😬 BeReal Has 10 Months To Make It Work

📰 Industry News

• Morrisons supermarket pulled in a £1bn loss last year, as it struggles with competition and its existing debt. (Retail Gazette)

• Ted Baker appoints administrators as the high-street fashion chain looks likely to collapse, putting its 46 stores as well as 975 employees at risk. (BBC)

• Canada has launched a security review into TikTok. The US is currently exploring the option of banning the app, could Canada be looking to do the same? (Tech Xplore)

• Economists now predict UK inflation to fall as low as 1% this year, after falling 3.4% in February. (Yahoo Finance)

• Google has a new head of Search, and she’s a big advocate on AI. This appointment will likely drive Google’s incoming AI search function called Search Generate Experience (SGE). (The Verge)

• Nvidia has unveiled the release of the world’s most powerful chip. Announcing a new era of computing, they shared details on the new Blackwell GPU architecture alongside the new GB200 Superchip. (Nvidia)

• Are we always talking about Nvidia? Honestly, it’s hard not to. They have also announced Project GR00T, a multimodal AI system to drive breakthroughs in allowing humanoid robots to think, learn and understand their environment. (Nvidia)

🤳🏾 BeReal… The Money Is Running Out

BeReal finds itself in a precarious position as reported by Business Insider. A revelation from a recent all-hands meeting indicates the company has about ten months of left, fuelled by dwindling funds.

Despite a valuation peak of £470million ($600 million) in 2022, the "anti-Instagram" app is struggling to maintain its momentum, facing significant challenges in both user growth and investor appeal.

• Financial Forecast: BeReal is running out of money. Even though they only have 60 employees, the app's server costs are very high. They are now said to be urgently looking for additional investment or finding a buyer.

• Growth Stagnation: Despite an increase in monthly and daily active users to 40 million and 25 million, respectively, the growth has not met investor expectations. Efforts to enhance the app's features in 2023 have yet to yield the desired effect, leaving BeReal in a tough spot to attract new funding.

• Acquisition Talks: With the clock ticking, BeReal's leadership is exploring potential acquisitions, and holding discussions with some of the world's leading tech firms. The future of BeReal hangs in the balance, dependent on finding a lifeline soon.

The Bottom Line: BeReal's predicament sheds light on the volatile nature of the tech industry, where even platforms that achieve rapid growth and high valuations can quickly find themselves in jeopardy.

The situation again raises questions about the sustainability of social media business models that rely heavily on continuous user growth and investment without a clear path to profitability. Did somebody say Clubhouse?

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🌐 Cloudfare Loses 22% of Domains

Cloudflare, a key internet service provider, faced a huge blow when Freenom, a domain manager for TLDs (Top-Level Domains) was suddenly shut down. This resulted in Cloudflare seeing millions of domains taken off the platform.

• Legal Issues: Freenom's closure followed legal trouble with Meta and issues of cybercrime linked to its domains. These challenges forced Freenom to rethink and ultimately close its domain services.

• Impact on Cloudflare: The disappearance of 12.6 million .tk, .cf, and .gq domains led to a 22% drop in Cloudflare's hosted domains, exposing how interconnected the services are.

• Moving Forward: The sudden shutdown of free web domain registrar Freenom has caught many off-guard, showing the uncertain world of domain registration.

The Bottom Line: The end of Freenom's domain services reminds us of the complex web of relationships in the tech world. For Cloudflare, it's a wake-up call to review and possibly change how they handle domain registrations to avoid future issues. This situation also underscores the need for careful oversight, the dangers of relying on free services, and the importance of strong security measures

🌸 Holiday Themed Product Images With Google

Google's Product Studio has introduced a new feature that allows you to create or update your product images with holiday-themed elements easily… and I think it’s pretty cool!

The first theme available was for St. Patrick's Day, allowing merchants to add shamrocks and leprechaun hats to listings. Easter is also available, with Mother’s Day and Spring themes ‘Coming Soon‘.

How to Create Holiday-Themed Product Images?

1. Head over to your Merchant Centre Next account.

2. Find the ‘Products’ page in the "Your Business" section.

3. From there, go to Product Studio and click on Get Started.

4. Fill in your details and select the St. Patrick's Day theme. Google will generate a scene that you can add to your Merchant Centre.

If you're not satisfied with the scene, you can regenerate it. Need help? See the Product Studio Templates explainer page from Google.

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