- What's Appening
- Posts
- Zoom 2.0 📽️🏗️
Zoom 2.0 📽️🏗️
What’s Appening: Zoom Reinvents Itself, Anthropic & AWS, Social Media Ban, Google Vs. DoJ
3Advance Team
November 26, 2024
ZOOM WANTS TO BE MUCH MORE THAN VIDEO
👀 TLDR
In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover some big changes at Zoom. The company has announced it wants to be more than video conferencing software, saying it will pivot to becoming AI-first, but what does this mean to you and me? We also have news on a huge week for Anthropic, Google and the DoJ wrapping up arguments in their court case, the looming social media ban for Australian kids, China’s answer to OpenAI’s Strawberry, and much more!
🎬 Our Top Take
🎥💻 AI – Zoom Rebrand Highlight the Pivot
Post-pandemic, Zoom’s future has always been an interesting topic of debate. It remains popular for connecting remote teams, including ours, but it’s certainly not the must-have application that every business can’t survive without. That doubt has been reflected in Zoom’s stock price, with some investors believing it would become a post-pandemic ‘loser’ á la Peloton. Yet, Zoom has persevered and recently decided to re-invent itself, removing the word “video” — this means something, right? Apparently so. Zoom is now an “AI-first” company. To understand what this means, look at Zoom’s AI Companion. As startups everywhere work to do this from the outside, working in the Zoom (and Teams) environment, Zoom is working its way out from its market-leading position as “the video tool.” Zoom Workspace is even now a huge suite of products and features, and Zoom wants you to know about it. AI will be wrapped up in all of these tools (if not already), highlighting a trend that all outside the tech world should realize by now: That all tech companies will be AI companies, and all tech-enabled businesses must become AI-enabled businesses. #ZoomKnows Read more here.
Is your business truly embracing AI? |
📲 App of the Week: Yummly
This week, as Thanksgiving prep takes over, we’ve been diving into cooking apps to make it all a bit easier. Yummly rises to the top with its smart recipe recommendations tailored to your tastes and dietary needs. Its step-by-step video guides and built-in timers take the guesswork out of the kitchen, while smart device syncing ensures everything cooks perfectly. Free to use with premium upgrades, Yummly is the ultimate helper for anyone aiming to impress - or just get through the holiday feast unscathed.
🧐 Stat of the Week: $1.50p/h
📈📉 Kenya – 60 Minutes Documentary Highlights Low Wages for Tech Workers
It’s ChatGPT’s second birthday, but the celebrations have been marred by a lot of bad press resulting from a 60 Minutes documentary reporting on how OpenAI has been remunerating workers in Kenya, with some paid as little as $1.50 per hour. To be fair to OpenAI, the main culprit seems to be a middleman recruitment firm, SAMA, which reportedly receives about six to eight times as much per worker per hour. The documentary also cited other Big Tech companies involved, including Meta. It’s not a great look, though, with critics saying it amounts to the exploitation of desperate workers in a country where the unemployment rate is 67%. #YouKenDoBetter Read more here.
🗞️ Other Stories
🥇 Anthropic’s Big Wins. It signed a huge deal with AWS, with Amazon throwing in $4B investment, too. It’s also released MCP, a new standard for connecting data to AI bots. Stories here & here. 🧑⚖️ Google Awaits Its Fate. The DoJ monopoly case against Google is wrapping up, with the former pushing for the latter to give up Chrome. Expect appeals & more lawyers regardless of the outcome. Find more here. 🥽 Vision Woe. Vision Pro finally got a viral app (yay!). But Lapz, an app that puts Formula One races in a mixed reality setup, was taken down due to copyright complaints from F1 (boo!). More here. | 🇨🇳 Reasoning from China. You don’t hear a lot about China’s forays into AI technology, do you? One of the big players, DeepSeek, has released a new ‘reasoning’ model that rivals OpenAI’s o1. More here. 🛒 Smart Carts. A new shopping cart – The Caper Cart – comes equipped with scanners, AI, GPS, and touchscreens. Now, if they could just find a way to ensure the wheels don’t wobble. More here. 🛝 Go Play Outside, Kids. Australia is pushing for a blanket social media ban for all U16s, and the UK has launched its own study into the feasibility of a ban. It’s difficult to disagree with. Story here. |
📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance
This week, as Thanksgiving approaches here in the States, we’re reflecting on the importance of gratitude - not just for the big milestones but also for the small, everyday moments that make working as a team so rewarding. From celebrating wins on our projects to leaning on each other through challenges, we're reminded that building great things isn’t just about the tech; it’s about the people behind it. Whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving or not, we hope this week brings a moment to pause, connect, and reflect on the things that matter most. As for us, we’re keeping things humming along, but you might catch us sneaking in an extra slice of pumpkin pie (or two)!
📣 Promos
🤖 Get your free AI consultation: Book Now
🎧 Listen to our What’s Appening Podcast
🎥 Watch on YouTube / Facebook / LinkedIn
📱 Enjoy our ‘shorts’ on TikTok / Instagram
🔔 Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you’ll always know what’s appening in tech.
🌐 Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok
💬 We appreciate you and we’d love to hear your feedback. Just hit ‘Reply’!
What’s Appening is brought to you by 3Advance, your AI-driven product development team that speaks your language too. If you’re not into it, simply opt out below. If you think a friend might be interested, please forward it along 🙏.
You made it to the end of this email 🥳How did you like "What's Appening" this week? |