October 2023 Edition - Happy Halloween!

Economic News | Job News | AI News | Latest Tech Funding Rounds | Events | And much more

It's spooky season! Are you as excited for Halloween as we are?

If you are located here in LA, I am sure most of you have endured some hauntings of your own. Like the ominous-long lines at Universal, horrid-massive crowds at Knott's, the frightful traffic and grim parking issues at Shaqtoberfest, and much more!

Sadly it has been just as lurid for our favorite spooky-season treat, chocolate - Consumer Reports finds terrifying levels of lead and cadmium in a third of various chocolate products tested this month.

Companies whose macabre products were found to contain excessive metal content included - Walmart, Target, Trader Joe's, Starbucks, Nestle, Hershey's, and Droste. The chocolate products in question were tested in seven categories, ranging from milk and dark chocolate bars to cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and chocolate mixes. Yikes!

Hopefully, your favorite chocolate brands aren't part of the list!

Economic News

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that those who were waving the red flag for an economic downturn this year are now waving the all-clear signal for the next 12 months.

What's cooking in the economic kitchen? Well, jobs are on the rise, consumer spending is feeling a bit more spendy, manufacturing is flexing its muscles, and company earnings are showing off some impressive gains. Even the roaring dragon of price growth has decided to take a little nap. Inflation might be cooling down, but that's not a bad thing – it's actually working like a superhero cape, offsetting weaker wage growth and giving a boost to spending.

These puzzle pieces are forming a beautiful picture of the gross domestic product (GDP) that's even more optimistic than we thought. Goldman Sachs, those economic wizards, have turned up the heat on their third-quarter GDP estimate, cranking it up from 3.7% to a sizzling 4% at an annualized rate. We're talking about some serious economic fireworks here!

And to top it all off, the Commerce Department has just dropped the curtain on its preliminary estimate of GDP growth for the quarter ending September 30th.

Big tech companies reported robust Q3 earnings - Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported quarterly sales of $76.69 billion, up 11% from the previous year, despite a weaker performance in its cloud business. Microsoft also posted strong results, with sales reaching $56.5 billion, driven by investments in artificial intelligence technology. Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, reported a return to sales growth, driven in part by efforts to revamp its advertising technology and diversify its revenue streams.

New Job News

The 25-year-old creator economy is now worth a whopping $250 billion globally, giving it more value than some small countries (we're looking at you, Liechtenstein!). It's got tens of millions of employees and influencers, and yet, it's the industry that many still think is a mythical creature; legendary, but not quite real.

YouTubers alone are holding up a job market larger than the employee roster at General Motors! That's 390,000 full-time positions, or in other words, four times the people it takes to build those shiny automobiles. But the real plot twist is experts say this Wild West of creativity lacks the structure and rules it deserves.

Currently, content creation and digital creators are battling unpredictable incomes, scraping for employee benefits like a pirate searching for buried treasure, and fighting the dreaded beast we all know, burnout.

This chaos doesn't just make us scratch our heads; it's hurting our society. One wise professor warns that it's like we're ignoring a massive elephant in the room (or in this case, a Creator in the cloud); these modern-day mavericks are reshaping industries like advertising and marketing right before our eyes.

Side note: The creator/influencer economy is on track to hit $480 billion by 2027.

AI NEWS

1. Amazon - is transforming its warehouses by introducing cutting-edge artificial intelligence and robotics technology. This initiative kicked off this week at a fulfillment center located in Houston, with plans to expand this upgrade across multiple facilities over the next three to five years. Referred to as Sequoia, the new system has demonstrated the capability to expedite the identification and storage of inventory by up to 75%, resulting in a reduction of fulfillment time by as much as 25%, according to Amazon. The company emphasizes that the novel sorting machines, in conjunction with previously introduced robotic arms, are intended to collaborate with human employees to enhance efficiency and safety, rather than displacing jobs, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.*Side note: Amazon will also be testing a bipedal robot named Digit to handle empty totes. The company is now using drones to drop prescription medications on doorsteps for Amazon Pharmacy customers in College Station, Texas. Customers can now receive certain prescription medications via drone delivery. Eligible customers can access more than 500 medications and have a drone drop them at their doorstep. The medications will arrive in less than 60 minutes at no additional cost to customers, Amazon said.
2. Microsoft - at the beginning of this month, unveiled a set of innovative tools within Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI, tailored specifically for healthcare organizations. These products are designed to facilitate seamless access to and extraction of insights from the extensive troves of data amassed by medical professionals and hospitals. The newly introduced solutions can amalgamate data from diverse origins, encompassing electronic health records, medical images, laboratory systems, medical devices, and claims systems, enabling organizations to standardize and centralize this information. Microsoft asserts that these cutting-edge tools can also streamline the laborious process of individually sifting through these sources, enabling healthcare providers to concentrate more effectively on delivering patient care.
3. Universal Music Group - has initiated legal action against Anthropic, the company responsible for developing Claude AI. This pivotal lawsuit marks the music industry's inaugural direct challenge to an AI developer. UMG, in collaboration with prominent industry entities like Concord Music Group, ABKCO, Worship Together Music, and Plaintiff Capital CMG, is pursuing $75 million in damages. The core of the lawsuit revolves around Anthropic's alleged unauthorized utilization of copyrighted music to train its AI models. The plaintiffs contend that Anthropic incorporated songs from artists under their representation into its AI dataset without securing the requisite permissions.

Latest Tech Funding Rounds - October 2023

Click the link below to find list of latest tech funding rounds in October 2023.

https://fabricstaffing.com/tech-funding-october-2023/

TECH EVENTS IN LA

• The WeARELATech 'Experience' Club is for individuals working in LA tech; you can work at a startup or seasoned tech company. The club consists of engineers, investors, founders, designers, growth marketers, app developers, product managers and more... The club meets 1-2 times a month. The concept is based on the saying 'More business gets done at the bar than in a boardroom.' That said, activities will include bowling, hiking, wine and food tastings, go karts, drone flying, and the list goes on. Additionally, some events will be curated by industry and others by role. The Club ignited in 2015 and was at capacity fast. We have rebuilt it to serve more members and are excited to kick off the next season
• Novemeber 8th: SoCal Startup Day - The largest VC & Angel Investor Conference and networking opportunity of the year. SoCal Startup Day 2023 will be in Irvine, CA! This is your chance of a lifetime to pitch to top local investors!
• November 22nd at 6:30pm: Secret Tech Business Networking Event, This Event Is For Those In Or Interested In The Following Industries/Trends:The Latest Tech Trends, Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse/VR, Website Development, Web3, Digital Marketing, Innovation, Social Media Marketing, Tech Startups, Tech Entrepreneurs & More!

Roles we are recruiting for

About Fabric

Fabric Staffing is a known LA-based recruiting firm, most of our clientele are located here in LA, San Francisco, and Austin. We specialize in collaborating with early-stage startups and seed-to-series companies to connect with innovative and diverse talent; while rapidly scaling teams.

Some companies we've helped grow at an early stage include the likes of; Tinder, Snap, Google, Wonolo, Headspace, Twitter, AppliedVR, Discord, Aimi, Puzzle, and many others…

Want to partner with us?

Send us a message at fabricstaffing.com