China's Tough Market Forces LinkedIn to Shut Down InCareer App and Cut Jobs

China's "Great Wall of Trials" claims LinkedIn as its latest victim among Western businesses. This week, they announced they’re closing their Chinese job search app, InCareer, and laying off over 700 employees worldwide.

InCareer launched in 2021 and had some success with over 57 million users. But compared to Chinese recruitment platform Zhaopin’s 320 million users, it’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight. LinkedIn Learning, Marketing, and Talent will still operate in China, but who knows what the future holds?

LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said in a company message to employees that InCareer faced “fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate.” In other words, it’s tough out there.

LinkedIn isn’t alone in its struggles. With the ongoing China-US trade war, Beijing is relying more on homegrown companies and making it tough for foreign businesses to succeed. Even giants like Amazon, Yahoo, and Google have failed to make it big in China. It’s like a game of dodgeball, and the big guys keep getting hit square in the face.

Rapid Rundown

• 👋 LinkedIn is closing its Chinese job search app, InCareer, and laying off over 700 employees worldwide.

• 🐉 LinkedIn faced fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate in China; other Western companies, like Amazon and Google, also struggled.

Microsoft Aims to Make Bing the Default Search Engine for Firefox, Challenges Google's Dominance

Microsoft is on a mission to make Bing the default search engine for Firefox. Historically, Bing has been the sidekick to Google’s superhero status. But with Microsoft’s recent AI partnership with ChatGPT, Bing is experiencing a comeback. And Microsoft is determined to ride that wave all the way to Firefox’s shores.

According to The Information, Microsoft wants to bid for Bing to become Firefox’s default search engine. With Firefox’s contract with Google expiring soon, Mozilla could either renew it or switch to a different search engine. Microsoft is hoping to swoop in and steal Google’s spot.

There’s also another golden opportunity on the horizon. Apple's Safari browser, dominant on Apple devices, will see its contract with Google expire next year. Google gained significant benefits from this deal and Microsoft could swoop in and make Bing the main browser on iPhones.

Rapid Rundown

• 🦊 Microsoft aims to make Bing the default search engine for Firefox, replacing Google.

• 🍎 Additionally, with Apple’s contract with Google expiring next year, Microsoft also has the opportunity to become the main search engine for Apple’s Safari browser on iPhones.

Toyota’s Decade-Long Data Blunder: 2 Million Users Affected

Turns out that the personal data of over 2 million Japanese Toyota users has been hanging out in the public domain for a whopping decade, from November 2013 until just last month.

Human error is to blame for this embarrassing mishap, as a database containing sensitive information of T-Connect cloud service users was set to public instead of private.

So, what kind of personal information was up for grabs? Well, we're talking about juicy details like vehicle locations and identification numbers. But luckily, there have been no reports of misuse so far.

The blunder also affected users of G-Link, a similar service for Toyota's Lexus brand. Toyota has promised to investigate the incident thoroughly and conduct audits of all its cloud-based systems that handle user data.

Rapid Rundown

• 🔍 Personal data of 2M+ Japanese Toyota users publicly exposed for a decade due to human error.

• 🚗 Info included vehicle locations & IDs, but no reported misuse. Toyota to investigate and audit systems.

Tools & Apps

PicAvatar — Create stunning avatars for your apps with AI

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Dark Reader — A browser extension that enables dark mode on just about any website and configure the dark theme's brightness, contrast, and sepia.

Spacedrive — An open source cross-platform file explorer that allows you to combine your drives and clouds into one database that you can organize and explore from any device.

Muzzle — A simple Mac app to silence notifications during screen sharing. Works with Zoom, Google Hangouts, Slack, and more.

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The Future of SEO in a Post-ChatGPT World — How generative AI might change SEO as a growth engine.