Howdy, tech friends. Jordan Parker Erb here, reporting from Montana.
Did y'all have nicknames growing up? Recently, my team members have taken to calling me "Jerb," a play on my email address (which combines the first letter of my name with my last name).
It's not the cutest nickname I've ever had, but it makes me laugh, and it's a bit more jovial than one Oracle exec's new moniker: "hatchet man."
Today, my colleagues have an inside look at Oracle's "hatchet man," and how he got the name.
Let's get to it.
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1. Tasked with cutting costs, Oracle's new marketing team leader has been dubbed "hatchet man." Oracle's marketing team "imploded" following layoffs and the departure of its CMO this summer. NetSuite exec Jason Maynard was tapped to oversee the new, slimmed down organization — but some insiders are skeptical.
- Maynard's new directive is to keep costs down, current and former employees said. With a background in finance and a laser-focus on revenue, sources say Maynard may be the right person, at the right time, to lead Oracle's sales operations and marketing.
- However, some employees have raised concerns, citing his lack of communication and enterprise expertise: Since Maynard's appointment as the head of Revenue Operations, he has only had one call with his staff, according to a person familiar with the situation.
- That lack of communication has contributed to the "complete chaos" sources described to Insider following widespread layoffs in August.
In other news:
2. It's a terrible time to buy a new iPhone. If you're thinking about buying a new iPhone, don't — at least not yet. The company is expected to announce its newest phones next month, and the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 should be significantly cheaper afterwards. What you want to know.
3. Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" series could determine the company's streaming future. Insiders said that if the $1 billion project misses the mark, the studio may be in store for an existential crisis. Inside Amazon Studios' make-or-break moment.
4. "Overwhelming demand" crashed MoviePass's servers. Just days after it announced its Labor Day return, MoviePass said 30,000 people tried to sign up for its waitlist — causing its servers to crash for two-and-a-half hours. More on MoviePass's technical issues.
5. EV startups' dreams of rivaling Tesla have become a "crapshoot." As startups get hammered by challenge after challenge, investors are beginning to lose patience — and insiders say there's no Elon Musk coming to the rescue. A look at the "perfect storm" that could sink EV startups.
6. Recruiters are pouncing on VMware employees. Following Broadcom's announcement that it planned to acquire the firm, competitors like AWS and Google began poaching from the firm more aggressively. Employees describe an "onslaught" of recruiter emails.
7. Elon Musk's SpaceX and T-Mobile are teaming up to link satellites to mobile phones, "eliminating dead zones worldwide." The companies say the new service will provide coverage to "locations previously unreachable by traditional cell signals." Musk also said on Twitter that Tesla cars will be able to connect to the new Starlink satellites. Here's the latest.
8. Seventeen states may follow California in banning the sale of gas-powered cars. California is expected to officially pass a rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks in the state by 2035, and more than one-third of US states may soon follow its lead. These states may be next.
Odds and ends:
9. Netflix subscribers now have free access to over two dozen games. Accounts now include access to Netflix Games, a collection of titles — original games like Stranger Things: 1984 — that you can play on iPhone, iPad, or Android without ads. Here's how to download them and start playing.
10. Apple AirTags vs. Tile trackers — how do the two stack up? Both devices are compact Bluetooth trackers that help you find lost items. We broke down each gadget's features and price to see how they compare.
People moves:
- Sandeep Pandey, VP of engineering at Twitter, is leaving after more than a decade.
- Electric truck startup Xos Trucks is losing its SVP of manufacturing, Dag Reckhorn.
- Top Google engineer, Richard Ho, is joining Lightmatter as VP of hardware engineering.
Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email [email protected] or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.