As promised, YouTube Music now offers podcasts. In the US, you can launch the Android or iOS app to stream audio or video podcasts without a Premium or Music Premium subscription. Shows will play in the background, and you can cast them to other devices like speakers.

The feature is reaching American users "gradually," YouTube says, so don't be surprised if you have to wait a little while to see the podcast section. The format is coming to other regions, although YouTube hasn't provided a timeline. And before you ask: paying members will still have to listen to host-read ads.

The addition may seem odd when Google already has a Podcasts app. This unifies listening for YouTube Music subscribers, though — and, of course, theoretically entices you to sign up. This could make the app a more viable alternative to Spotify if you're paying for on-demand music and want everything in one place.

YouTube has been ramping up its podcast efforts across the board, including an Explore page for non-Music users. Just don't count on the service producing a swath of originals like Spotify. The rival has dropped some of its originals, and has been expanding distribution of Gimlet shows to other platforms. The podcast industry isn't as hot as it once was, even if there's still plenty of demand.

The tech industry is reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions have unfortunately ramped up in 2023. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so we’ve compiled all the major layoffs in one place and will continue to update this story as the situation evolves.

April

Dado Ruvic / reuters

Lyft layoffs

Lyft laid off 13 percent of staff in November 2022, but took further steps in April. The ridesharing company said it was laying off 1,072 workers, or about 26 percent of its headcount. It comes just weeks after an executive shuffle that replaced CEO Logan Green with former Amazon exec David Risher, who said the company needed to streamline its business and refocus on drivers and passengers. Green previously said Lyft needed to boost its spending to compete with Uber.

Dropbox layoffs

Cloud storage companies aren't immune to the current financial climate. In April, Dropbox said it would lay off 500 employees, or roughly 16 percent of its team. Co-founder Drew Houston pinned the cuts on the combination of a rough economy, a maturing business and the "urgency" to hop on the growing interest in AI. While the company is profitable, its growth is slowing and some investments are "no longer sustainable," Houston said. 

March

Roku layoffs

Roku shed 200 jobs at the end of 2022, but it wasn't done. The streaming platform creator laid off another 200 employees in March 2023. As before, the company argued that it needed to curb growing expenses and concentrate on those projects that would have the most impact. Roku has been struggling with the one-two combination of a rough economy and the end of a pandemic-fueled boom in streaming video.

Lucid Motors layoffs

If you thought luxury EV makers would be particularly susceptible to economic turmoil, you guessed correctly. Lucid Motors said in March that it would lay off 18 percent of its workforce, or about 1,300 people. The marque is still falling short of production targets, and these cuts reportedly help deal with "evolving business needs and productivity improvements." The cuts are across the board, too, and include both executives as well as contractors.

Meta (Facebook) layoffs

Meta slashed 11,000 jobs in fall 2022, but it wasn't finished. In March 2023, the company unveiled plans to lay off another 10,000 workers in a further bid to cut costs. The first layoffs will affect its recruiting team, but it plans to shrink its technology teams in late April and its business groups in late May. The Facebook owner is hoping to streamline its operations by reducing management layers and asking some leaders to take on work previously reserved for the rank and file. It may take a while before Meta's staff count grows again — it doesn't expect to lift a hiring freeze until sometime after it completes its restructuring effort in late 2023.

February

Rivian layoffs

Rivian conducted layoffs in 2022, but that wasn't enough to help the fledgling EV brand's bottom line. The company laid off another six percent of its employees in February, or about 840 workers. It's still fighting to achieve profitability, and the production shortfall from supply chain issues hasn't helped matters. CEO RJ Scaringe says the job cuts will help Rivian focus on the "highest impact" aspects of its business.

Zoom layoffs

Zoom was a staple of remote work culture at the pandemic's peak, so it's no surprise that the company is cutting back now that people are returning to offices. The video calling firm said in February it was laying off roughly 1,300 employees, or 15 percent of its personnel. As CEO Eric Yuan put it, the company didn't hire "sustainably" as it dealt with its sudden success. The layoffs are reportedly necessary to help survive a difficult economy. The management team is offering more than just apologies, too. Yuan is cutting his salary by 98 percent for the next fiscal year, while all other executives are losing 20 percent of their base salaries as well as their fiscal 2023 bonuses.

Yahoo layoffs

Engadget's parent company Yahoo isn't immune to layoffs. The internet brand said in February that it would lay off over 20 percent of its workforce throughout 2023, or more than 1,600 people. Most of those cuts, or about 1,000 positions, took place immediately. CEO Jim Lanzone didn't blame the layoffs on economic conditions, however. He instead pitched it as a restructuring of the advertising technology unit as it shed an unprofitable business in favor of a successful one. Effectively, Yahoo is bowing out of direct competition in with Google and Meta in the ad market.

Dell layoffs

The pandemic recovery and a grim economy have hit PC makers particularly hard, and Dell is feeling the pain more than most. It laid off five percent of its workforce in early February, or about 6,650 employees, after a brutal fourth quarter where computer shipments plunged an estimated 37 percent. Past cost-cutting efforts weren't enough, Dell said — the layoffs and a streamlined organization were reportedly needed to get back on track.

Deliveroo layoffs

Food delivery services flourished while COVID-19 kept people away from restaurants, and at least some are feeling the sting now that people are willing to dine out again. Deliveroo is laying off about 350 workers, or nine percent of its workforce. "Redeployments" will bring this closer to 300, according to founder Will Shu. The justification is familiar: Deliveroo hired rapidly to handle "unprecedented" pandemic-related growth, according to Shu, but reportedly has to cut costs as it deals with a troublesome economy.

DocuSign layoffs

DocuSign may be familiar to many people who've signed documents online, but that hasn't spared it from the impact of a harsh economic climate. The company said in mid-February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce. While it didn't disclose how many people that represented, the company had 7,461 employees at the start of 2022. Most of those losing their jobs work in DocuSign's worldwide field organization.

GitLab layoffs

You may not know GitLab, but its DevOps (development and operations) platform underpins work at tech brands like NVIDIA and T-Mobile — and shrinking business at its clients is affecting its bottom line. GitLab is laying off seven percent of employees, or roughly 114 people. Company chief Sid Sijbrandij said the problematic economy meant customers were taking a "more conservative approach" to software investment, and that his company's previous attempts to refocus spending weren't enough to counter these challenges.

GoDaddy layoffs

GoDaddy conducted layoffs early in the pandemic, when it cut over 800 workers for its retail-oriented Social platform. In February this year, however, it took broader action. The web service provider laid off eight percent of its workforce, or more than 500 people, across all divisions. Chief Aman Bhutani claimed other forms of cost-cutting hadn't been enough to help the company navigate an "uncertain" economy, and that this reflected efforts to further integrate acquisitions like Main Street Hub.

Twilio layoffs

Twilio eliminated over 800 jobs in September 2022, but it made deeper cuts as 2023 got started. The cloud communications brand laid off 17 percent of staff, or roughly 1,500 people, in mid-February. Like so many other tech firms, Twillio said that past cost reduction efforts weren't enough to endure an unforgiving environment. It also rationalized the layoffs as necessary for a streamlined organization.

January

REUTERS/Peter DaSilva

Google (Alphabet) layoffs

Google's parent company Alphabet has been cutting costs for a while, including shutting down Stadia, but it took those efforts one step further in late January when it said it would lay off 12,000 employees. CEO Sundar Pichai wasn't shy about the reasoning: Alphabet had been hiring for a "different economic reality," and was restructuring to focus on the internet giant's most important businesses. The decision hit the company's Area 120 incubator particularly hard, with the majority of the unit's workers losing their jobs. Sub-brands like Intrinsic (robotics) and Verily (health) also shed significant portions of their workforce in the days before the mass layoffs. Waymo has conducted two rounds of layoffs that shed 209 people, or eight percent of its force.

Amazon layoffs

Amazon had already outlined layoff plans last fall, but expanded those cuts in early January when it said it would eliminate 18,000 jobs, most of them coming from retail and recruiting teams. It added another 9,000 people to the layoffs in March, and in April said over 100 gaming employees were leaving. To no one's surprise, CEO Andy Jassy blamed both an "uncertain economy" and rapid hiring in recent years. Amazon benefited tremendously from the pandemic as people shifted to online shopping, but its growth is slowing as people return to in-person stores.

Coinbase layoffs

Coinbase was one of the larger companies impacted by the crypto market's 2022 downturn, and that carried over into the new year. The cryptocurrency exchange laid off 950 people in mid-January, just months after it slashed 1,100 roles. This is one of the steepest proportionate cuts among larger tech brands — Coinbase offloaded about a fifth of its staff. Chief Brian Armstrong said his outfit needed the layoffs to shrink operating expenses and survive what he previously described as a "crypto winter," but that also meant canceling some projects that were less likely to succeed.

IBM layoffs

Layoffs sometimes stem more from corporate strategy shifts than financial hardship, and IBM provided a classic example of this in 2023. The computing pioneer axed 3,900 jobs in late January after offloading both its AI-driven Watson Health business and its infrastructure management division (now Kyndryl) in the fall. Simply put, those employees had nothing to work on as IBM pivoted toward cloud computing.

Microsoft layoffs

Microsoft started its second-largest wave of layoffs in company history when it signaled it would cut 10,000 jobs between mid-January and the end of March. Like many other tech heavyweights, it was trimming costs as customers scaled back their spending (particularly on Windows and devices) during the pandemic recovery. The reductions were especially painful for some divisions — they reportedly gutted the HoloLens and mixed reality teams, while 343 Industries is believed to be rebooting Halo development after losing dozens of workers. GitHub is cutting 10 percent of its team, or roughly 300 people.

PayPal layoffs

PayPal has been one of the healthier large tech companies, having beaten expectations in its third quarter last year. Still, it hasn't been immune to a tough economy. The online payment firm unveiled plans at the end of January to lay off 2,000 employees, or seven percent of its total worker base. CEO Dan Schulman claimed the downsizing would keep costs in check and help PayPal focus on "core strategic priorities."

Salesforce layoffs

Salesforce set the tone for 2023 when it warned it would lay off 8,000 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, just four days into the new year. While the cloud software brand thrived during the pandemic with rapidly growing revenue, it admitted that it hired too aggressively during the boom and couldn't maintain that staffing level while the economy was in decline.

SAP layoffs

Business software powerhouse SAP saw a steep 68 percent drop in profit at the end of 2022, and it started 2023 by laying off 2,800 staff to keep its business healthy. Unlike some big names in tech, though, SAP didn't blame excessive pandemic-era hiring for the cutback. Instead, it characterized the initiative as a "targeted restructuring" for a company that still expected accelerating growth in 2023.

Spotify layoffs

Spotify spent aggressively in recent years as it expanded its podcast empire, but it quickly put a stop to that practice as 2023 began. The streaming music service said in late January that it would lay off 6 percent of its workforce (9,800 people worked at Spotify as of the third quarter) alongside a restructuring effort that included the departure of content chief Dawn Ostroff. While there were more Premium subscribers than ever in 2022, the company also suffered steep losses — CEO Daniel Ek said he was "too ambitious" investing before the revenue existed to support it.

Wayfair layoffs

Amazon isn't the only major online retailer scaling back in 2023. Wayfair said in late January that it would lay off 1,750 team members, or 10 percent of its global headcount. About 1,200 of those were corporate staff cut in a bid to "eliminate management layers" and otherwise help the company become leaner and nimbler. Wayfair had been cutting costs since August 2022 (including 870 positions), but saw the layoffs as helping it reach break-even earnings sooner than expected.

Lyft had warned of impending layoffs last week, and now it's taking action. The ridesharing company is cutting 1,072 jobs, or about 26 percent of its employees. It's also scaling back hiring and will scrub 250 open roles. The decision will carry severance and benefits costs of up to $47 million in the second quarter, but Lyft believes the savings will help with 'improvements" for drivers and passengers. More details are coming during an earnings call on May 4th.

The firm had already laid off 13 percent of its team in November last year. This latest decision also follows just weeks after co-founder Logan Green stepped down as CEO following a rough earnings call. Green said the company would have to boost spending to remain competitive with Uber. While neither Lyft nor Uber has turned a profit on an annual basis, Uber was profitable last quarter thanks to investments in other businesses.

New Lyft chief (and former Amazon executive) David Risher, who started this month, has called for streamlined business and a renewed focus on the "needs of riders and drivers." He's part of a broader executive shakeup that sees president and co-founder John Zimmer move to the board of directors, where Green still has a role.

Lyft is far from alone. Numerous tech giants have laid off staff in 2023, in many cases due to a rough global economy. However, its rival Uber has so far avoided severe cuts in recent months. Layoffs.fyisays Uber laid off about 60 engineers in Lithuania last fall, and 150 Uber Freight workers in January. This doesn't guarantee that Uber will avoid trouble, but it suggests the ride hailing giant is feeling less pressure than Lyft.

Elon Musk may have to answer detailed questions regarding a fatal 2018 Tesla crash where Autopilot was involved. Judge Evette Pennypacker has ordered Musk to give a three-hour deposition in a lawsuit over the crash, which killed Apple engineer Walter Huang when his Model X plowed into a highway median south of San Francisco. Attorneys for Huang's family want to grill the tech CEO over statements he made about Autopilot's capabilities in the years before the incident.

Most notably, the plaintiffs point to a 2016 Code Conference interview (shown below) where Musk maintained that Tesla cars with Autopilot could already drive with "greater safety than a person." They're also concerned about a 2016 self-driving demo video that engineers testified was staged to show features that weren't ready. The implication, of course, is that Huang was falsely led to believe he could trust his Model X to drive down the highway without being ready to take over.

Tesla says Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash, but also maintains that Huang ignored three car warnings to put his hands back on the steering wheel. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says Huang was playing a phone game at the time. Tesla tried to resist the deposition by claiming Musk couldn't remember the associated statements, and that his popularity could prompt the creation of AI-based deepfake videos. Pennypacker rejected this argument as a "deeply troubling" tactic that could effectively shield any well-known person from responsibility for their statements.

The order is officially tentative, and a hearing is slated for today (April 27th) to make a final decision. However, Reuters notes California judges usually finalize these rulings with few changes. The lawsuit is slated to reach trial on July 31st.

Tesla has faced mounting criticism over its Autopilot safety claims, including concerns that over-reliance on the system has led to crashes. Politicians have called for the automaker to improve safety and use more accurate naming. However, the company has also had a few victories as of late. The NTSB in February ruled out Autopilot as a factor in a deadly 2021 crash in Texas. Just days ago, Tesla thwarted a lawsuit from a Los Angeles driver who faulted Autopilot for swerving her Model S into a median. There will be lingering concerns, then, whether or not Tesla survives the Huang lawsuit.

Apple devices can already offer health insights, but they might soon tell you just how to improve. Bloombergsources claim Apple is developing an AI-based health coach, nicknamed Quartz, that draws on Apple Watch data to create personalized programs for exercise, diet and sleep. The offering will reportedly require a subscription and launch sometime in 2024, provided nothing changes.

In the near term, the Health app may become more useful. Apple is finally bringing Health to the iPad with this year's iPadOS 17 release, the insiders say. A further update will supposedly help you track your mood by answering questions about your day. You may also use Health to manage vision issues like nearsightedness. A recent rumor also hinted that Apple may release a journaling app to help document your days, much like Day One.

Apple has already declined to comment. If the claims are accurate, you'll most likely hear about all but the coach at WWDC on June 5th. The company is expected to unveil its long-expected mixed reality headset at the developer event, and rumors suggest the wearable may offer health-related features like a VR edition of Fitness+ and a meditation tool. This initial product would be aimed at developers and power users, but a more affordable follow-up is believed to be in the works.

A coaching app wouldn't be shocking. Apple is still leaning heavily on services to improve its bottom line, and Quartz may be appealing to those who would otherwise pay for a human coach to rethink their habits. Apple has already made health a major selling point for its devices, particularly the Apple Watch. Of course, the coach could further entrench Apple users — you may be less likely to switch to Android if you have to give up your watch and digital trainer at the same time.

A Japanese company might be on the cusp of making history. Japan's ispace is attempting to land its Hakuto-R craft on the Moon at 12:40PM Eastern, and you can watch the livestream right now. If all goes well, ispace will claim both the first successful private Moon landing and the first Japanese lunar landing of any kind. To date, only China, the Soviet Union and the US have touched down. The vehicle includes payloads from NASA, Japan's JAXA and a small robotic rover (Rashid) from the United Arab Emirates. The rover is also historic as the UAE's first lunar craft.

Hakuto-R launched aboard a SpaceX rocket about 100 days ago. The landing is divided into six stages that include a de-orbit insertion, a largely unpowered "cruise" phase, a braking burn, a reorientation and two final phases where the machine slows down and (hopefully) reaches the surface intact. Israel's SpaceIL tried a private Moon landing in 2019, but it crashed following an engine failure.

A completed landing will help ispace's goals of sending two more landers to the Moon in 2024 and 2025. It could also spur Japan's broader spaceflight ambitions. Both JAXA and Japanese companies have struggled to get into space using domestically-made rockets. While ispace is relying on an American rocket to complete its mission, a landing would upstage SpaceX, Blue Origin and other private outfits racing to land on Earth's cosmic neighbor.

Netflix is offering a peek at Henry Cavill's final turn as Geralt of Rivia. The streaming service has posted a teaser trailer for The Witcher season three that showcases Cavill as the White Wolf. There's precious little story in the clip. However, Geralt is now worried enough to know real fear, and it's clear Ciri and Yennifer have even more to worry about.

As with Stranger Things season four, Netflix is splitting The Witcher's third run into two parts. A first volume premieres June 29th, while you'll have to wait until July 27th to see the rest. That's not entirely voluntary. As show creator Lauren Schmidt Hissirch told Collider in an interview this December, there was a possibility the challenges of producing visual effects would require dividing the season.

It may be a bittersweet season for fans. Cavill is known to be a fan of all things Witcher (both the novels and the games), and many seem him as synonymous with the on-screen representation of Geralt. Liam Hemsworth is set to replace Cavill in season four. It's too soon to say how well Hemsworth will fare, but it's safe to presume he'll bring something different to the role.

You won't necessarily have to hail one of Cruise's robotaxis at night in San Francisco. Company chief Kyle Vogt has revealed that Cruise now has permission to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week across all of San Francisco. Only employees will have access to the whole region for those hours. However, Cruise is also opening daytime rides to public "power users" for the first time. While you'll only have access to a limited portion of the city at first (mainly Pacific Heights, Richmond and Sunset), it's now just a question of where you are, not when you're going.

Staff have already been riding during the daytime for months. San Francisco officials have resisted expanding access to robotaxis from Cruise and Alphabet's Waymo over concerns the companies are moving too quickly. There have been incidents where the driverless cars blocked traffic, including emergency vehicles. The city's Transportation Authority has instead pushed for limited rollouts with gradual expansions.

There's no timeline for wider deployments elsewhere, but Vogt promises that operations will "soon" grow in other cities. Successful use in San Francisco is a "litmus test" for robotaxis in other cities, the executive claims. The city's challenging terrain, unusual roads and wet weather are daunting for self-driving car sensors.

The wider access could help the GM-owned brand claim an edge over Waymo. Cruise was the first to start charging for self-driving rides in San Francisco. Now, it can tout non-stop service for some passengers. Waymo still has an advantage in areas like Phoenix, where it has charged for public rides for a while, but it clearly has a more difficult fight ahead.

It took several months, but Slack's "canvas" collaboration feature is finally rolling out across its apps. Effectively, it's a way to organize and access all the resources that would normally be scattered across a chat channel. You can store apps, files, links, people, raw text and even in-app functions like service requests. It can help you track must-do items, share handy tools or even serve as an FAQ for newcomers.

You can bring canvases into huddle audio and video chats to discuss them with colleagues. Much like a cloud document app, you can add comments, see the change history and limit sharing to specific people. This isn't a full-fledged creative tool like Google Docs, as Slack tellsThe Verge, but it can help you coordinate more quickly than you would through separate apps.

This is, to some extent, an improvement on the bookmarks and pins that Slack currently offers to help you find vital documents and notes. Those features will remain for now, but it won't be surprising if canvases become the dominant (if not exclusive) way to share resources in a given channel.

Canvases promise to be more convenient, but they might also give Slack a competitive edge. The more likely you are to stay in Slack while sharing documents and performing tasks, the less temptation there is to use competing apps. This might be the decisive factor if you're weighing the merits of Slack versus rivals like Microsoft Teams.

Your Google Authenticator one-time codes are no longer trapped if you lose the device that stores them. An update to Authenticator for Android and iOS now stores backups of codes in your Google account. You won't have to reauthorize all your linked apps (or scan a QR code) just because you got a new phone.

Once you have the latest version of the app, you only have to follow prompts to sign into Google and enable syncing. Of course, you'll also want to be sure your Google account is secure to prevent intruders from misusing Authenticator.

Google is still pushing for password-free logins that use technology like passkeys. However, it also acknowledges that people still rely on one-time codes. The Authenticator update promises to reduce some of the headaches of using those codes until you're ready and able to move to another system. This might also encourage the use of two-factor authentication if you were previously afraid of what would happen if your phone was lost or stolen.

This isn't a novel concept. Apps like Microsoft Authenticator also have cloud backups. However, it's no secret that Google's tool is popular. Cloud syncing should make a tangible difference, particularly when many apps can use Authenticator as an alternative to the conventional password.