Atlassian co-founder takes big step toward shutting down Australia’s coal power

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes just scored a major coup in his quest to end Australia’s use of coal energy. The Wall Street Journalreports AGL Energy, Australia’s worst emissions producer, has withdrawn plans to ‘demerge’ its retail power and generation units (thus keeping coal power plants running longer) after Cannon-Brookes bought over 11 percent of the company’s stock. The breakup plan is unlikely to pass a shareholder vote after the tech executive’s move, AGL said.

Both the chairman and CEO of AGL are stepping down as a result of the failed demerger. The board of directors is also conducting a review of the company’s strategy, and plans broader changes to the board as well as overall management. The directors want to deliver the best value in light of “Australia’s energy transition,” the company added.

Cannon-Brookes hopes AGL can shut down the coal plants about 10 years sooner than the company’s 2045 goal. He originally tried to buy AGL outright with help from Canadian investment giant Brookfield Asset Management, but resorted to buying stock after the energy provider rejected the offers.

The Atlassian exec’s renewable energy push began in 2017, when he learned of Tesla’s proposal to end southern Australian blackouts using large-scale battery storage. He has long singled out AGL as a target. According to Cannon-Brookes, AGL represents about 8 percent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than every car in the country, and more than some entire developed countries.

The stock ploy won’t guarantee that AGL shuts down its coal plants ahead of schedule. Still, it’s a relatively unique effort in the tech world to accelerate the shift toward clean energy. Companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and others have generally focused on reducing their own emissions by either buying renewables or installing solar and wind power at their facilities — Atlassian’s co-creator is trying to engineer change across an entire country.

Coinbase reportedly pauses hiring amid plummeting crypto market

In the wake of the cryptocurrency market crashing, Coinbase said this week it was joining a number of tech companies by slowing down its hiring plans for this year. More details have emerged about Coinbase’s efforts to cut costs after The Information obtained emails that were sent to employees.

The company is said to have frozen hiring for two weeks (though it will honor offers that have already been sent) and put new projects on hold. It is also reportedly trying to reduce how much it spends on hosting services.

Along with not hiring as many people as it previously expected to this year, Coinbase is looking to minimize employee attrition. According to the report, the company is giving workers more shares. Coinbase’s stock has dropped by over 75 percent in the last six months.

Coinbase is said to have paused some projects, such as a business banking initiative, while it focuses on increasing revenue from core products, including retail and institutional trading. It’s reportedly planning to offer retail customers more cryptocurrencies and to expand operations outside of the US.

When asked for comment, a Coinbase spokesperson directed Engadget to a tweet thread from chief product officer Surojit Chatterjee. While the company is renewing focus on its “high-impact products” and trying to “improve efficiencies by seeking improvements in developer productivity,” Chatterjee noted that Coinbase doesn’t plan to stop investing in strategic and venture projects. “We believe the down market is a great time to build for the longer term,” Chatterjee wrote.

The company revealed in its first-quarter earnings report last week that, at $1.16 billion, net revenue fell by 27 percent year-over-year and by over half from the previous quarter. Trading volume also dropped. Amid a hiring spree (it’s said to have brought in more than 1,200 new employees this year), operating expenses increased by nine percent from the previous quarter to $1.7 billion. Coinbase had a net loss of $430 million in Q1. All of that was before the cryptocurrency market nosedived earlier this month.

Stablecoin TerraUSD (which is supposed to be pegged to the value of the US dollar) and sister token Luna effectively collapsed, causing a ripple effect to other cryptocurrency prices. Though it has since rebounded a bit, the price of bitcoin also dipped below $26,000 for the first time in 16 months last week amid a sell off that saw over $200 billion wiped from the crypto market in one day.

Coinbase’s shift in hiring strategy reflects a broader trend among prominent tech companies. Meta and Uber are among the major businesses that are cutting costs and slowing down recruitment plans. Meanwhile, Netflix laid off around 150 staff in the US this week and canceled some animated projects. The company’s stock plummeted after it reported its first-ever quarterly drop in subscriber numbers last month.

Volta’s electric urban delivery trucks will come to the US in 2023

You might soon see more electric trucks ferrying cargo around town. Volta has revealed that it’s bringing its urban delivery EVs to the US, starting with a test fleet of 100 Class 7 (16.5 US tons) Zero trucks coming to Los Angeles in mid-2023. American production should start in 2024, with an “experienced” manufacturer chosen late this year. This inaugural truck will be followed by lighter-duty Class 5 (9.8-ton) and Class 6 (13-ton) models in 2024 and 2025.

The Class 7 Volta Zero’s range is short, with modular batteries offering between 95 to 125 miles of driving. That’s more than enough for city deliveries, however. Volta is also betting that 250kW DC fast charging will ease any range anxiety. You completely recharge the Zero in slightly over an hour at the right station. Moreover, the company has taken advantage of the switch to electric motors to improve safety — a lower, center-mounted driver’s seat should reduce the usual truck blind spots.

There’s pressure for Volta to move quickly. Fellow Swedish company Volvo has already introduced multiple electric medium-duty trucks, and American rival Freightliner has the eM2. Still, these are typically conventional designs that just happen to be electric, rather than from-scratch EVs. Volta might reel customers in simply by making a more compelling case for ditching diesel- and gas-based fleets.

Recommended Reading: The rise and fall of Pebble

Success and failure at Pebble

Eric Migicovsky, Medium

The founder of Pebble, one of the hottest products ever to hit Kickstarter, reflects on why the startup failed during the 10-year anniversary of its crowdfunding launch. “We succeeded at inventing the smartwatch and an entirely new product category,” he writes. “But in the end, we failed to create a sustainable, profitable business.”

The Goodman experiment

Alan Siegel, The Ringer

Bob Odenkirk and the folks who created Saul Goodman offer an oral history on how the character eventually got his own show even though it wasn’t intended to work out that way. “Not long after Saul made his debut midway through Season 2 of Breaking Bad, it became very apparent that he was more than just comic relief,” Siegel explains.

Mark Zuckerberg’s augmented reality

Alex Heath, The Verge

The Verge offers a detailed look at Meta’s AR roadmap, including info on a number of different augmented reality glasses models the company is working on.