Blog Posts
Squarespace Introduces a Wealth of Enhancements
Squarespace Refresh 2023 introduces a number of updates and evolutions that will bring more value to Squarespace customers. The website building and hosting company is announcing new ways to sell, stand out, and scale. Courses, announced early September, features tools and templates to help users create and sell learning content. Businesses can sell course material...
Supreme Court Cases Could Reshape the Internet
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on two cases: Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh. The rulings, expected in June, could expose tech platforms to increased liability over user-generated content they display and recommend. The case of Gonzalez v. Google centers around whether Google can be sued for recommending terrorist videos on YouTube, one of its...
Google Privacy Practices Lead to $93 Million Settlement
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the conclusion of a multi-year investigation into Google’s practices related to collecting user data that has ended in a $93 million settlement. The investigation determined that Google violated California consumer protection laws by “collecting, storing, and using location data for consumer profiling and advertising purposes...
OpenAI to Host DevDay, Its First Developer Conference
OpenAI has announced that it will be hosting its first developer conference on November 6 in San Francisco. It will bring together developers from around the world to preview new tools and discuss and share ideas. OpenAI’s team will showcase updates to OpenAI core products such as GPT-3.5, GPT-4, DALL·E, and Whisper. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has already confirmed on X...
China Denies iPhone Ban
The Wall Street Journal reported early September that China has banned the use of iPhones and other foreign-branded phones for workers employed at central government agencies. Unnamed sources claim that over the past few weeks, staff were informed about the ban over email and chats. A week following the report, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning responded...
Microsoft Will Unbundle Teams from Office in EU
Microsoft has announced that it will unbundle Teams from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 starting October 1. This comes as a response to concerns that have led to an antitrust investigation in Europe. The European Commission officially opened an investigation at the end of July, following complaints raised about Microsoft’s practices related to the inclusion of its...
Google Announces New AI-Powered Cloud Capabilities
Google announced a number of AI-driven improvements to its cloud offering at its Google Cloud Next event in San Francisco held at the end of August. Key evolutions include updates to products in Infrastructure, Data and AI, Workspace Collaboration, and Cybersecurity. While AWS and Azure remain the leaders in cloud technologies, Google is focusing on building its standing in...
Google Launches an AI-Powered Note Taking App
Designed to help people synthesize and make connections with their notes, Google has launched an experimental application called NotebookLM. Earlier this year, NotebookLM was first introduced during Google I/O as Project Tailwind, an experiment from Google Labs. With the rapid increase in the quantity of information, it can sometimes be overwhelming to find the right...
Google’s Duet AI Available for All Workspace Users
Google is making Duet AI for Google Workspace available for the general public. Duet AI is a GenAI-powered productivity tool that can help Google Workspace users write, visualize, or organize their work. Aparna Pappu, GM and VP of Google Workspace, describes Duet AI as “a powerful collaboration partner that can act as a coach, source of inspiration, and productivity...
Squarespace Launches Courses To Improve Online Training
Squarespace announced the launch of Courses, a tool for building, promoting and selling professional quality training courses online. Squarespace calls it "an effortless way to create and sell courses with Squarespace’s premium look and feel." Courses offers entrepreneurs a new way to connect with their audience. It provides the tools to easily create and monetize learning...
Tech Companies Must Adhere to New EU Rules
Tech companies will now need to comply with new European regulations that impact social media, marketplaces, and search engines. The new law focuses on areas such as social media moderation, targeted advertising, and counterfeit goods in e-commerce. The law came into effect August 25 for all tech companies with more than 45 million EU users. This includes Apple, Amazon,...
UK Report Advises Websites to Better Protect User Data
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have jointly published a report outlining harmful website design practices that they aim to stop as they unfairly acquire personal data in the UK. Online Choice Architecture (OCA) is “the ways in which firms present information and choices to users of websites and other online...
Amazon Enhances Product Reviews With GenAI
Amazon has announced that it will be using GenAI technologies to improve product reviews. In 2022, 125 million customers provided 1.5 billion reviews on Amazon – which is a lot of content to review when trying to find relevant information for a product. This AI-powered feature will summarize the main points from multiple reviews and publish a condensed paragraph in the...
Canadian News Agencies Seeking Investigation Into Meta
Canadian news groups, including News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and CBC/Radio-Canada, are asking the Canada's Competition Bureau to investigate Meta for its removal of Canadian news content for users in Canada. In a statement, the group of news agencies said that “Meta's anticompetitive conduct, which has attracted the attention of regulators...
Twitter Rebrand to X Could Face Legal Challenges
Twitter was rebranded to X at the end of July – and the name change has not been an especially smooth transition. X Corp might now be open to legal challenges due to the use of the letter “X” in this context. Musk and his company didn't secure the intellectual property rights to the “X” brand, leaving it open to possible legal challenges. There are nearly 900 active US...