Amazon provides a promising sign for the future of clean rooms: Its Web Services clean room is a bet that the tech will please regulators and advertisers.

Startups find investors on Twitter: We attend TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2022, where throngs of startups pitched to investors, judges, and potential new hires. Major trend: Founders are adapting to leaner economic conditions post-pandemic through social media—read on for more takeaways.

Data center scrutiny rises in Europe: Data centers’ energy intensity and water use are running up against Europe’s energy crisis. Ireland’s data center moratorium puts facilities’ sustainability measures in focus.

Nike wants Big Tech’s layoffs: In a shift to direct sales, Nike is spending big to lure technologists. It’s a trend that could diminish the tech sector’s pull on workers.

Big Tech earnings buoyed by cloud: Microsoft and Alphabet’s quarterly earnings weren’t as bad as expected, boosting market confidence. But continued strength hinges on cloud divisions that aren’t recession-proof.

Big Cloud’s billing problem: Amid market uncertainty, companies aren’t keen on getting cloud bills for tens of thousands more than expected. AWS and others could adopt a winning billing strategy.

Storm clouds for Big Tech: Following record-high cloud spending, the top cloud providers saw declines in April. Economic upheaval means a rocky road ahead, but cloud demand will endure.

A proposed antitrust bill could end Amazon Prime as we know it: The retail giant is ramping up its fight against “degrading” regulations as it seeks to maintain its ecommerce dominance.

An underdog’s cloud effort: Google gives expanding its cloud market share another try with its AlloyDB database service that’s priced to sell. Its other cloud products could reap benefits too.

Alibaba’s stranglehold on ecommerce in China is loosening: The company’s earnings disappointed amid weakening consumer demand, robust performances from rivals, and more scrutiny from Beijing.

SoFi aims to become the AWS of banking services: The US neobank plans to acquire cloud-based core-banking provider Technisys and pair it up with banking-as-a-service (BaaS) subsidiary Galileo.

Google Cloud is losing billions of dollars: Feature parity with AWS and Azure, greater global availability, and pivoting toward enterprise customers could help it regain momentum in the cloud services segment.

Connected vehicles are changing the nature of transportation and mobility. Players in the traditional automotive ecosystem—including retailers and marketers—are using the massive amounts of data connected cars produce to enhance brand loyalty, create new revenue streams, and drive business growth.

When Amazon starts a new business, competitors scrap business plans and markets shudder. We examined 19 of Amazon’s divisions to help parse how the company fuels its flywheel to keep driving the virtuous cycle.

If the NSA-AWS deal succeeds, it could make AWS the US government’s preferred cloud provider. But if Microsoft succeeds, the government cloud space might go right back to where it started.