A video of Mark Zuckerburg trading blows with MMA fighter Khai Wu has the Boomies of the internet united. The billionaire founder of Facebook posted a lengthy video of his training session with Wu on Instagram (also owned by the Zuck), earning the praise of MMA celebrities Alexander Volkanovski and Conor McGregor, but perhaps, also of the Boomies (as we like to call them), whose continuous interest in the social media giant kept Facebook high up in the public consciousness this week, helping it retain the #1 spot. 👑
While it's unclear if the Zuck will ever step inside an actual fighting ring, his company seems to be going all out to remain relevant. A report by The Verge said Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is forming a completely new division to introduce new paid features on the platforms to make up for a decline in its ads business. Meanwhile, an article published by The Guardian details the consequences of being banned on the platform — an unintended consequence of "some bug in the system."
Good news for those that want to plead their case, however. Facebook is building a customer-service group that can help restore accounts that were unexpectedly removed, a harrowing experience if you're a business owner who relies heavily on the platform for sales or marketing, or an individual who likes staying in touch with family and friends.
Roblox 🎅
As if in response to Facebook's ranking, the Zoomies (as we like to call them), began rallying behind Roblox, and began rallying HARD. The youth-centered gaming platform saw a meteoric rise of nearly 127% in trending interest this week to land in the #2 spot.
Roblox was a pretty big deal during the pandemic as more and more kids flocked to the platform to pass the time. But with the pandemic now all but over, the company is struggling to keep users hooked, which was reflected in the company's higher-than-expected loss of 30 cents per share for the most recent quarter.
Experts say video gaming companies are suffering the consequences of everyone disconnecting and returning to the real world — more of a reason to believe the Metaverse is no substitute for real life.. Not yet at least. Though that still doesn't mean Roblox doesn't believe in the potential of the Metaverse.
The company recently announced a new logo and brand tagline as "part of its journey toward metaverse domination." Only time will tell whether the company's focus on metaverse will yield results.
Apple 🍎
Of course, no issue of the Tech Company Brief is complete without a mention of Apple. Ranking at #3, the company is just days away from its next big product event, simply tilted 'Far Out.' Previous guesses as to what the title refers to have ranged from a new main wallpaper for the iPhone to features rivaling Google’s long-existing astrophotography mode.
Hardware's not necessarily where it's at though. A new report by the Financial Times indicates that Apple plans to aggressively expand its digital advertising workforce, currently listing 216 open roles in the segment, which is already made up of 250 people. As we reported previously, the Silicon Valley firm is planning to expand the number of ads you see on your iPhone and iPad in an attempt to make big bucks™.
Apple may be on a path to monopolizing advertisements on its products. Just last year, the company made a change to its privacy rules that made it difficult for Meta, Snap, and Twitter (aka the usual suspects) from showing personalized ads to Apple users, resulting in a disruption that cost the industry billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Google 🔍
Google hosted the annual Google Play Indie Games Festival this past Saturday to highlight small game developers from South Korea, Japan and parts of Europe. The company bills the virtual event as a way to "celebrate unique games launched this year and showcase the inspiring emerging talent behind these titles," and the winning entries receive hefty prizes, including a promotional campaign worth €100,000.
Two of the winning entries this year were puzzle games created by developers in Belgium and Ukraine, while the third winning entry was a dungeon crawler by a German developer. Check them out here.
Google ranked #4 in this week's tech rankings.
Microsoft 🖥️
Microsoft, the creator of the OS your grandma probably grew up on, recently disclosed a vulnerability in TikTok's Android application that made it possible for hackers to get a hold of users' accounts with a single click. The vulnerability, first discovered in February, has been fixed, and Microsoft said it did not find any evidence of "in-the-wild exploitation."
Out in the real world, the company clinched a $21.9 billion deal to supply combat goggles to the U.S. Army. Some Microsoft employees have expressed their disliking of the company's dealings with the U.S. Army in the past, but it doesn't look like the company cares.
"The augmented reality goggles, which are a modified version of the HoloLens eyewear, give the user a "heads-up display," or a hologram that is projected over their environment and provides more information over what they can already see," Interesting Engineering reported, citing Bloomberg.
Microsoft ranked #5 in this week's tech rankings.
And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading Tech Company Brief Issue #14! If you'd like to see which tech companies are rising and falling in the public consciousness, feel free to head down here. See y'all next week.
PEACE! ☮️
