Author : zebethcontrol

Electric Era wants to put an EV charger in convenience store parking lot near you • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 9, 2022Posted in Hardware, TransportationNo Comments

Before starting Electric Era, Quincy Lee was one of the chief mechanical engineers at Space X. He got bored of doing space stuff when the climate crisis was happening down here on Earth and decided to do something about one of the biggest challenges with the adoption of electric vehicles: Distributed high-speed charging infrastructure. “I spent seven years at SpaceX cutting my teeth on rockets and satellites. While watching a rocket launch from SpaceX mission control in 2018, I saw the Earth recede in size as the rocket flew away into the void of space. WTF, I thought to myself,” says Lee, the company’s founder and CEO, in an interview with ZebethMedia. “Why am I spending all my time sending tech away from Earth when humanity is about to burn to a crisp from climate change. That is dumb.” The company just raised $4 million (bringing its total raised to $8 million) to tackle this challenge, with fast-charging EV stations, especially aiming to install them at and near convenience stores. That makes them eligible for President Biden’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, enabling it to tap into the $5 billion program. The business model makes sense: 7-Eleven claimed it’s gearing up to install charger stations at 500 of its locations by the end of the year and last year, Shell claimed it is wants to add 500,000 charging points by the end of 2025. The market may soon be ready for some consolidation, come to think of it. Electric Era announced that it has secured its investment from Proeza Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and previous strategic investors including Remus Capital. The company also added another SpaceX veteran to its payroll — Sam Reineman, who served as Lead Mechanical Engineer at the Musk-powered company. He joins as Electric Era’s CTO to help accelerate the production and delivery of the PowerNode Platform to customers. “Blackhorn, Proeza and Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 ventures are outstanding. They are deeply technical and top tier climate investors. They are super intense about deep decarbonization, first principles thinking and outstanding business strategy, said Lee. “The PowerNode Platform is the most affordable EV fast-charging solution. We built it to avoid costly demand charges and grid upgrades, making it the ideal choice for convenience stores — particularly those looking to qualify for NEVI grants.” The idea is that the platform reduces grid requirements and demand charges by a third, while supporting fast-charging speeds. The upshot is that this enables convenience stores to replicate the gas station experience while optimizing revenue and minimizing the costs of fast-charging, keeping them in the game in a new round of competition with gas stations and charging infrastructure. “Our tech allows us to build Tesla SuperCharger-like stations at every gas station in America in weeks instead of years. We are laser focused on having 10,000 PowerNode charging stations installed by 2030,” claims Lee, painting a picture of aggressive market expansion in the future: “Electric Era was founded to make EV fast-charging ubiquitous and affordable. In 10 years you will be able to autonomously charge your Rivian or CyberTruck on every street corner in America at our charging stations.” Not a moment too soon; EV charging is desperate for a business model, as Tim explored in a recent post, and inviting EV drivers into convenience stores and fast food establishments might be just the thing to tip the scales. The company is facing stiff competition, as a huge number of EV charging companies have raised money in the past year, all trying to take on different slices of the same market. Loop lassoed in $60 million, Bump charged ahead with $180 million, Monta climbed a $30 million mountain of cash and Kopperfield made $5 million appear, just to list a few of the recent rounds.

Why watch a movie when you can watch your corporate all-hands meeting? • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 9, 2022Posted in AMC Theatres, Media & Entertainment, zoomNo Comments

Movie theater attendance is down, largely thanks to the pandemic, but chains like AMC still need to make money. If meme stocks aren’t a reliable business plan, why not find another use for a giant room with a huge screen and lots of seats? In partnership with Zoom, AMC Theatres will launch a product called Zoom Rooms next year. Basically, you go to the movie theater to join a Zoom meeting with your company. Yes, you must commute to the movie theatre only to join a meeting with your colleagues across the country, who are also at an AMC movie theatre. If your company isn’t strapped for cash, you might even get some complimentary popcorn. These theatres, which range between 75 and 150 seats, will be available to book for three-hour blocks. “AMC has an abundance of attractive theatres at centrally located venues in city after city after city, each with ample seating capacity, especially so during daytime hours on weekdays when most meetings take place,” said AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron. “Zoom Rooms at AMC broadens our scope, as we now can participate as well in the multi-billion [dollar] market for corporate and other meetings.” While the idea of one person sitting alone at a movie theater on a Zoom call is funny, that’s not what’s going on here. This technology is supposed to connect groups of people in different locations — so, for example, a New York-based team might meet at one theatre to catch up with a Los Angeles-based team at another theatre. But it remains unclear how you can actually tell who’s talking if you have dozens of people crowded into a theatre. Movie theatre popcorn aside, it seems like a technical nightmare to figure out how to actually conduct a meeting this way… and perhaps working from home and mailing your employees some nonperishable popcorn bags is a simpler alternative. “As hybrid work has become more commonplace throughout the United States, Zoom Rooms at AMC will enable companies and other entities with decentralized workforces and customer bases to bring people from different markets together at the same time for cohesive virtual and in-person events and meeting experiences,” a press release from AMC Theatres says. It feels like someone put a handful of publicly traded companies into a hat, picked out two randomly, and challenged them to create some kind of new collaboration. AMC floundered during the pandemic, since its core business was rendered moot by a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe. But even as vaccines become more widespread, people aren’t returning to the movies like the company hoped. Even though AMC’s quarterly revenue increased, the company still reported a quarterly loss this week. Meanwhile, Zoom is trying to broaden its scope by adding features like email and calendar as its unprecedented growth slows down.

Twitter will add an ‘official’ badge to high-profile accounts in lieu of verification • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in SocialNo Comments

Twitter is turning the famous blue checkmark into a symbol that denotes you’ve paid Elon Musk $8, rather than one that identifies public figures. But of course, if anyone with a spare $8 and a fragile ego can get verified, then the symbol is rendered meaningless, paving the way for trolls to go hard on impersonation gags. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO learned this himself first hand, so Twitter is introducing an “official” badge, a separate form of user verification than the blue check. A lot of folks have asked about how you’ll be able to distinguish between @TwitterBlue subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we’re introducing the “Official” label to select accounts when we launch. pic.twitter.com/0p2Ae5nWpO — Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 8, 2022 “Not all previously verified accounts will get the ‘Official’ label and the label is not available for purchase,” explained product manager Esther Crawford in a tweet. “Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures.” The official badge seems like it will essentially represent what blue checks used to denote…. which should not be confusing at all for over 200 million creatures of habit who log onto the bird app every day. “The new Twitter Blue does not include ID verification – it’s an opt-in, paid subscription that offers a blue checkmark and access to select features,” Crawford continued in a Twitter thread. “We’ll continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types.” App researcher Nima Owji spotted this feature in development less than a week ago as what remains of Twitter’s staff rushes to meet fast deadlines. Twitter initially planned to roll out its new system, in which anyone can buy themselves a blue check, on Monday. But the roll out was delayed until after Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections in an attempt to curb abuse. The move was reportedly aimed at limiting the potential fallout of verified users impersonating political figures or news outlets claiming false results that may discourage others from voting. This “official” designation would attempt to safeguard this kind of deliberate misinformation from spreading, yet it’s a tall ask to educate over 200 million daily users about a new feature that will fundamentally change the way they identify and consume news on a platform that they may have been using for over a decade. Still, Twitter Head of Safety and Integrity Yoel Roth claimed that Twitter’s “core moderation capabilities remain in place” despite the company’s mass layoffs.

Binance says it will buy FTX after smaller rival stumbles through ‘liquidity crunch’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Today, we’ve been learning about what the hell a Mastodon even is, so the timing of Amanda’s piece ‘A beginner’s guide to Mastodon’ is all sorts of perfect. Give it a read, and come find us on Mastodon after. If you can — that’s another challenge. We have faith in your cyberstalking skills, but here’s a hint: Both of us are on Mastodon.Social. — Christine and Haje. The ZebethMedia Top 3 This surprise was off the chain!: In a surprise twist today, Binance announced its intent to acquire FTX in a move that will clear out some of the “liquidity crunches” that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted about, Manish reports. This comes after the two companies’ founders had a very public spat recently. (More on that in Big Tech Inc. below). Roll out: Over in ZebethMedia+ land, Becca writes about what Peloton co-founder John Foley has been doing. Apparently, he “is a rug guy now.” Also, as Becca points out, his new company, Ernesta, is another example of VCs investing in people they knew, even if their last company flailed some. A list that changes every day: Hey, fellow Twitter users, are you on Team Verify or Team Leave My Stuff Alone? Either way, Ivan has a list of features Elon Musk has promised to bring to Twitter. Startups and VC Though finance technology startups are having a moment when it comes to decreased venture capital deals and layoffs, Quona Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in emerging markets that accelerate financial inclusion, has found the appetite is still there for fintechs, Christine reports. The firm had its final close on $332 million in capital commitments for its Fund III, which focuses on financial inclusion. Also from Christine today (in addition to our resident Daily Crunch newsletter wrangler, she’s a post-writing machine!) is a piece about Doola, a company helping global founders start a limited liability company in the United States, even without a Social Security number. The company raised an $8 million round of funding, less than a year after it raised $3 million worth of seed funding. A handful more, because we love ya: Here’s the rundown on the Binance and FTX fiasco Image Credits: wenjin chen (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Today we learned that the world’s largest crypto exchange is bailing out the world’s third-largest crypto exchange. But why? In a detailed explainer, Jacquelyn Melinek wrote about how a CoinDesk report last Thursday on crypto trading firm Alameda Research led Binance to liquidate a mountain of tokens that backed many of Alameda’s loans. Three more from the TC+ team: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. As promised from above, Jacquelyn dives deeper into some of the things going on at FTX, including that the crypto exchanges withdrawals seemed to be sluggish. And that its potential new owner, Binance, was going to “slowly withdraw billions of its holdings in FTX’s native token, FTT.” Oh, you two! And we have five more for you: Who’s got a new trivia game?: It’s Netflix! The streaming service is trying its hand at a new trivia game — remember its venture into “Trivia Quest”? The new one is an interactive trivia experience called “Triviaverse.” Lauren has more. Video, email, calendar: Zoom is adding email and calendar to its features lineup, a move Ron reports is its chosen avenue, for now, as the company looks to expand its offerings. Stepping down: Grab Financial leader Reuben Lai is planning to leave the company at the end of the year, Catherine writes. It’s a party, a third-party, that is: Third-party merchants in India can now have Amazon-like logistics power thanks to the delivery giant opening it up to them, Manish writes. Don’t ever say you’re left out: European Union investigators now plan to take an even deeper dive into Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid to acquire Activision and what it could mean for competition, Natasha L reports.

Skyroot wants to kickstart private spaceflight in India with first rocket launch next week • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in india, Indian Space Research Organization, skyroot aerospace, SpaceNo Comments

Spaceflight startup Skyroot wants to make history by launching India’s first privately developed rocket, and it’s aiming to do so as early as next week. The company said Tuesday that the first launch of the Vikram-S suborbital rocket could occur as early as November 12, with a launch window that extends until November 16. The launch will take place from the Indian Space Research Organization’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The final date is dependent on weather conditions. Vikram-S is a suborbital, single-stage launch vehicle. For this demonstration mission, named Prarambh, or “the beginning” in Sanskrit, the rocket will carry three customer payloads. Details on the payloads were not announced. The Hyderabad-based Skyroot is developing a series of Vikram launch vehicles, so named after the founder of India’s space program, Vikram Sarabhai. Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot COO and co-founder, said in a statement that the Vikram-S suborbital rocket will be used to test and validate the technologies used in the series. The launch could mark the beginning of a new era of private spaceflight in India, a country with a national space program but a relatively small private space sector. The country has already made moves to change that; in June 2020, the government passed major reforms to the space sector, including establishing the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) to facilitate private companies using ISRO infrastructure. The government also set up NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the ISRO’s commercial arm. (Most recently, NSIL facilitated the launch of 36 OneWeb satellites on an Indian rocket.) Last month, Skyroot announced it had raised $51 million in Series B financing led by Singapore-based investment firm GIC. It brings the startup’s total funding to $68 million to date, making it the most well-funded Indian space startup in operation.

Humble keeps excess inventory out of the Philippines’ landfills • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in circular economy, Climate, green, Humble Sustainability, Philippines, recycling, seedstars, Southeast Asia, StartupsNo Comments

Excess inventory, including returned items, from e-commerce, logistics and retail companies often ends up being disposed. Manila-based Humble Sustainability is a circular economy startup that wants to keep it out of the Philippines’ landfills. Since its launch, it has processed more than 150,000 items like clothing, consumer electronics and household appliances that are either resold through Thrift, its Shopee storefront, or passed onto B2B recyclers and resellers. The company announced today it has raised $750,000 in an oversubscribed seed round led by Seedstars International Ventures, with participation from iSeed Ventures and angel investors including Ula co-founder Alan Wong, Sagar Achanta (who has held product leadership roles at Amazon), Booking.com and Disney+, and investors Paco Sandejas and Richard Eldridge. Humble will use the funding to expand its network of partners and buyers, and grow its team, including hiring department heads. The company also plans to bring its tech development fully in-house and start work on long-term initiatives like a carbon footprint tracker. Humble Sustainability founders Niña Opida and Josef Werker. Image Credits: Humble Sustainability Humble was founded in 2021 by CEO Josef Werker and COO Niña Opida. Werker told ZebethMedia that the two met five years ago, after holding leadership positions at different startups, and wanted to see how tech innovation could be applied to the planet. The first version of Humble was a circular trading solution for children’s clothing, before it expanded into other items. “Neither of us are environmental scientists or sustainability experts at all,” Werker said. “We simply had a love for the earth and spotted an opportunity to apply our little experience of building businesses towards it.” Humble has worked with 20 companies so far. The process of getting items starts by receiving inventory for assessment, so Humble can see what condition they are in and figure out their value (as the company grows, it will automate parts of the quality control process). Then it decides whether to list items on Thrift, or sell them in bulk to its B2B network. Once their plans are approved, they sign an agreement with clients, who can monitor the status of their items and receive money from their sales. Humble plans to launch a live dashboard on its B2B platform so clients can track revenue, inventory and environmental impact in real time. Werker says without Humble, unwanted inventory would either go to a traditional liquidator (for higher-value items) or end up in a landfill. There are other solutions like internal employee sales, but those only account for a small percentage. “With Humble, it’s full consolidated,” he said. “We will take everything, ensuring that nothing ends up in a landfill. The good-quality items are on Thrift and high value is extracted, everything else is properly brought back into circularity through our B2B network and we will extract value that can be passed back to the client.” All of the investors in Humble’s seed round are actively involved in the business. For example, Seedstars introduced Humble to people its international network that the company has closed deals with, said Werker. Humble is also participating in Seedstars’ three-month growth track program. Wong and Achanta have worked together at different companies, including Amazon, Booking.com and Ula and are guiding Humble with advice on its tech development and long-term roadmap. In a statement, Seedstars partner Patricia Sosrodjojo said, “We are delighted to support Humble in the journey to reduce waste and promote circular living. Humble is a great fit to Seedstars’ thesis of supporting early-stage companies that can create meaningful impact with an attractive business model.”

Disney+ reaches 164.2M subscribers as it prepares for ad-supported tier launch • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in Disney, Disney Plus, Media & Entertainment, streaming serviceNo Comments

Disney reported results for the final quarter of its 2022 fiscal year today, revealing a total of 164.2 million Disney+ global subscribers, an increase of 12 million subs from 152.1 million in Q3. The flagship streaming service was only expected to gain 9.35 million subs. Across Disney’s streaming services, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ had a combined total of 235.7 million subscribers, up from 221 million in the third quarter. The company beat expectations of 233.8 million. “2022 was a strong year for Disney, with some of our best storytelling yet… and outstanding subscriber growth at our direct-to-consumer services, which added nearly 57 million subscriptions this year for a total of more than 235 million,” said Bob Chapek, chief executive officer, The Walt Disney Company, in the letter to shareholders. The company overtook rival Netflix for a second time, despite Netflix reaching 223.09 million global subscribers during its third quarter. Disney previously decreased its 2024 guidance for the global Disney+ subscriber total last quarter to between 215 million and 245 million. The prior target was between 230 million to 260 million. ESPN+ reported 24.3 million subscribers, a slight increase from 22.8 million. Hulu only gained 1 million subscribers, bringing the new total from 46.2 million to 47.2 million. However, the company fell short of expectations for total revenue, which was reported to be $20.15 billion. Wall Street estimated that Disney would report a 15% year-on-year jump in revenue to $21.3 billion. The direct-to-consumer division lost $1.5 billion. “We expect our DTC operating losses to narrow going forward and that Disney+ will still achieve profitability in fiscal 2024, assuming we do not see a meaningful shift in the economic climate,” Chapek added. As the company looks for more ways to earn revenue, Disney increased subscription prices for Disney+, Hulu, Hulu Live TV bundles and ESPN+ plans. Disney+ is also set to launch a cheaper ad-supported version on December 8, over a month after Netflix launched its ad-free plan. Earlier this month, Disney+ announced it’s testing an exclusive merch shop for subscribers, which could be another revenue stream for the company. The test allows select Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. to buy exclusive merchandise and gain early access to products from brands like Star Wars, Marvel, Disney Animation Studios and Pixar. Meanwhile, the company is exploring ways to engage Disney+ subscribers and reach new audiences. For instance, Disney+ recently became the exclusive international home for new episodes of “Doctor Who” in more than 150 markets, including the U.S. There are now 46.4 million domestic subscribers, according to today’s earnings release. The streamer also experimented with augmented reality in September, launching its first AR app that connects directly to content on the Disney+ platform. “Remembering” stars “Captain Marvel” Brie Larson and features a companion AR app that iOS users can download to watch an extension of the short film on the small screen. We guess that the company will roll out more AR-enabled features in the future to set itself apart from competitors.

Salesforce confirms it has laid off hundreds of employees • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in cost cutting, Enterprise, Layoffs, Marc Benioff, SalesforceNo Comments

Salesforce laid off hundreds of people this week as the onslaught of tech cutbacks continued unabated. The company would not share an exact number, but said it was less than a thousand, and the people involved were informed yesterday, according to a person close to the company. Protocol first reported the layoffs (although it got the number and timing wrong). While it was not on the scale of Twitter’s massive layoffs last week, it still was yet another announcement in the continuing drum beat of tech layoffs we have been hearing about from companies large and small over the last several months, as companies aim for profitability after a long period of growth uber alles. The news comes on the heels of activist investor Starboard Value taking an undetermined stake in the company last month. In our analysis of the Starboard news, we said that it appears to be looking for cost cutting, and this move would appear to be in line with that thinking. As we wrote at the time: Regardless, Starboard claims that Salesforce’s growth and profitability (“CY2022E revenue growth + adjusted operating margin” in accountant-speak), is 13% or 14% under what it should be. How might Salesforce fix that gap? By improving its operating margin, Starboard reckons. How does it do that? By cutting costs. But it’s worth noting that Salesforce itself recognized that it needed to cut back on spending, even prior to Starboard’s involvement. Salesforce CFO Amy Weaver, stated in an Investor Day presentation last month that even as the company was shooting for $50 billion in revenue by FY 2026, it was also looking to get more profitable by aiming for a 25% operating margin in the same time period. The path to that goal is of course via cost cutting. Salesforce’s official statement on the layoffs: “Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.” You can take from that what you will, but it sounds like if they aren’t making the revenue they want to, then they have to cut back and that’s what they did this week. Salesforce had over 73,000 employees prior to this action, so the layoff represented a fraction of the overall workforce, but that’s likely little comfort to the folks who lost their jobs this week.

Laid off from your tech job? Day One wants to give you $100,000 to start a company • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in day one, Layoffs, Startups, stripe, TwitterNo Comments

Day One Ventures, a venture firm launched in 2018 with a pitch to combine venture capital acumen with marketing and communications support, has launched a program aimed explicitly at those impacted by tech layoffs this year. The program, titled “Funded Not Fired”, will write $100,000 checks into 20 startup teams by the end of the year. Top businesses from the cohort will then get follow-up capital from Day One Ventures commitment to lead their pre-seed round with a $1 million check. In total, the firm is allocating at least $5 million from its $52.5 million fund to back founders spinning out of turbulent startups. Founder and GP Masha Bucher, who left her former life in Russia as a politician and TV reporter to become a venture capitalist, spun up the program in the wake of Stripe and Twitter’s layoffs over the past week. Her bet? At least 0.1% to 1% of the thousands of employees impacted by tech layoffs this year could become incredible founders. The program is essentially a formalized double click on venture’s obsession with mafia founders, aka people who left high-profile gigs at even higher-profile companies to start their own business. The added layer of complexity, however, is the downturn that has somewhat defined tech’s 2022. For example, if I was laid off from my job, I don’t know if my first thought would be to take a bet on myself and start a risky business most likely to fail. Per Bucher, however, that mindset is exactly what would weed me (and presumably a lot of laid off tech employees) out from the entrepreneurship world anyways. “I think if you’re afraid of risk, you’re just not going to be a great founder,” Bucher said. “Don’t get me wrong, starting a company in this time when so many changes have happened over the last three years,” is hard, she added, saying that it definitely makes sense if people want to find a job or work with founders instead of become one. Other examples of programs spun up to help activate the next generation of entrepreneurs includes Z Fellows and Cleo Capital’s former fellowship for laid-off workers. She made sure to emphasize that the program is “not charity” and that folks from Stripe and Twitter would not get preferential treatment when pitching Day One Ventures (even though they were the inspiration for the program). Aspiring founders don’t need an incorporated company, or even a fully flushed out startup idea, to apply to the program. The form asks for founders background, top ideas, metrics, and the why behind their journey into entrepreneurship. In order to be qualified for the accelerator, at least one co-founder must have been recently laid off, they must go full time on the startup, and be able to show three references. The deadline to apply is November 25, 2022 and final decisions will be made by December 20, 2022. “Compared to all other VCs who are taking time off until next year, we’re going to be working until December 31st – which is totally fine,” Bucher said. “I just feel like times like this are just a perfect opportunity for us to do a little more, to go the extra mile, to not take time off and just hopefully back some companies which in the future will be the size of Coinbase, Airbnb and Stripe.”

Gmail will no longer allow users to revert back to its old design • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in Apps, Enterprise, gmail, GoogleNo Comments

Google announced today that it’s making the new Gmail interface the standard experience for users. The company first released the new interface earlier this year, but allowed users to revert back to the original view. Starting this month, users will no longer have the option to go back to the old interface. “The integrated view with Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet on the left side of the window will also become standard for users who have turned on Chat,” the company said in a blog post. “Through quick settings, you can customize this new interface to include the apps most important to you, whether it’s Gmail by itself or a combination of Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet.” Image Credits: Google Google notes that the ability to customize the new interface makes it easier to stay on top of what’s important and reduces the need to switch between various applications, windows or tabs. It’s worth noting that with this new change, users will no longer have the option to configure Chat on the right side of Gmail. The company’s decision to make its new user interface the standard experience isn’t surprising, but it will likely be a frustrating change for users who preferred the old design.