Amazon Enhances AI Customization with Alexa Custom Assistant

Is Apple finally throwing in the towel and giving us the sort of laptops we actually want? With these IPO first-day pops, forget banks screwing startups, are VC’s also undervaluing companies right now in a way that is unfair? Amazon wants to do in cars what it’s done successfully in homes. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:

• Oracle For Startups - oracle.com/goto/ride
• Metalab.co

Links:

• Kuo details 2021 MacBook Pro: new design with squared-off sides, MagSafe connector and IO return, Touch Bar removed (9to5Mac)
• Apple Plans Upgraded MacBook Pros With Return of Magnetic Charging (Bloomberg)
• Online clothing reseller Poshmark closes up more than 140% on first day of trading (CNBC)
• Amazon opens Alexa AI tech for the first time so car makers can build custom assistants (The Verge)
• Galaxy Book Flex2: Samsung’s first 5G laptop has an 11th-gen Intel Processor (Digital Trends)
• Shares in China’s Xiaomi tumble after US investment ban (Financial Times)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster? (NYTimes)
• Why the Canadian Tech Scene Doesn’t Work (AlexDanco.com)
• An Oral History of Wikipedia, the Web’s Encyclopedia (OneZero)
• CRISPR and the Splice to Survive (The New Yorker)
• Spotify Bets Big on Podcasts as a Path to Profitability (Bloomberg Businessweek)

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