Peter Thiel Says Goodbye to Silicon Valley, Amazon Surpasses Microsoft
Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is leaving Silicon Valley and maybe even the board of Facebook. Thiel, a vocal supporter of President Trump, is reportedly growing frustrated over the intolerance of conservatism in Silicon Valley. He is moving his home and investment firms from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The investor will take a step back from the tech industry and is considering leaving the Facebook board. He's been a member since 2005.
Amazon officially surpassed Microsoft in market valuation. After the market closed on Wednesday evening, Amazon's market value increased to $702 billion, outpacing Microsoft which stands at $699.2 billion. Apple and Alphabet are still ahead of Amazon in being the most valuable companies.
Microsoft is now the fourth most valuable company.
Web browser Mozilla is investing $30 million into launching a startup, called Mozilla.ai, focused on building a "trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI ecosystem."
Lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday in a high-stakes hearing on the future of the popular, Chinese-owned video sharing platform in the U.S.
Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginClear, which manufactures modular clean water systems, provided background on the water safety crisis in the U.S. He also provided best practices on how to test and filter water at home.
TikTok is banning deepfakes amid increasing pressure from the U.S. government over privacy and security concerns. CEO Shou Zi Chew announced the policy in a TikTok video on Tuesday two days ahead of his scheduled appearance before congress.
Language app Duolingo last week launched a new subscription tier, called Duolingo Max, that uses an artificially intelligent chatbot to provide more personalized feedback to learners.
