EP-245 Ai Crawling Chaos 🤖, Tiktok’s Retail Expansion 🛍️, Google’s Travel Tech Boost ✈️

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for friday, march 28th. let's dive into the latest developments in the world of technology:

• open-source vs. ai web-crawlers: developers combat invasive ai bots with anubis, a proof-of-work system to deter these "internet cockroaches," highlighting the struggle against bots ignoring exclusion protocols.
• tiktok's e-commerce expansion: tiktok shop extends its platform to france, germany, and italy, attracting european sellers and moving towards luxury offerings, expanding beyond its current markets in the uk and us.
• google's ai travel planning features: new tools in search, maps, and gemini allow users to plan vacations with interactive maps and real-time price tracking, enhancing travel planning experiences against other ai planners.
• signal's surge in downloads: signal's user base grows in the us and yemen after a security breach involving us officials, emphasizing the platform's importance for secure communication.
• instagram's new reels feature: introduction of 2x speed on reels videos as instagram competes with tiktok, aiming to increase engagement with fast-paced video content.

that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow!