Steve Jobs’ son launches a fund, NASA debuts a streaming service, and writers protest a proposed surveillance law | TechCrunch

Hey, of us, and welcome to Week in Assessment (WiR), TechCrunch’s publication that highlights key developments within the tech trade over the previous few days. For those who missed the information this week, no biggie. That’s what WiR is for. We’ll fill you in.

On this version, we cowl Reed Jobs, the son of Steve Jobs, who’s launching a brand new enterprise fund to again most cancers therapies; China’s cutthroat e-commerce techniques; and fan-fiction writers rallying towards a proposed U.S. regulation that would result in better surveillance on-line. Elsewhere, we pull again the curtains on Google Assistant reportedly pivoting to generative AI; NASA launching its personal streaming service, known as NASA+; and Walmart shopping for VC agency Tiger International’s remaining Flipkart stake.

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Jobs fights cancer: Reed Jobs, the 31-year-old son of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, is getting into the highlight with a brand new enterprise capital agency to spend money on rising most cancers therapies. Known as Yosemite — after the nationwide park the place Reed’s dad and mom have been wed — the agency has already closed its debut fund with $200 million from distinguished people and establishments, together with MIT,  Memorial Sloan Kettering Most cancers Middle and John Doerr.

Fight of the Chinese e-commerce giants: The battle between two of China’s largest e-commerce corporations, Temu and Shein, is heating up. Temu not too long ago filed a courtroom doc within the U.S. accusing fast-fashion large Shein of anticompetitive practices, which was a response to Shein’s accusations in March that Temu “willfully and flagrantly infringed Shein’s unique and precious trademark and copyright rights.”

Fan-fiction writers protest online safety law:This week, fan-fiction writers penned letters to their senators, expressing their issues that the U.S. Youngsters On-line Security Act (KOSA) might change the web eternally. KOSA has been met with a flood of opposition from a wide range of web communities; detractors fear that the invoice might prohibit queer youngsters’ entry to affirming on-line assets or make it simpler for native governments to surveil abortion seekers.

Google Assistant embraces generative AI: Google is reportedly planning a significant revamp of Google Assistant, its AI-powered assistant, because the generative AI race heats up. An inner e mail means that the brand new and improved Google Assistant might be “powered by the most recent LLM [large language model] expertise” — tech related, presumably, to that underpinning AI methods like OpenAI’s GPT-4.

NASA gets into streaming: NASA introduced this week that it’s going to launch a brand new streaming service later this yr known as NASA+. The ad-free, no-cost streaming portal will embody reside protection of future launches, documentaries and new authentic sequence that might be solely accessible on the platform.

Walmart fully acquires Flipkart: Walmart has paid $1.4 billion to purchase out VC agency Tiger International’s remaining holding of Flipkart shares because the retail large additional expands its stake within the Indian e-commerce startup. Walmart, which spent $16 billion on a 77% stake in Flipkart in 2018, held 72% share within the agency as of final yr, based on an evaluation by market intelligence agency Tracxn.

Apple gives X a pass: After weeks of adjustments to its social handles, branding on its interface, a redirect on the internet and many chatter from its proprietor, Twitter the app has lastly modified its title on the App Retailer to X. The only-letter title might have an exception: Apple usually doesn’t permit builders to call their apps as a single character.

SpaceX tests a “pancake”: SpaceX performed a full-pressure take a look at of a brand new water deluge system — which CEO Elon Musk described as “a mega-steel pancake” — for its Starship launch automobile, as the corporate appears to resolve one of many greatest issues that cropped up throughout the orbital flight test in April.

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Searching for podcasts to move the time? You’re in luck. TechCrunch has a wealth of content material in your listening pleasure.

On Equity, the crew hosted Sara Mauskopf, the CEO and co-founder of the childcare market Winnie, to debate the state of care as a venture-backable class, the place startups can discover probably the most affect and enterprise outcomes and the pressures of fundraising-driven progress in care-oriented markets.

This week’s episode of Found, in the meantime, centered on ReBokeh, a startup that created an app that applies filters to permit folks with low imaginative and prescient to see higher. The founder and CEO, Rebecca Rosenberg, talked about how her personal expertise with having low imaginative and prescient impressed the product and what it was like constructing ReBokeh as an undergrad when all the things went distant in 2020.

And over on Chain Reaction, Jesse Pollak, head of protocols at Coinbase, chatted concerning the launch of Base, a brand new Ethereum-based blockchain that’s set to launch on Coinbase in only a few days. Pollak dove into what’s happening and why it issues, in addition to the place he sees Base going within the distant future.

TechCrunch+

TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you already know in the event you’re already a subscriber. For those who’re not, consider signing up. Listed below are a number of highlights from this week:

The future of AI is video: Haje writes about how generative AI video tech is advancing shortly — and the way it’s opening up a world stuffed with potentialities which might be each good and horrible.

Crypto’s not dead yet: The crypto world is likely to be shaky — however the blockchain developer house is displaying indicators of promise. Responding to a survey for TC+, builders confirmed most curiosity in sensible contract safety and account abstraction.

Room-temperature superconductors: Final week, a staff from South Korea claimed to have created a fabric that superconducts at ambient temperature. It’s too early to inform whether or not their work will maintain as much as scientific scrutiny. However Tim writes that, if it does, many industries can be ripe for upheaval.

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