This Week in Snark: The Lag, The Hype, and The Inevitable Pivot to Enterprise
We say a glitchy goodbye to Skype, watch Sony desperately insist VR isn’t dead, marvel at Amazon’s bold attempt to make Alexa a paid privilege, chuckle as Brex discovers enterprise money is actually real, and witness Apple throw a casual half-trillion at AI just to stay relevant.
This week, we say a glitchy goodbye to Skype, watch Sony desperately insist VR isn’t dead, marvel at Amazon’s bold attempt to make Alexa a paid privilege, chuckle as Brex discovers enterprise money is actually real, and witness Apple throw a casual half-trillion at AI just to stay relevant. Oh, and we make our totally unbiased case for why SiliconSnark should win TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield before graciously letting someone else take the prize.
Farewell, Skype: The Rise, Fall, and Glorious Lag of a Once-Great App
Remember when Skype was the king of video calls before it was slowly smothered by Microsoft Teams and its own refusal to evolve? We take a nostalgic (and slightly glitchy) walk down memory lane, reminiscing about the days when "Can you hear me now?" was an integral part of every call. Pour one out for the app that paved the way for Zoom fatigue.
Sony Slashes PS VR2 Price in a Last-Ditch Effort to Convince You That VR Isn't Dead
Sony is knocking $100 off the PS VR2, proving once again that the best way to stimulate demand for an expensive, niche product is to make it slightly less expensive. With VR adoption still moving at the speed of a buffering PlayStation Store download, this is either a brilliant move or the beginning of a quiet retreat. Either way, Sony remains committed to VR—just not quite enough to make games people actually want to play.
Alexa+: Because AI Subscription Fatigue Wasn’t Bad Enough
Amazon, clearly sensing that consumers don’t have enough subscriptions draining their wallets, is rolling out a premium Alexa experience. For just a few extra bucks a month, your Echo can now talk to you like it actually understands what you’re saying (maybe). Will it be worth it? Probably not. But at least now Alexa can misinterpret your commands in a more sophisticated way.
Brex Discovers What Every Startup Eventually Does: The Real Money Is in Big Corporations
Brex, once the darling of Silicon Valley startups, has finally admitted what we all knew: serving venture-backed companies that might not exist next quarter isn’t exactly a sustainable business model. So now it’s pivoting hard toward big, boring corporations. Welcome to the real world, Brex—where the real unicorns have procurement departments.
Apple Finally Succumbs to AI Hype, Announces Half-Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Binge
Apple has been side-eyeing the AI race for a while, but now it’s diving in with a spending spree that could fund a small nation. Half a trillion dollars later, Siri might finally stop being the butt of every AI joke. Or at least she’ll get better at dodging them. With this level of investment, Apple is either about to revolutionize AI or just ensure that its servers can handle even more people asking, "Why is my iPhone storage full?"
Why SiliconSnark Deserves to Win TechCrunch Startup Battlefield (and Why You Should Apply Instead)
SiliconSnark is clearly the best tech startup of the year, but in the spirit of humility (and eligibility rules), we’re encouraging you to apply instead. Think of it as a selfless act of journalistic integrity. Plus, we’re pretty sure TechCrunch wouldn’t let us in the door anyway. But hey, if satire can’t win, at least we can make fun of whoever does.
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