10 Things in Tech: Slack's time off
Hi there. Today we're covering the Slack outage that was all over Twitter, and Spotify's first gadget: the "Car Thing."
Let's get to it.
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1. Slack went down yesterday. In a turn of events that brought havoc (or joy, perhaps?) for employees nationwide, workplace messaging system Slack went down for some on Tuesday morning. For a few hours, users had trouble sending and receiving messages, getting notifications, and accessing the desktop app altogether.
- The Salesforce-owned company serves more than 156,000 corporate customers, including major organizations like Netflix, Uber, and — you guessed it — Insider.
- AWS, Peloton, and Github were also having issues, according to user reports on Down Detector. But the cause of the issues, and if they were connected to Slack's snafu, was not immediately clear.
- Workers immediately took to Twitter to discuss the outage (because what else are we supposed to do in times of crisis?). "If slack is down, you're legally allowed to go back to bed," wrote one user.
- Slack resolved the issue some hours later and attributed the outage to a "configuration change" that had led to a sudden increase in activity on its database infrastructure.
What we know about the outage.
In other news:
2. Crypto scammers are turning to dating apps and social media to con victims. Some dating-app users are feigning months-long relationships to dupe unsuspecting victims out of their life savings, while others are impersonating people on Instagram and conning their closest friends.
3. How much is Netflix paying its employees? After analyzing US work-visa data to see how much the streaming company pays, Insider found the company offers base salaries between $40 an hour and $800,000 a year for certain roles. See how much you could be making in different roles at Netflix.
4. ID.me locked hundreds of veterans and their families out of VA services. According to a document obtained by Insider, issues with ID.me, a verification service used by Veterans Affairs since 2019, disproportionately affected older veterans, their families and caregivers, and veterans abroad. Veterans describe the issues with ID.me.
5. VCs outlined the 20 European fintech startups set to blow up in 2022. Among their picks for stand-out fintechs are recent unicorns, buy-now, pay-later solutions, Web3 platforms, and socially conscious investment platforms. See their top picks here.
6. Meta says a manager has left the company after allegedly appearing in a video of an underage sex sting. In the video, Jeren Miles, a manager of community development, appears to be questioned by members of Predator Catchers Indianapolis over his communications with a supposed 13-year-old boy. What we know so far.
7. A senior associate at Harlem Capital explains how she landed a job with no experience. Nicole DeTommaso scored an internship with the VC firm after researching the firm and reading all its blog posts — then turned it into a full-time job. How she turned an internship into a venture-capital career.
8. New bae alert: Elon Musk may have a new girlfriend. Months after his breakup with musician Grimes, the Tesla CEO is reportedly in a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett. The latest news about their relationship.
Odds and ends:
9. Spotify's "Car Thing" is officially on sale. Car Thing, Spotify's aptly named hardware product, is a touchscreen, voice-controlled gadget that connects the streaming service to a user's car speakers (basically a Spotify remote). Check out the $90 Car Thing.
10. Sony unveiled its new VR headset for Playstation. The PlayStation VR2, which will compete with Meta's Quest headset, comes with a handful of upgrades like a lens adjustment dial, a new vent design, and a lower weight. More on the PlayStation VR2.
What we're watching today:
- eBay, Hertz, and others are expected to report earnings today. Keep up with earnings here.
- The Africa Tech Summit is being held today and tomorrow.
- Meta is hosting "Building for the metaverse with AI" at 12 p.m. EST.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.