Mentioned in today’s edition: Atlassian, Stryker, Yann LeCun, Snapchat, Canva, WhatsApp, Xbox and Kyle and Jackie O. Plus, deals on DJI Mini drones, Samsung TVs and Google Pixel phones.

The News

Atlassian joins the AI layoffs because this kind of behaviour is being rewarded

The latest company to jump on the AI-linked layoffs is Australia's own Atlassian, which announced it would lay off 1,600 staff today (Reuters). A blog announcing the decision said the company isn't replacing people with AI, but wants to change who it employs based on AI (Atlassian). Notably, Atlassian's share price has been murdered by the so-called "SaaSpocalypse" and is down 60% in the past 6 months 😬. Don't worry, though, Mike Cannon-Brookes told departing staff "your work will live on in our products".

The Sizzle: Firstly, sorry to any of the Sizzlers who are affected by this, or know people who are affected by this. 

As we've been seeing layoffs, I've been in the "companies are probably using AI as an excuse to cover up for the fact that they overhired" camp. I'm also fairly skeptical of the idea that everyone is going to vibe code their own Jira so Atlassian is a dead man walking (although I do think it will place downwards pressure on their margins). But I've decided it's irrelevant whether AI is literally replacing these jobs or making companies drastically more productive. The fact that many company leaders think that's what AI is doing, and the fact that companies are being rewarded for mass layoffs with jumping share prices — well this means that it's going to keep happening. 

When it comes to companies — particularly publicly traded ones — market sentiment isn't hypothetical. It affects the money you can borrow, it affects how much your staff with equity are being paid, and, yes, it affects the bonuses of the people in charge. So whether AI is doing the work that staff used to do, or whether it's just a convenient excuse, AI is taking people's jobs. 

Related: Atlassian built a tool to migrate Jira users to the cloud and it made the move slower (The Register) and Atlassian’s court foe used to be its biggest cheerleader (AFR, $) 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Major medical provider hit by Iran-linked cyberattack. Australian targets yet to be affected

Major medical device and service provider Stryker has been paralysed by a cyberattack by a group claiming to be retaliating on behalf of Iran (WSJ, gift link). Employees of the publicly listed company, which makes medical equipment like joint implants and robotic surgery systems, woke up on Wednesday to find that their laptops and phones were disabled and showed the logo of the pro-Palestinian hacking group Handala. 

Meanwhile, pro-Iranian groups apparently have been trying to DDoS Australian websites like Victorian and Tasmanian Police, but, uh, so far don't appear to have been successful (X)

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Victorians can see capped fuel prices via an app

It's just a small thing but it's now a legal requirement for Victorian petrol stations to provide a capped fuel price that's published online (TechAU). Anyone can go into the Service Victoria platform to see the maximum next-day price for petrol at the stations around them. Such a simple way to collate and share information that actually puts on try-hard ocker politician voice stops you being slugged at the bowser. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Oh, Also

I made a situation monitor for the biggest conflict in the world (Kyle & Jackie O)

You know my thoughts on situation monitoring. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are things that are important enough to need to track closely. One such issue is the conflict that's dominated the Australian media over the last week: the Kyle and Jackie O split. So, to help, I made a specific Kyle and Jackie O situation room so you can be across every development. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

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The End

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