el producto #359 đ
el producto #359 đ
The psychology of Temu's UX, ChatGPT voice available for free, Amazon's AI courses, Learning vs impact, Google Maps redesign review, Best inventions of 2023 & more
Hey team,
Happy weekend and welcome to a new edition of el producto!
đ° The week in figures
$5B: Google is in talks to take a major stake in London-based fintech Monzo through its fund Capital G. The deal would value Monzo at about $5
$300M: Alpheya has raised a $300M funding round to offer AI-powered wealth management services. The company, which is based in Abu Dhabi, plans to use the funds to build a wealth management technology platform for clients in the Middle East and Northern Africa
206%: Nvidia reports Q3 revenue up 206% YoY to $18.12B, vs. $16.18B est., Data Center revenue up 279% YoY to $14.51B, and net income up 1,259% YoY to $9.2B
đ° Whatâs going on
Google updates Google Meet to recognize gestures in meetings, including raising a hand to trigger the âRaise handâ button; the feature is off by default
Google updates Bard with more in-depth access to YouTube content, allowing users to ask specific questions about the content of a video
Microsoft Teams has launched an AI-powered home decoration feature. The new feature can detect elements of your background and clean it up by removing clutter or adding plants. Perfect for days when you havenât had time to tidy up your background before an important call
Instagram now lets all users download public Reels, after rolling out the feature in the US in June 2023; creators can opt out of downloads
Meta has unveiled its new text-to-video AI tool. Dubbed âEmu Videoâ, the tool allows users to type in what they want and turn it into a video
Meta has disbanded its Responsible AI team and is reassigning its members to other company divisions, where they are expected to continue efforts to prevent AI-related harm. The majority of team members will transition to Meta's generative AI team to support cross-company initiatives for responsible AI
Screenshots show xAIâs chatbot Grok on Xâs web app. Grok will be available to Premium+ members, starts at $16/month or $168/year on web
OpenAI makes ChatGPT with voice now available to all free users
OpenAIÂ reached a deal for Sam Altman to return as CEO, with a new board chaired by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor. The new board consists of Bret, Larry Summers and current board member Adam D'Angelo. Independent directors Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner will leave the board, as will Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, posted on X that âSalesforce will match any OpenAI researcher who has tendered their resignation full cash & equity OTE to immediately join our Salesforce Einstein Trusted AI research team under Silvio Savareseâ
Amazon is launching free AI courses to both beginners and experienced users. The company announced "AI Ready," its program to train at least 2 million people on AI skills by 2025
Block CEO Jack Dorsey has scrapped performance reviews in favour of âparting ways immediately.â Managers will move from annual reviews to "constantly evaluating" workers so they can "part ways without delay."
Vemo rolled out a new feature to let groups track and split expenses
South Korea plans to start a digital currency pilot in Q4 2024; 100K people will be able to use deposit tokens issued by commercial banks in the form of CBDC
Mastercard received formal approval to begin domestic payment processing in China, enabling the credit card network to issue yuan-denominated banks cards
đ Good reads
Learning vs Impact. When you start in a new role, during onboarding you are mostly learning and having little actual impact. And down the line, once youâve ramped up and are settled, youâre having a lot of impact, but are learning a lot less. This is the paradox of âLearning versus Impact.â You typically have the most impact in your career when you are learning the least, and you tend to learn the most when you are least effective. Deb Liu reflects on her 11 years at Facebook and shares few ways to bring learning back into your role when you are having maximum impact.
The State of Product Onboarding. User onboarding is fundamental to crafting a winning product experience. First impressions count and in this report, Bandan Jot Singh is joined by ex-growth leaders from Miro to understand some of the common problems faced by companies along with insights into activation rates and other metrics companies are using to measure the success of their onboarding efforts
An ex-Google designer on the new Maps redesign. 15 years ago Elizabeth Laraki helped design the first version of Google Maps. In this detailed breakdown Elizabeth shares her thoughts on the productâs new redesign and why some of the changes work - and some donât
3,000$/h - from free value to Leah Tharinâs insane hourly rates. One of the most influential voices on PLG shares her approach to pricing for her coaching and advising services. Over the last few months, Leah has been sharing her journey very transparently, and has become great inspiration for anyone interested in pursuing an alternative career path in Product
The psychology of Temuâs casino-like shopping UX; a visual case-study by Growth.Design. Temu is topping app store charts and rivalling Amazon, and it may not be thanks to ethical UX choices
TIME's annual âBest Inventionsâ list came out, highlighing ingenious solutions to modern problems, and including categories such as AI, Software, AR/VR. While the innovations span a range of fields, they share a focus on sustainability, efficiency and pushing boundaries. The coverage brings us an optimistic look at techâs potential to build a better future.Â
Thatâs all for this week! Let me know what you think by replying back to this email or commenting on Substack
Angel