Samsung’s Jay Lee receives presidential pardon for bribery conviction – TechCrunch

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Last evening was a full moon, by some means it’s already midway by way of August, and do you know there’s a Beach Plum LaCroix flavor? The world’s gone topsy-turvy, however a minimum of it’s time for the weekend.

What did you do that week that made you’re feeling alive? Can you do extra of that subsequent week? And that concludes our microtherapy session. Now, let’s get on with the information.  — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Pardon me: A presidential pardon is restoring Samsung’s vice chairman Jay Lee’s capability to take the corporate’s helm. Lee had been convicted on bribery expenses in 2017, and the pardon will erase it, Kate writes.
• 5G begets 4G: Yeah, you learn that proper. Amazon launched AWS Private 5G so corporations can construct their very own 4G networks…for now, Paul writes. This is one thing that has been within the works since late 2021, and the corporate stated finally there can be capabilities for 5G networks.
• Location obliteration: Natasha L explains how Google was fined $40 million by Australia’s authorities, which discovered the tech big had misled customers about its Android location monitoring settings.

Startups and VC

Don’t miss Brian’s Actuator e-newsletter, which is often all concerning the state of {hardware} and robotics, however as we speak is usually about Amazon and iRobot.

And in your every day dose of levity, don’t miss Amanda’s glorious piece of satire: FWD: fwd: From the CEO: BeCareful whilst you BeReal!

A number of extra highlights:

What does the longer term appear like for e-commerce aggregators?

In the online game Katamari Damacy, gamers management an avatar who rolls a sticky ball that captures something it touches. The purpose: create a sphere giant sufficient to turn out to be a star or moon.

E-commerce aggregators work in a lot the identical manner by buying smaller manufacturers, then optimizing their manufacturing and gross sales channels to spice up market share.

This mannequin was efficient in a prevaccine period when customers stopped visiting shops, however is the brand-rollup mannequin nonetheless viable as we speak?

“Decreased consumer confidence, inflated brand value and a freeze in investment capital are creating a perfect storm,” says David Wright, co-founder and CEO of e-commerce accelerator Pattern. “Unless aggregators change how they operate, their future is bleak at best and nonexistent at worst.”

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup groups get forward. You can join right here.)

Big Tech Inc.

Have you seen these ransomware group members? The U.S. authorities is providing $10 million in trade for info resulting in the identification and site of members of the Russia-based Conti ransomware operative, Carly writes.

Speaking of alleged fraudulent conduct, Manish writes about India’s anti-money-laundering company freezing $46.4 million in property belonging to Singapore-based crypto trade Vauld whereas it appears into the corporate’s enterprise practices.

Meanwhile, Brian appears into what’s taking place over at Boston Dynamics after being acquired by Hyundai in 2020, which features a new synthetic intelligence and robotics institute buoyed by $400 million.

• Pew research reveals what we’ve identified for some time: That teenagers are usually not utilizing Facebook anymore. The research discovered that Facebook misplaced like half of its customers aged 13–17 since 2015, Amanda experiences.
• You must spend cash to earn money: That’s what Rivian’s management is saying anyway. The electrical automobile maker is sticking to its plans to ship 25,000 autos by the tip of the yr, however it will must burn by way of $700 million to take action, Harri experiences.
• Your neighbor simply obtained fascinating or creepy, unsure which but: If you’ve ever wished to see what occurs on different individuals’s Ring doorbells, MGM, which is owned by Amazon, is ready to make you cheerful, Amanda writes.
• Friday options: Let’s take a stroll by way of some new app options, we could? Aisha experiences on Instacart’s new function for actually hungry but additionally indecisive clients, and she or he explores LinkedIn’s new creator instruments designed to higher share visible content material. Meanwhile, Google is updating the search high quality of its “featured snippets,” Taylor writes.