Apple Bets on the Metaverse With New Headset 🤖

Apple shares were trending higher over expectations that the iPhone manufacturer would introduce a new product category, in almost a decade, at its widely anticipated annual software developer conference, and those expectations were confirmed with the launch of an augmented-reality headset.

Called the "Vision Pro", the Cupertino, Calif.-based company plans to sell these bad boys at 3 times the price of the next most expensive headset on the market — Meta's Quest Pro — in hopes of wooing customers to the metaverse. With an expected launch date of next year, Apple is differentiating its product by claiming it's lighter and comes with functionality that sets it apart from its competitor, such as the ability to control content inside the goggles with your eyes.

The announcement of an augmented-reality headset really sets the tone for what Apple plans to focus on as a business. While every major company in existence is focusing on AI, the Steve Jobs-founded Silicon Valley darling is looking to challenge Meta, the only other major technology company focusing on virtual reality. Sadly for Meta investors, that bet has largely not paid off, so it's a bit of a surprise that Apple would want to enter the market with its own device.

Apple was trending #6 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings, while Meta was on the #21 spot.

Elon Musk's Brain Implant Startup Snags $5 billion Valuation — More than Before, Less than Hoped 🐵

Neuralink, the Elon Musk-backed start up looking to implant chips into human brains for a host of benefits, saw a string of successes these past few weeks, starting with the news that it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin human trials for its technology.

That news apparently led to a round of private investment which now values the startup at $5 billion, a cool $3 billion more than what it was worth around two years ago, but still less than the $7 billion the company's executives had hoped the business would fetch, Reuters reported.

In Other News.. 📰

• The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange is getting the FTX treatment. U.S. authorities filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao for allegedly operating a "web of deception." Binance was trending #17 on HackerNoon’s Tech Company Rankings.
• Spotify laid off 200 people from its podcast unit.
• Japan has asked ChatGPT-creator OpenAI to not collect sensitive data without people's permission in training its machine learning algorithms.
• Twitter's head of brand safety and ad quality, A.J. Brown, has decided to leave the company, Reuters reported. Twitter was trending #57 on HackerNoon’s Tech Company Rankings.
• YouTube will no longer remove videos peddling false information about previous U.S. elections. The company ranked #21 on HackerNoon’s Tech Company Rankings.

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends!

See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon