Hey friends! Welcome to Review of the week, where every Saturday we round up some of TechCrunch’s top stories from the past seven days. Want it in your inbox? Get it here!

This week marked the in-person return of TechCrunch Disrupt, with our team bringing the show back to the real world after two years of being entirely virtual. It was a magical show that featured people like the tennis legend (turned investor) Serena Williamscomedian (turned investor too!) Kevin Hartco-founded Lyft John Zimmerand CEO of Figma Dylan Field. Congratulations to Minerva Lithium from winning the Startup Battlefield competition!

the most read

Google ping pong robot: “As if it wasn’t enough to have an AI that tans humanity’s skin (figuratively so far) in every board game in existence,” Devin writes, “Google AI has one working to destroy us all in ping-pong too.”

Elon expects big layoffs at Twitter: Musk reportedly wants to cut up to 75% of Twitter’s workforce — roughly 5,600 jobs — if/when he buys the company. This number seems quite absurd. Even much smaller layoffs have compounding effects on things like team morale and performance – just imagine the amount of knowledge/understanding that disappears when the majority the company is released.

Kanye West buys Parler: Well, that’s a headline I would never, never, never have predicted. “Kanye West, the rapper who also goes by the name Ye, has reached an agreement to buy the ‘unreversible free speech platform’ Parler,” writes Manish, “in [the involved parties say] will help people express their conservative views freely.’

Stability AI raises $101 million: A company that developed an image generator based on artificial intelligence Stable diffusion and music creation system Dance diffusion raised $101 million at a $1 billion valuation.

Netflix is ​​exploring cloud gaming: Just like Google abandons its cloud gaming effortsNetflix dives. At Disrupt this week, Netflix’s vice president of gaming said the company is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering,” saying Google’s aborted effort was a “technical success” with “business model issues.”

audio roundup

Here’s what’s happening this week in TC podcast land:

• Own capital was live and in person! After years in pandemic mode, the Equity team (Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann) kicked off Disrupt by recording face-to-face shows for the first time.
• incl FoundDarrell and Jordan met with Jerrica Kirkley and Matthew Wetschler and learned the story of Plume, their telemedicine company dedicated to transgender care.

techcrunch+

What did TC+ members read the most after paying? Here’s a look:

2023 VC predictions: After a few wild years of ups and downs, what will venture capital look like in 2023? Contrary Capital founder Eric Tarchinsky weighs in.

Ron explores Celonis and its $13 billion valuation: Celonis may not be a household name…but the 11-year-old data processing company has managed to raise billions of dollars in the past few years alone. What are they doing so right? Ron Miller takes us on a deep dive.