(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in tech that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 — Google’s search monopoly verdict likely to strengthen competition and regulatory efforts.
A U.S. District Court has ruled that Google holds a monopoly (90 percent) of the online search market, using its dominance to suppress competition. This decision — resulting from a major antitrust case — will clear the way for other search engines to become more competitive. The ruling is also expected to enhance regulatory efforts to prevent exclusive search engine deals. It will also strengthen future investigations into questionable business practices of large tech companies. Google plans to appeal the decision. (Source: Computerworld)
Why this is important for your business:
Google is absolutely a monopoly. The company is also biased towards larger brands. However, search is changing so dramatically thanks to AI — just look at what OpenAI is planning — that this problem may fix itself with out any government intervention or a breakup. The bottom line for our businesses is that more search and online advertising changes are likely on the horizon.
2 — Pledge revolutionizes charitable fundraising with PledgeAI, the first AI for fundraisers.
Fundraising platform Pledge has introduced PledgeAI — an innovative AI-driven tool designed to revolutionize charitable fundraising. Leveraging its extensive experience in raising over $140 million for 100,000 nonprofits globally, PledgeAI offers advanced capabilities to enhance fundraising efficiency and effectiveness such as: rapid fundraiser creation, message optimization, and expansive donor reach using social media. (Source: PR Newswire)
Why this is important for your business:
Pledge is the kind of platform that every nonprofit should use. It offers many options for fundraising and doesn’t charge credit card fees. The company is now leaning heavily on AI to help its users more easily and productively create campaigns. Nonprofits are under-resourced are overtaxed. But the smartest ones will routinely be evaluating platforms like this one to help them raise funds faster and more efficiently.
3 — X is testing the removal of like, comment, and repost buttons from replies.
Elon Musk announced a significant change to X (formerly Twitter) by removing the like, repost, and reply buttons from posts. This update was discovered by an X user — @aaronp613. The change is being tested according to reports. Additionally, the statistics for likes, reposts, and replies will no longer be visible, leaving only the view count displayed. The decision has been met with concern about how it will impact engagement on the platform.(Source: Mashable)
Why this is important for your business:
I’m not smart enough to figure out how this would impact my activities on X because I frequently like, repost and reply to other posts. If I can’t do this, how do I engage? I also enjoy seeing the stats on individual posts because they influence my own posting. I’m hoping this change is introduced slowly, if it happens at all.
4 — Microsoft Edge’s free VPN automatically protects you on public WiFi.
Microsoft Edge has introduced a free built-in VPN called Edge Secure Network VPN, designed to protect users on public WiFi by hiding IP addresses and encrypting data. The VPN activates automatically when connecting to unsecured networks or non-HTTPS sites, but it only works within the Edge browser and has a 5GB monthly data limit. It lacks features like a location selector and a kill switch. Source: Techilicious)
Why this is important for your business:
VPNs are a necessary annoyance, particularly for travelers like me that sometimes are forced to use public WiFi. I have used a handful of different VPN services with mixed results and I’ve always wondered why VPN capabilities aren’t just automatically included in our browsers. Hopefully this is a trend in the right direction as I’m a Chrome user and this capability is not automatically included without having to install a third party extension.
5 — OpenAI has finally released the №1 feature developers have been desperate for.
OpenAI has introduced a new feature called Structured Outputs, which addresses a common issue developers face when using large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4. This feature ensures that the outputs from these models adhere strictly to predefined JSON schemas, which describe the structure and type of data expected. This new capability is highly anticipated by developers as it simplifies the process of generating reliable and structured data, reducing the need for additional validations or workarounds. This update builds on OpenAI’s previous efforts to improve the usability and reliability of their models. (Source: VentureBeat)
Why this is important for your business:
This is one of those things that business owners like myself don’t fully understand but appreciate that it can help our development teams do better work. If your company is developing solutions for itself or others using OpenAI’s large language model this seems to something that your developers need to know.
