered distraction from the criticisms aimed at Zoom over a recent update to their Terms and Conditions, which allows them to train AI models on your meetings. Zoom claims they don’t do this without consent but it’s another reminder to watch what you say on your next call. #ZoomOut Read more here.

🕷️🤖 OpenAI – Release of New Web Crawler Could Train GPT-5

OpenAI, the team behind ChatGPT, has released GPTBot, a new web crawler that indexes data across the internet. The crawler will be used to train future versions of its AI models, including GPT-5 potentially, which OpenAI recently filed a patent for. What’s interesting, however, is how GPTBot works and its limitations. It can only trawl through publicly available data, and it cannot gather information from paywalled content or any personally identifiable info (like social media profiles). Website owners who wish to protect their content can block the crawler by adding a disallow command on the website’s server. How these models learn and who gets paid for it is gonna be one of the big issues on the modern web. #NewBot Read more here.

💘🫰🏽 Tinder – Dating App to Launch High-End Subscription at $500 Per Month

How much are you willing to pay to find love? How does $1200 per annum sound? The figure might sound crazy, but it’s a growing trend in the dating apps world. Another app, The League, can charge users up to $1000 per week. The concept is betting on the fact that some users want high-quality matches and curated offerings. Tinder is also trying to seal the deal by making the high-end plans limited to only a select number of users. If you’re interested – and rich, presumably – Tinder’s new plan will roll out in the fall. #CrazyInLove Read more here.

🧐 Stat of the Week:$134.4B Revenue

📈💵 Amazon – Q2 Earnings Beat Expectations in Every Department

Earnings season has come to an end for another few months, with disappointments for Apple and mixed bags for Meta. However, Amazon can claim to be at the top of the pile, as it beat expectations in almost every department. Overall revenue topped $134.4 billion for the quarter, and Amazon was keen to point out that one of its biggest wins was in an area that many don’t associate with the company – advertising. AWS, as ever, saw continued growth, and Thursday Night Football was one of the many elements that buoyed revenues for Prime Video. #AmazonUp Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

🪙👛 PayPal – Launch of Stablecoin Is Lauded as Key Moment for Web3 Adoption

PayPal announced it would be launching PYUSD, its own US dollar-pegged cryptocurrency token. Built on the Ethereum network (we told you last week it is the future of the internet), PYUSD will be fully regulated and backed with real assets. Stablecoins are hugely important in web3 as they allow holders to interact with digital assets and services without the need to buy more volatile crypto tokens. However, the bigger story here is one of mainstream adoption, with PayPal’s vast network offering the possibility of onboarding millions more users into the web3 world. Critics, however, have warned that the centralized nature of a company like PayPal entering the market is far from the decentralized ideals web3 aspires to. #StablePayPal Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance…

And while Zoom seemingly admits defeat (for itself anyway 🤔), at 3Advance we’re not giving up on remote just yet. It’s not to say we’ll never have an office again. That’s possible, but we do recognize the huge benefits of a remote workplace while still fully appreciating the value of in-person meetups. And when we get together, it doesn’t need to be all business! Just last week, the DC team met up to celebrate an incredible month - Bene Tipping went live, AARP’s Experience Corps got a major update, and so did TriAxle. Our awesome UX designer Jingdi handpicked the location and it did not disappoint! We enjoyed dinner together on The Wharf at Ilili Lebanese restaurant. Check out the beautiful food - and people of course!

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