Folks, it's time once more for the Week in Review (WiR). For those who are unfamiliar, WiR is TechCrunch's weekly newsletter that summarizes the most important tech stories from the previous few days. We would contend that there isn't a better digest for the individual on the go, although we are naturally a little prejudiced.
TC City Spotlight: Atlanta is coming up soon, so let's quickly remind ourselves of that before we get to the meat of the matter. A pitch competition, a talk on the economics of equality, a panel discussion on investing in the Atlanta ecosystem, and more will be held in Atlanta on June 7 as part of TechCrunch's visit.
On May 10, Persona and Index Ventures will discuss how Persona keeps up with new threats and how Index took a foresighted decision to recognize and support Persona early on at a TechCrunch Live event. Additionally, our annual conference, Disrupt, which runs from September 19–21 in San Francisco, is packed with sessions given by industry experts and interviews with key figures in the digital industry.
Here are the top headlines now that it is over.
widely readLaunch of free channels on Amazon With the launch of Fire TV Channels this week, Amazon is stepping up its commitment to providing free, ad-supported programming.
Widely ReadLaunch of free channels on Amazon With the launch of Fire TV Channels this week, Amazon is stepping up its commitment to providing free, ad-supported programming. This week, the new, free, and ad-supported video experience made its way to Fire TV devices. According to Sarah, it will be integrated into a number of locations around the Fire TV interface and refreshed continuously throughout the day.
Updated bio for a check: A Twitter issue allowed legacy blue check holders to reclaim their badge by amending their bio, to put it briefly. Readers will recall that blue checks on Twitter used to mean that a user was "verified," but now they signify that they are using Twitter Blue, the company's premium subscription service.
Recently, verified users who opted not to pay were at risk of having their blue checks removed, although the glitch suggests that this might not be the case indefinitely.
Google replaces passwords with passkeys. About a year after announcing cooperation with Apple, Microsoft, and the FIDO Alliance to promote the adoption of passkeys, Google this week made passkeys available to all Google Account users worldwide. Passkeys allow users to sign in to websites and apps using the same biometric or screen-lock PIN they use to unlock their devices by synchronizing their authentication across devices over the cloud using cryptographic key pairs.