Good morning, and welcome to TechCrunch AM for February 1, 2024. Today, we have a cool tutorial for new Apple Vision Pro users, the impact of bad tweets, what’s ahead for a well-known Indian unicorn, and a look at where tech layoffs seem to be heading. Let’s go!

– Alex

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TechCrunch Top 3

1. Byju’s backers seek to yank founder: It’s rare to see a founder removed from a startup; private-market investors just don’t do it very often. But when your edtech startup goes from a valuation of $22 billion to $25 million, well, you might run the risk of getting fired.
2. YC president’s posts lead to threats: Last weekend, Y Combinator president Garry Tan posted an interpolation of rap lyrics on social media that called for – in jest, it appears – the death of several San Francisco politicians. He then deleted the post and apologized, but the story is not over: Three of the people named in Tan’s tweet have since received more threats. Not good!
3. How to get up and running with Apple’s new face computer: So you have waited, coveted, and dreamed. You finally have your shiny new Apple headset. What do you do first? We have the entire breakdown for you right here.

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Tech layoffs scale to three-quarter high: Despite a decline in the back-half of 2023, layoffs at tech companies have spiked in 2024: the first quarter of the new year has already seen more people lose their jobs than in either Q3 or Q4 2023. It’s not great, and is an indication that while tech is still making lots of money, we still haven’t reached a ‘new normal’ quite yet.

Senate hearing is a waste of time yet again: One of the coolest powers that Congress has is being able to summon folks so they can ask them questions in public and under oath. It’s a journalist’s dream. But as they’re wont to do, Congress mostly wasted time questioning social media CEOs this week and made everyone cringe.

MessageBird is now Bird, after the demise of Bird: Remember Bird, the scooter company? That didn’t go well, so the name was up for grabs. Not anymore! MessageBird, the Amsterdam-based unicorn, is taking on the moniker for itself. The company is also going to war with Twilio over SMS pricing, which is good for startup founders who need to send texts to customers and clients.

By their powers combined: TechCrunch’s Jacquie Melinek digs into a report that argues that AI and blockchain need one another. The idea has some merit, since blockchains are good at verifying data and the like. There’s even some data showing that devs are interested in the marriage of AI and blockchain. In my very, very cynical opinion, however, isn’t non-blockchain-powered AI doing just fine already?

$15.4M for cocoa-free chocolate: Planet A Foods’ name is meant to remind us that we do not have a spare habitat for humanity — no Planet B, as it were. So to help us keep our current blue marble healthy, the company is working to create a more sustainable alternative to cocoa. Humans are not going to stop eating chocolate, and we do need to limit our impact on Earth. Makes sense to me!

Viacom18 to buy 60% of Disney’s India unit: OK, so a little context here: Viacom18 is Reliance-backed joint venture that Paramount Global and others are part of. It’s buying more than half of Disney India at a valuation of $3.9 billion. That is a big check, but it’s also “less than half of what Disney had originally hoped” to earn, TechCrunch reports.

Before you go

The Messenger is no more: What a mess. After hiring a bunch of reporters and launching a fresh news service, The Messenger has shut shop. It didn’t last even a year, but it did burn through what is thought to be $50 million during its short life.

In retrospect, trying to build an advertising-based website aimed at a general audience in 2024 might have been an error. So, too, might have been trying to take on the entire world from day one.

• Founding Data Engineer (Staff / Principal) at Everyday Agents (San Francisco, CA 94105, United States)
• Founding AI/ML Platform Engineer (Staff / Principal) at Everyday Agents (San Francisco, CA 94105, United States)
• Chief Information Officer at Raftelis (Washington County, Oregon, USA)
• System Administrator, OT at Hoosier Energy (Bloomington, IN, USA)
• Programmer Analyst - ERP at Hoosier Energy (Bloomington, IN, USA)

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