TechCrunch Industry News
TechCrunch
Listen to articles handpicked by our editors, and stay updated on top technology news from TechCrunch.
Study of TikTok, X ‘For You’ feeds in Germany finds Far Right political bias ahead of federal elections
Recommendation algorithms operated by social media giants TikTok and X have shown evidence of substantial Far Right political bias in Germany ahead of a federal election that takes place Sunday, according to new research carried out by Global Witness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A former Etsy product manager built an AI-powered app for new parents
Career product manager Amanda DeLuca has launched a parenting management app, Riley, born out of her own experience with parental anxiety and feedback from other families. DeLuca, who previously at Google, Nerdwallet, and Eventbrite, in addition to Etsy, became pregnant three years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Superhuman introduces AI-powered categorization to reduce spammy emails in your inbox
It has been more than two years since ChatGPT burst on the scene. Shortly after that, it seemed like almost every email app integrated AI-powered email writing and summaries. Some also introduced AI-powered search for you to sift through your inbox quickly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackers planted a Steam game with malware to steal gamers’ passwords
Researchers found that PirateFI was never designed to be a real game, but a vehicle to infect gamers with malware and steal their passwords with an infostealer called Vidar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon kills ‘Inspire,’ its TikTok-style feed for discovering products
Amazon is shutting down “Inspire,” its TikTok-like, short-form video and photo feed that was previously available in its mobile app. The feed allowed users to discover products and shop from content created by influencers, brands, and other customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polymath aims to make learning math as enjoyable as Roblox with its educational sandbox game
As gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft continue to grow in popularity among young children, and with platforms like YouTube consuming hours of their daily screen time, edtech companies face challenges in capturing their attention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What the US’ first major AI copyright ruling might mean for IP law
Copyright claims against AI companies just got a potential boost. A U.S. federal judge last week handed down a summary judgment in a case brought by tech conglomerate Thomson Reuters against legal tech firm Ross Intelligence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ICON, a pioneer in 3D home printing, raises $56M led by Norwest, Tiger Global
ICON, which builds homes using 3D printing, has closed on $56 million in Series C funding co-led by Norwest Venture Partners and Tiger Global, the company has confirmed to TechCrunch exclusively. The raise represents a first close for the Austin-based ICON, according to a spokesperson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb CEO says it’s still too early for AI trip planning
Airbnb is planning to first introduce AI to its customer support system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Founded by DeepMind alumnus, Latent Labs launches with $50M to make biology programmable
A new startup founded by a former Google DeepMind scientist is exiting stealth with $50 million in funding. Latent Labs is building AI foundation models to “make biology programmable,” and it plans to partner with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to generate and optimize proteins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CyberArk snaps up Zilla Security for up to $175M
Information security company CyberArk has acquired identity access and governance platform Zilla Security in a deal worth up to $175 million. Founded in 1999, Boston-based CyberArk specializes in access management, including privileged access security which helps organizations protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure from external (and internal) threats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ChatGPT may not be as power-hungry as once assumed
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot platform, may not be as power-hungry as once assumed. But its appetite largely depends on how ChatGPT is being used, and the AI models that are answering the queries, according to a new study Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lanch bags $27M for a social media-skewed take on fast food
E-commerce startups built around food continue to gobble up funding as investors look for sticky consumer concepts that can scale without breaking the bank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Workday launches a platform for enterprises to manage all of their AI agents in one place
HR giant Workday is launching a new way for enterprises to keep track of all of their AI agents in one place. It’s also launching a few more AI agents of its own, for good measure. Silicon Valley-based Workday announced on Tuesday the release of Workday Digital Workforce Management, which is meant to help customers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls the AI Action Summit a ‘missed opportunity’
In a statement on Tuesday, Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI startup Anthropic, called the AI Action Summit in Paris this week a “missed opportunity,” and urged the AI industry — and government — to “move faster and with greater clarity.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Critics warn UK’s secret Apple iCloud backdoor order is a global emergency
Security experts say the ‘draconian’ order would have global ramifications that make this a privacy ‘emergency for us all’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lyft to launch Mobileye-powered robotaxis ‘as soon as 2026,’ starting with Dallas
Ride-hail giant Lyft plans to bring fully autonomous robotaxis, powered by Mobileye, to its app “as soon as 2026” in Dallas, with more markets to follow, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The news comes a day before Lyft shares its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Self Inspection raises $3M for its AI-powered vehicle inspections
A number of startups are racing to make vehicle inspections faster, easier, and cheaper. Self Inspection, a startup based in San Diego, thinks it has them all beat with its AI-powered service — and now it has convinced outside investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bpifrance will invest $10B in the French AI ecosystem by 2029
France’s public investment bank announced that it plans to invest as much as €10 billion (around $10.3 billion at current exchange rates) in the artificial intelligence ecosystem in France. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Could this startup’s compact nuclear reactors revolutionize cancer detection?
As cancer rates in the West, and globally, tack upwards due to lifestyle and environmental pollution, so does the need for the nuclear isotopes used in detecting those cancers in a medical setting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shein gets more questions from EU about DSA compliance
After consumer protection scrutiny dialed up on fast-fashion giant Shein in the European Union on Wednesday, the bloc’s executive announced Thursday that it’s sent a fresh request for information to the ecommerce platform under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a pan-EU online governance framework Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Modern Synthesis is making compostable materials that last a lifetime
Modern Synthesis’s fibers can be manipulated in ways that simple plant fibers cannot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CodeSignal wants you to practice soft skills with its AI-powered guide
Both startups and big tech companies have aggressively used AI to help developers write code or learn programming better. People have used chatbots to prepare for different scenarios in life, like interviews. Tech assessment platform CodeSignal, which introduced a learning platform for technical subjects with AI assistants last year, launched soft skill courses on its platform Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Two space startups have merged to create the next generation of telescopes
On a clear spring evening in Michigan, the stars aligned — just not in the way Upfront Ventures partner Nick Kim expected. He’d just led a $9.5 million seed round for OurSky, a software platform for space observational data, and was eager to see what its telescope partner PlaneWave Instruments could do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Opera launches a mindfulness-focused browser with break reminders and soundscapes
Norway-based browser maker Opera on Tuesday launched a new browser called “Opera Air,” which focuses on mental well-being and mindfulness with features like break reminders, breathing exercises, soundscapes, and binaural beats for better focus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hero’s all-in-one, AI productivity app takes on Google’s Calendar and others
People often use multiple apps for notes, schedule management, and to-dos. But why not combine them all in one app? That’s the ethos behind Hero, an all-in-one productivity app with an AI assistant (of course!). The iOS app was developed by former Meta employees Brad Kowalk and Seung W. Lee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI systems with ‘unacceptable risk’ are now banned in the EU
As of Sunday in the European Union, the bloc’s regulators can ban the use of AI systems they deem to pose “unacceptable risk” or harm. February 2 is the first compliance deadline for the EU’s AI Act, the comprehensive AI regulatory framework that the European Parliament finally approved last March after years of development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple CEO says DeepSeek shows ‘innovation that drives efficiency’
Apple CEO Tim Cook said DeepSeek’s AI models represent “innovation that drives efficiency” on an earnings call on Thursday while fielding questions from analysts about the iPhone maker’s ambitions around AI. “In general, I think innovation that drives efficiency is a good thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp says it disrupted a hacking campaign targeting journalists with spyware
The Meta-owned company said the campaign was linked to Israeli spyware maker Paragon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank in talks to invest as much as $25B in OpenA
SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI as part of a broader partnership that could see the Japanese conglomerate spend more than $40 billion on AI initiatives with the Microsoft-backed startup, according to Financial Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Little Umbrella’s next Jackbox-style game pits you and your friends against an AI game show host
Web-based party games are making a comeback, now with the infusion of generative AI. Among the startups joining the trend, the current forecast looks good for one startup, Little Umbrella, which leverages AI for its social party games. The company announced on Thursday its $2 million seed funding round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clutch grabs $20M to build out its non-human security ID platform
When it comes to the world of cybersecurity, identity is often thought of as a “perimeter” around an organization. So many breaches begin through techniques like password theft, phishing, and credential stuffing; ergo, securing the identities of not only users, but also applications and machines, is the key to securing the whole system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meteomatics eyes U.S. expansion for its enterprise-focused weather forecasting tools
Martin Fengler knows a lot about the weather. Fengler got his Ph.D. in mathematics, focused on numerical weather prediction, before working for Meteomedia AG, a network of weather stations in Switzerland and Germany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hugging Face makes it easier for devs to run AI models on third-party clouds
AI dev platform Hugging Face has partnered with third-party cloud vendors including SambaNova to launch Inference Providers, a feature designed to make it easier for devs on Hugging Face to run AI models using the infrastructure of their choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify says it paid $10 billion to music industry last year
Audio streaming company Spotify said Tuesday that it paid $10 billion to the music industry last year. The company added that it has given nearly $60 billion in industry payouts since its inception. This is another effort from Spotify to dispel reports that the company doesn’t reward artists properly for their work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lydian Labs can make aviation fuel wherever there’s CO2 and electricity
Replacing inexpensive fossil fuels is a tall hurdle, but Lydian thinks it has cracked the problem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DeepSeek gets Silicon Valley talking
Since Chinese AI company DeepSeek released an open version of its reasoning model R1 at the beginning of this week, many in the tech industry have been making grand pronouncements about what the company achieved, and what it means for the state of AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LG Electronics takes majority stake in Bear Robotics, reportedly valuing startup at $600M
LG Electronics is betting on robotics as its next big growth driver. The South Korean electronics company said on Friday that it has agreed to acquire an additional 30% stake in Bear Robotics, a California-based startup it previously backed that is building AI-powered server robots for restaurants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Flip, the TikTok Shop rival, launches a creator fund that grants up to $100M of equity
Flip is a social commerce app that lets shoppers become creators. They can share honest reviews and earn cash based on engagement on the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Streaming service Plex gets more social with public profiles and reviews
Streaming service Plex has long since grown beyond its original focus of being a home for personal media to offer a more comprehensive solution for discovering, streaming, and sharing content across services, including Plex’s own ad-supported free TV and movies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK probes Apple and Google over ‘mobile ecosystem’ market power
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching so-called “strategic market status” (SMS) investigations into the mobile ecosystems of Apple and Google. The investigations constitute part of the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) which passed last year and came into effect in January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lindus Health raises $55M to ‘fix the broken clinical trial industry’
A four-year-old London startup backed by Peter Thiel has raised a $55 million Series B round as it sets about “fixing the broken clinical trial industry.” The announcement comes as artificial intelligence is shaping up to revolutionize drug discovery and development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Truecaller brings real-time caller ID to iPhone users
Truecaller for iOS has been updated with live caller ID support for its premium iPhone users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Karmen secures $9.4 million for its revenue-based financing products
French startup Karmen has secured a small funding round so that it can improve its instant financing products. The company offers short-term loans to small companies facing a working capital crunch. It’s a €9 million equity-and-debt round ($9.4 million at today’s exchange rates) with Seventure Partners buying a stake in the small startup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Friend delays shipments of its AI companion pendant
Friend, a startup creating a $99, AI-powered necklace designed to be treated as a digital companion, has delayed its first batch of shipments until Q3. Friend had planned to ship devices to pre-order customers in Q1. But according to co-founder and CEO Avi Schiffman, that’s no longer feasible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI isn’t very good at history, new paper finds
Top LLMs performed poorly on a high-level history test, a new paper has found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Pentagon says AI is speeding up its ‘kill chain’
Leading AI developers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, are threading a delicate needle to sell software to the United States military: make the Pentagon more efficient, without letting their AI kill people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nord Security founders launch Nexos.ai to help enterprises take AI projects from pilot to production
A new AI orchestration startup from the founders of Lithuanian unicorn Nord Security is setting out to help enterprises put their AI projects into production, with an initial focus on bringing greater visibility, security and adaptability to large language models (LLMs). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Climate tech matured in 2024 as investors favored bigger rounds, later stages
Climate tech may have had a down year in 2024, but new data also shows a maturing sector with larger deal sizes. Venture investment in the climate tech sector was down 7% to $12.9 billion, $1 billion shy of 2023’s tally, according to data in a new PitchBook report. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google strikes world’s largest biochar carbon removal deal with Indian startup Varaha
Google has agreed to purchase 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits from Indian startup Varaha. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clop ransomware gang names dozens of victims hit by Cleo mass-hack, but several firms dispute breaches
The Russia-linked ransomware group is threatening to leak data stolen from almost 60 Cleo Software customers if ransoms aren't paid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hinge’s new AI feature determines if your prompt response is too basic
Hinge today launched a new AI-powered feature called “Prompt Feedback,” which aims to improve your dating profile by analyzing how you answer prompts and assessing if it needs to be more specific or authentic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank veteran hunts for profits in payments infrastructure plumbing
Former SoftBank exec Akshay Naheta's startup, Distributed Technologies Research, is trying to bridge the gap between banking and blockchain tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Steppin is a new app that locks your social media apps unless you get out and walk
App stores are filled with different services that are designed to help you cut down on your screen time and count your steps. A new iOS app called Steppin combines these two ideas to help users do both at the same time to bridge the gap between physical and mental health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI’s AI reasoning model ‘thinks’ in Chinese sometimes and no one really knows why
Shortly after OpenAI released o1, its first “reasoning” AI model, people began noting a curious phenomenon. The model would sometimes begin “thinking” in Chinese, Persian, or some other language — even when asked a question in English. Given a problem to sort out — e.g. “How many R’s are in the word ‘strawberry?'” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI presents its preferred version of AI regulation in a new ‘blueprint’
OpenAI on Monday published what it’s calling an “economic blueprint” for AI: a living document that lays out policies the company thinks it can build on with the U.S. government and its allies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK throws its hat into the AI fire
In 2023, the U.K. made a big song and dance about the need to consider the harms of AI, giving itself a leading role in the wider conversation around AI safety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Automattic says it will reduce its contribution to WordPress core project to match WP Engine
It’s a new year, but drama in the WordPress community keeps going. Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, said that it would reduce its contribution to WordPress core, the open-source project that acts as the backbone of most of Automattic’s products and ensures the longevity of WordPress as a technology and community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Comcast and other TV streamers are now chasing YouTube’s ad dollars instead of the other way around
TV providers and streamers’ real competition isn’t each other, it’s social video. Or at least that’s what the president of Comcast Advertising, James Rooke, said during an interview on Wednesday at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Matt Mullenweg deactivates WordPress accounts of contributors planning a fork
Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg has deactivated the accounts of several WordPress.org community members, some of whom have been spearheading a push to create a new fork of the open source WordPress project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CES 2025: Nvidia’s AI avatar sat on my computer screen and weirded me out
Nvidia unveiled a prototype AI avatar at CES 2025 that lives on your PC’s desktop. The AI assistant, R2X, looks like a video game character, and it can help you navigate apps on your computer.The R2X avatar is rendered and animated using Nvidia’s AI models, and users can run the avatar on popular LLMs of their choice, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4o or xAI’s Grok. Users can talk with R2X through text and voice, upload files to it for processing, or even enable the AI assistant to view what’s happening l
CES 2025: Where have all the US automakers gone?
The old chestnut passed around by industry watchers for the past decade was that CES — one of the world’s largest consumer tech trade events — had turned into an auto show. Maybe even the most important auto show of the year. And there was ample evidence of that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CES 2025: Halliday's Smart Glasses
Walk up to someone wearing a pair of Halliday’s smart glasses, and you might not notice they’re looking at smartphone notifications, live language translations, or advice from an AI assistant.The only giveaway is the tiny green dot of light on their eyeball.Wearables startup Halliday launched a pair of smart glasses at CES 2025 that projects a 3.5-inch round display into your line of sight. The device creating the display is called the DigiWindow, and it’s a tiny round module — smaller than your
CES 2025: Zugu's Case of Death', Basketball rebounding robot, and Omi's Brain Interface
If a user’s heart rate stops suddenly, and their body temperature and blood oxygen level also drop dramatically, the smart ring knows that its user has died and sends a signal to the In Case of Death app to trigger the ‘Death Protections’ chosen by the user when they first enrolled in the app and set it up. Davy Robot’s Datic 1 nabbed a good bit of attention this week at CES 2025, as attendees lined up to shoot some hoops on the busy show floor. The bot sits under a hoop, rebounding the ball aft
CES 2025: Honda's futuristic ‘0 SUV’ prototype, German Bionic’s new exoskeleton, and Beatbot's robot turtle
Honda unveiled Tuesday at CES 2025 the latest EV in its so-called 0 Series — a mid-sized SUV prototype dubbed, surely enough, the 0 SUV. Honda’s take on the SUV will join the 0 Saloon that the automaker showed off at last year’s show; At CES 2025, German Bionic announced the Apogee Ultra, a new robotic exoskeleton it claims is the “world’s most powerful.” What did the system do to earn such a lofty title? It offers up to 80 pounds of dynamic lift assistance. That means a payload of 70 pounds fee
CES 2025: Peacock is experimenting with mini-games and short videos, Reddit intros new trends tools for businesses, and Meta to phase back in political content
As Peacock continues to trail behind major players in the entertainment industry like Netflix, TikTok, and YouTube, the streaming service is adopting strategies similar to its rivals with two new initiatives: mini-games and a short-form vertical video feed. The company previewed these experiments at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday; Reddit unveiled new trends tools aimed at businesses and a new ad format for its Ask Me Anything (AMA) Q&A sessions; As a part of a significant o
CES 2025: Toyota is 'exploring rockets' and John Deere's new robot mowers
Japanese automaker Toyota is “exploring rockets,” chairman Akio Toyoda announced on stage at CES 2025 on Monday, while hinting at the idea of moving people through space. The rocketry mention on the CES 2025 stage came while Toyoda was in the middle of explaining how he views his company’s myriad technologies as “invention by kakezan,” or “invention by multiplication.” John Deere has a bunch of new products that it just showed off at CES 2025, including an electric robot lawnmower meant for comm
CES 2025: Therabody launches Coach, Full Nature Farms SmartAg, Kidde's Detectors with Ring Tech, and Hulu Live teaming with Fubo
Therabody, the maker of popular massage guns and other wellness devices, announced at CES 2025 that it’s launching an AI-powered digital recovery app called Coach by Therabody. While Therabody’s flagship app is designed to give you easy-to-follow proprietary routines, Coach takes recovery and wellness a step further by using data to understand users’ current needs; Agriculture, which consumes about 70% of global freshwater, is grappling with increased water scarcity and inefficient irrigation sy
Timekettle’s new earbuds, Circular's Ring 2, Birdfy's Smart Birdbath, and Roborock's RoboVac RoboArm
CES is this week in Las Vegas. Timekettle unveiled its latest earbuds, the W4 Pro. The product aims to up the ante on the startup’s focus by bringing real-time two-way translation to phone and video calls; Smart ring maker Circular announced its next-gen Ring 2 with ECG (electrocardiogram) functionality and AFib (atrial fibrillation) detection. The wearable is set to go on sale in February or Mach for $380; Birdify is showcasing the Bath Pro, taking a cue from products like the Bird Buddy and ap
US sanctions Chinese cyber firm linked to Flax Typhoon hacks
U.S. officials say the sanctioned Chinese firm provided botnet infrastructure for the China-backed hacking group Flax Typhoon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Will Smith eating spaghetti and other weird AI benchmarks that took off in 2024
When a company releases a new AI video generator, it’s not long before someone uses it to make a video of actor Will Smith eating spaghetti. It’s become something of a meme as well as a benchmark: Seeing whether a new video generator can realistically render Smith slurping down a bowl of noodles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volkswagen leak exposed, Free Apple TV+, Samsung now largest shareholder of Rainbow Robotics, and
The data was found exposed on an Amazon cloud server, and contained precise location data on thousands of vehicles. Also, the Competition and Markets Authority, the U.K.’s antitrust watchdog, has opened an investigation into whether IBM’s planned acquisition of cloud software vendor HashiCorp would affect competition. The CMA said Monday it was inviting comment on the merger from interested parties by January 16; Apple is allowing anyone to access its Apple TV+ streaming service for free this we
A Waymo robotaxi and a Serve delivery robot collided in Los Angeles ... and more Tech news
On December 27, a Waymo robotaxi and a Serve Robotics sidewalk delivery robot collided at a Los Angeles intersection, according to a video that’s circulating on social media. The footage shows a Serve bot crossing a street in West Hollywood at night and trying to get onto the sidewalk. Also, Treasury officials attributed the December theft of unclassified documents to China ... and Nearly a quarter century after its founding, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is gearing up to launch an orbital rocket for
The online moments that defined 2024
Ah, 2024: the year we debated how to pronounce “hawk tuah,” pondered the health benefits of eating rocks, and held space for a Broadway showstopper. It was a year when the discourse could feel shockingly pure and joyful — at least for a few minutes, before we all came tumbling back down to reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New Year’s cybersecurity resolutions that every startup should keep
These simple cybersecurity resolutions can help keep your startup protected from most malicious hackers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto industry groups sue IRS over broker reporting rule ... and more tech news
Three crypto industry groups — the DeFi Education Fund, the Blockchain Association, and the Texas Blockchain Council — are suing the Internal Revenue Service to block new regulations that require decentralized finance (DeFi) entities to report customer information. The IRS has been finalizing crypto tax regulations as part of the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Onyx Motorbikes is back, one year after its owner died leaving the company in shambles
A year after Onyx Motorbikes owner James Khatiblou died suddenly, leaving customers with unfulfilled orders and millions in unpaid debts, the brand has been revived by its original founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Executive assistants, high salaries, and other ways early-stage founders will trigger a seed VC
While most seed investors believe founders should spend their raised cash however they want to, those VCs will still be judging founders’ cash management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
‘Genius Girl’ goes from inspiring a Korean TV show character to raising a $100 million AI fund
Principle Venture Partners will write early-stage checks anywhere from $100,000 to “single digit millions.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why Apple sends spyware victims to this nonprofit security lab
Before the elections, the cybersecurity team of U.S. vice president and then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris reached out to Apple asking for help, according to Forbes, after a tool that’s designed to detect spyware on iPhones flagged anomalies on two devices belonging to campaign staffers. Apple declined to forensically analyze the phones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky launches Million Dollar fund, Apple and Meta battle it out, California banning ICE ... and more tech news
With 25M users, Bluesky launches a $1M fund to take on social media and AI. The fund will offer grants to those building on BlueSky’s open source AT Protocol. Apple and Meta go to war over interoperability vs. privacy. The two are warring in Europe over the balance between interoperability and privacy, Reuters reports. The fight focuses on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a competition regulation that requires designated gatekeepers (including Apple and Meta) not to restrict rival
With Neverless, former Revolut execs want to make meme coins easy to buy
There’s an ocean of meme coins beyond Dogecoin, and a new startup called Neverless wants to make it easier to get started with trading crypto, with a particular focus on providing access to small-cap tokens. This is an interesting new crypto startup, founded by three former executives at Revolut, the London-based fintech juggernaut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The DOJ wants a Perplexity executive to testify in its Google antitrust case
The US government is calling on a Perplexity executive to help make its case that Google is a monopolist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI is burying company web sites in search results, but Otterly.AI thinks it can help
Many sites saw their organic traffic decline in 2024, in big part due to the rise of AI-generated search results. Many queries no longer lead to click-throughs, and even when users click, it is hard for companies to get more context on searches made within apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pineapple on pizza is delicious — and if you disagree, you can’t log in to WordPress.org ... and more Tech News
There are few matters in life that divide a room more than the prudence of putting pineapple on pizza. But if you’re of the persuasion that tropical fruit has no place on a pie, you’ll have to swallow a bitter pill — if you want to access the WordPress.org developer portal and forum, at least. Waymo will begin testing its autonomous vehicle technology in Tokyo in early 2025, the first time the Alphabet company’s robotaxis have driven on public roads outside the U.S. The move to Japan is part of
Google DeepMind unveils a new video model to rival Sora
Google DeepMind, Google’s flagship AI research lab, wants to beat OpenAI at the video generation game — and it might just, at least for a little while. On Monday, DeepMind announced Veo 2, a next-gen video-generating AI and the successor to Veo, which powers a growing number of products across Google’s portfolio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK’s internet watchdog finalizes first set of rules for Online Safety law
On Monday, the U.K.’s internet regulator, Ofcom, published the first set of final guidelines for online service providers subject to the Online Safety Act. This starts the clock ticking on the sprawling online harms law’s first compliance deadline, which the regulator expects to kick in in three months’ time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What exactly is an AI agent?
Regardless of how they're defined, the agents are for helping complete tasks in an automated way with as little human interaction as possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky is at a crossroads and OpenAI blames ChatGPT outage on a ‘new telemetry service’
Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. Also, OpenAI is blaming one of the longest outages in its history on a “new telemetry service” gone awry. On Wednesday, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot platform, ChatGPT; its video generator, Sora; and its developer-facing API experienced major disruptions starting at around 3 p.m. Pacific. Learn more about your ad choices
Controversial EU ad campaign on X broke bloc’s own privacy rules
The European Union’s executive body is facing an embarrassing privacy scandal after it was confirmed on Friday that a Commission ad campaign on X (formerly Twitter) breached the EU’s own data protection rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
United and Air Canada can now use Apple AirTags to track lost luggage
Arriving in time for holiday travel and potentially lost luggage, a new feature that allows Apple AirTag owners to share the location of a lost item is now integrated with the customer service systems of two major airlines. United and Air Canada are the first launch partners for Apple’s “Find My Share Item Location” feature, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google wants to sell those Project Astra AR glasses some day, but it won’t be today
Google is slowly peeling back the curtain on its vision to, one day, sell you glasses with augmented reality and multimodal AI capabilities. The company’s plans for those glasses, however, are still blurry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Researchers uncover Chinese spyware used to target Android devices
The spyware, called EagleMsgSpy, has been used by Chinese law enforcement, according to cybersecurity firm Lookout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electrified Thermal Solutions has a plan to help industry replace natural gas with bricks
The startup has been working to imbue the humble brick with the ability to transform electricity into heat and store it for hours on end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A new wave of desalination startups argues that deeper is better
Advances in robotics and seabed electrification have enabled a trio of startups to pursue deep sea reverse osmosis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yelp adds AI-powered review insights to restaurants
Yelp is releasing several new features as part of its year-end release, including AI-powered review insights, a personalized home feed with new content types, and a redesigned inbox for business owners. When it comes to user-facing features, the company is now highlighting reviews in different categories, including food quality, service, and ambiance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dimension raises $500M second fund for investing at the intersection tech and life sciences
Many VCs, particularly newer firms, readily admit that 2024 has been a challenging year for raising fresh capital. Dimension Capital, a two-year-old venture outfit, had a different experience when raising its second fund. “Every investor from fund one came back very quickly." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ByteDance asks appeals court to temporarily block sell-or-ban law, Apple sued over abandoning CSAM detection for iCloud ... and more tech news
ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency motion on Monday asking an appeals court to temporally block the law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership by January 19. Also, Apple is being sued over its decision not to implement a system that would have scanned iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lawsuit argues that by not doing more to prevent the spread of this material, it’s forcing victims to relive their trauma, according
Former Lakers star launches VC firm, Lucid Motors completes Gravity SUV, Amp Robotics raises $91M, and Fly Ventures sets its eyes on technical founders
Former NBA Lakers star Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly known as Metta World Peace), has teamed up with Stephen Stokols, the former CEO of Boost Mobile, to launch Tru Skye Ventures, a firm looking to invest in sports and health tech, according to Sportico. Also, The first Lucid Motors Gravity SUV has rolled off the company’s production line in Casa Grande, Arizona, according to a post on X. The company will now set its aim on ramping up production of the new electric vehicle and making the first
OpenAI’s o1 model sure tries to deceive humans a lot
OpenAI finally released the full version of o1, which gives smarter answers than GPT-4o by using additional compute to “think” about questions. However, AI safety testers found that o1’s reasoning abilities also make it try to deceive humans at a higher rate than GPT-4o. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo outsources fleet operations to African fintech Moove in Phoenix and Miami
Waymo is partnering with Moove, an African mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to gig workers, to handle fleet management operations for its robotaxi service in Phoenix and, soon, Miami. The partnership marks several firsts, like Waymo’s entry into Miami. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is reshaping social media, but advertising isn’t off the table
Bluesky has blown up this year thanks to a vibrant community of posters, user customization choices, and a decentralized protocol that doesn’t lock users into the choices of a billionaire CEO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Growl is building the Peloton of boxing
There’s a new connected fitness device in town and it’s called Growl. Inspired by hardware companies like Peloton or Tonal, Growl is building a boxing bag that you can attach to your wall at home. Users can then start immersive, gamified boxing classes from the comfort of their home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify Wrapped 2024 adds an AI podcast powered by Google’s NotebookLM
Spotify Wrapped, the streamer’s highly anticipated annual listening recap, has arrived. In addition to its usual personalized summary detailing your favorite artists, songs, podcasts, and more, the company this year is introducing two new features, including most notably, an AI-powered podcast of your 2024 Wrapped created with Google’s AI summarization tool, NotebookLM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The race is on to make AI agents do your online shopping for you
Millions of Americans will pop open their laptops to buy gifts this holiday season, but tech companies are racing to turn the job of online shopping over to AI agents instead. Perplexity recently released an AI shopping agent for its paying customers in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US agency proposes new rule blocking data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive personal data
The U.S. consumer protection agency said it's closing the loophole to block the "widespread evasion" of federal law by data brokers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Study of ChatGPT citations makes dismal reading for publishers
As more publishers cut content licensing deals with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, a study put out this week by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism — looking at how the AI chatbot produces citations (i.e. sources) for publishers’ content — makes for interesting, or, well, concerning, reading Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky promises more verification and an ‘aggressive’ approach to impersonation
As more celebrities and popular influencers join Bluesky, the fast-growing social media service has been facing more concerns around impersonation and verified identity. The Bluesky Safety team posted Friday that the company has updated its impersonation policy to be “more aggressive,” adding that “impersonation and handle-squatting accounts will be removed.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Intenty nudges you to provide a reason every time you unlock your phone
Intentional phone usage is a tricky habit to develop. Operating systems like iOS and Android, along with social media networks like Instagram and TikTok, have built timers, nudges, and controls around the usage of the apps or the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta plans to build a $10B subsea cable spanning the world
Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is the second-biggest driver of internet usage globally. Its properties — and their billions of users — account for 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile traffic. Meta’s investments into artificial intelligence stand to boost that usage even further. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTC finds that smart device makers fail to make clear how long their products will be supported
A new paper from the Federal Trade Commission found that many smart device makers fail to disclose to consumers how long they will provide software updates for their products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Audio platform Pocket FM taps into AI tools help it expand content catalog
India-based audio platform Pocket FM has more than 200,000 hours of content on the service. However, the company’s CEO, Rohan Nayak, believes that the platform still has room to grow in terms of creating original content and expanding its library to multiple genres and sub-genres. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Intel and Biden Administration finalize $7.86B deal to fund domestic chip manufacturing
The U.S. Department of Commerce today confirmed it has awarded $7.865 billion to chip giant Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, a federal statute signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Say goodbye to freeform ‘dockless’ e-bike parking in London: TFL debuts new rules to reduce bike mess on streets
London is putting the brakes on the mess of e-bikes that litter the streets of the city. Today, the local transportation authority, Transport for London, announced a new enforcement policy that will restrict parking for the tens of thousands of e-bikes rented on-demand from companies like Lime, HumanForest and Dott. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple will never stop thinking about making a TV, Aussie government drops misinformation bill, Bending Spoons taking Brightcove private, and a digital “you” can sit through your Zoom calls
It’s not exactly a secret that Apple has explored the possibility of building a television. Before his death in 2011, co-founder Steve Jobs famously told biographer Walter Isaacson that he’d “finally cracked it,” but no full-fledged Apple TV (as opposed to the Apple TV set-top box) has emerged in the years since; The Australian government has withdrawn a bill that would have fined online platforms up to 5 percent of their global revenue if they failed to stop the spread of misinformation. The bi
Raspberry Pi releases the Pico 2 W, a $7 wireless-enabled microcontroller board
Meet the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, a tiny board designed around a microcontroller that lets you build hardware projects at scale. Raspberry Pi is once again using the RP2350, its own, well-documented microcontroller. But what is a microcontroller again? As the name suggests, microcontrollers let you control other electronic components or devices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brave Search adds AI chat for follow-up questions after your initial query
Brave announced on Thursday that it’s introducing an AI chat mode for follow-up questions based on initial queries on Brave Search. Earlier this year, the company launched “Answer with AI” summaries that appear above search results after you submit a query to give you an easy-to-read answer in response to a question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Texas AG opens investigation into advertising group that Elon Musk sued for ‘boycotting’ X
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Thursday he is opening an investigation into the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to determine whether the trade group’s members conspired to boycott “certain social media platforms.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lightning looks to make managing AI a piece of cake
AI may be the hottest thing since sliced bread. But that doesn’t mean it’s getting easier to develop and run. According to a recent Boston Consulting Group poll, 74% of organizations are struggling to derive value from their AI investments Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
‘PDF to Brainrot’ study tools are a strange iteration on a TikTok trend
Several AI-based study tools are capitalizing on a “PDF to Brainrot” trend, which will read the text of a document you upload over “oddly satisfying” videos, like ASMR clips of mixing paint and cutting soap, or gameplay footage from Minecraft and Subway Surfers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kim Kardashian has befriended Optimus, the Tesla bot, VW taps former Rivian exec, and more
Kim Kardashian’s new beaux is a Tesla bot named Optimus. The fashion mogul got some hands-on experience with Tesla’s bipedal, human-shaped robot, which is not yet available to the general public. In Kardashian’s videos with the robot — posted to X and her Instagram story; Volkswagen of America has a new CEO: Rivian’s recently departed chief commercial officer Kjell Gruner. The appointment comes just one week after VW parent company Volkswagen Group formalized a $5.8 billion joint venture with Ri
UK open to social media ban for kids as gov’t kicks off feasibility study
The U.K. government is not ruling out further beefing up existing online safety rules by adding an Australian-style ban on social media for under 16s technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Itching to write a book? AI publisher Spines wants to make a deal
Generative AI has upended how we write things… or even if we write at all. Now a startup wants to be the main character in the next chapter of that story: AI that replaces the role of the publisher. Spines is a self-publishing platform that claims that — thanks to being powered by artificial intelligence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Lens can now check prices and inventory when shopping in the real world
After building out Google Lens to help users shop online more easily, Google is now updating the product to help people shop when they’re in a physical store by offering product insights, price comparisons, and local inventory availability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roblox no longer allows users under 13 to message others outside of games
Roblox will not let users under the age of 13 message others outside of games and experiences on the platform, the company said Friday. Roblox also announced a series of other built-in protections for young users, such as age-gating certain experiences, along with enhanced parental controls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What is Bluesky when it’s not the underdog?
Bluesky is having a moment — a moment that’s already stretched on for nearly three months. Over the summer, the social media app saw a wave of new signups in Brazil after X (formerly Twitter) was temporarily banned there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
JobGet, a ‘LinkedIn’ for hourly workers, acquires rival Snagajob
If you’re an hourly worker, the number of go-to options you have for finding new jobs is shrinking a little. JobGet — a Boston startup that operates an hourly job-hunting site with social features built in, a la LinkedIn — is acquiring Snagajob, one of its rivals in the U.S. market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How social app Spill plans to capitalize on the exodus from X
Social networking rivals continue to benefit from the user exodus from X. Spill, the social app founded by two former Twitter employees, released a statement claiming it has also seen a jump in users after the U.S. Presidential election, following similar news by Bluesky, which gained more than 2 million users during that time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify will start paying video podcast hosts based on how well their videos perform
Spotify announced on Wednesday that it will start paying podcast hosts who make popular videos on its streaming platform, as the company looks to take on YouTube’s dominance in the video podcast space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PayPal will once again let you pool money from family and friends to pay for things together
PayPal is launching a few features that let users in groups pool money with friends or family, to collectively pay for trips, travels, gifts, and anything else. The company is launching this feature in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Italy, and Spain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Generative disinfo is real — you’re just not the target, warns deepfake tracking nonprofit
Many feared that the 2024 election would be affected, and perhaps decided, by AI-generated disinformation. While there was some to be found, it was far less than anticipated. But don’t let that fool you: the disinfo threat is real — you’re just not the target. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA awards ‘sustainable’ aircraft concepts $11.5M
The future of aircraft may look very similar to today’s superficially — but under the hood (or sitting next to the tailfins) they will likely be quite different. That’s the future NASA is hoping to nurture with five research awards worth $11.5 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Red Hat acquires AI optimization startup Neural Magic
Red Hat, the IBM-owned open source software firm, is acquiring Neural Magic, a startup that optimizes AI algorithms to run on commodity processors. The transaction is subject to applicable regulatory reviews and other customary closing conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon attempts to lure AI researchers with $110M in grants and credits
There’s an AI chip battle brewing among the major cloud vendors. Google’s Trillium, a custom chip for training and running AI models, recently entered preview, and Microsoft’s Maia is expected to follow in short order. Not to be outdone, Amazon Web Services has AI chips, too: Trainium, Inferentia, and Graviton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Standing desks don’t do squat, X testing a free version of Grok, TSMC halted advanced chip shipments, and Encore is an AI-powered search engine for your thrifting needs
Over the years, numerous startups have gained traction by designing, making and selling standing desks as part of a workspace innovation trend to promote better health, and a lot of executives swear by them, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, who once called sitting “the new cancer.”; Social network X has so far limited its AI chatbot Grok (built by Elon Musk’s other company xAI) to its premium, paying users. However, the platform is seemingly preparing to open up the chatbot to free users; After a c
From self-driving cars to AI that writes enterprise software: Cogna founder raises $15M
A founder who was an early mover in the race to build autonomous vehicles has raised $15 million for his next act: a startup that claims its AI can write enterprise software on its own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Productivity hacks are overrated, says a16z VC who sold his own startup for $1.25B
What’s the secret to success? It isn’t any of the trends that so many founders in Silicon Valley subscribe to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s the Senate’s last chance to pass the PRESS Act
The PRESS Act would protect a journalist's sources, and gained unanimous bipartisan support when passed by the House in January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic teams up with Palantir and AWS to sell its AI to defense customers
Anthropic today announced that it’s teaming up with Palantir, the data-mining company, and Amazon Web Services to provide U.S. intelligence and defense agencies access to Anthropic’s Claude 3 and 3.5 family of AI models. The news comes as a growing number of AI vendors, for strategic and revenue-related reasons, look to ink deals with U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The FTC comes after neobank Dave for misleading marketing, hidden fees
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Tuesday it will be taking action against the online cash app and neobank Dave, which it says used “misleading marketing to deceive consumers.” At issue is how Dave marketed $500 cash advances to consumers that it rarely offered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI coding assistants can help startups develop products, seed VCs believe
By now, there’s hardly a coder in the world who isn’t using an AI copilot in some way. But using GitHub Copilot or Cursor.AI to ask technical questions and get debugging help could be just the beginning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lyft partners with May Mobility, Mobileye to bring autonomous vehicles to the app
It seems Lyft is hoping to catch up to Uber’s string of autonomous vehicle partnerships. Lyft announced Wednesday three separate partnerships — with startup May Mobility, automated driving company Mobileye and smart dashcam firm Nexar — all aimed at establishing a foothold in the emerging autonomous vehicle market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI safety advocates tell founders to slow down
“Move cautiously and red-team things” is sadly not as catchy as “move fast and break things.” But three AI safety advocates made it clear to startup founders that going too fast can lead to ethical issues in the long run. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Can Pictionary and Minecraft test AI models’ ingenuity?
Most AI benchmarks don’t tell us much. They ask questions that can be solved with rote memorization, or cover topics that aren’t relevant to the majority of users. So some AI enthusiasts are turning to games as a way to test AIs’ problem-solving skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X updates block feature, letting blocked users see your public posts, Threads now has 275M monthly active users, OpenAI has hired the co-founder of Pebble, and MIT debuted am LLM-inspired method for teaching robots new skills
Go to TechCrunch.com for more tech stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
U.S. laws regulating AI prove elusive, but there may be hope
Can the U.S. meaningfully regulate AI? It’s not at all clear yet. Policymakers have achieved progress in recent months, but they’ve also had setbacks, illustrating the challenging nature of laws imposing guardrails on the technology. In March, Tennessee became the first state to protect voice artists from unauthorized AI cloning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Maps is getting new AI features powered by Gemini
Google Maps is getting new features powered by Gemini, Google’s generative AI model. On Thursday the company announced incoming updates that will allow Google Maps users in the U.S. to tap into AI to help them find new places to visit and answer questions about different locations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Carl Pei says Nothing could build its own operating system
Two mobile operating systems currently comprise nearly 100% of the global smartphone market. Building one is hard, and for most phone makers, there are better uses of resources, especially when Android is right there for the taking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Space CEOs talk about the challenges and opportunities of selling defense tech
Space executives took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Monday to talk about the challenges and opportunities of building out dual-use technology, or tech that has both a defense and a commercial use case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Temu’s low cost marketplace faces formal probe in EU over raft of DSA compliance concerns
The European Union has expanded its scrutiny of online marketplaces by opening a formal proceeding on Chinese low cost ecommerce platform, Temu, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission announced Thursday. Enforcers of the online governance framework will now dial up their oversight of Temu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ForceField helps detect deepfakes and digital deception by verifying source data
A new startup setting out to combat the scourge of deepfakes and spoofed evidence in the age of AI is showing off its wares on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Archon emerges from stealth and Haptic’s touch-based navigation helps blind and sighted alike
Meet Luna, a health and well-being app for teen girls that is designed to help them navigate teenhood. The app lets teens ask questions about their health and wellness and get responses from experts. It also lets them track their periods, moods, and skin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why Crosscut Ventures is ‘following the founders’ into climate, space, and beyond
The focus of the new $100 million fund, Crosscut’s sixth, will include energy and power, space and underwater exploration, advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, and security and defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Popular calendar app Fantastical lands on Windows
Buzzy calendar apps tend to make a big splash and disappear after a while. Sometimes they get acquired, sometimes the company pivots to something else. That’s not the case with Fantastical, a popular calendar app for macOS, iOS, and other Apple platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
McDonald’s broken ice cream machines could get fixed faster thanks to new federal rule ... and more tech news
McDonald’s ice cream machines have developed a lousy reputation for being broken when you visit the restaurant, largely due to strict copyright laws that only permit specially licensed technicians to legally repair them. The manufacturers have to license each technician, and they put locks on the McFlurry machines to prevent others from repairing them; A federal jury ruled Friday that Masimo smartwatches infringed Apple patents, but Apple isn’t getting a big payday. Bloomberg Law reports that th
What are AI ‘world models,’ and why do they matter?
World models, also known as world simulators, are being touted by some as the next big thing in AI. AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs has raised $230 million to build “large world models,” and DeepMind hired one of the creators of OpenAI’s video generator, Sora, to work on “world simulators.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Scout reveals its EV vision and it includes a model with a gas-powered generator
Scout Motors, the Volkswagen Group spinoff, unveiled Thursday two EVs it hopes will hook American customers with modern-meets-rugged styling that downplays digital and embraces the mechanical. The catch? The company will also offer variants to its all-electric Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra Truck that will come equipped with a built-in gas-powered generator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airdog’s founders are back with a precision-strike drone meant for modern warfare
The war in Ukraine has shown that warfare changes by the day. It’s also clear that the tech used to make war today is costly: While larger countries can afford legions of tanks, helicopters, and precision-strike systems, smaller nations find themselves scrambling for cheaper ways to defend themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cafeteria raises $3M so teens can tell Nike to get Adam Sandler as a brand ambassador
Brands often rely on scraping the web and monitoring social media to understand what customers are saying about them and get insights for product development. Cafeteria is a startup that wants to connect brands to their most opinionated customers: teens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After selling Anchor to Spotify, co-founders reunite to build AI educational startup Oboe
The co-founders who sold their last startup to Spotify are working on a new project: an AI-powered educational startup called Oboe backed by a $4 million seed investment. The new company, hailing from Nir Zicherman and Michael Mignano, aims to democratize access to learning the way that their prior startup, Anchor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ex-SpaceX engineers land $14M to scale new method for 3D printing metal
3D printing objects using metal is a well-established technique, but it tends to be too complex, expensive, or imprecise to match traditional methods at scale. Armed with $14 million from Nvidia and Boeing, Freeform aims to change that, building a new metal additive printing process that they say changes the game Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic’s new AI model can control your PC
Anthropic has released an updated version of its Claude 3.5 Sonnet model with a new Computer Use feature that can interact with apps on a PC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Passionfroot is a marketplace for business-focused content creators looking for brand partnerships — and vice versa
As the creator economy is growing rapidly, brand partnerships remain one of the prime ways creators can earn money. Other services like link-in-bio apps with affiliate links or Pateron-like subscriptions become secondary ways to increase creators’ income. For platforms and startup, the biggest challenge remains to match brands and creators for collaboration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tim Cook's safe choice, Meta's Ray Bans hot sellers, Meta suspends accounts tracking celebs, Zoom partners with Suki, and Highlight spins out of Medal
This week’s cover of WSJ Magazine is extremely minimalistic. That’s not surprising given that the main story is an in-depth interview with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and the king of minimalistic design; Instagram and Threads accounts that track the private jets of celebrities – including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Kylie Jenner – were suspended on Monday, according to the owner of many such accounts, Florida college student, Jack Sweeney. Links to Inst
Meta tests facial recognition for spotting ‘celeb-bait’ ads scams and easier account recovery
Meta is expanding tests of facial recognition as an anti-scam measure to combat celebrity scam ads and more broadly, the Facebook owner announced Monday. Monika Bickert, Meta’s VP of content policy, wrote in a blog post that some of the tests aim to bolster its existing anti-scam measures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Perplexity looking to fundraise at an $8B valuation, Lyft is working on a ‘service animal opt-in feature’, DJI sues Department of Defense, and Can AI sandbag safety checks?
AI search engine Perplexity is in fundraising talks and hopes to raise around $500 million at an $8 billion valuation, according to the Wall Street Journal. If a deal happens with those terms, it would more than double Perplexity’s valuation from its $3 billion valuation when it raised from SoftBank over the summer; Uber and Lyft need to do more to support disabled passengers, especially those who are blind or visually impaired, according to protesters who gathered outside the companies’ headqua
Experts say OpenAI’s patent pledge amounts to little more than ‘virtue signaling’
OpenAI quietly published a statement on its website pledging not to use its patents offensively. Asserting its commitment to the principles of “broad access” and “collaboration,” OpenAI said that it would only use its patents in a way that supports innovation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sam Altman’s Worldcoin becomes World, and shows new iris-scanning ‘Orb’ to prove your humanity
Worldcoin, the Sam Altman co-founded “proof of personhood” crypto startup that scans people’s eyeballs, announced on Thursday that it dropped the “coin” from its name and is now just “World.” The startup also unveiled its next generation of iris-scanning “Orb” and other tools at a live event in San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram rolls out new safety features to protect teens from sextortion
Instagram is introducing a series of new safety features to protect users from sextortion scammers, the company announced on Thursday. Most notably, the company is no longer going to allow people to screenshot or screen record ephemeral images or videos sent in private messages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Can AI make us feel less alone? The founder of Manifest thinks so
Amy Wu, founder of the AI-based mental health app Manifest, has a bold prediction for the next wave of tech. “Separately from the AI trend, I think so many people are seeing this loneliness epidemic that’s happening with Gen Z,” she said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Doctors complain of IT ‘in the stone age’, Waymo's honking apology, Mastodon toys, and more
The United Kingdom’s NHS — the world’s largest public health service — is working on creaking IT infrastructure. In any sector, that’s a ticking time bomb. But when you consider that the NHS holds medical records for nearly 67 million people, a breach of that system could become a meltdown; Sophia Tung set up a livestream this past summer, showing self-driving Waymo cars honking from the San Francisco parking lot near her apartment at all hours of the night; Meta’s X rival Threads is rolling out
How Tesla’s plans for ‘unsupervised FSD’ and robotaxis could run into red tape
During Tesla’s much-hyped robotaxi reveal event last week, CEO Elon Musk said he expects Tesla to release an “unsupervised” version of FSD, the automaker’s advanced driver assistance system, in Texas and California in 2025 on certain Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla Optimus bots were controlled by humans during the ‘We, Robot’ event
During Tesla’s “We, Robot” event last week, which TechCrunch covered late into the night,, sources on the ground sent me a handful of videos of the automaker’s Optimus humanoid robots walking around the party, dancing, mixing drinks, and talking to guests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google signed a deal to power data centers with nuclear micro-reactors from Kairos — but the 2030 timeline is very optimistic
With the deal, Google joins Microsoft and Amazon in turning to nuclear power to satiate its thirst for electricity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Constellation Technologies & Operations wants to work with telecom operators to deliver 5G internet from space
The telecom industry is undergoing its greatest period of disruption since the telegraph, as companies work to open up space as the next frontier for communications. French startup Constellation hopes to take part by repurposing 5G tech to provide a Starlink-like satellite broadband that uses telecoms’ existing assets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Casio confirms customer data compromised in ransomware attack
A ransomware and extortion racket called Underground has claimed responsibility for the breach on its dark web leak site, which TechCrunch has seen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX alums are working to raise a hefty $550M first deep tech fund
Interlagos, the venture capital firm started by former senior SpaceX leaders, is looking to raise $550 million for its first venture fund, according to regulatory filings and a confidential deck sent to prospective LPs and viewed by TechCrunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky joins Threads to court users frustrated by Meta’s moderation issues
Social networking startup Bluesky is seizing the moment. Amid ongoing moderation issues affecting X rival Instagram Threads, the decentralized X competitor Bluesky has created an account on Meta’s newest platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A reporter used AI to apply to 2,843 jobs, Internet Archive slammed by DDoS attack, Scope3 starts tracking the carbon footprint of AI, and Opera’s new feature lets you group, pin and close tabs through natural language commands
AI is spamming up job applications. 404 Media’s Jason Koebler writes about how he used a free tool, AI Hawk, to apply for 17 jobs in an hour while working a restaurant shift — only stopping when he’d reached 2,843; The Internet Archive, the nonprofit organization that digitizes and archives materials like web pages, came under attack Wednesday; The startup, which already monitors the climate impact of digital advertising, is expanding to include artificial intelligence; Opera browser has a new A
Antitrust challenge to Facebook’s ‘superprofiling’ finally wraps in Germany — with Meta agreeing to data limits
A multi-year competition challenge to Facebook (aka Meta), which saw Germany’s antitrust authority become a pioneering champion for privacy rights in 2019 after it sought to block the social media giant’s ‘superprofiling’ of users on the grounds that consentless cross-site tracking of users is an “exploitative abuse” of Facebook’s monopoly position, finally concluded Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
North American robotics sales declined in first half of 2024
Even a category as hot as robotics is not immune from macroeconomic trends. According to figures from automation advocacy group, A3, the North American robotics market declined in the first half of 2024, both in terms of sales and revenue. The number of industrial robotics ordered in H1 declined 7.5% year-over-year to 15,705. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Billionaire Robinhood co-founder launches Aetherflux, a space-based solar power startup
It’s been the stuff of science fiction for decades: to provide gigawatts of cheap, clean power anywhere on Earth, day or night, using satellites that collect and transmit solar energy directly on orbit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adobe proposes a way to protect artists from AI ripoffs
As the engine powering the world’s digital artists, Adobe has a big responsibility to mitigate the rise of AI-driven deepfakes, misinformation, and content theft. In the first quarter of 2025, Adobe is launching its Content Authenticity web app in beta, allowing creators to apply content credentials to their work, certifying it as their own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Emma Watson invests in reproductive health company Hertility
Actress Emma Watson has made a previously undisclosed investment into the women’s health company Hertility, bringing its total funding to more than $14 million, the company told TechCrunch in an interview on Monday. Watson is known for her interest in the environment and supporting women-led initiatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sonair takes a cue from dolphins to build autonomous 3D vision sans LIDAR
Ultrasound is perhaps best known as the technology that enables non-invasive body scans, underwater communication, and to help us park our cars. A young startup called Sonair out of Norway wants to employ it for something else: 3D computer vision used in autonomous hardware applications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What’s in the rug? How TikTok got swept into a real-time true crime story
A woman in Ohio is being haunted by ghosts. Or, maybe she’s not. There’s a dead body buried underneath her house, rolled up inside a rug. Or, there’s actually no body at all, despite signals from cadaver dogs. This week’s biggest drama on TikTok tells the story of a woman from Ohio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian deliveries fall, Waymo’s next robotaxi will be the Hyundai IONIQ 5, and YouTube takes on TikTok
Rivian says it will build fewer vehicles this year than it did in 2023, the result of a supply chain problem that popped up in the third quarter that has “become more acute in recent weeks.” The company did not specify what specific component is impacted; Waymo has struck a deal with Hyundai to bring the IONIQ 5 EV to its robotaxi network, adding another autonomous vehicle option as it scales up its business. The autonomous vehicle company announced Friday that it expects to start on-road testin
Even the ‘godmother of AI’ has no idea what AGI is
Are you confused about artificial general intelligence, or AGI? It’s that thing OpenAI is obsessed with ultimately creating in a way that “benefits all of humanity.” You may want to take them seriously since they just raised $6.6 billion to get closer to that goal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hedosophia leads $7M seed round into retail supply chain AI startup Ameba
Ameba takes the unstructured data in a retailer’s supply chain systems, sprinkles in some generative AI, and makes the whole thing more efficient. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Femtech startup Perelel is acquiring Founders Fund-backed sexual health startup LOOM
The past few years have seen the topic of women’s health thrown into the sociopolitical spotlight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hedosophia leads $7M seed round into retail supply chain AI startup Ameba
Ameba takes the unstructured data in a retailer’s supply chain systems, sprinkles in some generative AI, and makes the whole thing more efficient. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Femtech startup Perelel is acquiring Founders Fund-backed sexual health startup LOOM
The past few years have seen the topic of women’s health thrown into the sociopolitical spotlight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK unmasks LockBit ransomware affiliate as high-ranking hacker in Russia state-backed cybercrime gang
Evil Corp maintains a "privileged" relationship with the Kremlin, and was often tasked with launching cyberattacks on behalf of Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft Copilot can now read your screen, think deeply, and speak aloud to you
Microsoft has given its Copilot assistant on Windows a makeover — and a voice. Copilot can now read your screen, speak aloud, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gov. Newsom vetoes California’s controversial AI bill, SB 1047
California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a high-profile bill that would have was regulated the development of AI. The bill was authored by State Senator Scott Wiener and would have made companies that develop the largest AI models liable for implementing safety protocols to prevent “critical harms.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Canoo hit with two supplier lawsuits as last remaining co-founder leaves
EV startup Canoo has been hit with two new lawsuits from suppliers linked to the drivetrains that power its electric vehicles, just weeks after the company kicked off a major reorganization that included the departure of its chief technology officer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta offers a glimpse through its supposed iPhone killer: Orion
For years, Silicon Valley and Wall Street have questioned Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to invest tens of billions of dollars into Reality Labs. This week, Meta’s wearables division unveiled a prototype of its Orion smart glasses, a form factor the company believes one day could replace the iPhone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As war rages in Ukraine, investment in European defense and dual-use tech skyrockets
A new Dealroom report shows that VC investment in defense-related tech is outpacing any other type of investment across NATO member states and allies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After is a new dating app that tries to tackle ghosting
A new female-founded dating app called After is launching in Austin, Texas on Thursday with the mission of tackling ghosting and holding people accountable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tomasz Tunguz’s Theory Ventures bets $12M on Initia, the ‘iOS for web3’
The promise of blockchain to change the world hasn’t materialized. For the most part, the technology has instead enabled people to speculate on a new asset class. A big hurdle to realizing blockchain’s full potential, web3 proponents argue, is that decentralized services are incredibly hard to build. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Legal ping-pong in the WordPress world continues as Automattic sends WP Engine a cease-and-desist letter alleging trademark infringement
The brouhaha in the WordPress community looks likely to escalate into a legal battle around trademarks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian reveals first $10M in grants for long-promised Rivian Foundation
Rivian has revealed the first $10 million worth of grants from the Rivian Foundation, just three years after promising to make the “natural world” a “stakeholder in our success.” The company launched a website for the foundation on Monday that details 41 grantees who will collectively receive just north of $10 million in funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How Big Tech embraced nuclear power
Companies are eyeing nuclear power as a way to reconcile their breakneck data center growth with their commitments to hit net zero carbon emissions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electric outboard startup Pure Watercraft is selling itself for parts
A tough market seems to have put an end to Pure's ambitions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ibotta’s CEO explains why startups shouldn’t try to time the IPO market
The IPO market has not roared back in 2024 as many investors hoped it would — not yet, at least. Elevated interest rates (this week’s 50 bps rate cut notwithstanding) and uncertainty related to the U.S. election have prompted many companies to stay private and wait for better market conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk’s reposts of Kamala Harris deepfakes may not fly under new California law
California’s newest law could land social media users who post, or repost, AI deepfakes that deceive voters about upcoming elections in legal trouble. Governor Gavin Newsom suggests that AB 2839, which went into effect immediately after he signed it on Tuesday, could be used to reel in Elon Musk’s retweets, among others who spread deceptive messages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MIT's 3D printed glass blocks for construction, a robotic knee, a lucrative side hustle, and Varma abandons human musicians
The team points to glass’ optical properties and its “infinite recyclability” as reasons for turning to the material; Also, test subjects were required to move a 30-pound kettlebell up and down a flight of stairs; a New York Times article Thursday highlighted a lucrative side hustle that is emblematic of the times we live in: gaming algorithms to earn money. In this case, folks figured out they could maximize the payout from Lyft’s Citibike “bike angels” program by taking advantage of a company
Amazon releases a video generator — but only for ads
Like its rival, Google, Amazon has launched an AI-powered video generator — but it’s only for advertisers at the moment, and somewhat limited in what it can do. Today at its Accelerate conference, Amazon unveiled Video generator, which turns a single product image into a few-seconds-long video clip after a few minutes of processing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Upchieve, an online tutor app for low-income students, launches a free tool for teachers
Upchieve, the free, 24/7 online tutoring and college counseling app for low-income students, announced Thursday it’s giving teachers in Title 1 middle schools and high schools a new tool to ensure their students get the academic support they need. The new offering, called “Upchieve for Teachers,” allows teachers to offer 1:1 support to their students. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
California’s 5 new AI laws crack down on election deepfakes and actor clones
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed some of America’s toughest laws yet regulating the artificial intelligence sector. Three of these laws crack down on AI deepfakes that could influence elections, while two others prohibit Hollywood studios from creating an AI clone of an actor’s body or voice without their consent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
23andMe sees independent board directors quit en masse, BlackRock & Microsoft planning megafund, and more news
23andMe, the personal genomics company, went public in early 2021 via a merger with a blank check company that valued it at $3.5 billion. Then its fortunes began to sink. Fading interest in DNA kits – 23andMe’s main product – was one driver.; Investment powerhouse BlackRock is set to launch a massive AI-focused investment fund, exceeding $30 billion, in collaboration with Microsoft and the Abu Dhabi-backed investment outfit MGX, the FT reported today. According to the outlet, the fund — among Wa
Slack is turning into an AI agent hub. Should it?
The head of Slack, Denise Dresser, tells TechCrunch she is shifting the business chat platform into a “work operating system,” specifically by making Slack a hub for AI applications from Salesforce, Adobe, and Anthropic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram tightens restrictions on teen use, putting parents in control
Instagram is introducing Teen Accounts to automatically enroll young users into an app experience with built-in protections. The company announced that starting on Tuesday, it will start placing all current and future accounts held by a teenager into a Teen Account. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
IBM makes developing for quantum computers easier with the Qiskit Functions Catalog
IBM today launched the Qiskit Functions Catalog, a new set of services that aims to make programming quantum computers easier by abstracting away many of the complexities of working with these machines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
U.S. government expands sanctions against spyware maker Intellexa
This latest round of government sanctions land months after Intellexa's founder Tal Dilian was sanctioned for selling the Predator spyware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shopsense AI lets music fans buy dupes inspired by red-carpet looks at the VMAs
At the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) on Wednesday night, new technology allowed fans to shop their favorite artist’s styles as they appeared on the screen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo robotaxis in Austin & Atlanta soon, Spotify and parent-managed accounts for kids, Meta making AI info less visible, and Alternative app stores allowed on Apple iPad soon
Uber riders in Austin and Atlanta will be able to hail a Waymo robotaxi through the app in early 2025 as part of an expanded partnership between the two companies. Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have been available on the Uber app in Phoenix since October 2023; Following the moves of other tech giants, Spotify announced on Friday it’s introducing in-app parental controls in the form of “managed accounts” for listeners under the age of 13. The new feature will initially be offered as a pilot progra
iFixit marks iPhone 16 arrival with battery-powered soldering iron launch
iFixit, everyone’s favorite gadget repair gadfly, is launching a portable soldering iron. The gadget is designed to make component repair more accessible for home users. The timing of the announcement isn’t lost on anyone, dropping the same week as Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple AirPods Pro granted FDA approval to serve as hearing aids ... and more tech news
The FDA on Thursday announced that it has granted what it calls “the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device, Hearing Aid Feature.”; DeepMind employed a new learning platform, ALOHA Unleashed, paired with its simulation program, DemoStart, to teach robots by watching humans; Google Wallet will test a feature that turns your US passport into a digital ID; The White House has announced that several major AI vendors, including OpenAI and Microsoft, have committed to taking steps to
SpaceX calls out “superfluous” regulatory delays holding up Starship flights
SpaceX has put on its most public and aggressive offensive against regulators to date, with a blog post published Tuesday urging more expeditious launch licensing — lest the country lose its place as the leader in the global space race. Orbital launch is a tightly regulated industry governed chiefly by the Federal Aviation Administration, though Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Senate leaders ask FTC to investigate AI content summaries as anti-competitive
A group of Democratic senators is urging the FTC and Justice Department to investigate whether AI tools that summarize and regurgitate online content like news and recipes may amount to anti-competitive practices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The real power of Apple Intelligence will show up in third-party apps
Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s new set of AI capabilities arriving in iOS 18, is laying the groundwork for a new way to use apps. Today, the dated App Store model is under constant regulatory attack. Meanwhile, users can accomplish a lot of tasks with fairly simple questions to an AI assistant like ChatGPT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bumble to leverage AI to help users with profile creation and conversations
Bumble is increasing its investments in AI and branching out with new features to stay relevant amid a generational shift in dating behavior among younger users. During Goldman Sachs’ annual technology conference on Monday, Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones unveiled more details about the app’s upcoming AI capabilities, including a photo selection tool as well as features to help with conversations and profile creation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Intelligence delays could impede iPhone 16 ‘supercycle’, Bluesky grows to 9M+ users, and more
When Apple unveiled its AI plans at WWDC in June, analysts suggested the feature could put the iPhone 16 on track for another “supercycle.” Like the addition of 5G before it, industry watchers believed that Apple Intelligence’s arrival might convince holdouts to bite the bullet and upgrade their device. Also, Bluesky keeps growing: The company announced that as of Friday morning, it had added 3 million new users, bringing its total user count to more than 9 million. In other words, the social pl
The Try Guys say their subscription strategy is starting to work and Bending Spoons laying off workers
After a rough couple years, YouTube creators The Try Guys said they’re on-track to reach profitability, with subscriptions to their three-month-old, ad-free service 2nd Try now accounting for 20% of the company’s revenue. Of course, those numbers also mean The Try Guys remain reliant on other revenue streams, including YouTube advertising. Also, Italy-based app company Bending Spoons, which owns Evernote and Meetup, is planning to lay off 75% of the staff of file transfer service WeTransfer, Tec
Mintlify is building a next-gen platform for writing software docs
Mintlify offers a collection of documentation-authoring tools, including tools that can auto-generate docs from codebases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Salesforce acquires data management firm Own for $1.9B in cash
Salesforce has acquired Own Company, a provider of data management and protection solutions, for $1.9 billion in cash. In a press release, Salesforce GM Steve Fisher said in a statement that Own “underscores [Salesforce’s] commitment to providing secure, end-to-end solutions that protect our customers’ most valuable data.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
E-bike maker Cowboy raises a small funding round as it targets profitability next year
Cowboy has closed funding of around $5.5 million. With this recent funding round, Cowboy is now valued at €40 million on a pre-money basis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Verizon acquires Frontier, Publishers prevail in lawsuit, Starliner home without its crew on Friday, and The Cosmos Institute launche grant programs
Some major consolidation is afoot in the world of internet communications — and it will have implications for competition and consumer internet access in U.S. On Thursday, Verizon announced that it would gobble up Frontier Communications for $20 billion — more than double Frontier’s market cap at the close of trading the night before; A long-running lawsuit over the Internet Archive’s “emergency” ebook lending practices during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended in a loss for the website and a victo
DubClub wants amateur sports betters to win more
The American sports betting market produced $10.9 billion in revenue in 2023 for casinos, sportsbooks and iGaming, according to the American Gambling Association. One of the reasons this industry is so lucrative is because the majority of people who bet on sports lose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic launches Claude Enterprise plan to compete with OpenAI
Anthropic is launching a new subscription plan for its AI chatbot, Claude, catered towards enterprise customers that want more administrative controls and increased security. Claude Enterprise will compete with OpenAI’s business-specific solution, ChatGPT Enterprise, released roughly a year ago. Claude Enterprise allows businesses to upload proprietary company knowledge into Anthropic’s AI chatbot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oxylus Energy strikes “beautiful balance” to make e-fuels for aviation and shipping
Flexible green methanol, which is made without fossil fuels, could rid carbon pollution from a range of industries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotter launches AI tools to help YouTubers brainstorm video ideas, thumbnails and more
Spotter, the startup that provides financial solutions to content creators, announced Tuesday the launch of its new AI-powered creative suite. Dubbed Spotter Studio, the solution aims to support YouTubers throughout the creative process, such as helping them brainstorm video concepts, generate thumbnail and title ideas, plan projects, organize tasks, and collaborate with their team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why do so many home robots still suck?
Home robots’ unfulfilled potential is neither because of lack of demand on the part of consumers nor lack of effort from manufacturers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple saying goodbye to USB-A, TikTok's new feature, Bluesky tops the charts, and more Tech news
The Mac mini will be the next Apple device to say goodbye to USB-A, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Apple customers have probably gotten used to seeing the familiar, rectangular USB-A ports replaced with their thinner USB-C siblings. And while USB-C has its advantages, the transition can sometimes leave users confused and scrambling for adapters; TikTok is introducing a new “Manage Topics” feature that will give you more control over what you see on your For You feed, the company announced
Former Riot Games employees leverage generative AI to power NPCs in new video game
Jam & Tea Studios is the latest gaming startup implementing generative AI to transform the way players interact with non-playable characters (NPCs) in video games. Traditionally, video game NPCs are directed by predetermined scripts, which can feel repetitive, unrealistic, and boring Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is working on AI that can hear signs of sickness, Apple and Nvidia could be OpenAI’s next big investors ... and more news
Given everything you’ve already heard about AI, you may not be surprised to learn that Google is among other outfits beginning to use sound signals to predict early signs of disease. How? According to Bloomberg, Google has trained its foundation AI model with 300 million pieces of audio that included coughs, sniffles, and labored breathing; Nvidia and Apple are reportedly in talks to contribute to OpenAI’s next fundraising round — a round that could value the ChatGPT maker at $100 billion. Per
UK’s Wayve secures strategic investment from Uber to further develop self-driving tech
Uber is making a strategic investment into Wayve as an extension of the U.K.-born startup’s previously announced $1.05 billion Series C round. The partnership will also see the two companies work with automakers to integrate Wayve’s AI into consumer vehicles that will one day operate on the ride-hail giant’s platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI in talks to close a new funding round, Bolt’s backer the London Fund, has been scrubbing its web page, Apple's AI-powered object remover, and NEA reentered the secondaries market
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, could be in talks to raise a massive tranche of cash. The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI may be close to closing a fundraising round led by Thrive Capital, a previous investor, that’d value the AI company at over $100 billion; One-click checkout tech company Bolt is still waiting to find out if shareholders will sign off on a proposed funding round with stipulations that founder Ryan Breslow would return as CEO; Apple released the new developer betas for
CoinSwitch sues WazirX to recover trapped funds
CoinSwitch, a prominent Indian cryptocurrency exchange, is suing rival platform WazirX to recover trapped funds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The U.S. military’s latest psyop? Advertising on Tinder ... and more news
Tinder removed the U.S. military ads, saying the campaign violated the company's policies; Elon Musk’s X has already declared it aims to compete with LinkedIn for job listings and PayPal for payments. Now, it wants to take on the likes of Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams with a video conferencing tool; Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander failed to reach the moon because of a problem with a single valve in the propulsion system, according to a report on the mission released Tuesday. Company
Meta and Instagram spotted developing a new social music-sharing feature
Meta and Spotify are exploring deeper music integration in Meta’s Instagram app. New findings indicate the companies are testing a feature that would allow users to continuously share what music they’re listening to through Instagram’s Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber fined $324M over EU driver data transfer breach
Ride-hailing platform Uber has been fined €290 million — around $324 million at current exchanges rates — by the Netherlands’ privacy watchdog for breaching the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple iPhone 16 lineup on Sept. 10, RealPage sued by Justice Dept, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested ... and more news
Apple will be unveiling new products on September 10, with the announced phones going on sale on September 20, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. That lineup will reportedly include the iPhone 16, with larger screens on the Pro models and a new button just for taking pictures.; RealPage, which makes property management software, was sued Friday by the U.S. Justice Department and eight attorneys general for allegedly helping apartment and building managers around the country coll
Cache Energy’s mysterious white pellets could help kill coal and natural gas
The pellets can be stored in piles or silos, moved around using conveyor belts, and transported via rail cars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo wants to chauffeur your kids, get paid to be a Robot, Mineral sold technology to John Deere, and DeepMind workers protest Google’s defense contracts
Soon, parents in range of Waymo robotaxis might not have to worry about picking up their kids from after-school activities — or anytime, really. The San Francisco Standard reports that Waymo, the Alphabet subsidiary, is considering a subscription program that would let teens hail one of its cars solo and send pickup and drop-off alerts; Tesla is hiring individuals standing between 5’7 and 5’11 to carry up to 30 pounds for seven hours a day to train its Optimus robot; Citing a crowded market and
Harmonyze built AI agents that sit between franchisors and their franchisees
For some businesses, there is a clear path to growth that doesn’t involve acquiring other companies or expanding organically: franchising. The U.S. has more than 800,000 franchise businesses, according to Statista, and that number is predicted to keep growing year over year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple is bringing audio sharing to Beats Studio Pro, Deepfake scam costs Telecom $1M, Aviron branches out into bikes and more news
A firmware update is delivering multi-user audio sharing, allowing music to be streamed to multiple headphones at once; also Microsoft demonstrated its leadership in accessible gaming hardware again on Wednesday with the announcement of a new one-handed joystick controller for Xbox and PC. The Xbox Adaptive Joystick works with the company’s already robust accessibility hardware stack, and even includes support for custom 3D-printed parts; early this year, AI-powered fake audio of President Biden
Ford says a pickup truck will be the first EV built on its low-cost platform
The first vehicle that will be built on the low-cost EV platform Ford’s been developing in secret will be a mid-size pickup due out in 2027, the automaker announced Wednesday morning. The news comes as part of a much larger rewriting of Ford’s electrification plans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The banks that loaned Musk $13B to buy Twitter might be having regrets ... and more tech news
X looks like a pretty bad investment right about now. As readers might recall, billionaire Elon Musk borrowed $13 billion from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and five other major banks to help finance the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, as it was then called; OpenAI signs deal to train on Condé Nast content, surface stories in ChatGPT; WeTransfer’s expiry dates haven’t gone away, but you can at least extend them; Is your company AI-washing? Rippling founder Parker Conrad thinks it might be.
YouTube takes on TikTok Shop with expanded Shopify partnership
As TikTok Shop gains traction, YouTube is expanding its partnership with Shopify to onboard more brands for its YouTube Shopping affiliate program, the company announced on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LiveNation lawsuit, a million on a Zoom call, and Waymo numbers are up
The United States Department of Justice filed a major lawsuit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster in May, arguing that the entertainment giant is acting as a monopoly. An additional 10 state attorneys general joined the suit this week, bringing the total to 39 states and the District of Columbia; also, Zoom on Monday announced a new single-user webinar feature that caps out at 1 million attendees. The addition comes less than a month after the #WinWithBlackWomen fundraiser for Vice President Kamala
As CO2 emissions from supply chains come into focus, this startup is aiming at farms
Root helps food and beverage companies collect primary data on their agricultural supply chains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM cuts 1,000 software jobs as it prioritizes quality and AI
General Motors is cutting around 1,000 software workers around the world in a bid to focus on more “high-priority” initiatives like improving its Super Cruise driver assistance system, the quality of its infotainment platform and exploring the use of AI. The job cuts are not about cost cutting or individual performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian launches smaller $1,400 camp kitchen, five years after initial demo
The Rivian camp kitchen attracted buzz from almost the moment it appeared as a prototype in 2019 at Overland Expo West. Despite interest in the accessory, Rivian never actually sold the camp kitchen, which was kind of massive and designed to slide into the R1T pickup truck’s trademark gear tunnel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI shuts down election influence operation using ChatGPT
OpenAI has banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian influence operation that was generating content about the U.S. presidential election, according to a blog post on Friday. The company says the operation created AI-generated articles and social media posts, though it doesn’t seem that it reached much of an audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta axed CrowdTangle, a tool for tracking disinformation. Critics claim its replacement has just ‘1% of the features’
Journalists, researchers, and politicians are mourning Meta’s shutdown of CrowdTangle, which they used to track the spread of disinformation on Facebook and Instagram. In CrowdTangle’s place, Meta is offering its Content Library – but is limiting usage to people from “qualified academic or nonprofit institutions who are pursuing scientific or public interest research.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TipRanks, an AI-based stock tip evaluator created after its founder got burned by bad advice, sells for $200M to Prytek
Prytek had already been a big investor in TipRanks since 2017, most recently leading a $77 million round in the company in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The first post-quantum cryptography standards are here
For many companies, this also means that now is the time to start implementing these algorithms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kiteworks captures $456M at a $1B+ valuation to help secure sensitive data
Search engine optimization (SEO) has been top of mind for brands for more than a decade to ensure their websites and products capture as many eyeballs as possible by ranking high up on search results pages. But search is changing, and as consumers increasingly turn to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoundCloud launches its own merch store, will let artists create their own designs
Music streaming service SoundCloud has launched a merch marketplace called SoundCloud Store. The store will sell SoundCloud-themed items, but will also act as a service for artists to put out their own designs. The first edition of the store features designs from Wiz Khalifa, Denzel Curry, wolfacejoeyy, Bk The Rula, and Armani White. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
She grew up a gearhead — now her startup has raised $4M to cut CO2 from trucking
The irony was not lost on her. Growing up the daughter of a racing car enthusiast father, Danielle Walsh had become — in her late 20s — the head of HSBC’s ‘Future Cities’ project, the global banking giant’s effort to serve clients’ climate change mandates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Alexa turns 10, Amazon looks to generative AI
While Amazon has continued releasing Echo devices, including an upgraded Spot announced last month, the company has taken its foot off the gas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Maybe Friend wasn’t crazy for spending $1.8M on a domain after all
Avi Schiffmann, the founder and CEO of Friend, told TechCrunch over email that the purchase has already paid for itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab’s sunny outlook bodes well for future constellation plans
Rocket Lab surpassed $100 million in quarterly revenue for the first time, a 71% increase from the same quarter of last year. This is just one of several shiny accomplishments executives showed off to investors on Thursday — and a good omen for the space company’s medium-term ambitious plans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify and Epic Games call Apple’s revised DMA compliance plan ‘confusing,’ ‘illegal’ and ‘unacceptable’
Count Spotify and Epic Games among the Apple critics who are not happy with the iPhone maker’s newly revised compliance plan for the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Shortly after Apple announced the updated version on Tuesday, including loosened restrictions along with the addition of two more fees, Spotify shared a statement with TechCrunch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK launches formal probe into Amazon’s ties with AI startup Anthropic
The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has confirmed that it’s carrying out a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon’s ties with Anthropic, after Amazon recently completed a $4 billion investment into the AI startup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb details plans to expand beyond short-term rentals, including co-hosting and relaunching ‘experiences’
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky suggested on Tuesday’s Q2 earnings call with investors that the company will soon expand into new products and services, including co-hosting, a relaunch of Airbnb’s “experiences,” guest services, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lyft to ‘open up a can of whoop ass’ on surge pricing
Ride-hail giant Lyft will pilot a new feature called Price Lock that will let a rider purchase a monthly subscription “that caps the price for a specific route at a specific time,” according to CEO David Risher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Figure’s new humanoid robot leverages OpenAI for natural speech conversations
Figure 02 is outfitted with speakers and microphones to speak and listen to people at work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber highlights autonomous vehicle efforts with Tesla in its rearview mirror
Uber reported strong second-quarter results, with gross bookings and net profit both up decently. But the company has chosen to highlight the success of its autonomous vehicle effort, likely to assuage investors concerned about incoming competition from Tesla, which aims to reveal its first robotaxi in October. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AWS launches Mithra to identify and mitigate malicious domains across its massive system
When a company is the size of Amazon, a lot of bad actors will come after it and its customers, which makes defending the network a monster job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How the theft of 40M UK voter register records was entirely preventable
A scathing rebuke by the U.K. data protection watchdog reveals what led to the compromise of tens of millions of U.K. voters' information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
iPad sales help bail out Apple amid a continued iPhone slide
In spite of a drop for the quarter, iPhone remained Apple’s most important category by a wide margin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI music startup Suno claims training model on copyrighted music is ‘fair use’
Following the recent lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against music generation startups Udio and Suno, Suno admitted in a court filing on Thursday that it did, in fact, train its AI model using copyrighted songs. But it claimed that doing so was legal under the fair-use doctrine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Cloud now has a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs for Y Combinator startups
Google Cloud is giving Y Combinator startups access to a dedicated, subsidized cluster of Nvidia graphics processing units and Google tensor processing units to build AI models. It’s part of Google Cloud’s effort to cozy up with promising early-stage AI startups, in hopes some of them will evolve into massive, compute-hungry business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vast plans microgravity lab on its Haven-1 private space station
Commercial space station company Vast is building a private microgravity research lab as part of its wider Haven-1 station plans. The module is set to launch no earlier than the second half of 2025, the company said Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bumble and Hinge allowed stalkers to pinpoint users’ locations down to 2 meters
Badoo, Bumble, Grindr, happn, Hinge and Hily all had the same vulnerability that could have helped a malicious user to identify the near-exact location of another user, according to the researchers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Controversial internet bill KOSA passed by Senate
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has passed in the Senate after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pushed the internet bill to a vote. Proposed in 2022, KOSA requires that online platforms take reasonable steps to protect users from harm, and could become the most significant children’s online safety legislation to take effect since COPPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zoe, a microbiome-focused nutrition company, raises $15 million to expand in the U.S.
Zoe sends customers at-home testing materials to collect blood or feces to test blood fat, blood sugar, and gut microbiome health. Following those results, the company scores every food (on a scale from 0 to 100), so people can make better choices of what to eat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disinformation may ‘go nuclear’ rather than ‘go viral,’ researchers say
We say something “goes viral” because we tend to think of rumors and disinformation spreading the way that an infection spreads. But these days it may be more accurate to say something “goes nuclear,” according to a new paper that models disinfo as a form of fission reaction Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A tale of two foldables
Samsung is still foldables’ 500-pound gorilla, but the company successes have made the category significantly less lonely in recent years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK’s Zapp EV plans to expand globally with an early start in India
Zapp is launching its urban electric two-wheeler in India in 2025 as it plans to expand globally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Data breach exposes US spyware maker behind Windows, Mac, Android and Chromebook malware
Exclusive: The Minnesota-based spyware maker Spytech snooped on thousands of devices before it was hacked earlier this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lodestar’s robotic arm will be an orbital ‘first responder’ for satellites in need
Satellites are among our most critical infrastructure, providing everything from GPS to disaster coordination, yet their inherent inaccessibility leaves them vulnerable to relatively simple technical issues or attacks. London-based Lodestar is looking to change that with a “first responder” service in space using advanced robotic sentries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM-backed Addionics aims to make lithium-ion batteries cheaper with wavy foil
The startup has developed a way to create copper and aluminum foils that are laced with tiny holes and riddled with undulating peaks and valleys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify CEO says company is in ‘early days’ of hi-fi audio plans
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says the streaming service is still in the “early days” of its plans to bring hi-fi support to the platform. During the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, the executive offered details about an upcoming deluxe tier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How to prevent your software update from being the next CrowdStrike
There is no fool proof way to prevent a buggy update like CrowdStrike's, but there are best practices that could mitigate the fallout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rosotics wants to manufacture massive orbital shipyards using 3D printing
Mesa, Arizona-based Rosotics has kept a low profile. From the startup’s website, one would think they are solely focused on selling large metal 3D printers to aerospace and defense customers. For the past three years, the company’s been quietly architecting plans that involve launching multiple massive spacecraft, each containing dozens of smaller spacecraft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Tesla humanoid head launches a robotics startup
In spite of maintaining stealth until now, Mytra has already drummed up interest with big names. The startup has a pilot with grocery giant Albertsons, among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Linx emerges from stealth with $33M to lock down the new security perimeter: Identity
Identity management is one of the most common fulcrums around which security breaches have pivoted in the last several years, and one of the main reasons it’s the gift that keeps on giving to malicious hackers is that it’s a nightmare for organizations to track. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pesa unlocks new markets to keep remittances flowing to emerging economies
Founders of Pesa, a remittance fintech, know too well how costly, inaccessible and unreliable remittance services drive people to opt for risky informal channels — like WhatsApp groups — to transfer money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo wants to bring robotaxis to SFO
Waymo would need a ground transportation permit to operate at SFO, which has yet to be approved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Vision Pro debuts immersive content featuring NBA players, The Weeknd and more
Apple on Thursday announced its upcoming lineup of immersive video content for the Vision Pro. The list includes behind-the-scenes footage of the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, an immersive performance by The Weeknd, new series, films, concerts and more. The headset launched in February with more than 150 3D movies and immersive titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA cancels $450M Viper moon mission, dashing ice prospecting dreams
The now-scrapped moon mission would have been the U.S. space agency's first resource-mapping mission off planet Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford’s EV plans are in flux once again as it invests $3B into its biggest trucks
Ford is still pushing forward on electrification, notably by increasing hybrid options. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shaped raises $8M Series A and launches its self-serve recommendations and search service
Whether it’s an online marketplace, store, or social media platform, virtually every site today uses some kind of recommendation service to personalize its offerings. Shaped, which is announcing an $8 million seed funding round today, wants to make it easier for businesses of all sizes to combine the data they already have with large language models. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Way app offers a chance to meditate alongside a Zen Master
A new app called The Way is aiming to help people explore the deeper side of meditation through a single, structured path guided by an authorized Zen Master. Founded by uncle-and-nephew duo Henry Shukman and Jack Shukman, The Way wants to help people move beyond modern mindfulness practices offered by popular meditation apps like Headspace Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ultrahuman’s smart ring gets FDA-approved AFib detection
The smart ring has long played second fiddle to the smart watch. While tech giants like Apple and Google duked it out over wrists for years, the ring has been significantly quieter, a space where plucky startups have a chance to make their mark. Things are quickly changing, however. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kaspersky to shut down US operations
The Russia-based security software maker said its U.S. business is "no longer viable" following a U.S. Commerce Department sales ban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google reportedly in talks to acquire cloud security company Wiz for $23B
Google’s parent company Alphabet might be on the verge of making its biggest acquisition ever. The Wall Street Journal reports that Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire Wiz for around $23 billion. While the deal isn’t finalized, the WSJ says it could come together soon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Whistleblowers accuse OpenAI of ‘illegally restrictive’ NDAs
Whistleblowers have accused OpenAI of placing illegal restrictions on how employees can communicate with government regulators, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post. Lawyers representing anonymous whistleblowers sent the letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon AI chatbot Rufus is now live for all U.S. customers
Amazon’s AI-powered shopping assistant, named “Rufus,” is now live for all U.S. customers in the Amazon mobile app, the retailer announced on Friday. The assistant, which lives on the bottom right of the app’s main navigation bar, is designed to offer customers help with finding products, performing product comparisons, and getting recommendations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Archer’s vision of an air taxi network could benefit from Southwest customer data
Archer Aviation and Southwest Airlines are teaming up to figure out what it will take to build out a network of electric air taxis at California airports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTC study finds ‘dark patterns’ used by a majority of subscription apps and websites
Dark patterns refer to a range of design techniques that can subtly encourage users to take some sort of action or put their privacy at risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More ex-military officials are becoming VCs as defense tech investment reached $35 billion
As venture capitalists continue to pour money into defense tech startups, they’re turning to a new hiring pool: ex-military officials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic’s Claude adds a prompt playground to quickly improve your AI apps
Prompt engineering became a hot job last year in the AI industry, but it seems Anthropic is now developing tools to at least partially automate it. Anthropic released several new features on Tuesday to help developers create more useful applications with the startup’s language model, Claude, according to a company blog post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Whataburger app becomes unlikely power outage map after Houston hurricane
Fast food chain Whataburger’s app has gone viral in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which left around 1.8 million utility customers in Houston, Texas without power. Hundreds of thousands of those people may remain without power for days as Houston anticipates a heat wave, with temperatures climbing into the mid-90s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Data workers detail exploitation by tech industry in DAIR report
The essential labor of data work, like moderation and annotation, is systematically hidden from those who benefit from the fruits of that labor. A new project puts the lived experiences data workers around the world in the spotlight, showing firsthand the costs and opportunities of tech work abroad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quora’s Poe now lets users create and share web apps
Poe, Quora’s subscription-based, cross-platform aggregator for AI-powered chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT-4o, has launched a feature called Previews that lets users create interactive apps directly in chats with chatbots. Previews allows Poe users to build data visualizations, games and even drum machines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube and LinkedIn have games now, and here’s how you can play them
Here are the latest companies venturing into the gaming scene and details about each offering, including pricing, examples of titles and supported devices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo robotaxi pulled over by Phoenix police after driving into the wrong lane
A police officer pulled over a self-driving Waymo vehicle in Phoenix after it ran a red light and pulled into a lane of oncoming traffic, according to dispatch records. The incident took place on June 19, but local media including Arizona Republic released bodycam footage of the traffic stop this week, showing the vehicle weaving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Noplace, a mashup of Twitter and MySpace for Gen Z, hits No. 1 on the App Store
Aiming to bring the “social” back to “social media,” a new app called noplace has surged to the top of the App Store as it launches out of invite-only mode Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fizz, the anonymous Gen Z social app, adds a marketplace for college students
Teddy Solomon just moved to a new house in Palo Alto, so he turned to the Stanford community on Fizz to furnish his room. “Every time I show up to buy something from somebody, I grill them about the marketplace, because I’m really curious about their experience,” Solomon, a co-founder of Fizz, told TechCrunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Epic Games calls out Apple for rejecting its Games Store in the EU
Fortnite maker Epic Games has hit a stumbling block in its plans to bring the company’s alternative app store, the Epic Games Store, to the EU. As now permitted by the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Epic Games announced earlier this year it planned to bring both the digital storefront and its flagship game, Fortnite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X weighs adding a downvote button to replies — but it doesn’t want to emulate Reddit
Code references found in the X iOS app indicate that the company could be considering adding downvotes for replies only to improve how they're ranked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter/X alternative Mastodon appeals to journalists with new ‘byline’ feature
Mastodon, the open source, decentralized alternative to X (formerly Twitter), is today rolling out a new feature meant to make the app more appealing to those who use it to keep up with news and information from writers and journalists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s environmental report pointedly avoids AI’s actual energy cost
Google totally dodges the question of how much energy is AI is using — perhaps because the answer is "way more than we'd care to say." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Figma disables its AI design feature that appeared to be ripping off Apple’s Weather app
Figma CEO Dylan Field says the company will temporarily disable its “Make Design” AI feature that was said to be ripping off the designs of Apple’s own Weather app. The problem was first spotted by Andy Allen, the founder of NotBoring Software, which makes a suite of apps that includes a popular, skinnable Weather app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic looks to fund a new, more comprehensive generation of AI benchmarks
Anthropic is launching a program to fund the development of new types of benchmarks capable of evaluating the performance and impact of AI models, including generative models like its own Claude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MIT’s soft robotic system is designed to pack groceries
RoboGrocery combines computer vision with a soft robotic gripper to bag a wide range of different items. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta changes its label from ‘Made with AI’ to ‘AI info’ to indicate use of AI in photos
After Meta started tagging photos with a “Made with AI” label in May, photographers complained that the social networking company had been applying labels to real photos where they had used some basic editing tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MagicSchool thinks AI in the classroom is inevitable, so it’s aiming to help teachers and students use it properly
These days, when you hear about students and generative AI, chances are that you’re getting a taste of the debate over the adoption of tools like ChatGPT. Are they a help? (Yay! Great for research! Fast!) Or are they a harm? (Boo! Misinfo! Cheating!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zuckerberg disses closed-source AI competitors as trying to ‘create God’
In the conversation, Zuckerberg said there needs to be a lot of different AIs that get created to reflect people's different interests. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Directo turns a TikTok travel hack into a deal-finding Chrome extension
A travel hack that went viral on TikTok teaches users how to save money on hotels and Airbnbs by booking directly with the properties themselves. Now, a new startup, Directo, will help travelers find those same deals with the help of a Chrome extension that points you to the property’s website, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon hit with fresh class action-style suit in UK — $3.4BN in competition damages sought for 200,000+ sellers
Amazon is facing another competition lawsuit in the UK. The latest claim, which was filed Thursday, is seeking more than £2.7BN in damages — or around $3.4BN at current exchange rates — before the UK’s Competition Appeals Tribunal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Climate X founders, who mortgaged their houses to stay afloat, now raise a $18 million Series A
To date, most of the hottest software platforms in the ClimateTech space have been about carbon accounting, offsets, removals, and regulatory disclosure. For instance, New York’s Persefoni (accounting) raised $164.2 million to date, Plan A (accounting/monitoring) in Berlin raised $43 million and at the lower end, Supercritical (removals) raised $15.8 million while CUR8 (removals) raised Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VW to invest up to $5B into Rivian in software deal
VW Group invest $1 billion into EV startup Rivian as part of a software development deal that could expand to as much as $5 billion. The deal, which was announced Tuesday afternoon, sent Rivian’s shares up more than 36% in after-hours trading. The two companies will create a joint venture focused on next-generation electrical architecture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snapchat introduces new safety features to limit bad actors from contacting users
Snapchat on Tuesday announced a new suite of safety features, including updates to its account blocking functionality and enhanced friending safeguards, making it difficult for strangers to contact users on its platform. The new move comes amid concerns over predators exploiting teens on social media apps, which often results in severe incidents, including sextortion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber Freight and self driving trucks startup Aurora partner for the long haul
Uber Freight and Aurora Innovation have announced a multi-year collaboration that will see Aurora’s autonomous driving technology offered on the Uber Freight network through 2030. The deal gives Aurora access to shipping customers as it prepares to launch its fully driverless commercial service later this year. It also helps Aurora also secure longer-term customers through Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple might partner with Meta on AI
As Apple enters the AI race, it’s also looking for help from partners. During the announcement of Apple Intelligence earlier this month, Apple said it would be partnering with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT into the revamped version of Siri. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and Facebook’s parent company Meta are in talks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta makes its AI chatbot available to all users in India
After a few months of testing during the general elections, Meta is making its Llama-3-powered AI chatbot available to all users in India. However, Meta AI currently only supports English and no other local languages. The company started testing Meta AI in India across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook in April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is pausing its experiment of allowing real-money games on the Play Store
Google said today that it is globally pausing its experiment of allowing real-money games on the Play Store, where there was no central body for this kind of app. In January, the company said it would start allowing real-money apps widely in June in India, Brazil, and Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube confirms crackdown on VPN users accessing cheaper Premium plans
YouTube appears to be taking a firm stance against Premium subscribers who attempt to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to access cheaper subscription prices in other countries. This week, a number of users took to Reddit to express their frustration after their Premium plans were canceled for using a VPN to purchase the subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US bans sale of Kaspersky software citing security risk from Russia
U.S. officials imposed the “first of its kind” ban arguing that Kaspersky threatens U.S. national security because of its links to Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon extends generative AI-powered product listings to Europe
Amazon is bringing its generative AI listing smarts to more sellers, revealing today that those in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. can now access tools designed to improve product listings by generating product descriptions, titles, and associated details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify quietly lets all podcasters upload videos, surpasses 250K shows
Non-hosted podcasters can now upload videos to Spotify. Over 250K video podcasts are on the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Genspark is the latest attempt at an AI-powered search engine
Genspark taps generative AI to write custom summaries in response to search queries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
iOS 18 could ‘sherlock’ $400M in app revenue
Apple's changes may affect apps that today have an estimated $393 million in revenue and have been downloaded roughly 58 million times over the past year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snap previews its real-time image model that can generate AR experiences
At the Augmented World Expo on Tuesday, Snap teased an early version of its real-time, on-device image diffusion model that can generate vivid AR experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads finally launches its API for developers
Meta said today that it finally launched its much-awaited API for Threads so developers can build experiences around it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
XReal introduces a $200 device that brings Android apps to its AR glasses
The $200 Beam pro looks like an Android phone, but instead it's a mobile device designed specifically for Xreal’s glasses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former NSA head joins OpenAI board and safety committee
The high-profile addition is likely intended to satisfy critics who think that OpenAI is moving faster than is wise for its customers and possibly humanity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon says it’ll spend $230 million on generative AI startups
Amazon says that it’ll commit up to $230 million to startups building generative AI-powered applications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
iOS 18 cracks down on apps asking for full address book access
To give users more control over the contacts an app can and cannot access, the permissions screen has two stages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford’s secretive low-cost EV team is growing with talent from Rivian, Tesla and Apple
A TechCrunch review of LinkedIn data found that Ford has built this team up to around 300 employees over the last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apex’s off-the-shelf satellite bus business attracts $95M in new funding
Fresh off the success of its first mission, satellite manufacturer Apex has closed $95 million in new capital to scale its operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Biden administration looks to give Rocket Lab $24M to boost space-grade solar cell production
In addition to the federal funding, the state of New Mexico — where SolAero is based — committed to providing financing and incentives that value $25.5 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk threatens to ban Apple devices from his companies over Apple’s ChatGPT integrations
Elon Musk is threatening to ban iPhones from all his companies over the newly announced OpenAI integrations Apple announced at WWDC 2024 on Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The mystery of an alleged data broker’s data breach
Since April, a hacker with a history of selling stolen data has claimed a data breach of billions of records — impacting at least 300 million people — from a U.S. data broker, which would make it one of the largest alleged data breaches of the year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bereave wants employers to suck a little less at navigating death
If death and taxes are inevitable, why are companies so prepared for taxes, but not for death? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New York moves to limit kids’ access to ‘addictive feeds’
New York’s state legislature has passed a bill that would prohibit social media companies from showing so-called “addictive feeds” to children under 18, unless they obtain parental consent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Siri and Google Assistant look to generative AI for a new lease on life
Voice assistants in general are having an existential moment, and generative AI is poised to be the logical successor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shopify acquires Threads (no, not that one)
Shopify has acquired Threads.com, the Seqiuoa-backed Slack alternative, Threads said on its website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Robinhood acquires global crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200M
Stock-trading platform Robinhood is diving deeper into the cryptocurrency realm with the acquisition of crytpo exchange Bitstamp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon buys Indian video streaming service MX Player
Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian video streaming service MX Player from the local media powerhouse Times Internet, the latest step by the e-commerce giant to make its services and brand popular in smaller cities and towns in the key overseas market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dive goes cloud-native for its computational fluid dynamics simulation service
Spun out of Bosch, Dive wants to change how manufacturers use computer simulations by both using modern mathematical approaches and cloud computing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Asana introduces ‘AI teammates’ designed to work alongside human employees
Asana is using its work graph to train LLMs with the goal of creating AI assistants that work alongside human employees in company workflows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GetWhy, a market research AI platform that extracts insights from video interviews, raises $34.5M
GetWhy helps businesses carry out market studies and extract insights from video-based interviews using AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Travel app Sékr wants to help you plan your next road trip with its new AI tool
Sékr, a startup that offers a mobile app for outdoor enthusiasts and campers, is launching a new AI tool for planning road trips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify to increase premium pricing in the US to $11.99 per month
Spotify has announced that it’s hiking subscriptions for customers in the U.S., the second such price increase in the space of a year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X tweaks rules to formally allow adult content
X will now allow users to post consensually produced NSFW content as long as it is prominently labeled as such. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spain bans Meta from launching election features on Facebook, Instagram over privacy fears
Meta has been banned from launching features on Facebook and Instagram that would have collected data on voters in Spain using the social networks ahead of next month’s European Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram now lets teens limit interactions to their ‘Close Friends’ group to combat harassment
Instagram is expanding the scope of its "Limits" tool specifically for teenagers that would let them restrict unwanted interactions with people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Billionaire Groupon founder Lefkofsky is back with another IPO: AI healthtech Tempus
Eric Lefkofsky knows the public listing rodeo well and is about to enter it for a fourth time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Redpanda acquires Benthos to expand its end-to-end streaming data platform
Redpanda has already integrated Benthos into its own service and has made it the core technology of its new Redpanda Connect service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How Clean Energy Ventures avoided the pandemic bubble and raised a $305M fund
When other firms were investing and raising eye-popping sums, Clean Energy Ventures took a different approach. It appears to be paying off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube’s free games catalog ‘Playables’ rolls out to all users
YouTube's free Playables don't directly challenge the app store model or break Apple's rules. However, they do compete with the App Store's free games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Félix Pago raises $15.5 million to help Latino workers send money home via WhatsApp
Remittances from workers in the U.S. to their families and friends in Latin America amounted to $155 billion in 2023. With such a huge opportunity, banks, money transfer companies, retailers, and fintechs are all trying make transfers more convenient on both sides of the transaction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LumApps, the French ‘intranet superapp,’ sells majority stake to Bridgepoint in a $650M deal
Big news today for LumApps, the French startup that has described itself as an “intranet superapp” with a platform for building and provisioning internal communications and apps for workforces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Canva launches a proper enterprise product — and they mean it this time
Back in 2019, Canva, the wildly successful design tool, introduced what the company was calling an enterprise product, but in reality it was more geared towards teams than fulfilling true enterprise requirements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify to shut off Car Thing for good, leading users to demand refunds
Spotify is notifying customers who purchased its Car Thing product that the devices will stop working after December 9, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Using memes, social media users have become red teams for half-baked AI features
“Running with scissors is a cardio exercise that can increase your heart rate and require concentration and focus,” says Google’s new AI search feature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google invests $350 million in India’s Flipkart
Google is investing nearly $350 million in Flipkart, becoming the latest high-profile name to back the Indian e-commerce startup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google to build first subsea fibre optic cable connecting Africa with Australia
Google is preparing to build what will be the first subsea fibre optic cable connecting the continents of Africa and Australia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta’s new AI council is comprised entirely of white men
Meanwhile, women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by irresponsible AI.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why Spotify is launching its own font, Spotify Mix
Spotify launched its own font, the company announced on Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses now let you share images directly to your Instagram Story
Meta is updating its Ray-Ban smart glasses with new hands-free functionality
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta, Match, Coinbase and others team up to fight online fraud and crypto scams
The new coalition, Tech Against Scams, will work together to find ways to fight back against the tools used by scammers and to better educate the public against financial scams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aurora unveils self-driving truck with Volvo
A new self-driving truck — manufactured by Volvo and loaded with autonomous vehicle tech developed by Aurora Innovation — could be on public highways as early as this summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hollywood agency CAA aims to help stars manage their own AI likenesses
Creative Artists Agency, one of the top entertainment and sports talent agencies, is hoping to be at the forefront of AI protection services for celebrities in Hollywood.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI to remove ChatGPT’s Scarlett Johansson-like voice
OpenAI is removing one of the voices used by ChatGPT after users found that it sounded similar to Scarlett Johansson, the company announced on Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A US trustee wants troubled fintech Synapse to be liquidated via Chapter 7 bankruptcy, cites ‘gross mismanagement’
The prospects for troubled banking-as-a-service startup Synapse have gone from bad to worse this week after the United States Trustee filed an emergency motion on Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft warned it could be fined billions by EU over missing GenAI risk info
The European Union has warned Microsoft it could be fined up to 1% of its global annual turnover under the bloc’s online governance regime, the Digital Services Act .
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shipping logistics startup Harbor Lab raises $16M Series A led by Atomico
Cargo ships docking at a commercial port incur costs called “disbursements” and “port call expenses.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cannabis and gaming payments startup Aeropay is now offering an alternative to Mastercard and Visa
The key to taking on legacy players in the financial technology industry may be to go where they have not gone before Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix to take on Google and Amazon by building its own ad server
The announcement signifies a significant shake-up in the streaming giant's advertising approach.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Restaurant365 orders in $175M at a $1B+ valuation to supersize its food service software stack
The restaurant industry in the U.S. is expected to pass $1 trillion in sales for the first time this year, despite wider economic pressures on consumer
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Accel has a fresh $650M to back European early-stage startups
Accel has invested in more than 200 startups in the region to date, making it one of the more prolific VCs in this market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber to acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan unit from Delivery Hero for $950M in cash
Uber Technologies announced Tuesday that it will buy the Taiwan unit of Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda for $950 million in cash.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The buzziest EV IPO of the year is a Chinese automaker
Zeekr's market hype is noteworthy and may indicate that investors see value in the high-quality, low-price offerings of Chinese automakers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic now lets kids use its AI tech — within limits
AI startup Anthropic is changing its policies to allow minors to use its generative AI tools — in certain circumstances, at least.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft is launching its mobile game store in July
Microsoft will launch its own mobile game store in July, the company announced at the Bloomberg Technology Summit on Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oura launches two new heart health features
Smart ring maker Oura is launching two new features focused on heart health, the company announced on Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky now lets you personalize its main Discover feed using new controls
The social network has announced an updated version of its app that lets you offer feedback about its algorithmic feed so you can better customize it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Always-on video portal lets people in NYC and Dublin interact in real time
A new sculpture going live on Wednesday in the Flatiron South Public Plaza in New York is not your typical artwork. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Match looks to Hinge as Tinder fails
Match Group, the company that owns several dating apps, including Tinder and Hinge, released its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, which shows that Tinder’s paying user base has decreased for the sixth quarter in a row.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bedrock Studio is Amazon’s attempt to simplify generative AI app development
Amazon is launching a new tool, Bedrock Studio, designed to let organizations experiment with generative AI models, collaborate on those models, and ultimately build generative AI-powered apps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian loses $1.45 billion as cost-cutting measures continu
Rivian lost $1.45 billion in the first quarter, showing that its recent company-wide cost-cutting measures have a ways to go before it can approach profitability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads is testing cross-posting from Instagram globally
Meta is encouraging more users to post to its X rival Threads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple teased AI improvements, including the M4’s neural engine, at its iPad event
Tuesday's theme focused on the new hardware devices themselves — devices like new iPads and an updated Apple Pencil — not on the AI advances Apple is making under the hood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Match-owned Archer hits over half a million installs amid dating app slump
It’s been almost one year since Match Group announced the launch of Archer, the online dating giant’s first app for gay, bi, and queer men. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Farewell, dunks? Threads launches quote controls for all users
Threads users can now exert more control over who can quote their posts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UnitedHealth data breach should be a wakeup call for the UK and NHS
The ransomware attack that has engulfed U.S. health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group and its tech subsidiary Change Healthcare is a data privacy nightmare for millions of U.S. patients, with CEO Andrew Witty confirming this week that it may impact as much as one-third of the country.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA is expanding its Wallops Island facility to support three times as many launches
NASA is kicking off a formal environmental assessment of its facilities on Wallops Island, Virginia.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA orders studies from private space companies on Mars mission support roles
Mars exploration has been always been the exclusive purview of national space agencies, but NASA is trying to change that, awarding a dozen research tasks to private companies as a prelude to commercial support for future missions to the Red Planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Peloton announces 400 layoffs, 15% of the workforce, as CEO Barry McCarthy departs
Peloton, the exercise equipment maker and creator of online fitness classes, has announced that it’s laying off 15 percent of its workforce — 400 people — as CEO, president, and board director Barry McCarthy steps down after two years in the role. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Amazon CodeWhisperer is now called Q Developer and is expanding its functions
Pour one out for CodeWhisperer, Amazon’s AI-powered assistive coding tool.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk guts Tesla’s charging team after winning over major automakers
Tesla has gutted its charging team in a new round of layoffs, despite recently winning over major automakers like Ford and General Motors and making its connector the defacto standard in North America.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bumble’s “Opening Move” feature takes the pressure off women to come up with a new message every time
As Bumble prepares for its app relaunch this summer, the women-first dating platform announced a series of product updates on Tuesday, including a new feature that lets women prepare questions to send to matches, additional dating intention preferences and prompts, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The first-ever race between four self-driving cars and a Formula 1 driver just happened in Abu Dhabi
Wander the pits at any professional motorsports event, especially something like Formula 1, and you’ll see endless computer displays full of telemetry
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, says Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per the bank’s sum-of-the-parts analysis.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI inks strategic tie-up with UK’s Financial Times, including content use
OpenAI, maker of the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, has netted another news licensing deal in Europe, adding London’s Financial Times to a growing list of publishers it’s paying for content access.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s new ‘Speaking practice’ feature uses AI to help users improve their English skills
Google is testing a new “Speaking practice” feature in Search that helps users improve their conversational English skills.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The IBM-HashiCorp coupling could be more complicated than it seems
At a quick glance the IBM-HashiCorp deal seems like a good one for both sides, but upon closer inspection, perhaps not.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok pulls feature from Lite app in EU over addiction concerns
TikTok suspended a gamification feature in the European Union following an intervention by the bloc.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads has 150 million monthly active users
Meta’s Twitter/X rival Threads is growing at a stable pace. The social network now has more than 150 million monthly active users
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla profits drop 55%, company says EV sales ‘under pressure’ from hybrids
Tesla profits fell 55% to $1.13 billion in the first quarter from the same year-ago period as a protracted EV price-cutting strategy continued to cut into the automaker’s bottom line
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is launching a TV app for videos ‘soon’
X, the company formerly known as Twitter, is launching a dedicated TV app for videos uploaded to the social network soon
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Framework’s repairability philosophy is set to expand beyond the laptop
Framework Computer was ahead of the curve.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Perplexity is raising $250M+ at a $2.5-$3B valuation for its AI search platform, sources say
Perplexity, the AI search engine startup, is a hot property at the moment.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok Shop expands its secondhand luxury fashion offering to the UK
TikTok Shop, TikTok’s social commerce marketplace, is launching a secondhand luxury category in the U.K., putting it in closer competition with The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Depop, Poshmark, and Mercari, among others.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder gets a ‘Share My Date’ feature for users to send date plans to their curious friends
It’s not uncommon for people to screenshot dating profiles and send them to their friends and loved ones, either to get feedback or to let them know who they’re seeing that weekend
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Robots can make jobs less meaningful for human colleagues
Much has been (and will continue to be) written about automation’s impact on the jobs market. In the short term, many employers have complained of an inability to fill roles and retain workers, further accelerating robotic adoption.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Internet users are getting younger; now the UK is weighing up if AI can help protect them
Artificial intelligence has been in the crosshairs of governments concerned about how it might be misused for fraud, disinformation and other malicious online activity
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alphabet X’s Bellwether harnesses AI to help predict natural disasters
The world is on fire.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ramp raises another $150 million co-led by Khosla, Founders Fund at a $7.65B valuation
Spend management startup Ramp has raised another $150 million at a valuation of $7.65 billion, the company confirmed to TechCrunch today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kickstarter launches pre-orders for completed campaigns
Once a Kickstarter campaign is complete, you need to turn to a creator’s own page to pre-order the products — that is, until now.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo begins robotaxi testing in Atlanta
Waymo, the self-driving company under Alphabet, began testing its robotaxis in Atlanta on Tuesday, adding another city to its ever-expanding testing and deployment domain.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta’s Oversight Board probes explicit AI-generated images posted on Instagram and Facebook
The Oversight Board, Meta’s semi-independent policy council, it turning its attention to how the company’s social platforms are handling explicit, AI-generated images.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky now allows heads of states to sign up for the social network
Social networking platform Bluesky lifted its ban on sign-ups for heads of state over the weeken
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta’s ‘consent or pay’ tactic must not prevail over privacy, EU rights groups warn
Ahead of a full meeting of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) this week (April 16 and 17), which is expected to produce guidance on a controversial tactic used by Meta to force Facebook and Instagram users to consent to its tracking, almost two dozen civil society groups and nonprofits have penned an open letter.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Space Force tees up new ‘responsive space’ mission from Rocket Lab and True Anomaly
Each company will design and build a satellite capable of rendezvousing with other spacecraft in orbit at close proximity, as well as command and control centers for the mission.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is removing ability to hide checkmarks for premium users
Last year, Elon Musk-owned social network X rolled out a feature for paid users to hide their checkmarks from others.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk accused of profiting from tragedy as study finds X rewards hate targeting Israel-Gaza war
A few weeks after defeating Elon Musk’s attempt to silence it in court, anti-hate research nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, is back with a new piece of research into Musk’s social media platform X.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple opens access to used iPhone components for repair
Apple announced that it has opened its iPhone repair process to include used components. Starting this fall, customers and independent repair shops will be able to fix the handset using compatible components.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Proxima Fusion raises $21M to build on its ‘stellarator’ approach to nuclear fusion
Munich-based Proxima has raised €20 million ($21.7M) in a seed round to begin building its first generation of fusion power plants.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla risks losing its lead without an inexpensive EV
Given flagging sales of the company’s existing product line, a mass-market electric vehicle would be a welcome shot in the arm.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With Vertex AI Agent Builder, Google Cloud aims to simplify agent creation
AI agents are the new hot craze in generative AI. Unlike the previous generation of chatbots, these agents can do more than simply answer questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google announces Axion, its first custom Arm-based data center processor
Google says its Axion instances offer 30% better performance than other Arm-based instances from competitors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft AI gets a new London hub fronted by former Inflection and Deepmind scientist Jordan Hoffmann
Microsoft has announced a new London hub for its recently unveiled consumer AI division.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify launches personalized AI playlists that you can build using prompts
AI playlists will initially become available to users on Android and iOS devices in the U.K. and Australia and will be iterated on in the months ahead.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford delays new EVs once more, showing why legacy automakers need to adopt a startup mentality
Ford is unusual in that it performs best when thinking like a startup, something it appears to have taken to heart recently, EV delays notwithstanding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla slashes Model Y inventory prices by as much as $7,000
Tesla is dropping prices of unsold Model Y SUVs in the U.S. by thousands of dollars in an attempt to clear out an unprecedented backlog of inventory.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rooms, a 3D design app and ‘cozy game,’ gets a major update as users jump to 250K
Five months ago, Rooms, a 3D design platform made by ex-Google employees, launched its beta version on the App Store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is giving blue checks to influential users (which is what blue checks were supposed to be all along)
So, basically this means that if you are a popular poster, you will get a blue check.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Opera allows users to download and use LLMs locally
Web browser company Opera announced today it will now allow users to download and use Large Language Models (LLMs) locally on their computer
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AWS unveils new service for cloud-based rendering projects
Amazon announced Deadline Cloud, a new service that lets customers set up, deploy and scale up graphics and visual effects rendering pipelines on AWS cloud infrastructure.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok is bringing its dedicated STEM feed to Europe
As TikTok continues to face increased pressure in the U.S. and the U.K., the company is signaling its commitment to fostering educational content on its app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indeed announces AI-powered work experience writer and support for multiple resumes
Hiring portal Indeed has redesigned the profile page for users, allowing individuals to use an AI-powered writer to fill up work experience and also added support for multiple resumes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MIT tool shows climate change could cost Texans a month and a half of outdoor time by 2080
Finally, something that makes climate change relatable.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok ban could harm Amazon sellers looking for alternatives
In March, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that could force ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban in U.S. app stores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple dismisses Microsoft monopoly comparisons
A week after finding itself at the business end of a landmark lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice, Apple is staunchly denying any parallels between itself and Microsoft in the 1990s.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X’s Grok chatbot will soon get an upgraded model, Grok-1.5
X.ai, Elon Musk’s AI startup, has revealed its latest generative AI model, Grok-1.5. Set to power social network X’s Grok chatbot in the not-to-distant future (“in the coming days,” X.ai writes in a blog post),© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LinkedIn is experimenting with a TikTok-like video feed in its app
LinkedIn is testing a new TikTok-like short-form video feed, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oregon signs right to repair into law
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 1596 into law, joining California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts and Minnesota in a growing list of states embracing a right to repair for citizens.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s snake robot is designed to search out life in the icy oceans of a Saturn moon
The snake robot form factor has existed for decades. In addition to the diversity it adds to the world of automation, the design has several pragmatic attributes. The first is redundancy, which allows for the system to keep chugging even after a module is damaged.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook snooped on users’ Snapchat traffic in secret project, documents reveal
In 2016, Facebook launched a secret project designed to intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat’s app and its servers. The goal was to understand users’ behavior and help Facebook compete with Snapchat, according to newly unsealed court documents. Facebook called this “Project Ghostbusters"
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Profluent, spurred by Salesforce research and backed by Jeff Dean, uses AI to discover medicines
Last year, Salesforce, the company best known for its cloud sales support software (and Slack), spearheaded a project called ProGen to design proteins using generative AI.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify tests video courses to teach everything from music production to excel
In its ongoing efforts to get its 600 million+ users to spend more time and money on its platform, Spotify is spinning up a new line of content: e-learning.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Telegram’s peer-to-peer SMS login service is a privacy nightmare
Telegram has introduced a controversial new feature.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lordstown Motors’ ousted CEO settles with SEC for misleading investors
Steve Burns, the ousted founder, chairman and CEO of bankrupt EV startup Lordstown Motors, has settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over misleading investors about demand for the company’s flagship all-electric Endurance pickup truck.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Boeing CEO to leave company by year-end, after a wave of safety incidents
Boeing’s chief executive Dave Calhoun will leave the plane-maker by the end of 2024, according to the company.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AT&T won’t say how its customers’ data spilled online
Customers say leaked AT&T customer data — names, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers — is accurate.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why is AI so bad at spelling?
AIs are easily acing the SAT, defeating chess grandmasters and debugging code like it’s nothing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pelikan Mobility's software-enabled commercial EV leasing solution; Candela’s electric ferries multiply
Chances are you may have noticed that many commercial vehicles are now electric vehicles; Electric boat maker Candela is approaching cruising speed with $25 million in new funding and the first commercial deployment of its new P-12 ferry, in New Zealand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
White House proposes up to $8.5B to fund Intel’s domestic chip manufacturing
Well before President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law back in August 2022, Intel has been a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to increase domestic chip manufacturing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nvidia and Qualcomm join Open Source Robotics Alliance to support ROS development
The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) this week announced the launch of the similarly named Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quilt is building AI assistants for solutions teams
The job of so-called “solutions professionals” — people like sales engineers, solutions architects and consultants — revolves around pitching complex enterprise tech to potential customers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta offers lower cost for EU ad-free subscription under privacy review
Meta has proposed to drop the price of an ad-free subscription in the European Union
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tech giant Fujitsu says it was hacked, warns of data breach
Multinational technology giant Fujitsu confirmed a cyberattack in a statement Friday, and warned that hackers may have stolen personal data and customer information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Scrap coercive ‘privacy fee’, MEPs urge Meta’s Nick Clegg in open letter
Meta is facing a call from lawmakers in the European Union to scrap its controversial “consent or pay” tactic on Facebook and Instagram.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mercedes begins piloting Apptronik humanoid robots
Pilot season has officially begun for the world of humanoid robotics.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple acquires AI startup specializing in overlooking manufacturing components
Apple has added another AI startup to its acquisition list with Canada-based DarwinAI, which specializes in vision-based tech to observe components during manufacturing to improve efficiency, Bloomberg reported.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A bug in an Irish government website took two years to publicly disclose
The Irish government fixed a vulnerability two years ago in its national COVID-19 vaccination portal that exposed the vaccination records of around a million residents.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon now lets sellers create listings through a URL by using AI
Amazon launched generative AI-powered features last year to help sellers quickly create listings by entering just a few words about the product.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Furno bets that super-efficient, modular kilns will turn the cement industry upside down
Cement startup promises to slash carbon emissions in the process, helping the company raise a $6.5 million seed round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Orbio Earth finds methane leaks that could cost oil companies $9 billion this year
Investors bet the startup’s algorithms, which feed on satellite data, will fill a significant gap in the methane market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tierra Biosciences nabs $11 million to create new AI-guided proteins
By using cell-free technology, Tierra is able to cut down protein manufacturing from months to weeks and enable customers to order proteins online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google confirms it’s restricting Gemini election queries globally
If you want to ask Google’s AI chatbot a question about an upcoming election, you will have to do it from a country where there are no elections taking place.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
‘Banking as a Service’ startup Griffin riases $24M and attains full banking licence
Founded by former Silicon Valley engineers, UK-based Griffin Bank bills itself as an API-driven ‘Banking as a Service’ platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk says xAI will open-source Grok this week
Elon Musk said Monday he will open-source Grok, X’s AI chatbot rivaling ChatGPT, this week, days after suing OpenAI and complaining that the Microsoft-backed startup had deviated from its open roots.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Artemis Fund has a fresh $36 million to back diverse founders solving ‘big, hairy problems’
For Fund II, Artemis intends to continue leading and co-leading investments and will target around 20 new companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Faraday Future survives long enough to issue its first recall
Troubled EV startup Faraday Future has issued its first recall, covering all 11 vehicles it built last year, as it fights to hold onto its Los Angeles headquarters.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Saildrone’s first aluminum Surveyor autonomous vessel splashes down for Navy testing
Ocean intelligence company Saildrone has just put the first of a new generation of Surveyor autonomous vessels in the water: an aluminum version that the Navy is keen to take advantage of.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Telegram now lets users to convert personal accounts to business accounts
Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced Wednesday that users on the chat app with personal accounts can now convert them into business accounts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Binance made crypto perfume in a baffling attempt to woo women
What does crypto smell like? Ozone, salt and moss, according to Binance’s new fragrance, “CRYPTO.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon teams with recycling robot firm to track package waste
Amazon generate a lot of trash. Precisely how much is a matter of some debate. In 2021, the company says it used 214 million or so pounds of single-use plastic in its packaging.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NSA says it’s tracking Ivanti cyberattacks as hackers hit US defense sector
The U.S. National Security Agency has confirmed that hackers exploiting flaws in Ivanti’s widely used enterprise VPN appliance have targeted organizations across the U.S. defense sector.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fohm rebrands to Saintly, for a heavenly clean bottom
When it comes to doing business — not startups, that other kind of business, that you have a whole separate room for in your house — we need to talk about wipes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Now the EU is asking questions about Meta’s ‘pay or be tracked’ consent model
Meta’s controversial pay or be tracked ‘consent’ choice for users the European Union is facing questions from the European Commission.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple reverses decision about blocking web apps on iPhones in the EU
Apple has reversed its decision about blocking web apps, also known as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), on iPhones in the EU.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Karma3 Labs raises $4.5M to improve trust in web3 with ratings and recommendations
There’s no reputation system in the decentralized world of web3, so it’s hard to figure out which entities and individuals to trust and depend on.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify launches a $9.99/mo standalone audiobooks service for its free users
After adding 15 hours of free audiobooks listening to its subscription plan late last year, Spotify today is introducing a $9.99 per month option that will allow its free users to also access its audiobooks collection.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google brings Stack Overflow’s knowledge base to Gemini for Google Cloud
Developer Q&A site Stack Overflow is launching a new program today that will give AI companies access to its knowledge base through a new API, aptly named OverflowAPI.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vibe helps small companies buy video ads on streaming services
As streaming apps and services are gradually showing more ads to viewers, adtech startup Vibe plans to help small businesses take advantage of that trend by letting them access that ad inventory with a self-serve ad platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reliance and Disney to merge media assets in India
Reliance, its media asset Viacom18 and Disney are merging their media businesses in India, creating the largest media conglomerate in the South Asian market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yolk is a social app where users swap custom live stickers — no text allowed
With so much fresh competition in social apps right now — plus the usual set of social media platforms and messaging giants sucking up attention — it might feel like there’s precious little room to innovate in this slice of the consumer market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SeatGeek’s new tools help fans resell tickets at the best price
Ticketing platform and resale marketplace SeatGeek is introducing three features to simplify the ticket-selling experience for users wanting to resell.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads widens the gap with X, with triple the daily downloads on iOS
Although an app’s downloads aren’t an exact proxy for usage, they can hint at where the market is headed. And in the case of the alt-Twitter wars, the app winning the game right now is Instagram’s Threads.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Supreme Court could decide the fate of content moderation — or it could punt
The Supreme Court is considering the fate of two state laws that limit how social media companies can moderate the content on their platforms.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Winning wireless with American strengths
Eric Schmidt Contributor Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and executive chairman of Google and its successor company, Alphabet, from 2011 to 2017.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spyware leak offers ‘first-of-its-kind’ look inside Chinese government hacking efforts
Over the weekend, someone posted a cache of files and documents apparently stolen from the Chinese government hacking contractor, I-Soon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackers are exploiting ConnectWise flaws to deploy LockBit ransomware, security experts warn
Security experts are warning that a pair of high-risk flaws in a popular remote access tool are being exploited by hackers to deploy LockBit ransomware — days after authorities announced that they had disrupted the notorious Russia-linked cybercrime gang.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Byju’s investors unanimously vote to remove founder
A group of Byju’s investors on Friday voted to remove the edtech group’s founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bioptimus raises $35 million seed round to develop AI foundational model focused on biology
There’s a new generative AI startup based in Paris. But what makes Bioptimus interesting is that it plans to apply everything we’ve collectively learned about AI models over the past few years with a narrow, exclusive focus on biology.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder is expanding ID verification to the US, UK, Brazil and Mexico
Tinder is expanding its identify verification program to users in the U.S., U.K., Brazil and Mexico, the company announced on Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube rolls out new channel pages for creators on its TV app
YouTube is changing the design for creators’ channels on the big screen, the company announced today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube dominates TV streaming in U.S., per Nielsen’s latest report
Nielsen today released its January report on viewing usage across linear TV and streaming, which revealed that YouTube is once again the overall top streaming service in the U.S., with 8.6% of viewing on television screens. Netflix, meanwhile, saw 7.9% of TV usage.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With Twilio under activist pressure, Segment could be put up for sale
With Twilio under pressure from activist investors, it's looking at whether to sell Segment, the company it bought in 2020 for $3.2 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking $100B to build a new AI chip venture
SoftBank Group’s Masayoshi Son has made no secret of his intent to double down on red-hot artificial intelligence industry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feds open second probe into Fisker’s Ocean SUV after rollaway complaints
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a second investigation into EV startup Fisker’s Ocean SUV, after the agency received four complaints about the vehicle rolling away unexpectedly, including one injury.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
European digital rights group say the future of online privacy is on a knife edge
A coalition of more than two dozen digital and democratic rights groups, NGOs and not-for-profits, including noyb and Wikimedia Europe, have written to the European Union’s regulatory body for data protection urging it to reject a tactic that’s been controversially seized upon by Meta in its latest bid to circumvent the bloc’s privacy laws.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lucid Motors drops the price of its cheapest EV by more than $8,000
Lucid Motors is lopping thousands of dollars off the price of its most affordable electric sedans as it looks to boost demand after a disappointing year of sales.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok launches a ‘reimagined’ app for the Apple Vision Pro
TikTok has launched a native and “reimagined” app on the Apple Vision Pro, the company announced on Thursday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General Atlantic leads $50M Series C into Bold to grow digital payments in Colombia
Bold provides low-cost payment terminals, called dataphones, that enable small and medium businesses to accept link payments.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US military notifies 20,000 of data breach after cloud email leak
The U.S. Department of Defense is notifying tens of thousands of individuals that their personal information was exposed in an email data spill last year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackers uncover new TheTruthSpy stalkerware victims: Is your Android device compromised?
A consumer-grade spyware operation called TheTruthSpy poses an ongoing security and privacy risk to thousands of people whose Android devices are unknowingly compromised with its mobile surveillance apps, not least due to a simple security flaw that its operators never fixed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise names first chief safety officer following crash and controversy
Cruise has named its first “chief safety officer” as part of the company’s effort to rehabilitate itself following an incident — and ensuing controversy — last year that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bugcrowd snaps up $102M for a ‘bug bounty’ security platform that taps 500K+ hackers
Bugcrowd — the startup that taps into a database of half a million hackers to help organizations like OpenAI and the U.S. government set up and run bug bounty programs, cash rewards to freelancers who can identify bugs and vulnerabilities in their code — has picked up a big cash award.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple defends parts pairing as Oregon mulls right-to-repair bill
Oregon may soon become the latest state to pass right-to-repair legislation. Last month, Google lent its support in an open letter, calling Senate Bill 1596 “a compelling model for other states to follow.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest announces a new ad deal with Google as it approaches 500M MAUs
Pinterest announced a new ad deal with Google as the company aims to ramp up its ad revenue. Google is the social platform’s second third-party ad partner after Amazon signed a multiyear deal with Pinterest last year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta challenges EU’s Digital Services Act supervisory fee as unfair
Meta is challenging a fee levied by the European Union on larger online platforms under its rebooted ecommerce rules.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC officially declares AI-voiced robocalls illegal
The FCC’s war on robocalls has gained a new weapon in its arsenal with the declaration of AI-generated voices as “artificial” and therefore by definitely against the law when used in automated calling scams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Californian regulator looking into Waymo’s collision with a cyclist
California’s auto regulator, the Department of Motor Vehicles, is investigating an incident that occurred on Tuesday, where a driverless Waymo car collided with a cyclist, according to a report by Reuters.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snap is looking to unify user experience across Spotlight and Stories
Snap’s stock plunged 30% on Tuesday after announcing Q4 2023 results that didn’t meet analyst expectations.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp is preparing to roll out third-party chat support
With a month away from the Digital Markets Act (DMA) deadline, WhatsApp is preparing to allow other messaging networks in its app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Invite-only dating app Blush launches with $7M in seed funding
Invite-only dating app Blush has raised $7 million in seed funding to scale and expand its exclusive platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yandex to sell its remaining Russian businesses for $5.2B — half its market value
Yandex N.V., the Dutch parent company of the eponymous Russian internet giant, is selling the last of its remaining Russian businesses at a steep discount.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky is now open for anyone to join
After almost a year as an invite-only app, Bluesky is now open to the public.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta cuts off third-party access to Facebook Groups, leaving developers and customers in disarray
The recent surprise announcement that Meta will soon be shutting down a Facebook Groups API is throwing some businesses and social media marketers into disarray.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stalkerware apps PhoneSpector and Highster appear to shut down
The makers of two phone surveillance services appear to have shuttered after the owner agreed to settle state accusations of illegally promoting spyware that his companies developed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Podcastle raises $13.5M, its founder credits AI-driven growth in Armenia’s ‘Mini-Silicon Valley’
Podcastle, a podcasting platform that has boosted its product with various generative AI-driven features, has raised $13.5 million in a Series
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTC orders Blackbaud to overhaul ‘reckless’ security practices in wake of 2020 breach
Education tech company Blackbaud agreed to settle with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the company’s security practices that resulted in a 2020 data breach.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MessageBird rebrands as Bird, and slashes prices by 90% on SMS to take on Twilio
No, don’t think Bird Scooters. Think Bird, formerly MessageBird.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Three San Francisco supervisors receive threats following YC President Garry Tan’s tweet
Aaron Peskin says Garry Tan’s now deleted X post did “harm to democratic discourse."
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sundar Pichai says Google One cloud storage service has nearly 100M subscribers
Google CEO Sudar Pichai said that the company’s Google One cloud storage service is ” just about to cross” 100 million subscribers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Universal Music Group plans to pull song catalog from TikTok
Universal Music Group (UMG), the label representing artists including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande, says that it’ll pull its music from TikTok tomorrow at midnight after failing to reach a deal with the platform’s parent company, ByteDance, over royalties.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yelp launches revamped feed with AI-powered business summaries
Yelp is releasing new features as part of its winter release, which includes a more visual feed, AI-powered summaries of businesses, and number masking while contacting businesses for better privacy.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Streaming media company Plex raises new funds as it nears profitability
Media streamer Plex has raised new capital.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal leaves board
Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has resigned from the e-commerce group’s board, the two said Saturday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify calls Apple’s DMA compliance plan ‘extortion’ and a ‘complete and total farce’
Count Spotify among those not thrilled with how Apple has chosen to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which sets the stage for sideloading apps, alternative app stores, browser choice, and more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General purpose humanoid robots? Bill Gates is a believer
The robotics industry loves a good, healthy debate. Of late, one of the most intense ones centers around humanoid robots.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI responds to Congressional Black Caucus about lack of diversity on its board
OpenAI has been criticized for the lack of diversity on its board.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pokemon Company says it intends to investigate Palworld
The Pokemon Company said Thursday it has not granted any permission to “another company,” referring to Palworld-developer Pocketpair, to use Pokemon intellectual property or assets and “intends to investigate and take appropriate measures” against the fast-growing survival game operator.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta is rolling out tighter teen messaging limitations and parental controls
Meta announced today that it is rolling out new DM restrictions on both Facebook and Instagram for teens that prevent anyone from messaging teens. Until now, Instagram restricts adults over the age of 18 from messaging teens who don’t follow them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BeReal, which now has 23M DAUs, is onboarding brands and celebs
BeReal, a rising social media app that emphasizes authenticity, is making its first outreach to brands and celebrities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Etsy launches ‘Gift Mode,’ a new AI-powered feature that generates 200+ gift guides
E-commerce site Etsy today launched “Gift Mode,” a new AI-powered feature to match you with tailored gift ideas based on specific preferences.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple will pay artists more to have a spatial audio version on Apple Music
Apple will pay additional royalties starting this month to artists if they have a spatial audio version on Apple Music, according to multiple reports.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Telegram is rolling out ‘view-once’ voice and video messages
Telegram is rolling out a bunch of upgrades as part of its January feature drop including “view-once” video and audio messages, the ability to pause recording while sending a video or an audio message, and new read-time controls.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chronosphere acquires Calyptia to extend its observability platform
Chronosphere, a startup that offers a cloud native observability platform, today announced that it has acquired Calyptia.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sony tells Zee it’s terminating the $10 billion India merger
Sony called off the merger between its India unit and Zee Entertainment on Monday, ending a two-year acquisition deliberation that would have created a $10 billion media powerhouse in the South Asian market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X says a bug caused numerous posts to be labeled as ‘Sensitive Media’
A bug on X, formerly Twitter, was causing numerous posts over the weekend to be flagged as “Sensitive Media,” thwarting the company’s own attempts to make its platform more approachable to advertisers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok faces Iowa lawsuit accusing the company of ‘lying’ to parents
The state of Iowa is suing TikTok, alleging that the social media company misleads parents about the kinds of content available to young users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify’s astrology-like Daylists go viral, but its micro-genre mastermind was let go last month
Is it a “fearful vocaloid wednesday morning,” a “yearning cottagecore thursday afternoon,” or perhaps a “heartbroken karaoke friday evening”?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Unredacted Meta documents reveal ‘historical reluctance’ to protect children
Internal Meta documents about child safety have been unsealed as part of a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Department of Justice against both Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Land Moto accelerates its electric bike battery play with $3M infusion
Cleveland-based electric motorcycle startup Land Moto is looking to diversify by powering up the battery design side of its tech.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s robotic, self-assembling structures could be the next phase of space construction
Bad news if you want to move to the Moon or Mars: housing is a little hard to come by.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple tops Samsung in worldwide smartphone shipments for the first time
Apple’s iPhone has overtaken Samsung for the first time ever as the best-selling smartphone in 2023, according to a new report from IDC.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FedEx announces its own commerce platform for merchants
Logistics company FedEx announced its own commerce platform called FDX today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon’s Tesla robot is sort of ‘ok’ at folding laundry in pre-scripted demo
Elon Musk’s Optimus humanoid robot from Tesla is doing more stuff — this time folding a t-shirt on a table in a development facility.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google will allow more real-money games on the Play Store
Google announced today that the company plans to support more real-money games (RMG) on the Play Store this year by allowing more types of games in the category following local laws.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LG opens its first US EV charging factory in Texas
LG Electronics has opened its first electric vehicle (EV) charger facility outside of South Korea — in Fort Worth, Texas — to capture a share of North America’s competitive EV charging market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Disney pushes towards streaming profitability, Pixar to undergo layoffs in 2024
Disney-owned animation studio Pixar is poised to undergo layoffs this year, TechCrunch has learned and the company confirmed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Cloud rolls out new gen AI products for retailers
Google wants to inject a little generative AI into retail.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smart molluscs – yes, smart molluscs – could watch our waterways 24/7 for pollution
If the clams could speak, what would they say? Surely we all ask ourselves this question every day.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
App economy recovered in 2023, with $171B in consumer spending, but downloads were flat
After the app economy slowed for the first time ever in 2022, things picked up pace again over the past year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X removes support for NFT profile pictures
On Tuesday, Elon Musk’s X wrote about a grand vision for the company in 2024, which includes launching peer-to-peer payments and more AI-powered tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads accidentally rolls out the feature to view latest search results
Multiple Threads users on the iOS app reported earlier today that they are seeing a new “Latest” option to sort search results on the new social network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After taking credibility hit, Carta announces it is exiting the secondaries business: “We have decided to prioritize trust”
Roughly 72 hours after a prominent startup customer complained that Carta was misusing information with which it was entrusted — scaring many of Carta’s tens of thousands of other customers in the process.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Astrobotic lander on its way to the moon with ULA’s historic flight
It’s hard to understate just how much was at stake in Monday’s early morning launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
RIP? Third-party podcast app Castro appears to be dead, company goes quiet
The once popular third-party podcast app Castro has seemingly shut down, after earlier saying that it was “actively seeking a new home” for its product.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Logan Paul promises CryptoZoo refunds, as long as you don’t sue him
Logan Paul is offering refunds for CryptoZoo, the failed and allegedly fraudulent Pokémon-inspired NFT game that he launched in 2021.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aurora and Continental pass first major hurdle in commercial self-driving trucks deal
Aurora and automotive supplier Continental have wrapped up the first phase of a more than $300 million project to mass produce autonomous vehicle hardware for commercial self-driving trucks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Superpedestrian to auction 20,000 e-scooters after shutting down
More than 20,000 electric scooters belonging to Superpedestrian will be auctioned off later this month, along with other equipment from the startup’s U.S. operations, after closing its doors December 31
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Intel spins out a new enterprise-focused gen AI software company
Intel, intent on making bigger moves in the market for AI-powered enterprise software, is spinning out a new platform company with the backing of Boca Raton, Florida-based asset manager and investor DigitalBridge.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Telegram’s latest update brings a redesigned call interface that uses less of your phone’s battery
Telegram is rolling out a new update that introduces improved calls with a new design that uses less of your phone’s battery.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Moonwalker robotic shoes get lighter and smarter
Next week at CES, Austin-based Shift Robotics will debut a revamped version of their viral hit robotic shoes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI moves to shrink regulatory risk in EU around data privacy
While most of Europe was still knuckle deep in the holiday chocolate selection box late last month, ChatGPT maker OpenAI was busy firing out an email with details of an incoming update to its terms that looks intended to shrink its regulatory risk in the European Union.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fidelity marks down X valuation by 71.5%
Mutual fund company Fidelity has marked down its investment in X holdings
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Try these apps to reach your New Year’s resolutions in 2024
As the new year approaches, many of us are reminded of all the things we accomplished this year — getting a promotion, being more productive or even showing up to places on time — as well as things we failed to do.
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2023 showed cybersecurity isn’t immune from brutal layoffs
Despite a rise in cyberattacks and breaches, the cybersecurity industry is by no means exempt from the uncertainty inspired by the current economy. 2023 will likely be remembered as the “year of the layoff.” While many expected the tide to shift after a rough 2022 that saw more than 130,000 tech workers lose their jobs.
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
6 great audiobook apps that aren’t Audible
Audiobooks are a great way to bring words on a page to life and fit reading into your schedule throughout the day when you’re doing things like working out, cooking, driving and relaxing. Amazon-owned Audible is arguably the most popular audiobook app out there, but there are several other lesser-known options.
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India government agency seeks to block Binance and Kraken
Financial Intelligence Unit, an Indian government agency which scrutinizes financial transactions, said Thursday nine global crypto exchanges — including Binance, Kraken, Kucoin and Mexc — are operating “illegally” in the country without complying with the local anti-money laundering act and requested the IT Ministry to block their websites.
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meet the cyber-criminals of 2023
Once again we look back at the past year in cybercrime and those who we lost… to the law. This year was no different to last: we saw another round of high-profile busts, arrests, sanctions, and prison time for some of the most prolific cybercriminals in recent years. This is our look back at who […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Xiaomi’s first EV is the freshest take on a ‘smartphone on wheels’
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has revealed its first electric car, a sharp-looking sedan called the SU7. Slated to roll out in China next year, it’s another entry into an increasingly-crowded market for EVs. It’s also another attempt in this software-obsessed world to match up the technology people find in their phones to what goes on […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackers stole $2 billion in crypto in 2023, data shows
For yet another year, hackers stole billions of dollars in crypto. But for the first time since 2020, the trend is downwards, according to crypto security firms. This year, hackers stole around $2 billion dollars in crypto across dozens of cyberattacks and thefts, according to De.FI, the web3 security firm that runs the Rekt leaderboard. […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Vision Pro tipped for late Jan/early Feb release
We’ve known about the Vision Pro for more than half-a-year now (not to mention the years of rumors), but Apple’s first “spatial computing” device is one of consumer electronics’ biggest question marks heading into the new year. The $3,499 headset was given an “early-2024” release time frame when it was unveiled at WWDC in June, […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fintech’s biggest hits and misses of 2023
"As 2023 comes to a close, we’re here to look back at the biggest fintech stories of the year. Silicon Valley Bank’s implosion felt like a fintech story in that a number of startups (Brex, Arc and Mercury, for example) in the space leapt to fill the hole left by its collapse. But it truly […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only."
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A dual-use ‘Slack+location+payments’ startup raises Seed to serve humanitarian, military scenarios
When Helsing raised a $223 million Series B round, the tech world saw it as continued confirmation that Defence was unquestionably back on the investing agenda. Further confirmation comes today in the form of a $5.5 million Seed round for UK defense tech startup Labrys Technologies, led by Germany’s Project A Ventures. Also participating were […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cisco to acquire cloud-native networking and security startup Isovalent
Cisco announced this morning that it intends to acquire Isovalent, a cloud-native security and networking startup that should fit well with the company’s core networking and security strategy.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PaintJet is building big industrial robots for big industrial paint jobs
Construction may well prove to be the next major focus for robotics investment.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AR platform Really launches ‘Fandime’ NFTs to reward users with exclusive movie-related content
Traditionally, being a hardcore movie fan means collecting physical memorabilia like autographed posters to show dedication.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spill is now in open beta on iOS and Android
It’s been more than a year since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, yet we’re still seeing the reverberations of that deal on other social platforms, including the new ones that have cropped up since.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI buffs safety team and gives board veto power on risky AI
OpenAI is expanding its internal safety processes to fend off the threat of harmful AI. A new “safety advisory group” will sit above the technical teams and make recommendations to leadership, and the board has been granted veto power.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google says it will pay $700M as a part of Play Store dispute settlement
Google said today it will pay $700 million — $630 million to U.S. consumers and $70 to a fund used by U.S. states — in a settlement over Play Store reached in September.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google moves to end geofence warrants, a surveillance problem it largely created
Google will soon allow users to store their location data on their devices rather than on Google’s servers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meltwater, the media monitoring startup, gets a $65M investment from Verdane
Meltwater, which first made its name around media monitoring and then got active in business intelligence using AI and big data analytics techniques, is picking up a new investor.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo launches curbside robotaxi pickup at Phoenix airport
Select Waymo One riders can now get picked up or dropped off by the company’s robotaxis curbside at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Credit Karma co-founder Nichole Mustard stepping down after more than 16 years
Credit Karma co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Nichole Mustard is leaving the company after 16-and-a-half years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft disrupts cybercrime operation selling fraudulent accounts to notorious hacking gang
Microsoft says it has successfully dismantled the infrastructure of a cybercrime operation that sold access to fraudulent Outlook accounts to other hackers, including the notorious Scattered Spider gang.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple will no longer give police users’ push notification data without a warrant
Apple said it will no longer give over records of users’ push notifications to law enforcement unless the company receives a valid judge’s order.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s autonomous vehicle regulation requires safety operators, in-car recordings
When it comes to spurring the development of cutting-edge technologies, the Chinese government is rather pragmatic in its policymaking process.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Verve Motion raises $20M to grow its exosuit business
Verve Motion, a startup building a robotic “exosuit” designed to help workers complete physically demanding tasks in factories and other like environments, today announced that it raised $20 million in a Series B round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s WeRide tests autonomous buses in Singapore, accelerate global ambition
After years of aggressive expansion at home, China’s autonomous vehicle upstarts are now setting their gaze on overseas markets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hasbro to cut 1,100 jobs despite Dungeons & Dragons thriving
Hasbro is laying off 1,100 employees, according to an SEC filing. The company behind franchises like Dungeons & Dragons and Transformers, Hasbro already laid off 800 employees in January.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US-China tech war escalates over EV battery dominance
Semiconductors have in recent years become a focal point in the U.S.’s efforts to impede China’s technological advancement.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok to invest $1.5B in GoTo’s Indonesia e-commerce business
ByteDance’s TikTok will take a 75.01% controlling stake in a joint venture entity formed in partnership with GoTo’s e-commerce unit Tokopedia.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads is rolling out its hashtags without the hash symbol globally
Meta’s social network Threads got a major update Thursday as the company started rolling out tags (without the hash symbol) on the platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s best Gemini demo was faked
Google’s new Gemini AI model is getting a mixed reception after its big debut yesterday, but users may have less confidence in the company’s tech or integrity after finding out that the most impressive demo of Gemini was pretty much faked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EU ‘final’ talks to fix AI rules to run into second day — but deal on foundational models is on the table
As European Union lawmakers clock up 20+ hours of negotiating time in a marathon attempt to reach agreement on how to regulate artificial intelligence a preliminary accord on how to handle one sticky element.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta finally starts rolling out default end-to-end encryption for Messenger
After years of promises and limited tests, Meta has started rolling out default end-to-end encryption protection for Messenger.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bing’s new ‘Deep Search’ feature offers more comprehensive answers to complex search queries
Microsoft Bing is getting a new “Deep Search” feature powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is now licensed for payment processing in a dozen U.S states
Elon Musk is moving forward with his plans to turn the company formerly known as Twitter, now called X, into an “everything app” that includes its own payments system.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta set to discontinue cross-messaging between Instagram and Facebook
Meta has silently updated its support pages to indicate that the company won’t let users on Instagram message their Facebook contacts anymore.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise faces fines in California for withholding key details in robotaxi accident
Cruise keeps getting kicked while it’s down.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok expands its in-app Ticketmaster ticketing feature to users in 20 countries
TikTok and Ticketmaster are expanding their partnership into 20 new countries after initially launching it in the United States back in August 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta faces $600M competition damages claim in Spain as media owners pursue privacy breach lawsuit
Meta is facing a major legal challenge and damages claim in Spain that argues the adtech giant’s years of failing to have a valid legal basis for processing people’s data for ads under European Union data protection rules.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smartphone sales to rebound on AI gains, Morgan Stanley says
Smartphone sales will mount a comeback starting in 2024, defying growing warnings of a prolonged slump across the mobile sector, according to separate projections by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reviewed by TechCrunch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Blue Origin rocket engine manager alleges wrongful termination for whistleblowing on safety
The former program manager of Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engines has filed a lawsuit against the company alleging whistleblower retaliation after he spoke up about safety issues.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Immensa, a MENA-based additive manufacturing and digital inventory platform, raises $20 million
The global energy spare parts market is valued at over $90 billion, with the Middle East representing about 35% of this sector.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Here’s your reminder that Google is deleting inactive accounts tomorrow
As Google ramps up its security measures, the company is deleting inactive accounts that haven’t been touched for two years as a way of protecting users from security threats, such as identity theft, unwanted spam and scams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polestar’s climate-tweeting bot isn’t actually a bot, for good reason
“When is a bot a person?,” my colleague Kirsten asked after I learned that Polestar’s climate bot is more human than machine.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
London’s iconic black cabs can soon be hailed on Uber
Uber has secured another win over the struggling taxi industry. Soon, riders in London will be able to hail an iconic black cab in the city.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AWS brings Amazon One palm-scanning authentication to the enterprise
Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary AWS (Amazon Web Services) has lifted the lid on a new palm-scanning identity service that allows companies to authenticate people when entering physical premises.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple partner Foxconn to invest $1.5 billion in India
Foxconn plans to invest $1.54 billion in India, the latest in its growing expansion plan, following a surge in revenues in the South Asian market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X loses Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media partnership in latest brand pull-out
Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media is pulling out of its partnership with the X.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After two ambitious years, TikTok parent ByteDance starts mass layoffs in gaming
ByteDance’s gaming ambition has been an expensive, short-lived pursuit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI will benefit from unity of purpose with Sam Altman’s return
In case you missed it, Sam Altman is back as OpenAI CEO. His reinstatement comes after a whirlwind few days in which we saw unusual corporate governance lead to an attempt to oust Altman, despite support from both Microsoft and the vast majority of OpenAI’s workforce. While the whole process was incredibly messy, the result […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Florida judge finds Tesla, Elon Musk knew of defective Autopilot system
There is “reasonable evidence” to conclude that Tesla and its officers, including CEO Elon Musk, knew its vehicles had defective Autopilot systems but still allowed the cars to be driven in areas “not safe for that technology,” a Florida judge found. The ruling last week from Judge Reid Scott, in the Circuit Court for Palm […]
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Generative AI startup AI21 Labs raises cash in the midst of OpenAI chaos
One AI startup’s undoing is another’s opportunity. Case in point: today, AI21 Labs, a company developing generative AI products along the lines of OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT, closed a $53 million extension to its previously-announced Series C funding round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chaos at OpenAI adds fuel to the AI talent poaching war
It may be difficult for just any company to court OpenAI employees even if compensation packages are eye-poppingly high because of loyalty to Sam Altman.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder redesigns profile pages with prompts, info tags and quiz
Tinder is revamping its profile pages to make them more informative and create easier starting points for conversations.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Altman won’t return as OpenAI’s CEO after all
Capping off a tumultuous weekend at OpenAI that culminated in investors — and a contingent of employees — attempting to convince the company’s board to hire back former Y Combinator president Sam Altman after firing him on Friday, Altman won’t be returning as CEO
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Signal details costs of keeping its private messaging service alive
What price privacy? End-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging app Signal has put out an interesting overview of the costs required to develop and maintain its pro-privacy systems which shield user data from tracking by default.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wattpad Premium subscribers now have access to 5 free monthly Wattpad Originals
Wattpad announced today “Premium Picks,” a new offering that gives Premium and Premium+ subscribers monthly access to five free Wattpad Originals—the recently launched freemium model where select authors can choose to monetize chapters.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DeepMind and YouTube release Lyria, a gen-AI model for music, and Dream Track to build AI tunes
Back in January, Google made some waves — soundwaves, that is — when it quietly released some research on AI-based music creation software that built tunes based on word prompts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toyota is turning to startup Redwood Materials for critical battery materials
Battery cells produced at Toyota’s future North American EV factory will someday contain a little Redwood Materials DNA.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM inserts exec at Cruise as safety review expands, manual self driving paused
General Motors is taking a more active role in shaping the safety culture at Cruise.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla hits reverse on threat to sue Cybertruck resellers
Tesla seems to be walking back the punitive limits it placed on buyers of its yet-to-be-released Cybertrucks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Venmo gets a new way to split expenses among groups
PayPal-owned Venmo is rolling out a new feature starting today that will allow its users to track and manage multiple expenses among groups.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok’s newest feature lets you save favorite songs directly to Spotify or Amazon Music
TikTok is teaming up with streaming music services, including Spotify and Amazon Music, on a new feature that will allow users to save the songs they hear in TikTok videos directly to their preferred streaming music app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shekel Mobility, a B2B marketplace for auto dealers in Africa, raises $7M led by Ventures Platform and MaC VC
The World Economic Forum states that Africa has an average annual demand for 2.4 million cars and 300,000 commercial vehicles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bose QuietComfort Ultra earn their name and maybe even their $429 price tag
For years, any time someone asked what brand of headphones they should buy for a flight, the answer was a simple one syllable: Bose.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ghost, now OpenAI-backed, claims LLMs will overcome self-driving setbacks — but experts are skeptical
It’s not hyperbolic to say that the self-driving car industry is facing a reckoning.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tumblr to run on skeleton crew as parent company Automattic absorbs staff
According to a leaked memo, Tumblr’s longterm financial woes have reached a breaking point.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lyft picks comfort over sharing in bid to compete with Uber
Lyft is introducing a “more affordable sort of higher-end ride” in an attempt to offer ride-hail products that customers actually want.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI blames DDoS attack for ongoing ChatGPT outage
OpenAI has confirmed that a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack is behind “periodic outages” affecting ChatGPT and its developer tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram is finally testing a feature to let you turn off read receipts for DMs
By Ivan Mehta - Instagram is finally testing a feature that will let users turn off read receipts for Instagram DMs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung unveils ChatGPT alternative Samsung Gauss that can generate text, code and images
Written by Kate Park - Just a few days after OpenAI’s developer event, Samsung unveiled its own generative AI model, Samsung Gauss, at the Samsung AI Forum 2023.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM halts production of Cruise Origin robotaxi amid suspended operations
Cruise is pausing production of its purpose-built robotaxi, the Origin — the autonomous vehicle company’s latest setback amid suspended operations and increased scrutiny from regulators.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WeWork, once worth $47 billion, files for bankruptcy
Flexible-office-space firm WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a stunning change in fortune for the once high-flying startup co-founded by Adam Neumann and bankrolled by SoftBank.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People are turning to Snap Map for firsthand perspectives from Gaza
The world is watching the humanitarian crisis in Gaza unfold in real time through firsthand accounts documented on, of all places, Snapchat.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Android’s new real-time app scanning aims to fight malicious sideloaded apps
Android’s in-built security engine Google Play Protect has a new feature that conducts a real-time analysis of an Android app’s code and blocks it from installing the app if it’s considered potentially harmful.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DoorDash adds new safety tools for its delivery people, including ‘driving insights’
DoorDash is launching three new in-app safety tools for its delivery people, the company announced on Friday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X runs ‘timeline takeover’ ad promoting anti-trans film
Thursday on X (Twitter), all users saw the same pinned topic under the “What’s happening?” sidebar.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dashtoon uses AI to turn storytellers into comics artists
Dashtoon wants to make anyone with a story to tell into a comics artist, even if they can’t draw.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Music shuts down its Siri-only Voice Plan nearly two years later
Apple Music just shut down its cheapest option—the Voice Plan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Politicians commit to collaborate to tackle AI safety, US launches safety institute
By Ingrid Lunden. The world is locked in a race, and competition, over dominance in AI, but today, a few of them appeared to come together to say that they would prefer to collaborate when it comes to mitigating risk.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blockers globally
Written by Ivan Mehta. YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blocker usage globally, by showing warnings about breaking the platform’s terms of service. In some cases, the company is preventing users from viewing more videos unless they disable ad blocks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple brought back the best Mac colorway with the new M3 MacBook Pro
Apple has a new range of updated MacBook Pro notebooks, and while they get a pretty nice internal upgrade courtesy mostly of the new M3 processor lineup, the big news for aesthetes is on the outside.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ event video was shot on iPhone
In tech, ‘dogfooding’ means using your own stuff in the way you intend for your users to, which is helpful to make sure your stuff lives up to your marketing claims.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shein adds struggling UK brand Missguided to its fashion empire
Shein, the fast fashion giant that has thrived on its nimble supply chain in China, is expanding its product range by scooping up competitors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
President Biden issues executive order to set standards for AI safety and security
U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order that seeks to establish “new standards” for AI safety and security.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise pauses all driverless robotaxi operations to ‘rebuild public trust’
Cruise said Thursday evening it has paused all driverless operations, a decision that comes just two days after the California DMV suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits effectively ending its robotaxi operations in the state.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A year after Musk’s takeover, X says an average user spends 32 minutes per day on the platform
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Musk taking over Twitter (now X), the company published a retrospective blog post examining how it has fared under the new management.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta says users and businesses have 600 million chats on its platforms every day
Meta is doubling down on business messages for revenue generation, as Mark Zuckerberg indicated during the company’s earnings call for Q3 2023.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Will X’s addition of audio and video calling create stickiness in the app?
Elon Musk announced Wednesday that an early version of video and audio calling is now available on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
California agency pulls Cruise’s commercial robotaxi permit following DMV action
The California Public Utilities Commission has suspended Cruise’s authority to carry and charge passengers for its robotaxi service.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is actively looking to insert different types of ads in its generative AI search
Google confirmed on its earnings call that it is working on different ad formats for its generative AI-powered search experience.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC aims to investigate the risk of AI-enhanced robocalls
As if robocalling wasn’t already enough of a problem, the advent of easily accessible, realistic AI-powered writing and synthetic voice could supercharge the practice.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feds expand Tesla investigation to include vehicle range, personal benefits
Tesla has the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice — again.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After $43B valuation, Databricks acquires data replication startup Arcion for $100M
Databricks has remained a hot startup at a time when interest from investors has cooled across the ecosystem.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder’s app gets more social by letting friends play matchmaker
Dating app users will often sit with friends as they swipe through their matches in order to gain feedback, or even hand over their phone and let their friends swipe for them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google takes aim at Duolingo with new English tutoring tool
Google’s gunning for Duolingo with a new Google Search feature designed to help people practice — and improve — their English skills.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk confirms X is soon launching two new premium tiers
Elon Musk today said that X (formerly Twitter) is going to soon launch two new premium tiers, confirming previous reports and code sightings.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sidebar thinks the key to career dev is small peer groups
Sidebar, a company developing a group coaching program focused on driving individual career growth, today announced that it raised $13.3 million in a seed round from investors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp will now let log into two accounts simultaneously
WhatsApp announced today that it is rolling out the ability for users to use two accounts simultaneously.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Foxconn and Nvidia are building ‘AI factories’ to accelerate self-driving cars
Nvidia and Foxconn are working together to build so-called “AI factories,” a new class of data centers that promise to provide supercomputing powers to accelerate the development of self-driving cars, autonomous machines and industrial robots.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X starts experimenting with a $1 per year fee for new users
X, formerly Twitter, announced today that is starting a new experiment to charge a $1 per year fee for “new unverified” users to interact with posts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube is launching new playback and creator-focused features
YouTube is rolling out a new set of features for better mobile-based playback, song search, and creator-friendly tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp is launching passkey support on Android
WhatsApp is introducing support for passkeys on Android, the Meta-owned messaging service has announced.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General Catalyst and European early stage fund La Famiglia ‘join forces’ to invest in European startups
In a move that will help cement the incursion of US-based VCs into the European ecosystem, General Catalyst and La Famiglia have announced they are, in their words, “joining forces”.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Leucine makes drug manufacturing compliance less onerous
The compliance process at pharmaceutical manufacturers is a complicated and prone to errors because many still use paper-based systems to record manufacturing steps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford increases wages at planned EV battery factories amid UAW strike
Ford and its joint venture partner SK On, will increase wages at two planned EV battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee in an effort to assuage striking autoworkers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft’s $68.7B Activision acquisition clears final hurdle as UK approves restructured deal
Microsoft’s near-two year attempt to buy gaming giant Activision is finally happening, after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted a restructured proposal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitch adds anti-harassment features to stop banned users from watching streams
Twitch streamers can finally block banned users from watching their streams, thanks to a recent update to the platform’s anti-harassment features.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Linda Yaccarino responds to EU: 700 Community Notes, 5K+ images shared on Israel-Hamas war, “thousands” of pieces of content removed
X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, came under fire earlier this week in Europe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Recs is a social ‘wallet’ for stashing and sharing your favorite places
The most popular apps suck us into the technological equivalent of couch lock, but it’s easy to imagine how things might have gone differently.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Klarna launches a suite of new features, including an AI-powered image-search tool
Klarna is introducing a suite of new features, including an AI-powered image-search tool called Shopping lens, the company announced on Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Consumer payments startup Braid shuts down, cites struggles with ‘leveraging third-party software’
Braid, a four-year-old startup that aimed to make shared wallets more mainstream among consumers, has shut down.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X’s new control lets only verified accounts reply to a post
X has introduced a new control that limits replies to only verified accounts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prosus-backed fast-fashion startup Virgio, valued at $161 million, shuts down
Fast-fashion startup Virgio, founded by former Myntra chief, is shutting down its operations less than a year after raising funds at a valuation of over $160 million.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo-Zeekr robotaxi poised for US testing by end of 2023
Nearly two years after Waymo and Geely struck a deal to develop robotaxis for the U.S. market, we are seeing concrete progress in the collaboration.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix’s 6.5M India subscribers dwarfed by Prime Video and Disney, Bernstein says
Netflix has “not succeeded” in scaling up its business in India despite the global streaming giant consistently lowering the subscription costs in the country, analysts at AllianceBernstein wrote in a report to clients Thursday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
All eyes on VW after Hyundai, Kia adopt Tesla charging standard
Hyundai and Kia have finally announced their plans to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) ports for their electric vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, joining the swells of automakers that have also promised to do so.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Union Square Ventures backs Indian EV infra startup Bolt.Earth in $20M funding
Bolt.Earth, an Indian startup that offers charging infrastructure and software solutions for electric vehicles, has raised $20 million in a funding round to expand its presence within the South Asian nation and enter into new markets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X cuts headlines from link previews as Musk wants users posting directly on the platform
X, formerly Twitter, has started cutting headlines from link cards on the iOS app and on the web. This means you will see just an image with the domain name of the link on the bottom left, which is easy to miss.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In latest Cruise incident, video shows pedestrian struck by human-driven car, then run over by robotaxi
The San Francisco Police Department is investigating an October 2 incident that left a woman stuck underneath a Cruise robotaxi after being hit by a human-driven vehicle.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electric Hydrogen is the green hydrogen industry’s first unicorn
Investors have historically been skeptical of green hydrogen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cloaked manages your logins with proxy emails, phone numbers and a built-in password manager
Boston-based privacy and security startup Cloaked, launched its apps today to let users create unique proxy emails, phone numbers, and passwords for online accounts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stitch raises $25M Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital, increasing the round’s total to $46M
Open banking, in which traditional banks release their data via application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable the development of new financial services for their consumers, has been one of the most significant disruptions in global payments over the past decade.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VW bails on its plan for a $2.1B EV plant in Germany
Volkswagen’s $2.1 billion plan to launch a dedicated electric-vehicle factory in Wolfsburg, Germany is kaput.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BeReal pushes back at report that it’s losing steam, says it now has 25M daily users
Just under a year ago, the buzzy new social app BeReal looked to be on the rise, with reportedly 20 million users launching the app every day to snap their candid photos.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX’s defense-focused Starshield satellite internet business lands first contract
SpaceX won its first contract for Starshield, the defense-focused version of its Starlink satellite internet service, from the U.S. Space Force.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Judge upholds $18 minimum pay for NYC delivery workers
In a blow to Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub, a New York judge on Thursday ruled to allow the implementation of the minimum pay rate of $18 per hour for New York City’s food delivery workers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vivaldi launches an iOS version of its browser
Almost eight years after former Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner launched a new browser for desktop users, his company named Vivaldi has introduced its iOS version today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X will be profitable in 2024, CEO claims in tense interview
According to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, the company formerly known as Twitter will be profitable by early 2024.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google launches earthquake alerts on Android in India
Google has announced the launch of its earthquake alert system for Android devices in India.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The writers strike is over: here’s how AI negotiations shook out
After almost five months, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached an agreement with Hollywood studios to end the writers strike.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta says separate account deletion for Threads will roll out by December
After launching its text-based social network Threads in July, Meta faced criticism as there was no way for users to delete their Threads account without deleting their Instagram account.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Podcasts to shut down in 2024 with listeners migrated to YouTube Music
Google announced this morning it will be shutting down its Google Podcasts app later in 2024 as part of its broader transition to move its streaming listeners over to YouTube Music.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snap partners with Microsoft on ads in its ‘My AI’ chatbot feature
Snapchat has a new advertising partner in Microsoft for the ads it’s inserting into its AI product, My AI, an AI chatbot introduced earlier this year to the wider Snapchat user base.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X will make audio and video calls a premium subscriber-only feature
Last month X CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed that video calls would be coming to the app formerly known as Twitter as part of its transition into an “everything app.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft-Activision: UK looks poised to clear restructured deal
The UK’s competition watchdog has signalled it’s preparing to greenlight a restructured proposal for Microsoft to acquire Activision.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads adds easy profile switching to its mobile apps
Meta-owned Twitter rival Threads has finally added a way to switch between multiple accounts without logging out.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Auctoria uses generative AI to create video game models
Several years ago, Aleksander Caban, the co-founder of Carbon Studio, a Polish VR game developer, observed a major problem in modern game design.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waabi and Uber Freight partner to accelerate autonomous trucking
Autonomous trucking startup Waabi is committing billions of miles of driverless capacity to the Uber Freight network as part of a 10-year strategic partnership between the two companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Substack redesigns its mobile app to boost discovery and engagement
Substack is overhauling its mobile app with a redesigned Home experience to boost discovery and engagement, the company announced on Wednesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb is verifying all properties in its top five markets including the U.S.
Airbnb is trying to crack down on fake listings by verifying all listings in its top five markets — US, Canada, Australia, UK, and France.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Outschool launches an AI-powered tool to help teachers write progress reports
Outschool, the online learning platform that offers kid-friendly academic and interest-based classes, announced today the launch of its AI Teaching Assistant, a tool for tutors to generate progress reports for their students.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Darrow gets served $35M for an AI that parses public documents for class action lawsuit potential
The U.S. is famous (or infamous) for its litigiousness.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bird Buddy, the AI-powered bird feeder startup, now lets anyone use its app to birdwatch
Bird Buddy, the startup behind multiple AI-powered smart bird feeders, including the recently announced smart Hummingbird Feeder and Bird Bath, is today launching its latest product — and it’s not another bird feeder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lyft to pay $10M fine to SEC for failure to disclose board member’s role in pre-IPO share sale
Lyft has agreed to pay a $10 million fine over a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charge that the ride-hailing company failed to disclose a board director’s role in the sale of $424 million worth of private shares before to its initial public offering.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta says not planning ads on WhatsApp
Meta on Friday disputed a media report that claimed the social giant was exploring bringing ads on the popular messaging app WhatsApp.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X launches account verification based on government ID
X, formerly Twitter, has launched government ID-based account verification for paid users to prevent impersonation and give them benefits such as “prioritized support.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK DeepTech gets another boost with new $100M SCVC fund out of Bristol
Europe has far too few VCs created by former founders, or “Operators” as the industry often likes to call them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
San Francisco requests redo on Cruise, Waymo robotaxi expansion hearing
San Francisco has formally requested state regulators redo an August hearing that expanded robotaxi permits for Cruise and Waymo, giving both companies permission to widen commercial operations throughout the city 24/7.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Telegram adds a self-custodial crypto wallet worldwide, excluding the US
Telegram, the popular chat app with 800 million monthly active users, is rolling out a self-custodial crypto wallet.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
French watchdog temporarily halts iPhone 12 sales over radiation levels
Just a few hours after Apple unveiled the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, France’s radiation watchdog (ANFR) released a public statement announcing that the iPhone 12 breaches radiation levels.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
English learning platform ELSA lands $22.5M Series C
ELSA, the English language learning platform, announced today it has raised $22.5 million in Series C funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok Shop officially launches in the U.S.
After months of testing, TikTok has finally launched its e-commerce product, TikTok Shop, in the U.S — where it has more than 150 million users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google.org to invest $20M into AI-focused grants for think tanks and academic institutions
Ahead of Wednesday’s AI-focused private Congressional meeting with tech giants, Google this morning announced a new initiative aimed at supporting researchers and public policy solutions around AI with the debut of the Digital Futures Project.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp has reluctantly started work on cross-platform messaging due to EU regulation
Last week, the European Union named the six big tech companies that should be considered as gatekeepers in one way or another under the Digital Markets Act.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google flips the switch on interest-based ads with ‘Privacy Sandbox’ rollout
Google is now rolling out Privacy Sandbox — its tech to replace third-party cookies — to all Chrome users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BMW feels the heat, stops charging for warming cheeks
When BMW started charging an $18 per month subscription for heated seats in 2022, the backlash was swift and brutal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram is testing a feature to let you share feed posts just with ‘Close Friends’
Instagram users have been complaining for a while about the impersonal nature of the social network largely due to its algorithmic feed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gaming browser Opera GX integrates ChatGPT-powered AI feature
Powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the AI browser Aria launched on Opera in May to give users an easier way to search on the web, ask questions and write code.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arduino nabs $22 million in fresh funding to support expansion into enterprise
Odds are if you know the name Arduino, it’s through its connection to the DIY community. Much like Raspberry Pi, the company built its reputation creating microcontrollers for hobbyists. But the last few years have seen it expanding that horizon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MetaMask now allows crypto cash-out to PayPal and banks, but fees could be high
MetaMask, the world’s biggest self-custodial hot (internet-connected) wallet with over 22 million users, has added the option for users to convert cryptocurrencies into fiats like USD, as a growing list of web3 players strive to make digital assets usable in the real world.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Envisics closes $100M to advance AR heads-up display tech in cars
Envisics, a UK-based holographics company building in-car technology that projects navigation, safety alerts and other data onto the inside of a windscreen, has closed a $100 million Series C round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ThetaRay nabs $57M for AI tools to ID and fight money laundering
Money laundering — the process of transferring assets around in order to disguise the illicit origin of the money behind them — has been a huge and growing business for years, used by terrorists to finance their work, criminals to wash their spoils, (some) fat cats to avoid taxes and more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lawsuit alleges no due diligence in Amazon’s Project Kuiper launch contracts to Blue Origin, ULA
An institutional investor is suing Amazon and its board, including founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, over hefty launch contracts they awarded to Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How the FBI took down the notorious Qakbot botnet
A global law enforcement operation this week took down and dismantled the notorious Qakbot botnet, touted as the largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google pulls popular but controversial live video chat app Chamet from the Play Store
Google has removed a popular but controversial live video chat app Chamet from the Play Store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI-backed language learning app Speak raises $16M to expand to the U.S.
Speak, an English language learning platform backed by OpenAI’s startup investment fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, today announced that it raised $16 million in a Series B-2 funding round led by angel investor Lachy Groom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is now letting paid users hide their likes
Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, is now rolling out a feature for paid users to let them hide their likes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google discontinues its Pixel Pass subscription, which combined phones and services
Google is discontinuing its Pixel Pass subscription service, which allowed people to get a Pixel phone combined with premium services including YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and YouTube Premium for a monthly fee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apollo.io, a full-stack sales tech platform, bags $100M at a $1.6B valuation
While working at his first startup, BrainGenie, a math and science skills practice website, Tim Zheng experienced firsthand the challenge of maintaining a small business — and expanding it.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eldercare robot ElliQ nabs another $25 million in funding
Intuition Robotics isn’t hurting for funding these days. The Israeli firm announced a $36 million Series B in the early days of the pandemic, and now it’s adding another $25 million.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Splinter group officially launches OpenTF fork of HashiCorp Terraform
Earlier this month HashiCorp announced that it was changing the open source license it uses for Terraform and its other developer tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X saw weekly active users and rankings drop post rebrand, but Twitter Lite installs grew
Reports that X (formerly Twitter)’s downloads decreased after Elon Musk’s rebranding of the microblogging social network only tell part of the story.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit launches moderator rewards program amid sitewide discontent
Reddit is launching the “Mod Helper Program” to reward moderators who offer helpful advice to other moderators, along with an updated moderator help center.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
You can finally buy Lego’s Braille Bricks
Building with Lego bricks has stayed a formative and important practice for kids around the world, partly because it’s so easily enjoyed by anyone, regardless of location, language, or ability.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Better.com’s stock tanks after SPAC combination brings it to the public markets
Shares of Better.com are getting hammered into the ground Thursday morning after the digital mortgage company completed its long-delayed SPAC merger and began to trade as a public company for the first time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI partners with Scale AI to allow companies to fine-tune GPT-3.5
OpenAI, the AI startup behind the viral AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, plans to partner with third party vendors to make it easier for developers — specifically enterprises — to fine-tune its AI models using custom data.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Automakers now have to comply with MA’s Right to Repair law
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday automakers can comply with a Massachusetts Right to Repair law, reversing a previous directive to ignore the state legislation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
iOS 17 beta includes further hints that the iPhone 15 Pro will have an ‘Action Button’
Apple has released iOS 17 beta 7 to developers and it includes further hints that the iPhone 15 Pro will have an “Action Button.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chip company Arm files for Nasdaq listing in IPO anticipated to be this year’s biggest
Arm, the U.K.-based chipmaker owned by Japan’s SoftBank since 2016, has filed for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker symbol “ARM,” five months after announcing it had filed confidential, preliminary IPO paperwork with U.S. regulators.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is planning to hide headlines from news links for ‘improved aesthetics’
Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, is planning to roll out a new way to display news links without any headline or description.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mycoprotein producer Enough raises €40M toward doubling its production capacity
Now with the Netherlands factory online, Enough is ramping up to produce over a tonne of Abunda every hour and around 10,000 metric tonnes per year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise told by regulators to ‘immediately’ reduce robotaxi fleet 50% following crash
Cruise told by regulators to ‘immediately’ reduce robotaxi fleet 50% following crash
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tumblr is rolling out a new web interface, and it looks a lot like X (formerly Twitter)
Tumblr is officially rolling out a new look for its web browser after testing it with select users over the past month.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise and Waymo see a surge in robotaxi app downloads
Consumer interest in Cruise and Waymo’s competing robotaxi services surged following a vote last week by the California Public Utilities Commission that allowed the two companies to expand and charge for their driverless car operations in San Francisco.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New York City bans TikTok on government-issued devices
New York City becomes the latest government to issue new rules banning TikTok, a measure meant to ward off potential security threats from China.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV maker Vinfast still worth more than Ford and GM after stock tanks 19%
Vietnamese EV maker VinFast’s debut Tuesday on the Nasdaq public exchange was nothing short of remarkable.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electrify America-backed 75MW solar farm kicks off operations
Electrify America, the EV charging company created by Volkswagen in the aftermath of its diesel emissions scandal, said on Tuesday that a new, 75 megawatt solar farm in Southern California is now up and running.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky adds self-labeling for posts and a dedicated media tab for profiles
X- (previously Twitter) and Threads-rival Bluesky has started allowing users to self-tag their posts so they can be automatically filtered.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla reassures Chinese users on data security amid spying concerns
The relationship between American tech giants and the Chinese government has never been an easy one.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab to launch a pair of climate satellites for NASA
Rocket Lab will launch two small satellites for NASA that could help scientists better understand how a warming climate will affect the massive ice shelves at the Earth’s poles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bugs in transportation app Moovit gave hackers free rides
Hackers could have hijacked the user accounts of a popular transportation app and used them to get free rides and access people’s personal information, according to a security researcher.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mastercard to purchase a minority stake in MTN’s $5.2B fintech business
Mastercard has agreed to purchase a minority stake in the fintech division of MTN Group, Africa’s largest cellphone provider, which it values at $5.2 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electric aircraft makers Wisk and Archer end bitter legal dispute, agree to work together
Electric aircraft rivals Wisk and Archer Aviation have settled their trade secret legal dispute more than two years after the lawsuit was originally filed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise and Waymo win robotaxi expansions in San Francisco
In a win for the autonomous vehicle industry, California regulators have given the green light to Cruise and Waymo to offer commercial robotaxi services across San Francisco 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VLGE opens SDK for its no-code virtual world builder aimed at fashion, beauty and art industries
We’ve seen the rise of no-code and low-code platforms being applied to any number of applications and use-cases. What would happen if this thinking was applied to metaverse-style virtual worlds?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Belarus hackers target foreign diplomats with help of local ISPs, researchers say
Hackers with apparent links to the Belarusian government have been targeting foreign diplomats in the country for nearly 10 years, according to security researchers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Duolingo spotted developing a music learning app
Work on Duolingo’s next big app, Duolingo Music, is well on its way, according to new findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Astranis gives its “secret satellite” a formal introduction
When news broke last month that Astranis’ first commercial satellite in orbit malfunctioned, the company made an unexpected announcement: it had a backup.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paramount+ tops 61 million subscribers after Showtime merger
Paramount said that it added 700,000 subscribers to Paramount+ in Q2 2023 after the company launched a subscription tier with Showtime integration in June.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Europe confirms in-depth probe for Adobe’s $20B Figma acquisition
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Array Labs is scanning the Earth from space to equip autonomous vehicles with 3D maps
It’s an oft-told story: the boom of space startups today can be traced to dramatically lowered cost in launch and satellite manufacturing over the past ten years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India pushes ahead with data privacy bill despite pushback from critics
India’s lower house of parliament greenlit the revised data privacy legislation presented the previous week, even as the bill has received criticism, with many believing that it grants significant discretionary authority to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI.com flips from ChatGPT to Elon Musk’s X.ai
There was a bit of a hubbub in February as it emerged that OpenAI had seemingly purchased AI.com in order to redirect it to the ChatGPT web interface.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GoStudent adds another $95M to its war-chest to go after VR and AI-enhanced tutoring
GoStudent — the late-stage tutor marketplace that has raised $686.3 million so far – has now raised another $95 million in what it calls as strategic fundraise.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DJI’s new GoPro competitor launches at $399
The DJI/GoPro relationship has been an uneasy one ever since planned drone collaboration fell back down to earth some eight or so years back.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo is bringing its robotaxi service to Austin
Waymo plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin — putting the company once again in direct competition with rival Cruise.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder to launch a ‘high-end’ membership this fall amid product refresh
Tinder is preparing to launch a new “high-end” membership later this fall as well as a product refresh aimed at better catering to Gen Z users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This California agency wants to know what happens to all that connected car data
The troves of data collected by today’s modern connected cars has long been viewed as a cash cow — a yet untapped opportunity that could boost profits for automakers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rapyd acquires a piece of PayU from Prosus for $610M to scale its fintech-as-a-service platform
Rapyd, the fintech-as-a-service startup that provides APIs to enable payments, card issuing, digital wallet and other financial services to companies like Uber and Ikea, is taking a significant step forward in its growth with a big acquisition.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit updates its site design for logged-out users
Reddit is rolling out a number of updates to its website for logged-out users, including improved performance, a more helpful search results page and better communities and related post suggestions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s cutthroat e-commerce tactic goes global as Shein-Temu war escalates
The battle between two of China’s largest e-commerce firms is heating up, as they take the cutthroat tactics that have long been around in the country to the international markets they both covet.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Walmart pays $1.4 billion to buy Tiger Global’s remaining Flipkart stake
Walmart paid $1.4 billion to buy out Tiger Global’s remaining holding of Flipkart shares as the retail giant further expands its stake in the Indian e-commerce startup.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A new study found that Facebook’s Pages and Groups shape its ideological echo chambers
New research published Thursday offers an unprecedented dive into political behavior across Facebook and Instagram — two major online hubs where people express and engage with their political beliefs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AMD plans to invest $400 million in India by 2028
AMD plans to invest around $400 million in India over the next five years and set up its largest R&D facility in the country’s southern city of Bengaluru.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cash-strapped instant delivery giant Getir, trying to close funding, pulls out of Spain, Italy and Portugal
More tough times for the instant-delivery startups that once flooded the markets of Europe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackers are infecting Call of Duty players with a self-spreading malware
Hackers are infecting players of an old Call of Duty game with a worm that spreads automatically in online lobbies, according to two analyses of the malware.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon makes bid to settle UK antitrust probe into seller data, Buy Box and Prime
In a move seeking to settle an open antitrust investigation in the UK, Amazon has offered to limit its use of data on marketplace sellers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Trustmi lands $17M to scale its payments fraud prevention tech
Shai Gabay and Eli Ben-Nun, two entrepreneurs based in Israel, met in 2018 while working at Cynet, a cybersecurity startup developing extended detection and response tools
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Thales enters app security market with $3.6B Imperva acquisition
French aerospace and defence group Thales is procuring cybersecurity company Imperva from Thoma Bravo in a deal worth $3.6 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify reports strong user growth as it is raising subscription price
Spotify just reported its second-quarter earnings and the two most impressive metrics are the number of subscribers and the total number of Spotify users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify confirms price hike
Spotify has announced that it’s raising its premium plan prices, confirming reports that first started to surface over the weekend.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter has officially changed its logo to ‘X’
Twitter has removed the iconic bird logo and adopted ‘X’ as its official logo.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX’s Swarm Technologies is halting new device sales
Swarm, the Internet-of-Things connectivity provider that was acquired by SpaceX, will no longer be selling new devices, according to an email sent to customers earlier this month.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Autonomous vehicle company Aurora sells $820M worth of stock
Aurora Innovation, the self-driving technology company that aims to launch an autonomous trucking business in 2024, has completed a capital raise of $820 million from a public and concurrent private offering of its stock. The company expects the deal to close Friday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kitchen robot Botinkit raises $13M from DJI angel and others
Having worked in the food industry for several years, Shirley Chen saw firsthand the challenges of managing staffing and training for restaurant expansion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former NHTSA head blasts Cruise’s ‘Humans are terrible drivers’ ad
A former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has responded to a full-page ad taken out in several major newspapers by Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving subsidiary, that calls humans terrible drivers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Farizon, Geely’s truck unit, raised $600M to expand outside China
Farizon, a maker of hybrid and electric trucks owned by China’s Geely, has closed a $600 million Series A raise, the company said in a statement.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK provisionally approves Broadcom’s $69B VMware acquisition
The U.K.’s competition authority has said that it plans to greenlight Broadcom’s $69 billion bid for virtualization software giant VMware.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok’s new program aims to identify rising artists in the music industry
TikTok is launching a new program that is designed to identify the next wave of rising artists in the music industry, the company announced on Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hammerspace ingests $56M for a new approach to work with vast amounts of unstructured data
Data may be “the new oil,” but only when it can be extracted and put to use.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Intel backs Figure’s Humanoid robot to the tune of $9 million
Bay Area-based robotics firm Figure this week announced that its humanoid officially took its first steps — a milestone it hit a few days shy of of the company’s first anniversary.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla announces first Cybertruck build ahead of Q2 earnings
Tesla over the weekend said its first much anticipated Cybertruck came off the electric vehicle maker’s production line in Texas.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Play Games beta for PC expands to over 60 new countries including India
Google has finally launched its Play Games beta for PC project, which lets users play Android games on their Windows systems, in India after introducing it in more than 50 countries.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Chandrayaan-3 blasts off to the moon
Chandrayaan-3, India’s third mission to the moon, has taken off successfully — almost four years after its predecessor failed to touch down on the lunar surface in 2019.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise, Waymo say humans are bad drivers amid robotaxi permit delays
Autonomous vehicle companies Cruise and Waymo have separately pushed a narrative this week that humans are bad drivers, and that their technologies are crucial to making roads safer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Defacto gets new credit facility to provide instant financing to small companies
French startup Defacto has closed a new securitization fund that will be used to provide short-term loans to small and medium enterprises via an embedded, API-first approach.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s Bard chatbot finally launches in the EU, now supports more than 40 languages
Google is making its ChatGPT rival Bard available to a wider audience today, launching the generative AI chatbot in more than 40 languages and finally bringing it to the European Union (EU) after an initial delay due to data privacy concerns.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gmail brings in Calendly-style availability sharing from Google Calendar
On Tuesday, Google released new scheduling-related features for Gmail with Google Calendar integration including quick event creation and easy availability sharing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku users can now buy products from Shopify merchants with their TV remote
Roku is partnering with Shopify to give users the ability to purchase products from Shopify merchants through their TVs, the hardware company announced Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Discord introduces new opt-in parental controls for teens
Discord is introducing a new Family Center opt-in-tool that is designed to make it easy for parents and guardians to learn more about who their teens are friends with and talk to on the platform, the company announced on Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram’s Threads app reaches 100 million users within just five days
Instagram’s text-based app Threads has achieved the mark of 100 million sign-ups in just five days.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
If you don’t buy Jony Ive’s $60,000 turntable, are you really a music fan?
You enjoyed his iMacs, his iPhones, his iPads. You thrilled at the way he said “aluminium” [sic]. You admired the typeface.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla to provide more info on its driver alert system amid Autopilot probe
U.S. regulators have requested more information from Tesla to assist in their ongoing investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles that include Autopilot, the automaker’s advanced driver assistance system.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV truck maker Nikola fails again to secure enough shareholder support to issue more shares
Nikola failed for the second time since June to get enough shareholders to vote on a proposal that would allow the EV truck maker to issue more shares in a bid to raise more capital.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok launches a music streaming service in Brazil and Indonesia called ‘TikTok Music’
TikTok has already dominated the short-video and social media market, and is now looking to take on Spotify and Apple Music with its latest offering.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads won’t be fun — but it will give brands a home away from Twitter
There are many Twitters now, but we may never have another Twitter again.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s WeRide secures self-driving vehicle license from UAE
The United Arab Emirates has given Chinese autonomous driving company WeRide the first national license for self-driving vehicles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian delivers first electric vans to Amazon in Europe
Amazon has begun rolling out its custom electric delivery vans from Rivian in Europe, the e-commerce giant said Monday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kentucky is the latest state to mandate Tesla’s charging plug
Kentucky now requires that electric vehicle charging companies include Tesla’s charging plug if they want to secure federal funds from a state program to electrify highways, Reuters reports.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fidelity deepens valuation cut for Reddit and Discord
Fidelity has further slashed the estimated worth of its holding in social platform Reddit and chat app Discord as well as SaaS startup Gupshup.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok parent ByteDance launches music creation and audio editing app in closed beta in the US
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance announced today that it’s launching a new, free-to-use music production app in closed beta in the United States.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Get a clue, says panel about generative AI: it’s being “deployed as surveillance”
At a Bloomberg conference in San Francisco, some of the biggest names in AI turned up.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Halo Car launches remotely piloted rental car deliveries in Las Vegas
Halo Car, a startup that uses remote operators to deliver rental cars to a customer’s door, has launched driverless operations in Las Vegas.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Techstars raising $150 million for new accelerator fund
The accelerator is seeking new capital ahead of the end of the deployment period of its third institutionally-backed fund, Techstars Accelerator 2021, late this year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit protest plunges user engagement, site activity and ad portal visits
Reddit community moderators made a bold move earlier this month that caused quite a stir online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab doubles down on marine booster recovery with next Electron launch
Rocket Lab’s next Electron mission will include another marine recovery attempt of the rocket’s booster, the latest step by the company to advance its reusability program.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CalypsoAI raises $23M to add guardrails to generative AI models
Companies are increasingly embracing generative AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Redpanda nabs $100M Series C as streaming service experiences significant growth
Redpanda helps companies capture data in real time in a modern context, providing a new way to stream data while maintaining backwards compatibility with Kafka, the popular open source streaming project.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aston Martin taps Lucid to help develop electric vehicles
Lucid Group, the U.S. automaker that produces the luxury all-electric Air sedan, will supply Aston Martin with powertrain components for future electric vehicle models, the companies said Monday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UTU raises $35M to help travelers get more from tax-free shopping
Utu, a travel tech company that helps flyers get more out of their tax-free shopping, announced today it has raised a $35 million Series B led by SC Ventures.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoulCycle to offer trainer-guided virtual work sessions with the FLOWN startup
FLOWN is a startup that took the idea of the sort of ‘virtual co-working’ some of us during the pandemic just have some company during lockdowns, and created a model of guided “deep work” sessions with actual coaches.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple’s Vision Pro SDK is now available, in-person developer labs launch next month
Time to get a jump on all of that spatial computing. Apple today announced that its visionOS software development kit is now available, allowing 3D parties to begin building content for the Vision Pro.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roblox invites its community to build mature experiences for 17+ users
Roblox is well aware that its young users are getting older, and the company is making every effort to grow up along with them. The platform, once synonymous with younger kids, announced Tuesday that it would allow creators to build mature content designed for users age 17 and up.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitch will require new labels for streams with sexual themes, gambling and M-rated games
Twitch is rethinking the way it flags mature content, swapping its existing toggle for a more granular set of topic-specific labels. The company announced Tuesday that it would introduce a new set of content labels that require streamers to signal when their channels will contain sexual themes, graphic violence, “drugs, intoxication, or excessive tobacco use.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Consumer group calls on EU to urgently investigate ‘the risks of generative AI’
European regulators are at a crossroads over how AI will be regulated — and ultimately used commercially and non-commercially — in the region, and today the EU’s largest consumer group, the BEUC, weighed in with its own position: stop dragging your feet, and “launch urgent investigations into the risks of generative AI” now, it said.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oracle launches its ‘sovereign cloud’ for EU customers
Oracle is formally launching its “EU Sovereign cloud” for customers in the European Union (EU) today, nearly a year after firs revealing plans for the initiative. So-called “digital sovereignty” has emerged as a critical issue for companies operating across the EU.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mercedes is adding ChatGPT to its infotainment system, for some reason
Mercedes owners in the U.S. will soon add a new luxury to their already luxurious vehicles: ChatGPT.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter competitor Spill launches in beta on iOS
From a team of ex-Twitter employees, the new social platform Spill launched in an invite-only beta on the App Store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feds catch another LockBit hacker, Justice Department announces
The Justice Department has arrested and charged a Russian national for his alleged role in multiple LockBit ransomware attacks against victims in the U.S. and around the world.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot acquisition greenlighted by UK antitrust regulator
The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has given the go-ahead to Amazon’s proposed billion-dollar iRobot acquisition, concluding that the deal “would not lead to competition concerns in the U.K.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BYD is overtaking Tesla, but its EV dream skips the US for now
A Chinese electric vehicle brand that’s rarely spotted in the U.S. is quickly catching up to Tesla’s dominance of the global EV market. BYD, which started in Shenzhen 28 years ago, delivered 547,917 passenger EVs, including hybrids, a category it’s known for, in the first quarter of 2023.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ransomware gang lists first victims of MOVEit mass-hacks, including US banks and universities
Clop, the ransomware gang responsible for exploiting a critical security vulnerability in a popular corporate file transfer tool, has begun listing victims of the mass-hacks, including a number of U.S. banks and universities. The Russia-linked ransomware gang has been exploiting the security flaw in MOVEit Transfer, a tool used by corporations and enterprises to share.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber leads $20M round in India’s Everest Fleet for EV expansion
Uber has led a $20 million round into Everest Fleet, a Mumbai-based fleet management company that boasts over 10,000 vehicles running on rideshare platforms Uber and Ola throughout India. The company will use the funds to accelerate its transition to electric vehicles, with a goal of having 10,000 EVs in its fleet by 2026.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV laggard Toyota says its next-gen EVs will have over 600 miles range
Toyota plans to introduce a high-performance lithium-ion battery to its next-generation electric vehicles by 2026, part of the automaker’s new technology roadmap revealed Tuesday. The batteries will deliver quicker charging and around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) of range, which would put Toyota’s vehicles ahead of the competition. Toyota has historically trailed behind other major automakers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Striveworks snaps up first funding of $33M to build tools for machine learning operations
MLOps, or DevOps for those working with machine learning models, has seen a boom of interest in the last year, and that should come as no surprise.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US intelligence confirms it buys Americans’ personal data
A newly declassified government report confirms for the first time that U.S. intelligence and spy agencies purchase vast amounts of commercially available information on Americans, including data from connected vehicles, web browsing data, and smartphones.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
London lures a16z’s first international office with ‘predictable’ crypto regs
US VC giant Andreessen Horowitz — which has about $35bn in assets under management — is to open its first (yes, the first) international office in London, led by one of the firm’s general partners, Sriram Krishnan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Barracuda urges customers to remove and replace vulnerable hardware exploited by hackers
Barracuda Networks has told customers they must replace vulnerable email gateway appliances following the disclosure of a critical security flaw.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nasdaq to acquire financial services software company Adenza from Thoma Bravo for $10.5B
Nasdaq today revealed that it’s doling out $10.5 billion to acquire Adenza, a company that develops risk-management and related regulatory software for the financial services market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta to appeal court ruling declaring content moderatos as its employees
Meta is set to appeal Kenya’s court decision declaring it as the primary employer of the moderators that review content on its platforms in sub-Saharan Africa.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adobe brings Firefly to the enterprise
Adobe today announced that it is bringing its Firefly generative image generator to its enterprise customers and allowing them to customize the model with their own branded assets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber is taking its car-sharing service to North America
Uber plans to bring peer-to-peer car sharing to North America, starting with Toronto and Boston, the company said Thursday at its Go-Get product event in London.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Automattic launches an AI writing assistant for WordPress
Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and the main contributor to the open-source WordPress project, launched an AI assistant for the popular content management system on Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blush, the AI lover from the same team as Replika, is more than just a sexbot
The team behind the AI friendship bot Replika is launching another AI companion — one that’s made to flirt.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Vision Pro: Here’s everything you need to know
At its annual WWDC 2023 conference, Apple took the wraps off of the Vision Pro, its long-rumored augmented reality (AR) headset.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Byju’s files suit challenging acceleration of $1.2B loan, seeks to disqualify Redwood for ‘predatory’ tactics
Indian edtech giant Byju’s has filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court to challenge the acceleration of the $1.2 billion term loan B and to disqualify Redwood, who it alleges has conducted a series of predatory tactics.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Deeptech and AI explodes, European Deeptech VC IQ Capital closes new $200M fund
European Deeptech startups get another shot in the arm this week in the shape of IQ Capital’s new $200m venture fund. The new fund takes its assets under management to more than $1bn.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube rolls back its rules against election misinformation
YouTube was the slowest major platform to disallow misinformation during the 2020 U.S. election and almost three years later, the company will toss that policy out altogether.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NestAway, once valued at over $225 million, sells for $11 million
PropTech firm Aurum is acquiring NestAway, a once high-flying Indian startup operating in the same space, for up to $10.9 million, in a deal that marks a near complete erosion in value for the startup’s investors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shopify’s Shop app introduces a new ‘Shop Cash’ rewards program
Shopify’s Shop app is introducing a new rewards program called Shop Cash, the e-commerce platform announced on Friday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Enzo Biochem says ransomware attack exposed clinical test data of 2.5 million patients
Enzo Biochem, a New York-based biotechnology company, has confirmed that a ransomware attack exposed the clinical test information of almost 2.5 million patients.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Legal tech firm Casepoint investigates breach after hackers claim theft of government data
Casepoint says it’s investigating a potential cybersecurity incident after hackers claimed to have compromised the legal technology platform to steal terabytes of sensitive data.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Flighty’s tool will help you connect with fellow WWDC attendees
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is now just less than a week away. Many developer communities are already organizing watch parties across the world.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volvo’s new small EV tries to optimize space with Scandinavian design
Volvo is continuing to drip-feed more information about its upcoming electric Volvo EX30 small SUV. Last week the automaker promised the new EV would have the smallest carbon footprint of any previously made Volvo vehicle.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI’s ChatGPT iOS app now available in Canada, India, Brazil and 30 more countries
OpenAI has expanded the availability of its ChatGPT app for iOS users in India and 32 other countries — just a week after its launching it in the U.S.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bernstein pegs Reliance as India’s eventual e-commerce kingpin
The Indian conglomerate Reliance is poised to outpace Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart in the race for the country’s $150 billion e-commerce market
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford to bring Tesla’s charging tech into its future EVs
Ford has reached an agreement with rival Tesla that will give owners of Ford’s EVs access to more than 12,000 Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Applied Intuition to buy autonomous trucking SPAC Embark for $71M
Embark Trucks, the autonomous trucking company that recently cut 70% of its workforce, is being acquired by Applied Intuition, a simulation and software provider for autonomous vehicle development.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ambani’s Reliance targets Indian fashion e-commerce with low-cost model
Reliance Industries, run by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is gearing up to deploy a winning strategy from its past playbook for the fashion market: low-cost products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk says Tesla might ‘open source more code’ to other automakers
Elon Musk suggested Thursday during a Twitter Spaces with Ford CEO Jim Farley that Tesla might open up some of its automotive operating system code to other automakers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arc browser’s new tool lets you remove some elements from a website
The Browser Company, the company behind the web browser Arc, introduced a fun new tool today called Boosts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The official ChatGPT app is now available in 11 more countries
OpenAI has announced in a tweet that the official ChatGPT mobile app is now available in more countries.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoundCloud lays off 8% of staff as it aims to reach profitability this year
Music streaming platform SoundCloud has laid off 8% of its staff according to multiple reports.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Figure raises $70M to build its humanoid robots
I spent a bit of time at Figure’s Sunnyvale offices during a recent visit to the South Bay.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Proton launches family subscription plan for privacy app suite starting at $20 per month
Privacy-centric software maker Proton has launched a new family plan starting at $19.99 (€19.99) per month, giving up to six family members access to its entire application suite.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Apple engineer’s Mimestream app is a nifty Gmail client for Mac
Former Apple engineer Neil Jhaveri has been working on an email app for Mac called Mimestream. It is now out of beta after a long test phase of more than two years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta ordered to suspend Facebook EU data flows as it’s hit with €1.2BN privacy fine
It’s finally happened: Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been hit with a formal suspension order requiring it to stop exporting European Union user data to the US for processing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China bans Micron chips in key infrastructure over ‘national security’ risks
China has banned some sales of Micron products after launching a probe into the American memory chip giant for cybersecurity risks in early April.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Restaurant365 gobbles up $135M to supersize its software for the food service industry
The price of food continues to go up and up, but surprisingly that hasn’t (yet?) played out as pressure on the wider restaurant industry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple releases iOS 16.5 with a new sports tab in Apple News
Apple released iOS 16.5 Thursday to all users with a new sports tab in the Apple News app. The tab acts as a hub for scores, match schedules, and articles for your favorite sports teams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTC says popular fertility tracking app Premom shared sensitive data with Chinese analytics firms
A popular fertility tracking app shared users’ sensitive health information with third-party advertisers without their consent, a new Federal Trade Commission complaint alleges.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1Password’s new service lets businesses quickly adopt passkeys
Password manager 1Password today launched a new service, Passage by 1Password, that’s designed to allow businesses to build passkey authentication into their apps and websites without having to maintain their own security infrastructure.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disney+ changes up its release model, plans to launch all ‘Echo’ episodes at once
President of Marvel Studios Kevin Fiege took to the Disney Upfront stage Tuesday to announce that Marvel’s new Disney+ show, “Echo,” is getting a binge release– a first for an MCU series.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon undercuts the Echo Dot with the $40 Echo Pop
You know the old saying: If you don’t like Amazon Echo’s form factors, just wait a few minutes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Youth mental health startup Somethings launches with a $3.2M raise led by General Catalyst
When he was 10 years old, Patrick Gilligan’s childhood struggle with food began.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK’s Space Forge debuts new reentry tech for in-space manufacturing satellites
Welsh in-space manufacturing startup Space Forge has developed a satellite reentry system to enable rapid recovery and reuse of its in-space manufacturing spacecraft.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US pharmacy giant says hackers accessed personal data of almost 6 million patients
One of the largest pharmacy service providers in the United States has confirmed that hackers accessed the personal data of almost six million patients.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple partner Foxconn to invest $500 million in India’s Telangana
Foxconn will invest $500 million to set up manufacturing plants in the southern Indian state of Telangana, the latest in a series of bets from the key Apple contract partner as it expands its base in the South Asian market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toyota Japan exposed data on millions of vehicles for a decade
Toyota Japan has apologized after admitting to leaving millions of customers’ vehicle details on the public internet for a decade.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok turns up on the volume on its music play with NewMusic search feature
TikTok has upended how music is discovered, used and consumed these days; now, its long-term effort to build a business around that is getting a boost.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest is combining Pins and Idea Pins into a single format
As Pinterest further shifts its focus to video content following the development of its video-focused Idea Pins, the company says it will now streamline its tools for all Pin formats into one creation flow.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Study says App Store revenue of small developers grew by 71% in last two years
Apple just released findings from an independent study, which highlighted that the revenue of small developers on the App Store grew by 71% from 2020 to 2022.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clearview fined again in France for failing to comply with privacy orders
Clearview AI, the US startup that’s attracted notoriety in recent years for a massive privacy violation after it scraped selfies off the Internet and used people’s data to build a facial recognition tool it pitched to law enforcement and others, has been hit with another fine in France.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vast and SpaceX aim to put the first commercial space station in orbit in 2025
Artificial gravity space station startup Vast announced that it intends to put the first commercial space station in orbit in August 2025 via launch partner SpaceX.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK greenlights $7.3B merger between satellite rivals Viasat and Inmarsat
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially greenlighted the proposed $7.3 billion merger between Viasat and Inmarsat.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Porsche taps Mobileye for automated driving functions in future models
Porsche has partnered with Mobileye, the autonomous driving unit that Intel spun out into a public company last year, to bring hands-free automated assistance and navigation functions to future sports cars, the companies said Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Western Digital tells customers that hackers stole their data
On Friday, a month after the company revealed it had been the victim of a data breach, Western Digital published an update on the incident and notified customers that their data was stolen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Virgin Galactic aims for triumphant return with crewed flight at the end of May
Virgin Galactic will return to the skies later this month, in a crewed mission that the company hopes will bring to an end the nearly three-year gap since its first and only crewed flight in July 2021.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Security researcher finds trove of Capita data exposed online
London-based outsourcing giant Capita left a trove of data exposed online for 7 years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung surpasses Apple in smartphone shipments by 1% amid persisting market decline
Samsung overtook Apple through a slender 1% lead to secure the top spot in smartphone shipment volumes during the first quarter of 2023.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Japan’s biggest drone maker sets its sights on the US
This week, ten-year-old drone company ACSL announced plans to enter the U.S. commercial drone market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ransomware attack forces Dallas to shut down courts, disrupt some 911 services
The City of Dallas in Texas has confirmed a ransomware attack has downed key services, including 911 dispatch systems.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku touts its new ad products, including an AI that matches campaigns to TV moments
In Roku’s recent quarter, the company posted better-than-expected revenue of $741 million, but worried investors with its warning of an uncertain ad market and declining average revenue per user.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb’s average home prices have gone up, so now it’s refocusing on rooms to give users more affordable alternatives
Airbnb started out of an idea of renting out spare beds and rooms in private homes to people as an affordable alternative to hotels.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mixpanel moves into marketing data with its latest product
Traditionally, Mixpanel has provided information about product usage to product teams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Box is partnering with OpenAI to bring generative AI tools across the platform
We’ve seen a number of enterprise software companies making announcements related to generative AI in the last six weeks from established companies like Salesforce and Adobe to startups like Ada and Forethought.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX’s Starship didn’t self-destruct immediately as planned during test launch
SpaceX’s recent Starship test flight, the first during which it flew with its Super Heavy orbital booster, was a bit more of a mess than it even appeared when it ended with a large explosion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brave Search doesn’t use Bing’s index anymore
Brave just announced that it is now exclusively using its own index for its search engine. In other words, it doesn’t rely on third-party solutions like Bing anymore.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit is testing Discord-like channels for community chat
Reddit announced Thursday that it is testing Discord-like chat channels with select subreddits.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Energy Dome gets $44M uplift into its CO2 battery for renewable energy storage
Italian climate startup Energy Dome, which has developed a “CO2 Battery” for storing renewable energy, has closed a €40 million.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NBCUniversal reports higher Peacock losses as it shows CEO the door
Peacock losses continue to widen this quarter, NBCUniversal parent company Comcast reported Thursday, just days after the company announced that Jeff Shell’s time as NBCU CEO was up.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smile Identity expands African footprint with acquisition of Appruve to strengthen ID verification services
Smile Identity, a KYC compliance and ID verification partner for many African fintechs and businesses, has acquired Inclusive Innovations, the parent company of Appruve, a Ghanaian developer of identity verification software.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK blocks Microsoft’s planned $68.7B Activision bid, saying it would ‘substantially weaken competition’
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has confirmed that it intends to block Microsoft’s megabucks Activision acquisition, concluding that such a merger would create “…the most powerful operator” in the cloud gaming market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With $20M in new funding, Hydrosat preps climate-monitoring satellites for launch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify passes 500M users, but its premium-to-free ratio is falling
Spotify now has 515 million monthly active users (MAUs), representing a 5% increase on the previous quarter and 22% increase on the corresponding period last year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apigee rolls out new AI-powered API protection features
Timed to coincide with the annual RSA cybersecurity conference, Google Cloud announced updates to Apigee, its API management and predictive analytics service, designed to help prevent business logic attacks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volvo Cars Tech Fund invests in driver monitoring startup CorrActions
CorrActions, an Israeli startup that, among other things, built a driver monitoring system that can understand a driver’s cognitive state, today announced that it has raised a strategic investment from Volvo Cars Tech Fund.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The IRS is sending four investigators across the world to fight cybercrime
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to send four agents who specialize in investigating cybercrime to Australia, Singapore, Colombia, and Germany starting this summer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter seemingly now requires all advertisers to have a verified checkmark
As Twitter’s legacy blue check mark system finally comes to an end, the social network’s new paid-for verification system is causing more than a little chaos, with CEO Elon Musk himself stepping in to pay for some celebrities’ verification when they refuse to do so.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber and Cartken are bringing sidewalk delivery robots to Virginia
Uber is expanding its partnership with sidewalk delivery robot startup Cartken to Fairfax, Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Outsourcing giant Capita fears customer data stolen during ransomware attack
Capita, the British outsourcing company that provides critical services for the U.K. government, says hackers may have accessed customer data during a cyberattack last month.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Salesforce is working on a pair of new generative AI-driven workflow tools
One of the promises of generative AI is the ability to create code based on a written request.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ditto raises $45M to help companies keep their data in sync
Many apps today assume that data lives in only one location, typically a single cloud database. But the reality is more complex.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alaska Airlines does away with check-in kiosks
Alaska Airlines recently started a 3-year, $2.5 billion project to improve the airport experience at its hubs and focus cities like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple’s high security mode blocked NSO spyware, researchers say
Last year, Apple launched a new feature for iPhone users who are worried about getting targeted with sophisticated spyware, such as journalists or human rights defenders.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mercedes debuts the Maybach EQS SUV with more power, range, and luxury
I can’t get over the huge faux grill. Mercedes today revealed the Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV, an electric SUV built on its excellent EQS SUV.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adobe brings Firefly to its video tools
A month ago, Adobe announced Firefly, its entry into the generative AI game. Initially, Firefly’s focus was on generating commercially safe images, but the company is now pushing its technology beyond still images.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify is shutting down Heardle, the Wordle-like music guessing game it bought last year
Spotify is closing down Heardle, the Wordle-inspired music guessing game it acquired last July for an undisclosed sum.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter introduces 10,000 character long tweets for Blue subscribers
Twitter has introduced a new feature that will let Blue subscribers post 10,000-character-long posts — as if the social network is trying to compete with a rival newsletter platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter partners with eToro to show real-time stock and crypto information
Twitter has partnered with the investment platform eToro to show real-time information about stocks and crypto prices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LMS365, a learning management system built into Microsoft 365 and Teams, raises $20M
Danish company LMS365, an online learning management system (LMS) built for use inside Microsoft products, has raised $20 million in its first institutional round of funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Truecaller brings live caller ID to iPhone… but with a catch
Truecaller has been a known name in the app market globally — thanks to its eponymous caller-identification service.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Strava launches integration with Spotify to let users listen to content while tracking activities
Strava, the activity tracking and social community platform used by more than 100 million people globally, has announced a new in-app integration with Spotify.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
‘Drink to dust’: Startup says just smash its clay alternative to plastic cups
Disposable plastic and paper cups are an environmental mess. GaeaStar, a startup based in Berlin and San Francisco, thinks it can do better with just clay, water, salt and sand.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ex-Twitter CEO Agrawal, other execs sue firm over unpaid legal bills
Former Twitter employees, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, ex-legal head Vijaya Gadde, and ex-CFO Ned Segal, have sued the social network over alleged unpaid legal reimbursements.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter is now resurfacing official Russian accounts in search results
A year after Twitter restricted the Russian government accounts on its platform, the social network appears to have removed those blockings.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise recalls 300 robotaxis, issues software update after crashing into city bus
GM’s self-driving unit Cruise filed with federal regulators a voluntary recall to update the software in 300 robotaxis after one struck the back of a city bus in San Francisco.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung cuts memory chip production as it hits worst quarterly profit since 2009
Samsung Electronics plans to cut back memory chip production as its operating profit in the first quarter of 2023 is expected to plummet about 96% from the previous year. This will be the lowest profit posted by the South Korean tech giant since 1Q 2009.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
T-Mobile to provide free MLB.TV subscriptions to customers through 2028
T-Mobile announced today that it has extended its partnership with Major League Baseball to allow its customers to continue receiving free MLB.TV subscriptions through 2028.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Legal powerhouse Proskauer exposed clients’ confidential M&A data
A security lapse saw Proskauer Rose, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, expose sensitive client data for more than six months, TechCrunch has learned.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nestle takes a big swig of Yfood in a deal that values the meal replacement startup at $469M
Yfood, one of the direct-to-consumer food tech startups that has emerged over the last decade around the concept of meal replacement drinks, is bulking up.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cranium launches out of KPMG’s venture studio to tackle AI security
Several years ago, Jonathan Dambrot, a partner at KPMG, was helping customers deploy and develop AI systems when he started to notice certain gaps in compliance and security. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FBI seizes Genesis Market, a notorious hacker marketplace for stolen logins
U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized Genesis Market, a notorious hacker marketplace used to acquire compromised credentials and digital browser fingerprints.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dozer exits stealth to help any developer build real-time data apps ‘in minutes’
Data has emerged as one of the world’s greatest resources, underpinning everything from video-recommendation engines and digital banking, to the burgeoning AI revolution.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zealy is an achievement system for web3 communities
Meet Zealy, a French startup that you may already know under the name Crew3.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nintendo and mobile games company DeNA launch Nintendo Systems
Back in November, Nintendo and app developer DeNA announced its joint venture company called Nintendo Systems, which is meant to help reinforce Nintendo’s business and “create value-added services,” according to Nintendo’s Japanese website.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian sticks to 2023 production goal for EVs despite quarterly dip
EV automaker Rivian said Monday it produced 9,395 vehicles at its factory in Normal, Illinois in the first quarter, lower than the previous period but still on track to hit its 50,000 production goal for the year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Read’s AI-powered summary feature squeezes a meeting into a two-minute clip
Summarization is one of the common use cases of different AI models. Multiple tools have come up with a summarization of articles, PDFs, videos, and transcripts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Italy orders ChatGPT blocked citing data protection concerns
Two days after an open letter called for a moratorium on more powerful generative AI models being developed so regulators can catch up with the likes of ChatGPT, Italy’s data protection authority has just put out a timely reminder that some countries do have laws that already apply to cutting edge AI.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
P97 fills up its tank with $40M to fuel its gas station mobile commerce services
The rising prices for gas continue to be a headache and stress for a lot of people around the world, but it underscores something more besides the cost of living becoming increasingly untenable: Cars are a central part of modern life.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku announces a second set of layoffs impacting 200 employees
Roku is the latest tech company to announce a second round of layoffs with today’s news that it’s letting go of 6% of its workforce, or around 200 employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hygraph raises $30M to scale out a new, federated approach to managing digital content
Digital content and how we consume it continue to endlessly evolve, and with that, so too does the tech that helps manage all of it behind the scenes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google to roll out new extreme heat alerts in Search soon
Google is introducing new extreme heat alerts in Search that are designed to surface information to help people stay safe during heat waves, the company announced on Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Turntable LIVE (née tt.fm) raises $7M ahead of public launch
The Turntable wars were one of the more fascinating stories to emerge in 2021 startup land (though I suspect those involved might dispute the matter).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon opens its low-bandwidth, long-range Sidewalk network to developers
Back in 2019, Amazon announced Sidewalk, its low-bandwidth, long-range wireless network that uses the 900 MHz spectrum to connect Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple acquired a startup using AI to compress videos
Apple has quietly acquired a Mountain View-based startup, WaveOne, that was developing AI algorithms for compressing video.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
France bans recreational apps like TikTok on government devices
France is the latest country that is taking steps to ban TikTok from government-managed devices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Huupe, a ‘smart’ basketball hoop startup, raises its game with $11M
Basketball can be played just about anywhere and by anyone in the U.S. and now many other parts of the world, thanks to a confluence of factors that lower a lot of barriers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford to build next-gen EV truck at $5.6B factory in 2025
Ford said Friday that its $5.6 billion BlueOval City complex outside of Memphis, Tennessee will include a truck plant capable of producing 500,000 electric vehicles a year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DoorDash is adding three new retail partners and updating its shopping features
DoorDash is adding three new retail partners and updating its shopping features, the company announced on Thursday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford expects EV business unit to lose $3B this year, hit profitability in 2026
Any question of what business sector is — and is not — profitable at Ford is no longer a mystery.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CodiumAI is using generative AI to help developers build code logic tests automatically
Over his two decades of experience in the tech industry, CodiumAI co-founder and CEO Itmar Friedman has personally experienced the pain of building test suites to check his code logic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ubisoft’s new AI tool automatically generates dialogue for non-playable game characters
Ubisoft, the developer behind popular games like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, announced that it’s using an AI “Ghostwriter” tool to write dialogue for some of its games with the aim of keeping NPCs (non-playable characters) individually interesting and realistic with less manual work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
IPRally, a patent search engine powered by explainable AI, raises $10.8M
IPRally, a Finnish startup building a knowledge graph-based patent search engine, has raised €10 million ($10.8 million) in a Series A round of funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ferrari says ransomware attack exposed customers’ personal data
Italian supercar manufacturer Ferrari has confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack that exposed customers’ personal information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Foiled again: Candela raises another $20M to set course for the future of ferries
Swedish company Candela will launch its 30-passenger commercial hydrofoil shuttle, the P-12, this summer — the vessel it believes will change the course of motorized water transport.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft banks on regulations to build a mobile games store
Apple and Google have had a stronghold on mobile app distribution through their app store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC proposes satellite-to-phone rules to eliminate ‘no signal’ once and for all
The FCC has officially proposed, and voted unanimously to move forward with, a framework under which satellites can communicate directly with smartphones in a structured and useful way.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google warns users to take action to protect against remotely exploitable flaws in popular Android phones
Google’s security research unit is sounding the alarm on a set of vulnerabilities it found in certain Samsung chips included in dozens of Android models, wearables and vehicles, fearing the flaws could be soon discovered and exploited.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MLOps platform Seldon raises £20M Series B to improve the productions of AI models
The rise of ChatGPTÂ has fuelled growth in the public awareness of AI, as well as the growing discourse around AI ethics.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Climate Choice wants to make supply chain emissions more visible and more green
The World Economic Forum says that so-called ‘Scope 3 emissions,’ – or CO2 in supply chains – can make up as much as 90% of a company’s carbon footprint and worldwide more than half of all emissions can be traced back to only a handful of supply chains.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waze is making it easier for EV owners to find compatible charging points
Google-owned mapping app Waze is adding a new feature that seeks to help EV owners find a compatible charger en route.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Torch is building solar-powered outdoor sensors to spot wildfires early
The Nest Protect is the single best piece of smart home hardware I’ve ever purchased. Not everything in your home would benefit from being connected, but smoke detectors really do.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Firefox extends its anti-tracking protection to Android
Firefox announced today that its Total Cookie Protection (TCP) feature that protects users from trackers is now available on Android.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google goes all-in on bringing AI to Workspace
Google and Microsoft are locked in a head-to-head competition to bring as much generative AI to their productivity services as possible. Only days ahead of Microsoft’s “Future of Work” event, Google today announced a sweeping update to Workspace that will bring its generative AI models to virtually every part of its productivity suite, in addition […]Google goes all-in on bringing AI to Workspace by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit pod
Founder of troubled crypto asset unicorn Babel launches new DeFi project, stablecoin
Flex Yang, the former CEO and founder of Babel Finance, is leading efforts to restructure the now embattled crypto asset unicorn while introducing a new decentralized project with hopes to avoid some of the flaws of his previous venture.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naspers shuts down Foundry, its $100M fund focused on South African startups
Naspers, Africa’s most valuable tech company by market capitalization, has winded down the operations of its R1.4 billion (≈$100 million) South Africa-focused venture capital fund Naspers Foundry, according to local news outlet BusinessDay.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PeopleGrove security lapse exposed users’ personal information
PeopleGrove confirmed Thursday that it’s investigating after a security lapse exposed users’ personal information online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple could reportedly release a HomePod with a display
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could be working on a new HomePod device that would feature a built-in display for 2024.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wing likens its drone ‘delivery network’ to rideshare
Drone delivery is one of those ideas that’s been sold as “the next big thing” forever.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto-friendly bank Silvergate to wind down after FTX blow-up
Silvergate Capital Corporation, the holding company of crypto-focused Silvergate Bank, announced Wednesday its intent to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate the banking unit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Forethought aims to build more accurate chatbots with constrained generative AI models
Forethought has been building chatbots since 2017 with increasing levels of sophistication, intelligence and automation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With Project Clover, TikTok touts new EU data privacy and security efforts
TikTok is doubling down on its European charm offensive today as it looks to counter a rising tide of political discontent with the popular short-form video-hosting platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Online food delivery platforms in Kenya under probe
The competition regulator in Kenya is probing the conduct of online food delivery and groceries platforms to inform its suggestions on regulatory and policy options, to bolster healthy competition, and enforcement of consumer protection.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tensor raises $3M for Solana-focused NFT trading platform
Tensor, a Solana-centric NFT trading platform, has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Placeholder, the team exclusively shared with TechCrunch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Police arrest suspected members of prolific DoppelPaymer ransomware gang
An international law enforcement operation has led to the arrests of suspected core members of the prolific DoppelPaymer ransomware operation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla slashes prices for Model S and Model Y in US
Tesla has cut the prices of its Model S sedan and Model X SUV in the U.S., according to the company’s website. This is the second time this year that Tesla has slashed prices, and it might be a bid to boost sales before the end of the quarter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter Blue expands to more than 20 countries
Twitter’s paid plan Twitter Blue is now available to more than 20 new countries in Europe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Secret Service and ICE conducted warrantless stingray surveillance, says watchdog
A government watchdog has found that the Secret Service and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit repeatedly failed to obtain the correct legal paperwork when carrying out invasive cell phone surveillance.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Renovate is building robots to install roof shingles
Roofing isn’t a glamorous job. In fact, one could reasonably argue that it checks off the classic three Ds of automation — dull, dirty and dangerous — with aplomb.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Big Tech on notice as regulators in Africa group to investigate their market conduct
Several competition watchdogs in Africa plan to collectively interrogate the market conduct of global digital firms, putting big techs like Google and Meta, which have faced investigations and remedial action in other jurisdictions, on alert.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VW’s software unit Cariad launches app store to bring Spotify, Tiktok and hundreds more to vehicles
Dozens of apps including Spotify, Amazon Music, Tiktok and gaming hubs Vector Unit and FRVR are headed to VW Group brands, beginning with Audi thanks to a new app store launched by its software subsidiary Cariad.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok rolls out new screen time controls, adds new default settings for teens and expands Family Pairing
TikTok announced today that it’s introducing new well-being features for teens, families and its broader community.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OnePlus’ first foldable will arrive in the second half of the year
The OnePlus that was founded in 2013 was a cautious company, deliberate in its release schedule.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta says it is experimenting with AI-powered chat on WhatsApp and Messenger
No company is immune from the generative AI wave, and everybody wants in. Meta is the latest entrant in testing AI-powered tools for its products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CollX raises $5.5M to scan and evaluate value of trading cards
Card collectors often dispute how much their cards are worth. New Jersey-based CollX provides a free iOS and Android app to card enthusiasts that allows them to scan their trading cards and get value in return.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Planet Computers hits the desktop with a line of touchscreen Linux computers
Planet Computers turned heads when it arrived on the scene almost exactly five years ago.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sono Motors has killed off its Sion EV in a pivot to solar tech business
Sono Motors is ending its long-awaited electric car program and instead pivoting to a business that aims to sell its solar vehicle technology to other companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DOJ suit could represent significant stumbling block for $20B Adobe-Figma deal
The DOJ is reportedly getting ready to file suit to block the $20 billion Adobe-Figma deal announced last year on the grounds it is anti-competitive.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NBA Top Shot creator to face lawsuit around securities status
Dapper Labs, the company behind many popular NFT collectible projects, will face a lawsuit accusing it of selling unregistered securities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify is testing playlists that could be unlocked by NFT holders
Unlocking exclusive access has been a long-held promise of a lot of NFT-based communities. And now, Spotify is helping some of them realize that claim with token-gated playlists.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Cloud partners with Tezos blockchain to bring web3 technology to its customers
Google Cloud has partnered with the Tezos Foundation to grow its web3 application development and provide new services for its customers, the companies announced on Wednesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon Fire TV devices can now directly stream audio to Cochlear hearing implants
Amazon teamed up with hearing implant company Cochlear to launch Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) support to compatible Cochlear devices, the company announced today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kempus wants to be the ultimate app for sharing college hacks
Remember poring over reviews on Rate My Professors to find out which prof is good-looking and who gives easy As?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Agtech startup Green Labs is the latest Korean startup to lay off employees
Green Labs, a South Korean agtech startup that raised $140 million (170 billion won) Series C in January last year, is cutting a significant number of jobs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quell’s gamified home fitness tech drums up $10M
Home fitness had a huge moment at the outset of the pandemic — and understandably so. People were stuck at home, gyms closed and suddenly workout options seemed to dramatically decrease.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Japan’s central bank to pilot digital currency starting in April
Japan is joining a growing list of countries exploring the possibility of adopting a digital currency, with country’s central bank, the Bank of Japan (BoJ), announcing that it would launch a pilot to test a “digital yen” in April.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Binance-backed web3 gaming startup Unagi gets funding to expand fantasy sports platform
Web3 gaming company Unagi today announced a €4.7 million ($5 million) seed round of funding, as the French startup prepares to expand its NFT fantasy sports platform beyond football (“soccer”) and into the basketball realm.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Autonomous cargo drone airline Dronamics reveals it’s raised $40M, pre-Series A
Autonomous aircraft have long been thought of as having the most potential, though not in the realm of glitzy people-carrying drones so much as the more sedate world of cargo.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Amazon, Starbucks exec launches Yelp-like platform to review and discover NFTs
Amid signs of life in the NFT market, an NFT-focused startup, Thred, launched today to help users discover new collections.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Micro-EV subscription startup Dance pulls in another €12M from existing investors
Micro-EV subscription startup Dance, which launched in 2020, has raised an additional €12 million in an equity and debt round led by existing investors HV Capital, Eurazeo and BlueYard.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sequoia-backed Bento wants be more than a link-in-bio tool for creators
There are as many link-in-bio tools available for creators as the number of links they typically display on their pages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google rolls out new features to make in-app browsers better on Android
In-app browsers are usually not the best way to consume content in an app. In fact, Android developers have been using the Chrome custom tabs features to fine-tune the experience.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Monad Labs raises $19M to grow its smart contract platform and improve the Ethereum space
Monad Labs, the team supporting the Monad blockchain, has raised $19 million in seed funding led by Dragonfly Capital, it exclusively told TechCrunch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joby flies towards 2025 commercial launch with final assembly of eVTOL
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company Joby Aviation has taken another step on its path to start a commercial air taxi service by 2025.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Two-year-old Zeekr raises $750M at $13B valuation
At a time when venture capital funding is slowing in China, EV is one of the few sectors that are still keeping investors excited.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dockhunt is a new way to discover Mac apps by looking at other people’s docks
App Store might suggest you a useful app from time to time, but you can’t rely on that to discover new apps. P
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Otonomo, the mobility data business valued at $1.4B in 2021 SPAC IPO, acquired by Urgent.ly as market cap dips to $70M
Otonomo, connected automotive company that has seen its stock price plummet since going public in 2021, has announced that it is coming together with Urgent.ly, a roadside assistance tech provider, in a reverse merger.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit says hackers accessed internal data following employee phishing attack
Reddit has confirmed hackers accessed internal documents and source code following a “highly-targeted” phishing attack.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DJI’s Mini 2 SE ultraportable drone takes to the skies
It’s a couple of years since DJI first launched its Mavic Mini, and last year it brought the Mini 3 Pro. It’s utterly confusing why the current drone is called the Mini 2 SE, but in any case, it’s the newest flying creature in the hovering menagerie that is the DJI line-up.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DoorDash introduces new safety features for riders including reduced notifications
Delivery company DoorDash is introducing new features for riders including reduced notifications, a request for customers to not text them while they are on a trip, and messaging promoting one-tap replies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
IBM acquires GraphQL startup StepZen to step up its game in API management
GraphQL, developed internally at Facebook to help developers with API management before getting rolled out as an open-source query language in 2015, has gained traction as an alternative (or complement) to REST and other tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Russian ‘WhisperGate’ hackers are using new data-stealing malware to target Ukraine
Security researchers say they have recently observed a Russian hacking crew, who were behind the destructive WhisperGate malware cyberattacks, targeting Ukrainian entities with a new information-stealing malware.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zenly co-founder returns with new social app company, Amo
Last year, Snap shut down Zenly, a popular social mapping app it acquired for over $200 million in 2017, despite the fact that Zenly still had 40 million active users and growing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp lets users put voice notes as status updates
WhatsApp Status, the feature that was introduced in 2017 as the company’s take on Snapchat Stories, has received a number of updates to make it more attractive and appealing to users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More job cuts loom as Sendy changes course in Nigeria
In October last year, Sendy, a Kenyan logistics scale-up, wound up its supplies service, which enabled retailers to purchase FMCGs directly from manufacturers, saying it was directing all its focus on its end-to-end fulfillment offering.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Simple HealthKit is taking on health equity with at-home diagnostics, treatment
Simple HealthKit provides at-home and in-clinic diagnostics, performs its own testing and telehealth services and works with pharmacy partners for treatment and follow-up care.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hackers exploiting two-year-old VMware flaw to launch large-scale ransomware campaign
Cyber-criminals are actively exploiting a two-year-old VMware vulnerability as part of a ransomware campaign targeting thousands of organizations worldwide.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple says it now has 935 million paid subscriptions
Apple had a rare quarter where it missed its revenue target due to problems in the supply chain and manufacturing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As the bee population declines, this startup secures $8M to apply AI and EVs to pollination
Given our general reliance on something called “food” you’d think the issue of pollination – and its general decline – might be higher up the world’s agenda.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter to end free access to its API
Twitter will discontinue offering free access to the Twitter API starting February 9 and will make a paid version available, the Elon Musk-owned microblogging website said as it looks for more avenues to monetize the platform.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snapchat now has more than 2 million paid subscribers
Snapchat has more than 2 million paid subscribers on its Snapchat+ program, the company said during its latest earnings report.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter discontinues CoTweets, says will debut text attachments next week
Twitter announced Tuesday that it is discontinuing CoTweeting, a feature that let two users co-author a tweet. The company said that the feature will immediately cease to exist.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Identity management platform Saviynt secures $205M in debt, appoints new CEO
Showing that there’s real investor enthusiasm for identity management platforms, Saviynt, which enables companies to secure apps, data and infrastructure in a single platform, today announced that it raised $205 million in debt from AB Private Credit Investors’ Tech Capital Solutions group.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Groupon cuts another 500 employees in the second round of layoffs
Groupon has laid off another 500 employees in a measure to cut costs, the company said in an SEC filing last week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eazy Digital helps Southeast Asia’s small insurers digitize their operations
Founded by two insurance industry veterans, Eazy Digital wants to give small insurance companies in Southeast Asia the same advantage as their larger competitors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s ‘Mega Moon Rocket’ aced first flight and is ready for crewed Artemis II launch
The enormous Space Launch System passed its first test with flying colors, NASA’s preliminary analysis concludes, and the rocket and Orion capsule are good to go for their next mission.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hands on with Walmart’s new (but buggy) ‘Text to Shop’ feature
Walmart recently introduced a new way to shop: via text. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chrome for Android now lets you lock your incognito session
Chrome is rolling out an update for Android users that lets them lock their incognito sessions with a password code or biometric info when they exit the app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hawk AI, an anti-money laundering and fraud prevention platform for banks, raises $17M
Hawk AI, a German company developing anti-money laundering (AML) and tangential fraud prevention smarts for financial institutions, has raised $17 million in a Series B round of funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GitHub says it now has 100M active users
Code-hosting platform GitHub has announced that 100 million developers are now using the platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After inking its OpenAI deal, Shutterstock rolls out a generative AI toolkit to create images based on text prompts
When Shutterstock and OpenAI announced a partnership to help develop OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 artificial intelligence image-generating platform with Shutterstock libraries to train and feed the algorithm, the stock photo and media giant also hinted that it would soon be bringing its own generative AI tools to users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter won’t force you to the ‘For You’ timeline on web anymore
In another flip-flop move, Twitter says that it will now remember the feed — the algorithmic “For You” or chronological “Following” — its users have chosen on the web.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zillow introduces Calendly-like instant booking for rental property tours
Real estate marketplace Zillow has introduced an instant tour booking feature for renters on its platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Forward Networks raises $50M for digital twin technology to help model, manage and secure complex enterprise networks
Digital twins — virtual representations of actual systems — have become an important component in how engineers and analysts build, visualize and operate AI projects, network security, and other complicated architectures.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zenfi takes in new funding to bring Mexicans some financial peace
Luis Rubén Chávez, founder and CEO of Zenfi: "If Credit Karma, SoFi, Marcus and Copilot Money had a kid, it would be us.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify cuts 6% of its workforce, impacting 600 people
Music streaming service Spotify has announced that it will be conducting a round of layoffs that will impact around 6% of its global workforce.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM, please build the baby EV pickup of my dreams
In an industry obsessed with making everything huge (at least here in the U.S.), you may not’ve expected GM to show interest in an electric baby pickup, but here we are. GM is considering a pickup design that’s “smaller than the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz,” with a “low roofline” and a 4 […]GM, please build the baby EV pickup of my dreams by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smores is a music discovery app with a TikTok-like feed
Music streaming platforms all claim to use both artificial intelligence and manual curation to find new songs from emerging artists.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zitti soaks up some funding sauce so restaurants can manage their food supply chain
Zitti's payment software platform streamlines the transaction between restaurants and food suppliers through payment, price comparison and vendor discoverability tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cumul.io, a low-code embedded analytics platform for SaaS companies, raises $10.8M
Cumul.io, the company behind a low-code business intelligence (BI) analytics platform for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, has raised €10 million ($10.8 million) in a Series A round of funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber, Bolt drivers hope for increased earnings foiled as Tanzania reinstates 25% commission
Barely a year after Tanzania capped the commissions that e-hailing firms like Uber and Bolt charge their partners at 15%, the authority in charge has backtracked on the order, taking away drivers’ prospects of increased earnings.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wristcheck wants to make used luxury watches more affordable
In an age when almost everything can be bought online, watch resale is done in a surprisingly archaic way, namely, face-to-face with little price transparency.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Edit LDN raises seed round to serve sneakerheads around the world
Before founding The Edit LDN, Moses Rashid frequented sneaker festivals and exhibitions to buy limited edition shoes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter’s third-party client issue is seemingly a deliberate suspension
Last Friday, a ton of popular Twitter clients including Tweetbot, Twitterrific, and Echofon were down. Users couldn’t log into their accounts or look at their timelines.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paris to hold vote on shared scooters
This weekend, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo told Le Parisien that Parisians will get to vote whether they want to ban free-floating electric scooters or not.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto.com cuts 20% jobs amid ‘unforeseeable’ industry events
Crypto exchange Crypto.com is cutting its global workforce by 20%, it said on Friday, as it navigates ongoing economic headwinds and “unforeseeable” industry events.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Third-party Twitter apps are facing issues, users say
People using third-party Twitter clients are facing a number of issues including unable to log in and access Twitter feeds. Tweetbot, Echofon, and Twitterrific, three popular third-party Twitter apps, confirmed the issues and noted that they are not sure what has triggered the glitch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our obsession with pets means startups aimed at Vets are booming, as Digitail shows
With our mysterious, unsustainable, and psychological attachment to pets, combined with a boom in pet ownership since those lonely pandemic times, means veterinary practices have come under increasing pressure.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is finally rolling out emoji reactions for Meet video calls
Google is finally rolling out emoji reactions to people using Google Meet for video calls starting today. The company said that this feature will be first available on iOS and the web with Android support coming soon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Inflow, a platform for managing ADHD through cognitive behavioral therapy, raises $11M
Inflow, a company developing a platform to manage ADHD using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques, has raised $11 million in a Series A round of funding. ADHD, or “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” is a condition impacting as much as 10% of the global population.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter makes algorithmic timeline default on iOS
Twitter is making the algorithmic timeline named “For You” the default feed on iOS. If you are getting a sense of déjà vu, you are not dreaming.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How companies at CES are taking on climate change (or pretending to)
I can’t get it out of my head: A honkingly big Caterpillar sign that read, “JOIN US AS WE BUILD A BETTER WORLD.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC moves to form Space Bureau as its role in regulating orbit intensifies
The Federal Communications Commission regulate lots of industries and practices relating to telecommunications and the internet, but it is now cementing its role as a space regulator by voting to create a brand new bureau specializing in the topic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Urine luck: these CES startups want to take a closer look at your waste
You wait for years for a urine analysis company, then all of them hit their flow all at once.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US tech giants say Indian panel’s recommended competition act ‘absolutist and regressive’
An influential industry group that represents Google, Meta and Amazon among other tech firms has expressed concerns about the digital competition law recommended by an Indian parliamentary panel that seeks to regulate their alleged anticompetitive practices, calling the proposal “absolutist and regressive” in nature.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla slashes Model 3, Model Y prices in China for the second time in three months
Tesla quietly announced new pricing for the China market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snap is shutting down its desktop camera app that allows users to apply filters during video calls
Snap is shutting down its camera app for the desktop that allows users to apply filters like cat ears and pirate hats on video calls.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ring brings back the Peephole Cam, now starting at $129
In 2019, Ring launched the Peephole Cam, a camera that fits over existing door peepholes to record goings on outdoors, in apartment building hallways and so on
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alexa, find me an EV charging station
Amazon’s conversational voice assistant, Alexa, has made its way into many electric vehicles in recent years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bird Buddy’s new smart hummingbird feeder can photograph and identify 350 different bird species
Bird Buddy, the maker of a smart bird feeder that snaps photos of your bird visitors which are collected in a companion mobile app, is out today with another product for its nature enthusiast and birdwatching community.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nowatch is a health-focused smartwatch without the watch part
Your health is all you’ve got, and you can’t change what you can’t measure, so it’s little wonder that health trackers are everywhere.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple is increasing battery replacement service charges for out-of-warranty devices
Apple is increasing service charges for battery replacement of out-of-warranty iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks starting March 2023.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla delivers 405,278 vehicles in Q4, missing Wall Street expectations
Tesla reported Sunday 405,278 vehicles delivered in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
There’s now an open source alternative to ChatGPT, but good luck running it
The first open-source equivalent of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has arrived, but good luck running it on your laptop — or at all.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fidelity slashes the value of its Twitter stake by over half
Fidelity, which was among the group of outside investors that helped Elon Musk finance his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, has slashed the value of its stake in Twitter by 56%.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India to explore prohibition of unbacked crypto in its G20 presidency
India said on Thursday that under its G20 presidency, it will prioritize the development of a framework for global regulation of unbacked crypto assets, stablecoins and decentralized finance and will possibly explore their “prohibition” in a potentially large setback for the nascent industry. The Reserve Bank of India, the Indian central bank, said that crypto […]India to explore prohibition of unbacked crypto in its G20 presidency by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more ab
Spotify wants to help you ring in 2023 with its New Year’s Hub
Spotify has launched a New Year’s Hub to help its users ring in 2023, the streaming service announced on Thursday. The company says the one-stop destination gives users access to classic party playlists and special takeovers from artists like Charli XCX, Rita Ora, N-Dubz and Céline Dion. “We’ve got plenty of music to kickstart your celebration, and it’s […]Spotify wants to help you ring in 2023 with its New Year’s Hub by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad
Alibaba CEO to oversee cloud arm following major server outage
When Alibaba’s former CEO Jack Ma passed the torch to Daniel Zhang, he established a system that regularly rotates executives to ensure the company always stays agile in the fast-changing internet space.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter suffers another outage
If Twitter isn’t loading fine for you, you’re not alone. Tens of thousands of users are complaining that they are unable to access the Elon Musk-owned social network, seeing scores of strange error-messages instead.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Movano’s new smart ring is focused on women’s health
Movano’s getting a week’s jump on what might well prove a banner CES for the smart ring. Today the Bay Area-based firm debuted Evie, a smart ring focused on women’s health set to hit the market later next year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This tool helps you trim your follow list on Twitter
Twitter is a mess, but it’s still addictive. While some folks might have headed to Mastadon, those who stick around might still want to get the best out of the bird site.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Baidu starts offering nighttime driverless taxis in China
Baidu, the Chinese internet giant that became known for its search engines, is making some big strides in autonomous driving.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Balance is a Mac timekeeper app that requires you to manually clock in your hours
There are plenty of time-tracking apps for Mac that automatically log the hours you’ve spent signed-in. Some even offer granular data, telling you how much time you spent on a particular app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This year in tech felt like a simulation
This year in tech, too much happened and very little of it made sense.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook parent Meta to settle Cambridge Analytica class-action lawsuit for $725M
Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed a $725 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit related to the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Persistent Jack Sweeney brings back @ElonJet (but delayed) to Twitter
More than a week after being banned from Twitter, Jack Sweeney, the University of Central Florida sophomore who has been a pain in the side of Elon Musk for at least the past year, has a new account on the platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter now displays stock and cryptocurrency prices directly in search results
Amid all the chaos, Twitter rolled out a useful feature that lets you search for listed company stocks and cryptocurrency prices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda’s Caroline Ellison plead guilty to criminal charges
The FTX/Alameda saga continues, with news late Wednesday that two key Sam Bankman-Fried associates were charged and have been charged with federal criminal offences in the U.S.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This autonomous ornithopter lands and perches on a single claw
Isn’t it wonderful that there are researchers out there whose job is quite simply to make a robotic bird?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Play now lets children send purchase requests to guardians
Google already offers parents and guardians tools to restrict purchases their children make on Play Store using the family payment method. The company is now introducing an additional feature that will allow children to send a purchase request for the manager of the family account to approve when there is no present payment method. Children […]Google Play now lets children send purchase requests to guardians by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Kredito banks $6M as the LatAm business lender eyes international expansion
Kredito created products with few requirements so that customers could more easily access financial products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter Blue for Business now allows companies to identify their employees
Twitter launched “Blue for Business” last week alongside relaunching Twitter Blue. At that time, the social network had assigned a gold checkmark to businesses.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google introduces India’s DigiLocker integration to Files app to access official documents
Google has announced that it is bringing India’s online document storage service DigiLocker to the Files app on Android to let users access verified government-issued documents from the app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube to launch Courses in edtech push in India
For years, teachers have used YouTube to promote their lessons and persuade learners to join their classes off the platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TLDraw offers a collaborative whiteboard without any login
There are a ton of tools that cater to the needs of having a collaborative whiteboard.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter pulls its Spaces group audio feature after Musk run-in with banned journalists
Twitter has apparently pulled its Spaces group audio feature, at least temporarily, after Elon Musk joined a group conversation that included journalists that had been banned from the platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lucid wants a slice of China’s crowded EV market
Lucid Motors, the publicly traded electric carmaker, is poised to enter China as it starts hiring in the world’s largest EV market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb is rolling out a toggle to show you price inclusive of all fees
Airbnb is rolling out a new toggle to show you the price inclusive of all fees (before taxes) for your stay instead of showing you a per-night price.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oxyle’s tech uses water movement to remove pollutants
UNESCO calls water pollution one of the main challenges facing societies, with 2 million tonnes of sewage entering the world’s water each day. Oxyle wants to help solve the crisis with a new wastewater treatment that removes micropollutants.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube will send a notification to users if their comment is abusive
Toxic and hateful comments on YouTube have been a constant headache for the company, creators and users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As China relaxes zero-COVID, tech firms assume a larger role in fighting the virus
China’s abrupt easing of its zero-COVID policy last week has led to a spike in cases and rising fears of the virus.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s Orion capsule returns to Earth as ispace’s lunar lander takes flight
Sunday was a landmark day for both commercial and public space ventures, with NASA’s Orion capsule returning to Earth just hours after the launch of a privately funded and built lunar lander by Japanese company ispace.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber sues NYC Taxi & Limo Commission to block rate increase for drivers
Uber is suing the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission, which last month approved a fare hike for ride-hail apps and taxi drivers amid a post-pandemic driver shortage, rising operational costs and higher inflation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft to acquire 4% stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of 10-year cloud partnership
Microsoft is to acquire a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the company that owns the London Stock Exchange as well as a several other businesses including financial market data company Refinitiv.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roblox will let 13+ users import contacts and add recommended friends
Roblox is adding two new ways for people who spend time in its virtual worlds to find old friends and make new ones.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disney+ ad-supported plan is currently unavailable on Roku devices
On Thursday, Disney+ launched its first-ever ad-supported plan, “Disney+ Basic,” in the U.S. at $7.99 per month, which is the same price as the previous ad-free plan before Disney raised the price to $10.99/month.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Renault China boss is making super-premium EVs that monitor your health
There’s an ever-growing list of wearables that track people’s health, but what about a vehicle that monitors one’s blood pressure and heart rate with smart sensors and algorithms?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zeraki, a Kenyan edtech providing digital solutions for school admin, raises $1.8M
Kenyan edtech Zeraki, a scale-up that is building digital learning and school data analytics platforms, has raised $1.8 million seed funding in a round led by Acumen Fund, for product catalog growth and regional expansion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber and Motional launch robotaxi service in Las Vegas
Uber and Motional, the Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture focused on commercializing self-driving technology, have launched a robotaxi service in Las Vegas — the first step in the companies’ 10-year plan to co-scale across major North American cities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Search’s new topic filters make it easier to refine results and expand searches
Google announced today that it’s making it easier for users to drill down on a search and explore related topics. Search currently has a few filters to help you refine and separate your search results between videos, news, images or shopping results. Now, the search giant is going to start showing users a scrollable list […]Google Search’s new topic filters make it easier to refine results and expand searches by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Vis
Apple’s first car, delayed until 2026, won’t be self-driving
Apple has talked a big game about its future plans to break into the automotive market. But a report from Bloomberg says that Apple has had to scale back its plans.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Social commerce startup Kapu, by ex-Jumia executive, comes out of stealth with $8M funding
Kapu, a social commerce startup, coming out of stealth today having raised $8 million seed funding, is hoping to help lessen the burden of buying food for Kenyan consumers, many of whom are grappling with the sky-rocketing food prices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Partech raises fourth seed fund
French VC firm Partech has closed another seed fund dedicated to early-stage tech startups — the fund is called Partech Entrepreneur IV.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI’s ChatGPT shows why implementation is key with generative AI
It’s probably not a secret to those doing a lot of focused work in the space, but when it comes to generative AI, it’s quickly becoming apparent that how a user interfaces with generative models and systems is at least as important as the underlying training and inference technology.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India won’t enforce market share cap on UPI until 2025 in a win for Google and Walmart
India won’t enforce a cap on the market share for players operating on the homegrown payments network until December 31, 2024 in a surprising move that analysts say is a major a win for Google Pay and Walmart’s PhonePe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Plant-based food brand Huel valued at $560M following Idris Elba-backed round
Much of the company’s sales are outside the UK today, with U.S. “Hueligans,” the company’s loyal fans, representing Huel’s second-biggest market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Web3 developer platform Fleek raises $25M led by Polychain Capital
Web3 developer platform Fleek has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Polychain Capital, the company shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bitcoin ‘rarely’ used for legal transactions, on ‘road to irrelevance’, say European Central Bank officials
European Central Bank officials alleged on Wednesday that bitcoin is “rarely used for legal transactions."
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New Gorilla Glass just dropped
According to Corning in-house research, “84% of consumers across three of the largest smartphone markets – China, India, and the United States — cite durability as the number one purchasing consideration behind brand itself.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pearpop raises $18M at a $300M valuation to scale its social collaboration marketplace
Pearpop, a marketplace for social collaborations, announced today that it has raised an extension to its 2021-era Series A funding round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Moovit users can now track transit vehicles on map in real time
Israeli urban trip planning app Moovit unveiled a new feature Tuesday that allows users to follow a transit line’s movements along the map in real time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US government bans Huawei, ZTE, and Hikvision tech over ‘unacceptable’ spying fears
The U.S. government said it is banning telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from several prominent Chinese brands in an effort to protect the nation’s communications network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Great Wall of porn obscures China protest news on Twitter
Search any major Chinese city on Twitter, and you will see a cascade of spam tweets showing porn, escort services, and gambling content that are published every few seconds, making it impossible to get any legitimate results. There has been a “significant uptick” in these tweets over the last three days, according to a China-focused […]Great Wall of porn obscures China protest news on Twitter by Rita Liao originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c
A new wave of Solo GP VCs is coming to Europe and Hypernova hopes to power it
The US has had solo VC fund managers for many years but the trend is only just starting to catch on in Europe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk says Twitter’s new multicoloured verification will launch next week
After messing up the first launch of Twitter’s “power to the people” verification system, Elon Musk said that the social network will tentatively roll out a new multicolored verification system next week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More headaches for Apple in China as protests erupt at Foxconn
Two weeks after Apple warned of production delays in China amid heightened COVID-19 restrictions, the giant is facing more challenges as worker protests broke out at its largest manufacturing partner Foxconn.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple TV+ series ‘Severance’ gets exclusive ‘innie’ and ‘outie’ vinyl records
Fans of Apple TV+’s popular sci-fi workplace drama, “Severance,” can have their very own Lumon music-dance experience—maracas not included.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indian social network Koo gains popularity in Brazil but faces moderation challenges
Elon Musk taking over Twitter has sent some people to look for alternatives such as Mastodon and Hive.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Carv valued at $40M as investors race to back web3 identity builders
Decentralized identity startups are having a moment as investors seek the next generation of killer applications in web3, even in times of market volatility.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Custom jeweler Wove bags $3.85M to make engagement ring purchases less stressful
The online custom jewelry company is injecting technology into the engagement and wedding ring buying experience.Custom jeweler Wove bags $3.85M to make engagement ring purchases less stressful by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon-owned Wickr is shutting down its free encrypted messaging app
Secure communications provider Wickr has announced that it will shutter its free encrypted messaging app, Wickr Me, next year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s first private rocket, built by startup Skyroot, makes successful launch
India’s space agency has successfully launched the Vikram-S after much anticipation and years-long work in a boost to the private sector of the nation’s space industry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New Twitter accounts will have to wait 90 days before buying a subscription
Twitter has published a policy change saying that newly-created Twitter accounts will have to wait 90 days before being allowed to subscribe to the new Twitter Blue plan and get verified.subscription by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter is working on a feature to divide long text into a thread automatically
Composing a thread on Twitter can be challenging as you need to separate the whole text into 280-character chunks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple’s iCloud website gets a widget-styled redesign
Apple has finally launched a redesigned iCloud website with apps appearing as widget-styled tiles instead of icons.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk, disaster artist
We’re at the point in the Elon Musk/Twitter debacle where the fact that it’s a shit show is our new normal, and anything that resembles a normal functioning tech company or leadership is more newsworthy than the inverse.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New code suggests Twitter is reviving its work on encrypted DMs
Under Elon Musk, Twitter may be reviving a project that would bring end-to-end encryption to its Direct Messaging system.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pickle picks up $26M for its truck unloading robots
Fulfillment has arguably been the hottest robotics category over the past two years, as companies have looked to stay competitive with Amazon, even amid ongoing labor shortages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Impacked packs up $2.5M to give the packaging industry a greener tint
Packaging is a trillion-dollar-per-year industry that, by and large, has some sustainability challenges. Impacked is a B2B company that’s bringing green tech to the forefront for everything from jars, tubes and pouches to bottles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A ‘credible alternative to Google and Amazon’: Klarna brings its price comparison tool to Europe
Klarna is expanding into the competitive world of price comparisons, with the launch of a new tool that compares prices across thousands of retailers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon eyes devices group as it undertakes broad cost cutting
The Echo business has always looked like Amazon playing the long game from the outside. Above all, the company’s home consumer hardware is a convenient vessel for getting Alexa into millions of homes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Australia tells Medibank hackers: ‘We know who you are’
The Australian Federal Police claims to have identified the cybercriminals behind the Medibank ransomware attack, which compromised the personal data of 9.7 million customers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Have you tried turning it off and on again, Elon?
A few days ago, new Twitter owner Elon Musk said that the company will try a lot of dumb things in the coming days. And that seems to be the product strategy of the company — even if it causes utter chaos all around.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aiphone door entry systems can be ‘easily’ bypassed thanks to NFC bug
The vulnerability in the door entry security system, used in government buildings and apartment complexes, cannot be fixed.Aiphone door entry systems can be ‘easily’ bypassed thanks to NFC bug by Zack Whittaker originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter blocks new accounts from its $8 verified tier after high-profile fakes abound
The motto over at Twitter is clearly a throwback ‘move fast and break things’ at the moment under new ruler Elon Musk, and the latest thing to break is the just-introduced $8 monthly Twitter Blue tier.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ping wants to simplify global payments while helping Latin Americans embrace crypto
Ping users create a free account in U.S. dollars to receive bank transfers in either their local currency or cryptocurrency.Ping wants to simplify global payments while helping Latin Americans embrace crypto by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Filing: Meta slashes expenses on reduced hiring and capex investments
Meta’s body blow layoff announcement will see the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp making its first-ever major layoffs as a company, cutting 11,000 employees, 13% of its total; predictably investors are responding favorably, bumping the stock up by over 5% in pre-market trading.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Southeast Asia health tech platform Speedoc raises $28M
Speedoc, a health tech platform that brings hospital care to homes, has raised $28 million in pre-Series B funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix launches a new interactive trivia experience, ‘Triviaverse’
Today, Netflix is launching a new interactive game called “Triviaverse” that allows subscribers to test their knowledge and compete against an all-knowing “Trivia master” using their TV remote.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ouster and Velodyne agree to merger, signaling consolidation in lidar industry
Ouster and Velodyne, two lidar companies, have agreed to a merger in an all-stock transaction, the companies said Monday. Both Ouster and Velodyne will maintain a 50% stake in the new company, according to the agreement that was signed on November 4.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Unity and IronSource’s $4.4B merger is now complete
Unity‘s proposed merger with IronSource has formally concluded, with the two companies coming together to create an end-to-end platform for developers to build and monetize games.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ant’s global play is to be a payments aggregator and it now reaches 1B users
After trying for years to replicate the success of its QR code-enabled payments solution overseas, Ant Group seems to have finally found a path to scaling.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After Stripe and Square, Venmo and PayPal are set to support Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhones
PayPal announced Thursday that it will soon support Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhones. The company said in its Q3 2022 earnings report that both PayPal and Venmo will soon support this tech as a part of its offering.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Patreon adds a long-awaited native video feature
Patreon creators can now upload videos directly to the platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smartex sews up $24.7M to put smarter eyes on textile manufacturing
A lot of things might spring to mind when you hear “fashion,” but taking care of the planet generally isn’t on that list. Smartex just raised a couple of bolts’ worth of cash, sowing up a round of funding to bring smart tech to fabric manufacturing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ex-Bain investor launches $30M web3 consumer VC fund as solo female founder
Magdalena “Mags” Kala, a self-described “lifetime degen,” is no stranger to beating the odds. Before she became an investor, she co-founded an all-female blackjack team that sought to exploit gender bias to make a profit through gaming, she told TechCrunch in an interview.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Byju’s eyes $1 billion IPO for physical tutor chain Aakash
Indian edtech giant Byju’s is engaging with bankers to put together a plan for the initial public offering of its unit Aakash, which it acquired last year, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volocopter raises $182M to bring air taxi closer to certification
Volocopter, a German startup building electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, has secured $182 million for the second signing of its Series E round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Evolito, with an axial-flux motor lighter than Tesla’s, starts ramping up its team
Last year YASA, a British electric motor startup with a revolutionary “axial-flux” motor, was acquired by Mercedes-Benz to develop ultra-high-performance electric motors for Mercedes’s AMG.EA electric-only platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hong Kong to explore legalizing retail crypto trades in reversal of previous proposal
Hong Kong has proposed allowing retail investors to trade in cryptocurrencies and crypto exchange-traded funds and plans to conduct pilots in NFT issuance and CBDC as it looks to regain its status as a global financial hub.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM pauses paid advertising on Twitter as Chief Twit Elon Musk takes ownership
General Motors has temporarily paused paid advertising on Twitter, one day after billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk finalized a $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US sanctions on China could extend to biotech, official says
On the heels of the Biden administration’s decision to impose sweeping chip sanctions on China, there are signs that China might also lose access to other types of critical U.S. technologies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Europe schools Elon Musk that Twitter’s wings are already clipped
And so the it begins… Elon Musk has only been owner of Twitter for a few hours but he’s already earned himself a schooling from the European Union in response to his suggestive “the bird is freed” tweet.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s time to admit self-driving cars aren’t going to happen
A couple caveats for those going apoplectic over the headline: I mean self-driving isn’t going to be a thing A) in our lifetimes and B) with any kind of omnipresent scale.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Versa raises $120M for its software-defined networking and security stack
Networking and cybersecurity firm Versa today announced that it raised $120 million in a mix of equity and debt led by BlackRock, with participation from Silicon Valley Bank.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US charges Ukrainian national over alleged role in Raccoon Infostealer malware operation
U.S. officials have charged a Ukrainian national over his alleged role in the Raccoon Infostealer malware-as-a-service operation that infected millions of computers worldwide.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter’s Elon problem could soon become Apple’s Elon problem, too
Reports indicate Elon Musk is on track to close his purchase of mildly popular bird website Twitter dot com as of this Friday, which is when he’s been ordered by the judge in the ongoing legal fracas to do so anyway.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google hit with $113 million fine in India for anti-competitive practices with Play Store policies
India’s antitrust watchdog has hit Google with $113 million fine for abusing the dominant position of its app store, the second such penalty on the Android-maker in just as many weeks in the key overseas market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jasper’s robots assemble fresh meals for nearby apartment dwellers
After attempting to sell its tech to large food service companies, cooking automation startup Jasper has shifted to direct-to-consumer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ is the priciest digital album Tencent has sold
Taylor Swift’s latest album “Midnights” has dropped, and it might be setting a new standard for China’s digital music industry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube Premium’s family plan gets a price hike in several countries
YouTube is raising prices for its Premium subscription plans across many countries including the US, the UK, Canada, and Argentina.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber pilots electric cab offering in India
Uber has started offering electric vehicles to customers in certain parts of the Delhi-NCR region and says it will be expanding its efforts over the coming months.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Messages adds reaction support for iPhone texts and in-app reminders
Google has left no stones unturned in pushing Apple to adopt the Rich Communication Services that the search giant argues will improve cross-platform communication.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ocean-climate VC Propeller launches with $100M to fund ‘tomorrow’s narwhals’
Propeller, a new climate-tech investor with a focus on the ocean, tells TechCrunch that it has hooked $100 million for its first seed fund.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest partners with record labels to bring popular music to its TikTok rival, ‘Idea Pins’
Pinterest’s TikTok competitor is gaining new music. The company announced today its video-focused “Idea Pins” feature will now include the ability to add popular tracks from top artists, thanks to new licensing deals with Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Merlin and BMG.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eswatini’s central bank mulls issuance of a digital currency
The kingdom of Eswatini is considering the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), joining the growing list of African countries exploring the viability of an e-currency.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rolls-Royce Spectre EV to launch next year with 260-mile range
Rolls-Royce plans to deliver its first EV, the Spectre two-door coupe, to customers late next year as it transitions toward becoming a fully electric brand by 2030.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Belkin’s $30 Continuity Camera accessory is now available for MagSafe iPhones
Continuity Camera was one of the odder additions that arrived in the last round of Apple operating system updates.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shares of Korean internet giant Kakao slide after fire disrupts service
The stock price of South Korea’s internet giant Kakao tumbled on Monday after a fire at a data center that cut off power on Saturday, causing several service malfunctions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PayPal debuts a new rewards program that combines Honey’s discounts with other ways to earn
PayPal is taking a step away from the Honey brand, the $4 billion shopping rewards acquisition it made in 2019, with today’s launch of PayPal Rewards.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shein owner fined $1.9M for failing to notify 39M users of data breach
A data breach from 2018 is putting Shein under the spotlight as the ultra-fast fashion e-commerce platform continues to conquer Gen-Z markets across the world.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Repairable laptop firm Framework introduces refurbished program
Framework is at the vanguard of a growing movement to make electronics more repair-friendly.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nudge Security emerges from stealth to tackle cybersecurity’s people problem
Social engineering attacks are on the rise.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uniswap Labs valued at $1.66 billion in $165 million new funding
Uniswap Labs has raised $165 million in a new funding round as the parent firm of the world’s largest decentralized exchange looks to broaden its offerings.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roboadvisor Betterment launches crypto offering with four themed portfolios
Betterment, a roboadvisory platform which manages over $33 billion in assets, has finally launched its crypto offering after completing a private beta phase.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Moon set for November traffic jam as both ispace and NASA target launches
If all goes to plan, Florida’s Space Coast could see two separate lunar missions take off in November.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OatFi secures capital to power BNPL services for SMBs
The buy now, pay later (BNPL) market was once seen as a bulletproof investment, given the meteoric rise of players like Klarna and Afterpay during the pandemic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Starship partners with Grubhub to bring sidewalk bots to colleges
Autonomous sidewalk delivery robot company Starship Technologies is partnering with food ordering and delivery company Grubhub to provide robotic delivery services on college campuses across the U.S.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung seeks smart TV growth with first Tizen OS licensing deals
Samsung has confirmed the first third-party smart TV makers to ship with its Tizen operating system (OS), with several manufacturers preparing to launch Tizen-powered TVs this year across Europe and Australasia.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google removes The OG App from the Play Store as founders think about next steps
Almost a week after Apple removed The OG App from the App Store, an Instagram client that promised to provide an ad-free and suggestion-free feed, Google followed the suit and booted the app off the Play Store.9
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Purple Elephant Ventures, Kenya’s tourism-focused startup studio, raises $1M pre-seed funding
A Kenya-based venture studio with a focus on tourism, Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV), has raised $1 million pre-seed funding to build the next generation of startups that use technology to modernize the tourism sector.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter nudges you to share the tweet instead of taking a screenshot
Screenshots of tweets are one of the most popular ways to share tweets with friends or post them on your other social media accounts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK to probe Inmarsat and Viasat’s $7.3B merger on competition grounds, says it could lead to pricier in-flight Wi-FI
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that the proposed merger between London-based satellite communications company Inmarsat and its U.S. rival Viasat raises potential competition concerns, and plans to launch a full-scale investigation into the deal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber’s former security chief found guilty of covering up 2016 data breach
Uber’s former head of security has been found guilty of criminal obstruction for attempting cover up a data breach that saw tens of millions of customer and driver records stolen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Party Round’s rebrand is banking on founder bank accounts
Party Round wants you to know that the party isn’t over. In fact, it just rebranded, put the music just a little bit lower, and finally put out some appetizers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
White House proposes voluntary safety and transparency rules around AI
The White House this morning unveiled what it’s colloquially calling an “AI Bill of Rights,” which aims to establish tenets around the ways AI algorithms should be deployed as well as guardrails on their applications.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VLC-developer VideoLAN sends legal notice to Indian ministries over ban
VideoLAN, the developer and operator of popular media player VLC, has filed a legal notice to India’s IT and Telecom ministries, alleging that the Indian bodies failed to notify the software developer and did not afford it a chance for an explanation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
App Store experienced sharp revenue drop in September, Morgan Stanley says
Apple’s App Store suffered a 5% year-on-year dip in net revenue in September according to a note from Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian taps Capital One exec Diane Lye as its first CIO
Rivian has hired Diane Lye as its first chief information officer, a position that the EV maker says is necessary to expand globally.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon is launching a dedicated hub for its affordable shopping options
Amazon is launching Amazon Access, a new hub for customers to explore the programs, discounts and features that the online retailer offers for affordable shopping, the company announced on Monday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Truepill, a digital health unicorn, conducts fourth round of layoffs in 2022
Truepill, a platform that helps other companies offer diagnostics, telehealth services and prescriptions, has conducted its fourth layoff of the year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube TV users can now subscribe to standalone networks without a base plan
YouTube TV launched a new option that allows subscribers to purchase add-ons without subscribing to the full channel offering in the service’s Base plan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fairphone adds fully refurbished handsets to its modular reuse mix
Away from the premium smartphone feature-utility hyperbole swirling around dynamic islands, mobile devices remain much of a muchness.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Square now supports Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhones
Block, the company behind Square and Cash App, now supports Apple’s Tap to Pay for iPhone feature for merchants.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hacker breaches Fast Company systems to send offensive Apple News notifications
U.S. business publication Fast Company has confirmed that a hacker breached its internal systems to send offensive push notifications to Apple News users.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cionic gets $12.5M to accelerate its assistive mobility wearable
There’s been plenty of excitement on the robotic exoskeleton front in recent years. For the most part, these devices slot into two categories: 1) workplace assistance and 2) mobility assistance.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Document onboarding startup Flatfile nabs $50M from investors, including Workday
Data cleansing — prepping data for applications like predictive analytics — takes time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s DART anti-asteroid satellite successfully smashes into space rock
NASA has completed a key step of its “Double Asteroid Redirection Test” (DART), smashing a satellite roughly the size of a vending machine into a small moon that’s about half-a-mile in diameter.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple starts manufacturing iPhone 14 in India
Apple has started assembling the iPhone 14 models in India, it said Monday, locally producing the current lineup for the first time in the same calendar year in the world’s second largest smartphone market as analysts predict a greater shift in the American giant’s future manufacturing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung launches credit card in India
Samsung has launched two credit cards in India, entering a crowded category that sees over 50 companies fiercely compete for consumers’ attention in the world’s second largest internet market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rad Power Bikes and Cycle pilot consumer e-bike subscriptions
Rad Power Bikes, a popular American e-bike brand that has raised over $300 million in the past two years, will start offering bikes as a subscription service next week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Breaking Bad creator is making a new show for Apple TV+ with Rhea Seehorn
Apple TV+’s original programming has received a major boost with the company landing a deal with “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alibaba Cloud pledges $1B to boost overseas alliance
Alibaba is known for its sprawling e-commerce empire, but like Amazon, cloud service has been a big driver of its revenues in recent years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Florida escalates the fight over a controversial social media law to the Supreme Court
After an appeals court struck down key portions of a state law designed to prevent social media companies from freely making content moderation decisions, Florida wants the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Berlin’s Kaiko Systems nets €2M to help maritime technical operations go paperless
From healthcare to manufacturing, traditional industries have been getting a digital makeover over the past decade.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is integrating Assistant and Calendar reminders with Tasks
In its latest step of the app cleanup drive, Google is folding in Assistant and Calendar reminders in its Tasks app.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube’s ‘dislike’ and ‘not interested’ options don’t do much for your recommendations, study says
There is no secret that both viewers and creators are confused by the puzzle that is YouTube’s recommendation algorithm.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Slack adds persistent information layer to channels called Canvas
Slack has succeeded in large part in the enterprise by allowing people to communicate in a number of ways while integrating with many common enterprise applications.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This Mac app makes it easy to create your own AI images with Stable Diffusion
Everyone wants to get in on the AI image generation action, but if you’ve been intimidated by the existing options out there based on Stable Diffusion, including the Midjourney Discord bot, you’re in luck.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Swedish last-mile delivery companies Instabox and Budbee to become Instabee in $1.7B merger
Swedish last-mile delivery companies Instabox and Budbee have have announced plans to merge in a 18 billion krona ($1.7 billion) deal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Autonomous electric truck company Einride rides into Germany
Autonomous and electric truck maker Einride is rolling into Germany, representing its first new market in Europe outside its native Sweden.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube encourages creators to make Shorts directly from replies
If one short video app has a feature, everyone else has to have it. That’s the rule.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adobe snaps up Figma for $20B, taking out one of its biggest rivals in digital design
Big news in the world of digital creative tech: Adobe today announced that it would acquire Figma for $20 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lightyear opens to stocks and ETFs across the UK and Europe
U.K.-based fintech Lightyear is extending its stock-trading offering to include a wide selection of U.K. and European stocks, as well as exchange traded funds (ETF).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chameleon raises cash to help SaaS companies build better onboarding experiences
Chameleon, a startup providing low- and no-code tools designed to help software companies personalize the appearance of their apps, today announced that it raised $13 million.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GoPro’s Hero11 gets improved image quality, stabilization and a Mini version
This year marks GoPro’s 20th year. It’s been an interesting journey for a company that has become synonymous with a specific product category for well over a decade.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hone raises $30M to grow its corporate learning platofrm
One of the co-founders of FanDuel has raised $30 million to fund a startup — Hone — that’s providing a platform for “enterprise-scale,” exec-level learning and development.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ashby lands $21.5M to automate key aspects of recruiting
As hiring remains challenging in an economy where jobs are plentiful (depending on the sector), venture capitalists continue to pump money into HR startups focused on assessing and onboarding candidates.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku’s latest update adds short-form video, a universal save list and ‘continue watching’ feature
Alongside its fall hardware update, which included new streaming and audio devices, Roku today unveiled the features it has in store for the next version of its media software, Roku OS 11.5.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gotham Greens just raised $310M to expand its greenhouses nationwide
That’s not a typo. $310 million, with a zero at the end. This latest round brings Gotham Greens’ total funding up to $440 million since its 2009 launch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab, Sierra Space sign agreements under US military’s rocket cargo project
Rocket Lab and Sierra Space have signed separate agreements with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to explore how their respective flight systems — Rocket Lab’s Electron and Neutron rockets, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane — could be used for superfast cargo delivery on Earth.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla wants your vote for new Supercharger locations
Tesla said Thursday it is turning to the public to help determine where to locate its next Superchargers as the automaker continues to expand its network of EV fast-charging stations in North America, Europe and Asia.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber wants court to nullify Kenya’s new ride-hailing law that caps service fee at 18%
Uber has appealed to Kenya’s apex court to annul the new digital taxi-hailing regulations claiming that some aspects are unconstitutional, discriminatory, discouraging to foreign investments, and infringe on its rights and those of its riders and partners.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bloomingdale’s goes all-in on metaverse with new virtual store
Bloomingdale’s virtual store will initially feature collections from brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, David Yurman, MCM, Byredo and Baccarat.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Boston’s ClearMotion funded by Nio Capital to switch on in-car metaverse in China
U.S.-China decoupling is expected to discourage cross-border investments between the two superpowers as investors shy away from sanctions and geopolitical risks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter will let you edit your tweet up to five times
Twitter announced a much-anticipated feature last week — the ability to edit tweets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Open-source password manager Bitwarden raises $100M
Bitwarden, an open-source password manager for enterprises and consumers, has raised $100 million in a round of funding led by PSG, with participation form Battery Ventures.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LG Electronics launches NFT platform that lets users buy and sell digital artwork
LG Electronics said today it has released its non-fungible token (NFT) platform LG Art Lab, which lets users discover, buy, sell and trade NFTs on LG’s smart TVs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Docquity, a community for healthcare professionals, raises $44M Series C
A call between doctors can save lives. That’s what Docquity co-founder Indranil Roychowdhury learned when his father was hospitalized with a life-threatening condition in India.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK clears $8.1B merger between NortonLifeLock and Avast
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally cleared the proposed $8.1 billion merger between cybersecurity giants NortonLifeLock and Avast, a month after provisionally greenlighting the deal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google will allow alternative payment systems for Play Store in more countries
Google announced today it’s expanding the user choice billing program for Play Store — which lets users choose alternative payment systems for in-app purchases — to India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and the European Economic Area.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disney+ will reportedly launch in-app commerce features by year’s end
Disney is looking at ways for viewers to buy themed merchandise and accessories by scanning a QR code in the Disney+ app, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OneSignal lands $50M to automatically optimize SMS, in-app and email campaigns
OneSignal, a platform that powers notifications for mobile apps and more, today announced that it raised $50 million in a Series C round led by BAM Elevate with participation from SignalFire and other existing investors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter’s attempt to monetize porn reportedly halted due to child safety warnings
Despite serving as the online watercooler for journalists, politicians and VCs, Twitter isn’t the most profitable social network on the block.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s NetEase snaps up French video game studio Quantic Dream
NetEase, a Chinese technology company and billion-dollar video-game publisher, has acquired French video-game studio Quantic Dream.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PostEx acquires Call Courier to become Pakistan’s larger e-commerce service provider
Pakistani fintech PostEx has acquired logistics service provider Call Courier, creating what it describes as the largest e-commerce service provider in the country. PostEx will now serve 1.3 million users with over 8,000 merchants across 500 cities in Pakistan, and is on track to having a loan book of more than $12 million.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Musk cites whistleblower allegations in fresh attempt to backtrack on $44B Twitter acquisition
Elon Musk is adding allegations from Twitter security whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko to his list of reasons for pulling out of the $44 billion Twitter acquisition he proposed back in April.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Honda and LG Energy plan to build a $4.4 billion lithium-ion plant in the US
Honda is the latest car company with plans to manufacture lithium-ion batteries in the U.S.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA scrubs Artemis I launch due to technical issue
After much fanfare, including a crop of celebrity appearances and the arrival of Vice President Kamala Harris, NASA said it was scrubbing today’s first-ever launch attempt of the mega moon rocket due to technical issues.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
T-Mobile phones will connect to Starlink for free starting next year
T-Mobile and SpaceX have announced that Starlink satellites launched next year will be able to connect directly to the carrier’s phones over existing cellular bands.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zuckerberg says Meta’s next VR headset will launch in October and will focus on ‘social presence’
Meta is launching its next VR headset this October at the company’s Connect conference.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
$10B crypto developer platform Alchemy buys coding bootcamp in first-ever acquisition
Web3 developer infrastructure startup Alchemy, which last raised a $200 million Series C1 last February, has just made its first acquisition ever — and it’s in the education space.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram is now allowing users to share posts, Reels, and locations through QR codes
Instagram is now allowing users to share anyone’s posts or Reels through a QR code. What’s more, users can also share a QR code location through its searchable Map experience.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Strange Facebook bug is spamming everyone’s feed with celebrity page posts
Facebook said Wednesday that it’s aware that some users are seeing bizarre posts on their feeds and assured it’s working to resolve the issue.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dutchie launches new cannabis Point of Sale platform with its own dual-screen register
Dutchie today is announcing a new cannabis point of sale platform, including a dual-screen terminal for dispensaries. Called Dutchie POS, this comes just weeks after the company announced a new payment platform, Dutchie Pay.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ex-Apple engineer admits stealing automotive trade secrets
A case concerning Apple’s driving trade secrets which started in 2018 has come to a close.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Human drivers in UK won’t be liable for accidents when vehicle is self-driving
Manufacturers operating self-driving vehicles in the UK will be liable for a vehicle’s actions when in autonomous mode, according to the country’s new roadmap to achieve a widespread rollout of self-driving vehicles by 2025.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zencastr adds editing and distro in bid to become a full-service podcast offering
Zencastr has been my go-to podcast recording platform for a while now, owing to an innovative system that records each participant’s channel locally, before uploading it to the server. It’s a nice, quick way to ensure your guests have better sound quality than non-purpose-built platforms like Zoom, without forcing them to record locally.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Otter.ai challenger Airgram raises $10M to transcribe and time your video calls
There’re plenty of tools out there competing to help people make their video calls breezier. Some, like voice transcription service Otter.ai, have been getting a boost from the COVID-19 pandemic and pulling in handsome investments.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lincoln’s latest EV concept is a grand tourer land yacht with a sprinkle of 1920s nostalgia
Lincoln revealed Thursday during Monterey Car Week its vision for future EVs — while commemorating its centennial year — with the debut of the Lincoln Model L 100 concept, an autonomous, battery-electric grand tourer that pays homage to the brand’s first luxury vehicle, the 1922 Model L.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Revolut to allow users to donate to the homeless via the Beam crowdfunding platform
The world is entering a huge cost of living crisis, which will inevitably result in a rise in homelessness.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This new $100M fund plans to focus on startups accelerating the science around longevity
Longevity-focused startups have been proliferating in recent years as we become more focused on our health. However, it’s not just about apps to get you in the gym.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Funding Circle cofounder unveils new Super Payments fintech venture with $27M investment
Funding Circle cofounder Samir Desai has unveiled a new U.K. fintech startup called Super Payments, a venture he founded back in February but which very little was known about up until now.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Incredible Health passes unicorn valuation as it bags $80M Series B
Incredible Health, a US-based job-matching platform which made nurses its first focus, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round and announced hitting a $1.65BN unicorn valuation, billing itself as the highest valued “tech-enabled” career marketplace in the healthcare sector.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polestar is launching an EV roadster in 2026 called the Polestar 6
Electric vehicle maker Polestar said Tuesday that it is expanding its lineup to include an 884-horsepower hard-top convertible with recycled polyester upholstery.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta launches Horizon Worlds in France and Spain
In an effort to expand its social platform for virtual reality, Horizon Worlds, Meta is launching it in France and Spain today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tencent veterans secure $13M to build cross-chain decentralized identities
There is a host of startups working on decentralized identities for the next generation of the internet.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber to sunset free loyalty program in favor of subscription membership
Ride-hailing giant Uber is shutting down its free loyalty program, Uber Rewards, so it can focus on its subscription-based Uber One membership.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US unmasks alleged Conti ransomware operative, offers $10M for intel
The U.S. government said it will offer up to $10 million for information related to five people believed to be high-ranking members of the notorious Russia-backed Conti ransomware gang.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Suspected Tornado Cash developer arrested in Amsterdam
The Dutch government agency responsible for investigating financial crimes said it has arrested a developer suspected of being involved with crypto mixing service Tornado Cash in a move that has rattled some crypto and privacy advocates.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Meet’s new feature lets users consume YouTube and Spotify together
As Google continues the great merger between its Duo and Meet video communications apps, the company today announced that it’s introducing new Apple SharePlay-like live-sharing features to Meet, making it easier for call-participants to engage with content together in real time. I
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Farther, a wealth tech firm, banks $15M Series A as valuation hits $50M
Farther provides two sets of tools, one for advisors to expand their businesses and one for clients to invest in ways that align with their goals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Weedmaps for Business debuts as a SaaS suite for cannabis retailers and brands
Veteran cannabis tech company WM Technology is rebranding and expanding its SaaS offering to move upstream beyond its existing Weedmaps marketplace.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joby Aviation’s contract with U.S. Air Force expands to include Marines
The United States Department of Defense is deepening its relationship with electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company Joby Aviation.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
South Korea to probe Apple and Google over in-app payment rule break
South Korea’s communication watchdog, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), said Tuesday it will investigate Apple and Google over potential violations of the country’s in-app payment rule.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp extends time limit to delete a message to 60 hours
WhatsApp now allows you to delete a message for up to two days and 12 hours (60 hours in total), so you can remove an accidentally sent chat even after hours. Previously, this limit was 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds — yep, there were seconds involved.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bitmain co-founder welcomes crypto regulation to restore market confidence
The collapse of Three Arrow Capital and the counterparties wrapped in the crypto hedge fund’s troubles have drawn questions about the soundness of the heady digital asset investment space.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is suing Sonos over patent infringement once again
Google is suing Sonos (again) over patent infringement in what seems to be an unending legal fight series between two tech companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon is buying iRobot for $1.7B
Amazon this morning announced plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Get ready for a HBO Max – Discovery+ mashup app in 2023
The headline of Warner Bros. Discovery’s earnings call was something a lot of people dreaded: HBO Max and Discovery+ are merging into a new service.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toyota-backed robotaxi unicorn Pony.ai sues ex-employees over trade secrets
Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company valued at $8.5 billion as of late, has sued two former employees over alleged trade secret infringement.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung brings Amazon Luna games to its smart TVs and monitors
Samsung announced Wednesday that it’s bringing more than 250 games to the Samsung Gaming Hub through the Amazon Luna streaming-based gaming service.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Thousands of Solana wallets drained in multimillion dollar exploit
Solana, an increasingly popular blockchain known for its speedy transactions, has become the target of the crypto sphere’s latest hack.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber’s ride with Indian food delivery firm Zomato comes to an end
Uber’s ride with Zomato has concluded. The ride-hailing firm sold its 7.8% stake of the lossmaking Indian food delivery firm on Wednesday for over $390 million, a person familiar with the matter said, becoming the latest large institutional investor to offload its shares.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Discord says Android users won’t be left hanging anymore
Discord announced new measures to bring its Android app into parity with its iOS counterpart today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sheryl Sandberg officially stepped down as Meta COO on August 1, filing shows
We knew it was happening, but Meta has confirmed that its long-standing chief operating officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg has departed from her role as of yesterday (August 1).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After dominating the short video market, TikTok may be considering a music service
TikTok parent company ByteDance filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May for a service called “TikTok Music.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indian telecom firms bid $19 billion in 5G auction
Telecom operators in India bid slightly over $19 billion in the government auction for the 5G airwaves, the highest from them in any spectrum sale, as the world’s second-largest wireless market readies the rollout of improved and faster voice and data speeds.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US-based fintech Umba buys majority stake in Kenya’s Daraja microfinance bank
Umba, a US-based digital bank with a focus on emerging markets, has acquired a majority shareholding of Daraja, a Kenyan deposit-taking microfinance bank, for an undisclosed amount.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter is increasing the price of Twitter Blue from $2.99 to $4.99 per month
Twitter is increasing the price of its subscription service, Twitter Blue, from $2.99 to $4.99 per month.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gmail rolls out its latest Material You redesign and search improvements to all users
If you feel like you’ve seen a lot of “Gmail redesign roll out” posts in the last few months, it’s not just you: Google has been teasing and testing features for new, integrated-view quick access to apps like Chat and Meet since the start of the year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DealCart is focused on price-conscious Pakistani consumers
The price of consumer goods has been soaring all around the world, creating a major budgeting headache for many people. Social commerce startup DealCart wants to make life easier for shoppers, at least in Pakistan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Maps is rolling out location sharing notifications and immersive view for landmarks
Google Maps is introducing three features today in different categories including an aerial view of 100 landmarks, detailed cycling routes, and improved location sharing with notifications for the arrival and departure of your friends.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify exits short-lived Car Thing hardware play, as reports Q2 MAUs of 433M, offsetting Russia exit and service outage
Spotify’s push to complement its music streaming with a big move into podcasting and related content appears to be paying off, despite the ups and downs of operating in an uncertain economic and political climate and Spotify’s exit from its foray into hardware.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Corporate travel tech platform Spotnana nabs $75M
Spotnana, a self-proclaimed “travel-as-a-service” platform that targets corporations, travel management firms, and other technology companies with a cloud-based toolset for booking and managing travel, has raised $75 million in a series B round of funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snyk adds policy-based code security to its arsenal
Last year was a pretty good one for Snyk, a Boston-based security company. It raised a hefty $530 million on a $8.5 billion valuation, and with that kind of money in the bank, it’s probably not surprising that it went shopping. In February, it bought developer-focused cloud security company Fugue for an undisclosed amount.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix’s iOS app now has a sign up button that takes you to its website
Netflix’s app on iOS now has a signup button that will redirect you to its site so you can subscribe to one of its plans with the company paying no App Store fees.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Real driverless cars are now legal in China’s tech hub Shenzhen
There are plenty of autonomous driving vehicles testing on the roads of Shenzhen today: Pony.ai, Baidu, DeepRoute, AutoX, you name it.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mexican region gives Tesla and its suppliers a dedicated border crossing lane
Tesla suppliers traveling from Nuevo León, Mexico, to Texas now have their very own dedicated border patrol lane.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s Pixel 6a is a budget device with the heart of a flagship
It’s probably hyperbole to credit Google’s Pixel A devices for single-handedly keeping the broader line alive during some admittedly lean times.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meati Foods sinks teeth into $150M to expand its mushroom-root meat operations
After five years of research, Meati Foods is poised to begin shipping its plant-based meat product later this year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Just Eat Takeaway scales back in France as market value drops 84% in 10 months
Just Eat Takeaway is cutting 390 jobs from its workforce in France, constituting part of a broader global restructuring effort as the food delivery giant looks to reverse its recent downturn.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s $1B fine on Didi could end the mobility giant’s troubled year
Didi, the Chinese ride hailing behemoth that has undergone a year of regulatory overhaul, faces a fine of over 8 billion yuan ($1.28 billion) from the country’s authorities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google expands its photo and canvas printing service to Europe and Canada
Google is expanding its photo and canvas prints service to Europe and Canada. Google has offered printed photo books in the U.S. since 2017, a service that started rolling out in Europe the following year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft u-turns on policy that would’ve banned commercial open source apps
Microsoft has confirmed that it won’t be introducing a previously announced new policy that would effectively ban developers from selling open source software on the Windows app store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon sues admins from 10,000 Facebook groups over fake reviews
If the reviews of the last completely necessary and not at all superfluous thing you bought on Amazon looked like so much copypasta, there’s a good reason.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
HireArt lands $26.25M to help manage and recruit W2 contractors for clients
HireArt, which TechCrunch previously described as a “resume-killing” jobs marketplace, today announced that it raised $26.25 million in a Series B financing round led by Three Fish Capital with participation from over a “half dozen” angel investors. CEO Nick Sedlet said that the cash will be put toward product development and more than doubling HireArt’s […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vektor Partners raises new €125M fund to look specifically at sustainable mobility
Some estimates put the future mobility market at $178.7 billion by 2026, up from $78.1 billion two years ago. And there has been $400 billion worth of investments made into the sector over the past decade, with  $100 billion invested since 2020.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The New York Times is turning Wordle into a board game
The New York Times is turning the popular online word game Wordle into a board game by teaming up with toymaker Hasbro.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Richard Branson backs Lightyear as UK stock trading platform launches into Europe
Lightyear, a U.K. fintech startup that promises consumers commission-free trading on U.S. and European stocks, is officially extending into Europe from today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Plaid adds read-only support for thousands of crypto exchanges
Plaid, the company building data transfer technologies to power fintech and digital finance products like smartphone-based wallets, today announced that it’s adding support for thousands of crypto exchanges to its data network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SendSprint, by ex-Flutterwave executive, hits market with $5 flat fee for all international money transfers
SendSprint, a money transfer startup based in the UK but with operations in the US and Nigeria, has been launched today with the unique selling point of a $5 flat fee for all transfers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Long-time Bitcoin bull Anthony Pompliano launches crypto hiring firm Inflection Points with $12.6M raise
Over the past 18 months, Inflection Points has been working in stealth mode to build out a crypto-focused employment and corporate training business and just secured $12.6 million in funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX’s Starship booster engines explode in test gone wrong
SpaceX’s Starship program encountered a setup after a test ended in a fiery explosion at its Boca Chica development facility in Texas on Monday night.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify is expanding video podcast publishing to creators in six more countries
Spotify is expanding the ability to post video podcasts for creators in six new countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pix Moving brings robovans to Japan, eyes DAO-based EV making
A company from China is ready to capture Japan’s demand for autonomous service vehicles as robots play an increasingly important role to address the aging society’s labor shortage.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Online donation platform Change helps charities fundraise in crypto
Crypto owners tend to be more generous when donating to charity than other investors, research shows.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feds must step in or renewable energy will have nowhere to go, says MIT report
Building wind and solar farms is an important part of building a new green grid, but a calm night stops their energy generation cold. It’s just as important to research and build green energy storage — and to that at scale requires federal intervention as soon as possible, suggests a new report from MIT. “The […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instacart’s new rewards program gives shoppers exclusive early access to orders and more
Instacart announced today that it’s launching a new “Cart Star” rewards program for shoppers on its platform. The program will offer incentives in three tiers: gold, platinum and diamond. To qualify for Cart Star, shoppers need to accumulate points based on the number of orders they fulfill, earning 10 points per customer order they deliver. […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
28% of Americans still won’t consider buying an EV
More than a quarter of Americans say they would not buy an electric vehicle, according to a Consumer Reports survey released Thursday. Price, range and access to charging stations have remained as primary barriers to buying an EV. But Consumer Reports has identified a new factor: a lack of education around EVs. The survey of […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest launches new shopping features for merchants
Pinterest announced today that it’s rolling out new merchant features, including product tagging on Pins and a Pinterest API for Shopping. The company says all of the new features are designed to make it easier for merchants to create engaging shopping experiences for users. With the new Pinterest API for Shopping, merchants will get access […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nothing can’t resist the NFT hype, and its fans are questioning
Nothing, the consumer tech company started by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei and known for its aggressive marketing, unveils a non-fungible token project called Black Dot. Its fans are skeptical. Black Dot is a video clip featuring a rotating, transparent cube with a black dot bouncing off the walls inside and making a crispy, metallic sound. […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With maiden $42M fund, Bonfire Union wants to invest in web3 like Tencent does in web2
Mask Network, a Binance-backed startup that enables users to send cryptocurrencies and encrypted messages on established internet platforms like Twitter, has an ambitious goal: to become the corporate venture capital powerhouse in web3 as Tencent has done in web2. To that end, the five-year-old company recently completed the first close of its venture investment arm […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google-backed Glance to launch in US within two months
Glance, a subsidiary of adtech giant InMobi Group, is planning to launch its lock screen platform on Android smartphones in the U.S. within two months, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The startup is engaging with wireless carriers in the U.S. for partnerships and is gearing up to launch on several smartphone models […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
American Robotics’ owner set to acquire fellow drone firm, Airobotics
Some drone industry consolidation this morning as Ondas Holdings, the company behind Waltham, Massachusetts–based American Robotics announced its plans to acquire Airobotics. It’s admittedly been a few years since we covered the latter, when the Israeli firm announced a combined $28.5 million A/B round. To date, the company has raised $130 million since its 2014 […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google will start erasing location data for abortion clinic visits
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to strip federal abortion rights in the U.S., many people are questioning how the apps they use every day might suddenly be turned against them. As concerns over the endless well of data that tech companies built an entire industry around mount, Google is taking at least […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta is pulling the plug on its crypto payments wallet, Novi
Three years after Facebook announced its ill-fated push into cryptocurrency, aka the Libra project, the tech giant has signalled another scaling back of its activity — announcing Friday that Novi, the digital wallet payments pilot it launched last October, will be ending on on September 1. In a statement provided to CoinDesk, the tech giant […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google will reimburse developers $90 million to settle a lawsuit over Play Store earnings
Google said Thursday it will pay $90 million to settle a lawsuit with US developers that accused Google of abusing its power of app distribution and charging an unfair fee of 30% for app purchases and in-app purchases made through the Play Store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Open source developers urged to ditch GitHub following Copilot launch
Software Freedom Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization that provides support and legal services for open source software projects, has called on the open source community to ditch GitHub after quitting the code-hosting and collaboration platform itself.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple says developers will have to submit a new version to use third-party payment systems in South Korea
Apple announced Thursday that developers can now use a third-party payment system for the South Korea App Store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Drako Motors 2,000-hp electric luxury SUV “feels more like a spaceship”
Startup EV manufacturer Drako Motors previewed today the follow-up to its $1.25 million Drako GTE: the 2,000-horsepower Drako Dragon Super-SUV.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla lays off nearly 200 Autopilot workers, shutters San Mateo office
Tesla has gutted the data annotation team working on Autopilot, laying off nearly 200 employees and shutting down the San Mateo, California office where they worked.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arzooo raises $70 million to bring ‘best of e-commerce’ to physical stores in India
Arzooo, an Indian startup that is attempting to bring the “best of e-commerce” to physical retail shops, has raised $70 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its platform to more cities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Democrats ‘exploring’ legislation to protect data in reproductive health apps
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that Democrats are considering the introduction of legislation that could protect the abortion rights of citizens.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
JourneyOne harvests a dope $10M fund to invest in cannabis tech
As the cannabis markets are maturing, we’re seeing new opportunities rise to the surface. JourneyOne ventures told TechCrunch it’s closed a $10 million fund and has started making its first few investments.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Battery giant Anker backs programmable robot maker Keyi
The promise of STEAM robots, which are billed to increase children’s interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), has been around for years. The market is teeming with products from hardcore robotics scientists and their copycats. Many have faded away, but investor interest hasn’t died down, at least for one company coming from […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volkswagen unveils ID.AERO concept that will provide the basis for 2023 flagship EV
Volkswagen Group unveiled its ID.AERO concept in China on Monday — slated to serve as the inspiration behind the automaker’s flagship EV, and first-ever global all-electric sedan, next year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amsterdam cyber startup Hadrian closes €10.5M Seed for platform which simulates hacker attacks
As companies grow they expose more of themselves online and become harder to defend in terms of cybersecurity.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airrow is automating battery and payload swapping for drones
Any given year, the real unsung highlight of re:Mars are the dozen or so startups and researchers who show off their wares on the show floor. There are always a couple of cool projects that have somehow managed to escape our radar, thus far.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Einride to operate its cab-less autonomous pods on U.S. public roads
Einride, the Swedish startup that wants to electrify the autonomous freight industry, will begin operating its purpose-built, self-driving pods on public roads in the U.S. this year as part of an existing partnership with General Electric Appliances (GEA).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber rejects claim that it explored exiting India
Uber said on Thursday it has never explored exiting India, a key overseas market for several tech giants, dismissing a claim that it has had held discussions to sell the local unit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter partners with Shopify to bring merchants’ products to Twitter Shopping
As part of its ongoing efforts to expand into e-commerce, Twitter today announced a new partnership with Shopify. The deal will see Twitter launching a sales channel app that will be made available to all of Shopify’s U.S. merchants through its app store.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wingcopter raises another $42M ahead of ambitious Africa deployment
In mid-May, Wingcopter announced an extremely ambitious plan to deploy some 12,000 of its fixed-wing UAVs in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next half decade.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Neobank Stashfin raises $270 million, tops $700 million valuation
Singapore-based Stashfin has raised $270 million in a new funding round as the neobanking platform, which currently only serves customers in India, looks to expand to Southeast Asia and other South Asian markets, it said Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Magic Eden raises $130M, hitting unicorn status at $1.6B valuation
NFT marketplace Magic Eden, launched just nine months ago, has raised $130 million in a Series B round co-led by Electric Capital and Greylock Partners, bringing its valuation to $1.6 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Iran to cut electricity to authorized crypto miners: report
Iran’s relationship with the crypto mining sector is a love-hate one. The government is again restricting crypto mining activity as it tries to ease the strain on the country’s power supply, despite knowing the promise of crypto as a way to evade international sanctions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ransomware ring claims attack on Africa’s largest retail chain Shoprite
RansomHouse, a ransomware gang, has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Shoprite, Africa’s largest retailer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brex, which started out serving startups, now says it is ‘less suited to meet the needs of smaller customers’
Three months after announcing it would make a big push into software and enterprise, fintech giant Brex is apparently abandoning the very segment it started out to serve – small and medium-to-sized businesses.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Immutable launches $500M fund to boost web3 gaming adoption
The crypto gaming industry is continuing to grow in popularity as more capital is deployed in the space and traditional Web 2.0 gaming studios look to enter the web3 market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit is buying machine learning platform Spell
Reddit announced Thursday that it would buy Spell, a platform for running machine learning experiments, for an undisclosed amount.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google Maps has a new Android widget to show live traffic around you
Google Maps is introducing a new widget for Android that will be another use for the functionality that helped make a name for Waze, the other driving and mapping app that Google acquired nearly a decade ago.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GreyNoise to expand its threat intel collection after securing $15M in funding
GreyNoise Intelligence, a Washington D.C.-based cybersecurity startup that analyses internet scanning traffic to help organizations separate threats from internet “background noise,” has landed $15 million in Series A funding to expand its threat collection capabilities and help protect organizations from emerging vulnerabilities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon revamps Fire TV user interface with new home screen, improved navigation and more
Amazon Fire TV revealed an updated user interface that aims to improve the navigation experience for users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lime is trailing shared electric motorbikes
Shared micromobility giant Lime is piloting electric motorbikes in Long Beach, California.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Overair nabs $145M to produce eVTOL prototype by 2023
Overair, a California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle startup, has secured $145 million in funding that will go towards the development of Butterfly, the company’s experimental aircraft prototype, by the second half of 2023.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cereal maker Magic Spoon scoops up $85M as it lands spot on Target shelves
Gaining a place on retail shelves is just the start to Magic Spoon's plan to evolve into an omnichannel brand that eventually goes beyond the cereal box.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Crypto lender Celsius pauses withdrawals, transfers citing ‘extreme market conditions’
Cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, recently valued at about $3 billion, told customers Sunday evening that it is pausing “withdrawals, swap, and transfers between accounts."
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon said to pull out of IPL cricket streaming bidding
Amazon won’t be bidding for the IPL media rights for the year 2023 to 2027, a person familiar with the matter said, leaving the hotly contested streaming auction to Disney and Reliance.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Duolingo back in China app stores after 1 year with a local twist
Duolingo, the Nasdaq-listed language learning app, is back in China’s Apple App Store and Android stores nearly a year after it disappeared from the country’s app stores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla accuses civil rights agency of unlawfully suing for racial discrimination
Tesla has accused the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) of failing to conduct proper investigations before it sued Tesla for racial bias at its assembly plant, according to a petition filed Wednesday with California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google expands ads verification program to tackle financial scams
Google is expanding a verification program for financial services ads that it launched in the UK last summer after seeing what it describes as a “pronounced decline” in reports of ads promoting financial scams.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Multicoin Capital leads $60M investment in Delphia to give retail investors edge against hedge funds
The startup’s “share-to-earn” data token model will reward users for contributing valuable information, which it will then use to help its model better pick stocks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tencent once more seeks to expand its mobile hit Honor of Kings globally
Honor of Kings, the world’s largest mobile game made by China’s internet behemoth Tencent, is rolling out a global version by the end of this year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oracle quietly closes $28B deal to buy electronic health records company Cerner
At the end of last year, just before Christmas, Oracle made a big move when it announced it was acquiring electronic health records company Cerner for $28 billion, thrusting it quickly into the top enterprise deal for 2021, just under the wire.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
At 65 inches and 8K, the world’s largest holographic display is here
Bigger isn’t always better, but when the Looking Glass Factory announces a beast of a holographic display, it tickles our rods, cones and curiosity equally.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Etsy is launching a purchase protection program, investing $25M to cover refunds in some cases
Online marketplace Etsy is launching a new Purchase Protection program for buyers and sellers on its platform, the company announced on Monday. Starting August 1st, buyers on Etsy will be eligible to receive a full refund for purchases that don’t match the item description, arrive damaged or don’t arrive at all.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google disables RCS ads in India following rampant spam by businesses
Google has disabled businesses ability to use RCS for promotion in India, the company’s biggest market by users, following reports of rampant spam by some firms in a setback for the standard that the company is hoping to be the future of SMS messaging.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gemini lays off 10% of workforce as the ‘crypto revolution’ enters its ‘contraction phase’
Crypto platform Gemini has cut approximately 10% of its workforce, per co-founders and twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Foxconn confirms ransomware attack disrupted operations at Mexico factory
Smartphone manufacturing giant Foxconn has confirmed that a ransomware attack in late May disrupted operations at one of its Mexico-based production plants.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon is launching an invite-based ordering option, starting with the PS5 and Xbox Series X
Amazon is launching a new invite-based ordering experience for high-demand, low-supply products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pear VC’s Anand Iyer goes solo with new $20M fund for crypto developer tools
Engineers are the bedrock of any tech product, and blockchains are no exception.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Binance Labs closes $500M fund to focus on Web3 and blockchain adoption
Venture capital firms continue to deploy and raise capital for crypto markets despite volatility in recent weeks, with Binance Labs closing a $500 million investment fund to focus on web3 and blockchain technology adoption.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smiler comes up with a different kind of gig economy for event and venue photographers
Traditional venue photography providers like DEI Global, MagicMemories, Picsolve and Sharingbox are reliant on fixed equipment, permanent staffing costs, and on-site printed products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zinc heads towards new $41M tech-for-good fund to back pre-team talent solving big problems
So-called “tech for good” accelerators addressing such worthy-sounding subjects as ESGs and SDGs have appeared in the last few years. Some observers have dismissed these efforts as scalable only put to a point.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
HitPay is a one-stop solution for SMEs
HitPay has almost everything SMEs need to run their businesses. In addition to being an online payment gateway, it also offers tools like point-of-sale software with card readers, plugins, payment links and no-code online stores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joywell Foods raises $25M to bring sweet proteins to market
Joywell uses a proprietary microbial fermentation process to produce sweet proteins that are nearly identical to those found in exotic fruits and berries.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Berlin-based B2B BNPL platform Mondu raises $43M Series A led by Valar in the US
Given the likely global recession, small businesses are reaching for new kinds of financing. Thus, the Buy Now Pay Later business model is now expanding into this B2B world at a rate of knots.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India withdraws warning on biometric ID sharing following online uproar
India has withdrawn a warning that asked users to not share photocopies of their national biometric ID following a widespread uproar from users on social media, many of whom pointed that this is the first time they were hearing about such a possibility.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FlexID gets Algorand funding to offer self-sovereign IDs to Africa’s unbanked
Much of the world’s attention around blockchain is on the highs and lows of cryptocurrency values. Startups like FlexID remind us that distributed ledger technology has the potential to play other roles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amid crypto market turmoil, Andreessen Horowitz announces $4.5 billion web3 fund
Despite a gloomy outlook for crypto markets based on the past few weeks of token turbulence, venture capitalists looking to spend their way into a web3 future aren’t taking their foot off of the gas.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ViolaCredit closes $700M fund to provide asset-based lending FinTech startups
Fintech startup and alternative credit asset manager Viola Credit, has closed its latest $700 million fund which provides asset-based lending capital to FinTech, PropTech, and InsurTech startups.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Broadcom to acquire VMware in massive $61B deal
Sometimes when there is smoke, there is actually fire. Such was the case with the rumors of Broadcom’s interest in VMware this past weekend.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dyson has been secretly building robots
You probably know Dyson for their vacuums, or maybe that too-powerful dryer you’ve tentatively stuck your hands in while waiting for a flight. Maybe you’ve seen their hair dryers or fans.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Monte Carlo raises $135M Series D at $1.6B price, showing that unicorn rounds are still a thing
If you grow this quickly, yes, you can raise capital for your software business like it's still 2021.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DigitalOcean launches serverless product based on last year’s Nimbella acquisition
When DigitialOcean bought Nimbella last year, you knew it intended to go deeper into serverless technologies, and sure enough the company announced a new feature called DigitalOcean Functions today, based on Nimbella technology.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Premium streaming subscriptions continue to increase despite Netflix’s downfall
If you’ve been following Netflix lately, then you’d know the streamer is on shaky ground at the moment.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Metaverse app BUD raises another $37M, plans to launch NFTs
BUD, a nascent app taking a shot at creating a metaverse for Gen Z to play and interact with each other, has raised another round of funding in three months.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
COVID was the best thing for Kitty, as insurance apps for pets boom
Technology turned out to be a boon for pets during the pandemic. Without ready access to vets, pet owners turned to mobile apps to keep track on their pet’s health, often via educational content, and in some cases that was linked to insurance providers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Leanplum acquired by Clevertap as retention marketing platforms consolidate
CleverTap, a retention marketing platform which has raised $76.6M to date, is to fully acquire Bulgarian-originated but San Francisco-based Leanplum, a customer engagement platform which has raised $131.2M, for an undisclosed amount.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Everstream Analytics secures new cash to predict supply chain disruptions
Everstream Analytics, a supply chain insights and risk analytics startup, today announced that it raised $24 million in a Series A round led by Morgan Stanley Investment Management with participation from Columbia Capital, StepStone Group, and DHL.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Framework’s user-repairable laptop gets an upgrade
There may be some irony in upgrading a laptop designed around the principles of user repairability/upgradeability. Though certainly Framework isn’t expecting too many folks who purchased last year’s model to replace their system with the latest and greatest.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India reiterates its strict VPN rules, breach disclosures despite concerns
India is pushing ahead with its new cybersecurity rules that will require cloud service providers and VPN operators to maintain names of their customers and their IP addresses despite many players threatening to leave the world’s second largest internet market over the new guidelines.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon launches Smart Commerce in India to help offline stores launch digital storefronts
Amazon said it will help neighborhood stores across India launch their own digital storefronts to better serve their customers, the latest effort by the e-commerce giant as it attempts to leverage the dense network of offline stores in the key overseas market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Banking-as-a-service startup Unit closes on $100M at a $1.2B valuation
Unit, a banking-as-a-service startup, has closed on a $100 million Series C round of funding led by Insight Partners. Existing backers Accel, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Aleph, and Flourish Ventures also participated in the financing, which values the company at $1.2 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Red Hat open sources StackRox, the Kubernetes security platform it acquired last year
Last January, Red Hat announced that it was acquiring Kubernetes security startup StackRox, a company that had raised over $65 million since it was founded in 2014.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Curious Thing’s voice AI communication platform asks the right questions
Sydney-based Curious Thing is an aptly-named startup. The voice AI communication platform can call people and ask them questions like “How are you feeling today?” and then follow up with “how does it feel compared to yesterday?”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tech giants pledge $30M to boost open source software security
Tech giants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft have pledged millions of dollars to bolster the security of open source software.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Binance halts Luna and UST trading across most of its spot pairs following meltdown
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has suspended trading of Terraform Labs’ Terra (Luna) and TerraUSD (UST) tokens across most of its spot pairs, and for Luna, additionally across all of cross margins and isolated margins pairs following one of the biggest meltdowns in the history of cryptocurrencies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk says Twitter deal “temporarily on hold” over spam
Twitter staff must really be wishing for a quiet life… Elon Musk, the gadfly billionaire who recently decided he wants to add the social media platform to his collection of tech firms, has just tweeted that his $43BN bid to buy the company is “on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TopUp Mama looking to solve sourcing challenges for restaurants
Stock-outs, unpredictable prices of farm produce and a lack of working capital are among the challenges that plague small restaurants and food vendors in emerging markets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Interswitch receives $110M investment from LeapFrog and Tana Africa Capital
African payments company Interswitch has secured a $110 million joint investment from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to scale its digital payment services across the continent, the two private investment firms said in a statement Wednesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Educapital aims to raise a $160 million fund focused on edtech and future of work
VC firm Educapital recently announced that it has reached the first close of its second fund.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Faye hopes to do for travel insurance what Lemonade did for general insurance
While (former) startups like Lemonade came along to attack the tired world of insurance, the travel insurance market is now coming in for the same treatment from the likes of Safetywing (covered by TCÂ here) and Battleface.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tenyx raises $15M to build more intelligent voice-based customer service AI
Automating customer service tasks, particularly those that require agents to speak with customers on the phone, is something of a holy grail in the enterprise.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Moovit adds Beep’s autonomous shuttle to trip-planning app
Israeli trip-planning app Moovit is integrating with Orlando-based autonomous shuttle startup Beep, which will allow riders to view options for taking Beep shuttles alongside other forms of transit, like buses or trains.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cloudflare heads effort to make JavaScript environments interoperable
Cloudflare today announced that it’s collaborating with Deno, the development company behind the eponymous Deno runtime, and individual contributors of the Node.js open source project to create standards that enable developers to write code between Deno,
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Atma wants to make job hunting in Indonesia easier
Atma, an Indonesian startup that wants to make job hunting less painful, announced today it has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding led by AC Ventures, with participation from Global Founders Capital.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fortnite is back on iOS through Xbox Cloud Gaming
Microsoft is throwing its weight behind Epic Games in the fight against Apple — and bringing Fortnite back to iOS in the process.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Peloton reportedly looks to sell up to a 20% stake amid struggles
In February, Peloton CEO John Foley stepped down as the connected fitness pioneer cut 2,800 jobs. No one could say the news was unexpected.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Porsche joins $400M bet on lithium-silicon batteries to juice up future EVs
Porsche has read the room. With its first electric vehicle now outselling the quintessential 911 sports car, the German automaker is responding by upping its bet on EVs, in part via a hefty investment in lithium-silicon battery developer Group14 Technologies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest quietly launches a live-streaming app for video creators
Pinterest on Monday launched a new app aimed at making it easier for creators to live stream to its platform.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amberdata raises $30M to chase the “unlimited opportunity” of bringing traditional finance into web3
Amberdata, an institutionally-focused digital asset data provider, has raised $30 million in its Series B, its CEO Shawn Douglass exclusively told TechCrunch.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ursa Major lands order for 200 rocket engines from Phantom Space
Hundreds of rocket engines manufactured by startup Ursa Major will be going to space company Phantom Space over the next few years, part of a massive order that reflects Phantom’s bullish stance on the small launch market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AccelByte, a backend services platform for game developers, raises $60M led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2
AccelByte, a platform that helps game creators build backend services and tools, has raised $60 million in Series B led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Sony Interactive Entertainment and returning backers Galaxy Interactive and NetEase.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Americana’s chip turns physical objects into NFTs
NFTs are being used for far more than just proving you own a JPEG on the internet.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
USV quietly announces $625M in fresh funding for ‘both Web2 and Web3’ teams
Union Square Ventures (USV), the 19-year-old, New York-based venture firm, has raised $275 million for its eighth early-stage fund and $350 million for its fourth opportunity fund, the firm announced in a blog post yesterday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Okra Solar is bringing renewable energy to underserved markets
Okra Solar walked away with the trophy and a giant check at our 2019 Shenzhen Hardware Battlefield event. It’s a moment happily eternalized in a new press release announcing the renewable energy startup’s $2.1 million new round (it’s a nice photo. I used it on this post, too).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb commits to fully remote workplace: ‘Live and work anywhere’
Airbnb is going all in on the “live anywhere, work anywhere” philosophy that much of the business world has been forced to adopt, committing to full-time remote work for most employees and a handful of perks like 90 days of international work/travel.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More TradFi in DeFi as Sienna Network launches SiennaLend, a private crypto lending platform
It was last year that we covered the $11.2M fundraise for Sienna Network, the ‘privacy decentralized’ startup.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CommandBar lands $19M to inject in-app searches with smarts
Thanks to the explosion of low- and no-code development tools, building web apps from scratch has become easier — and cheaper — than it once was. But sophisticated search and navigation functions can complicate the process.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smallstep takes big step toward authenticating machine-to-machine communications
Smallstep founder and CEO Mike Malone calls big, distributed systems his happy place, but these systems involve a lot of machine-to-machine communications, an area identity vendors haven’t been able to solve.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple opens Self Service Repair to US iPhone users
I’ve been covering Apple in various capacities for a long time now. Over the years, I don’t know that I’ve seen an announcement from the company as unexpected and warmly received as Self Service Repair.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM expects to spend $2B on Cruise in 2022
General Motors expects full-year 2022 expenses at Cruise, the automaker’s autonomous driving subsidiary, to be approximately $2 billion, according to GM’s chief financial officer Paul Jacobson.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the wake of Fast’s collapse, Volume thinks it can crack the payment checkout conundrum
Online payment methods can be expensive for merchants, who have to pay between 2% and 8% of every sale to debit and credit card, ewallet and BNPL facilitators.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jack in the Box is piloting Miso’s hamburger-cooking robot
You’ve got to hand it to Miso — the company knows how to sell the sizzle, as they say in the meat-cooking business. The robotics firm has been striking high-profile deals with some of the U.S.’s biggest fast food chains, from White Castle to Panera Bread.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reliance says its $3.4 billion deal with Future Group ‘cannot be implemented’
Reliance Industries “cannot implement” its $3.4 billion deal to acquire several parts of retail chain Future Group after secured creditors rejected the offer earlier this week, India’s most valuable firm said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter said to be close to a deal with Elon Musk
As unlikely as it may have once seemed, reports indicate Elon Musk may actually end up the owner of a newly-private Twitter after all.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After layoffs, Flockjay lands on a new SaaS-y vision for tech sales
Months after cutting half its staff, edtech startup Flockjay has landed on a new vision for how to disrupt tech sales: start from the inside, out.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snapchat is growing faster than Facebook and Twitter
Snap released its first quarter financial results for 2022 today, affirming that it’s growing faster than its fellow US-based competitors Facebook (now Meta) and Twitter. Meta reported its first loss in daily active users (DAUs) last quarter.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Immigrant credit FinTech Pillar raises $16.9M pre-seed led by Global Founders Capital and Backed VC
Immigrants to a new country can often be cash-rich. The problem is, is that they have no credit history in their new country.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This kamikaze drone sacrifices its own rotors to take down other drones
Drones can be dangerous, and we’ve seen consumer-grade drones used for all sorts of nefarious purposes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Connected strength-training startup Vitruvian eyes US with $15M raise
It’s been a wild few years for the home fitness industry. Few consumer technologies were better positioned to ride the pandemic to new heights. There’s been some leveling off of late, of course.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BMW launches its first all-electric 7 Series sedan
After months of teasers and a slow drip of information, BMW today announced its new i7 xDrive60, the first all-electric version of its full-size luxury sedan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook is losing interest in its podcasting plans, new report claims
Last April, Facebook announced a suite of new audio products, including new support for podcasts and a Clubhouse live audio competitor, which was an indication that it was taking the threat from other audio platforms more seriously.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Music streamer Deezer is going public via SPAC at a $1.1B valuation
A European music streamer, Deezer is going public via a SPAC deal, valuing the Spotify competitor at $1.1 billion. Deezer will merge with the “blank-check” company I2PO, which is headed by former WarnerMedia executive Iris Knobloch. Founded in 2007, the company previously tried to IPO in 2015, only to reverse course and raise Series E […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Youth sports app TeamSnap launches a new system designed for clubs and leagues
TeamSnap, a web service for managing recreational and competitive sports teams and groups, announced the launch of its all-in-one multi-program management system for youth sports organizations.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
D&D Beyond comes under the wing of Wizards of the Coast in $146 million deal
The parent company of Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast will buy D&D Beyond, the role-playing game’s popular digital suite of tools.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Peloton is increasing its subscription fees starting June 1
Peloton announced today that it’s increasing the price of its subscription fees in the United States and Canada. Starting June 1, the cost of the company’s all-access plan fee is increasing from $39 to $44 in the United States and from $49 to $55 in Canada.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Swiggy backs bike taxi platform Rapido in $180 million funding
Swiggy has led a $180 million financing round into bike taxi startup Rapido as the Indian food delivery giant looks to broaden its fleet network across the country, the two firms said on Friday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As post-covid food distribution digitizes, Cerve raises $2M for wholesaler platform
As we found during the pandemic, food and beverage distribution is critical, but most food wholesalers’ sales remain manually operated. Post-covid, food wholesalers are fast digitizing their operations, but many still rely on legacy backend systems.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder adds a ‘Festival Mode’ for making connections ahead of concerts and events
Tinder today is launching a new feature called Festival Mode designed to help users connect ahead of their plans to attend concerts or larger music festivals, like The Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Stagecoach, EDC Las Vegas, and others.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Moot channels $18M for a platform and toolkit to power e-commerce strategies for brands
E-commerce today is played out wherever a consumer sees something and wants it — be it on a company’s site or app, a social media feed, a marketplace, a search, or an advert.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nurse-assisting robotics firm Diligent raises $30M
Nursing shortages were a problem well before our hospitals were rocked by a pandemic. Two years in and overloaded systems have further contributed to burnout, stress and other factors plaguing the people we rely on for our own well-being.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prelude raises $24M to help organizations harden their cybersecurity defenses
Prelude, a Washington D.C-based startup that helps organizations harden their cyber defenses through the use of autonomous red-teaming, has secured $24 million in Series A funding.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Miso Robotics brings a new coffee monitoring system to Panera
Miso made a name for itself with the hamburger-cooking robot, Flippy.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk is not joining Twitter board, CEO Parag Agrawal says
Elon Musk is not joining Twitter’s board, the social network’s chief executive Parag Agrawal said, in a surprising reversal following last week’s announcement that the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive had been appointed to the panel.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Perforce adds infrastructure automation tooling with Puppet acquisition
Perforce Software has been building developer tools since 1995, a long time in the tech world. The company was acquired by Clearlake Capital in 2018, and over the last several years has been modernizing and expanding its reach through acquisition.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brilliant Planet is running algae-farms to pull carbon out of the air
Sure you can run machines to decarbonize the air, but where’s the fun in that when you can invite mother nature to do the work for you?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter launches improved alt text accessibility features globally
Sometimes, new Twitter features can be divisive — we’ve made our feelings clear about the edit button, which is apparently in the works. But we can (hopefully) all agree that simple accessibility features are a good thing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Goldman Sachs joins other investors in $88M round for web3 and blockchain security firm CertiK
CertiK, a Web3 and blockchain security company, has raised $88 million in its latest round, bringing its valuation to $2 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Built Robotics raises another $64M to make construction equipment autonomous
If you’re still wrapping your head around the idea of self-driving cars, get ready for something that might seem even wilder: self-driving construction equipment exists, and it’s already out there digging away on job sites.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Visa unveils first innovation hub in Africa to drive product development
Global digital payments giant Visa has opened up an innovation studio in Kenya, its first in Africa and sixth globally, after posts in Dubai, London, Miami, San Francisco and Singapore.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian picks up EV production in Q1, on track to hit annual target
Rivian produced 2,553 vehicles in the first quarter, putting it on course to meet its production goal of 25,000 EVs this year, the company said Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon lines up dozens of launches to put thousands of Kuiper satellites in orbit
Amazon is finally taking decisive action on its Kuiper communications satellite constellation, securing the rights to as many as 83 launches from United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, and of course Blue Origin.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Peloton Guide is now available for $295
Late last year, Peloton announced Guide. The set-top system is an effort to reach a broader slice of the market with a lower cost alternative to its line of bikes and treadmills.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UPS partners with Jumia to expand delivery network in Africa
Global logistics and package delivery company UPS will leverage Jumia’s network across Africa to grow its reach across the continent, following a new partnership announced today that gives it access to the e-commerce firm’s last mile delivery infrastructure.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Musk takes a $3B bite out of Twitter; now the Tesla mogul has a 9.2% share of the social network
He’s used Twitter to poll people apparently to make major business decisions. He’s had his hand figuratively slapped (more than once) by regulators over how he’s used the social platform to potentially manipulate the markets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Biden’s answer to high gas prices is to boost U.S. battery production
President Joe Biden will trigger the Defense Production Act to secure U.S. sources of critical minerals and materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese that are used to make batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GoPro’s new battery grip triples your action-cam shooting time
You just know your battery will kick the bucket at the worst possible time, right when you’ve perfected your sick, hella nar-nar skateboard tricks, bruh.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mojo Vision takes another step toward AR contact lenses with new prototype
We’ve known Mojo Vision’s journey to market was going to be a long and deliberate one since we saw an early prototype in Las Vegas a number of CESes ago.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tumblr expands its tip jar feature to enable blog-level tipping
Tumblr is expanding its tip jar feature by introducing blog-level tipping for its iOS and web applications, the company announced on Wednesday. The company rolled out its tip jar feature last month allowing users to leave tips on posts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dyson is betting you’ll want to strap an air purifier to your face
Air. I love it, you love it. We’re all out here walking around in it all day, filling our lungs and blood with the stuff. We can’t get enough of it. But that beautiful, wonderful, life-saving air that you, me and your pet chinchilla all need is bad sometimes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Can robotic hives help save the world’s bees?
Here’s a bummer of a statistic for you: Around 30% of bee colonies disappear every year. Scientists coined the phrase “colony collapse disorder” (CCD) to describe what’s been a devastating ongoing trend in the world’s bee population.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Celonis pushes into Microsoft ecosystem with $100M Process Analytics Factory acquisition
Celonis moves into Microsoft ecosystem with Process Analytics Factory acquisition
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After six months of invite-only sales, Amazon Glow is now available to all in the U.S.
Back in September of last year, Amazon announced a curious looking device called the Amazon Glow.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Treeswift is using drones to monitor forests
Over the past decade, drones have become an increasingly important tool for forest monitoring. They’re a fast and effective way to collect a lot of data in one go, without upsetting the natural balance too much.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple TV+ becomes the first streaming service to win a Best Picture Oscar with “CODA”
Apple TV+ has beat out Netflix to become the first streaming service to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with “Coda’s” triumph.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former TikTok content moderators file lawsuit over ‘psychological trauma’
A pair of former TikTok content reviewers is suing the company, alleging that it failed to adequately support them as they engaged in the deeply disturbing work of removing objectionable videos from the social network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polestar’s long range single motor Polestar 2 arrives in the US
Following the release of its dual-motor variant late last year, Polestar announced that the 270-mile long range, single-motor version of its Polestar 2 EV is now available for sale in the US.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsara Eco wants to help end global plastic crisis with enzyme-based technology
Global plastic use is expected to double by 2040, with most plastic sent to landfills and only 13 percent recycled. According to CIEL (Center for International Environmental Law), plastic production and incineration could produce 2.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide every year by 2050.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Coinbase makes India push with support for UPI payments
Coinbase is beginning to add support for payment instruments UPI and IMPS in India, making its crypto exchange broadly functional in the world’s second largest internet market for the first time in years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Astronomer ready for its next mission after Datakin acquisition, $213M Series C
The once scrappy company is scrappy no more and poised to build new features around what it's already done with Airflow.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tome livens up slide decks with real-time data, flexible layouts
The company thinks you should be spending less time trying to adapt your content to a presentation page and more time on storytelling.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Podcasters, get ready to find out how many followers you have on Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts is rolling out new features to incentivize podcasters to offer paid subscriptions to listeners on the app. One of those features will — for better or for worse — reveal to podcasters in their private analytics dashboard how many people follow them on Apple Podcasts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Talkspace-owned Lasting launches new ‘Parenting Guide’ app, its latest self-guided advice service
Lasting, which is owned by mobile therapy company Talkspace, has launched a new app aimed at parents.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gensyn applies a token to distributed computing for AI developers, raises $6.5M
For self-driving cars and other applications developed using AI, you need what’s known as ‘deep learning’, the core concepts of which emerged in the ‘50s.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lune offers an API to calculate carbon emissions at checkout
Meet Lune, a new startup that wants to expose CO2 emissions calculations so that customers are better informed when they purchase something online.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sleek wants to be the last shopping check-out form you ever fill out
Sleek is developing a browser extension enabling one-click checkout and cash-back savings.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Porsche is turning its mid-engine 718 roadster into an EV by 2025
The Porsche 718, a mid-engine roadster that injects the automaker’s motorsports’ history into a modern-day package, is going all electric by 2025.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Getir is now worth nearly $12 billion after raising another $768 million
Instant delivery startup Getir has announced that it has closed a new $768 million Series E founding round. Following this deal, the company has reached a valuation of $11.8 billion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MeliBio’s honey production, minus the bee, will have you buzzing
The company is making real honey with precision fermentation and plant science.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram rolls out new safety tools for parents
Meta announced a new set of tools designed to protect young users on Wednesday, an overdue response to widespread criticism that the company doesn’t do enough to protect its most vulnerable users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Liveblocks grabs $5 million for its real-time collaboration API
Liveblocks has raised a $5 million seed round. The startup lets you turn a regular web app into a multiplayer product with high-level hosted APIs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta faces prosecution in South Africa for alleged antitrust breach
Meta is facing prosecution in South Africa, after the country’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission, found as uncompetitive its intention to block the government’s startup GovChat and #LetsTalk from using its WhatsApp Business API.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NASA’s mega expensive moon rocket will make its public debut Thursday
Twelve years after it was first announced, NASA’s massive Space Launch System will finally make its public debut.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford announces new EV production and profit goals for Europe
Ford is accelerating plans to sell more electric vehicles in Europe on its way toward reaching carbon neutrality in the region by 2035. The automaker announced Monday that it will launch three new electric passenger vehicles and four new electric commercial vehicles in Europe over the next two years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blue Origin will fly SNL’s Pete Davidson to space on March 23
Blue Origin has announced its next roster for a flight of New Shepard to suborbital space, and it includes Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sorenson Ventures keeps focus on enterprise with new $150M fund
Sorenson Ventures may not be a household name, but the Lehi, Utah-based firm has quietly backed 30 enterprise startups since 2017 when it launched its initial $100 million fund, some exiting via acquisition and some sporting flashy valuations.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ubisoft won’t say why it reset employee passwords after ‘cyber incident’
Gaming giant Ubisoft has confirmed a cybersecurity incident that led to the mass-reset of company passwords, but has declined to say what the incident actually was.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s Art & Culture platform updated with documents, artifacts and music from Timbuktu
Google, working with historians from West Africa, has been working to digitize contemporary art, cultural and historic sites about Mali, and the digital library went live on Google Art & Culture (GAC) today, making these items available for exploration by the world.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Topsort, an auction-based advertising startup, now valued at $110M after seed round
When Regina Ye was in college, she was a Shopify seller and recalls being so fed up with advertising solutions that she spent finals week staying up late to figure out how ads worked on Facebook and Amazon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
E-bike subscription service Dance adds new cities and mopeds
After raising nearly $20 million a few months ago, Berlin-based startup Dance is expanding its electric bike subscription service to a handful of new cities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Workbounce’s ‘Google meets Slack’ product for sales teams raises $2.7M from Index Ventures
Selling commercial products has become pretty complex, and the pandemic has not helped. Sales teams are often hampered by the difficulties of building trust in their product, especially in a hybrid world where much of the interactions are virtual.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon launches a ‘live radio’ app, Amp, which lets you play DJ with the Amazon Music catalog
Amazon’s Clubhouse competitor has arrived. The retail giant on Tuesday launched a new mobile app called Amp, which allows people to create live “radio shows” where they can act as a DJ, by taking callers and playing tracks from Amazon Music’s tens of millions of licensed songs, ranging from classic titles to today’s music.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General Motors, PG&E pilot EVs as backup power sources for homes
General Motors and Pacific Gas and Electric Company are launching a pilot that will let EV owners use their vehicles as a backup power source for their homes during an outage.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Robotaxi startup Pony.ai now valued at $8.5B
China- and U.S.-based Pony.ai said Monday its valuation has surged to $8.5 billion after the first close of its Series D funding round.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aston Martin to develop battery cell technology with Britishvolt
British luxury carmaker Aston Martin has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with lithium-ion battery cell technologies company Britishvolt.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disco gets brands to boogie together on customer acquisition
Disco used to be Co-op Commerce, and leadership says the new name better reflects the company's focus on consumer discovery.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sony and Honda reveal plans to jointly make and sell electric vehicles
Sony’s current favorite big tease is playing at being a carmaker, and today it announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with real automaker Honda to discuss and develop that idea further.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sikur touts a new secure Android phone for enterprise, gov’t comms
It’s many years since the Blackberry was the corporate phone du jour. Touchscreen phones and the ‘Bring your Own Device’ trend put paid to all that.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reliance to invest $221 million for electronics manufacturing with Sanmina in India
Reliance Industries plans to invest up to $221 million in American electronics firm Sanmina to set up a joint venture as the Indian giant looks to expand its electronics manufacturing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blockchain infra startup Tenderly raises $40M after seeing ‘500x’ YoY revenue growth
Tenderly, a startup that aims to make it easier for web3 developers “of all skill sets” to build blockchain products, has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding – just months after closing on its Series A.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford splits EV and combustion units in major restructuring
Ford today announced a significant restructuring to better focus on the different challenges and opportunities with electric vehicles and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alphabet’s Wing drones hit 200,000 deliveries as it announces supermarket partnership
Alphabet’s drone service Wing this morning announced another milestone, as it hit 200,000 commercial deliveries.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube geoblocks Russia Today, Sputnik channels in Europe
Google has just announced that YouTube will geoblock the Kremlin-affiliated media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in Europe, following pressure from regional lawmakers to choke off Russian war propaganda.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Weee! delivers second big funding round in a year, this time backed by SoftBank
This new monster round comes about a year after another big fundraise of $316 million in Series D financing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
HearHere raises $3.2M to scale its immersive storytelling road-trip app
Santa Barbara-based HearHere, the company behind an audio entertainment and immersive storytelling road-trip app, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by RV and outdoor retailer Camping World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Carvana acquires Adesa US auction business for $2.2B to jump-start used car sales
Carvana, the online used car marketplace, has agreed to buy Kar Global’s Adesa U.S. auction subsidiary for $2.2 billion in cash, an acquisition aimed at adding another revenue stream as well as a network of physical sites that could help bolster operations.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SEC opens investigation into Elon Musk over possible insider trading
Elon Musk isn't getting a break from the SEC any time soon. WSJ reports the SEC is investigating whether Musk and his brother Kimbal violated insider trading regulations with recent share sales.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Specify automagically collects, stores and distributes your design tokens and assets
Meet Specify, a startup that is creating a common language for Figma and GitHub. Specify acts as a central repository and API for your design tokens and assets.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cloudflare to acquire Area 1 Security, a startup that blocks phishing emails
Cloudflare has announced that it plans to acquire Area 1 Security, a security startup that has developed a product that stops phishing attacks before they land in an employee’s inbox. Cloudflare plans to spend around $162 million on the acquisition.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Target to add Starbucks orders and returns to its curbside pickup service
Target is preparing a series of changes to make its curbside pickup service called Drive Up more appealing to consumers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
RightHand cashes in on the white-hot warehouse robotics space with a $66M raise
COVID, supply chain issues, labor shortages, Amazon. Take your pick. The reasons for getting excited about logistics robotics are numerous and growing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
To combat chip shortage, Bosch to invest $296M to produce semiconductors
Bosch is increasing its previously stated investment in semiconductor production in order to stay on top of the ongoing chip shortage.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PerchPeek raises $11M to woo ‘great resignation employees’ with easy relocation
Relocating employees can involve up to 20-30 different complex processes, while many of the support packages on the market can be inflexible and expensive. Plus, relocating services are usually only available to company leaders, not staff.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Better.com loses more senior execs as employees brace for another mass layoff
Things are getting worse at Better.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Walmart is expanding autonomous delivery pilot with GM’s Cruise this year
Cruise plans to expand the self-driving delivery pilot it has with Walmart in Arizona, the company’s senior government affairs manager said in a recent public meeting with state legislators.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reusable packaging startup bags $3.1M to pick a fight with single-use packaging
Quick pop quiz: Is it better to recycle your cardboard boxes, or use a sturdier packaging bag that can be used again and again until it meets its maker again?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New York’s Thrive Capital closes its eighth fund with a whopping $3 billion
Thrive Capital, the venture firm founded in 2009 by a then-25-year-old Joshua Kushner, says it has closed its eighth fund with approximately $3 billion in capital commitments, $500 of which it plans to invest in early-stage startups and another $2.5 billion that it has earmarked for later-stage companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon reaches deal to continue accepting Visa payments worldwide
Amazon and Visa have resolved their simmering dispute over payment fees in the UK and elsewhere, Reuters has reported. Amazon threatened to stop accepting Visa in the UK starting January 19.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blueland raises more money to avoid shipping water around and reduce single-use plastics
The cleaning products you use in your house are 99% water. Yes, the same stuff that comes out of the spigot at your house.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New Waymo Via partnership gives it access to 200,000 shippers and carriers
Waymo Via, Waymo’s autonomous trucking and cargo unit, has found another long-term strategic partner to see it through to commercialization.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stronghold launches $100M venture arm to invest in underrepresented founders and fintech
Payments infrastructure company Stronghold has launched a venture capital arm to deploy $100 million of its balance sheet capital in startups and funds in three core strategies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Singapore-based alternative protein startup Next Gen Foods gets $100M Series A for U.S. growth
Alternative protein startups have attracted a lot of investor attention over the past couple of years and the trend looks set to continue.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Grubhub expands its ‘Grubhub Goods’ convenience offering nationwide
Food delivery app GrubHub is expanding its branded convenience offering nationwide, the company announced on Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Gaia, a platform to finance IVF treatments, closes $20M Series A led by Atomico
Gaia is a startup that is effectively out to ‘de-risk’ the whole process of IVF fertility treatment, using products like personalized insurance and payment plans.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
3D social network BUD raises $15M in Series A+ round
Investors are justling to find the next killer app for the metaverse.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chasing Cruise and Waymo, Chinese AV company AutoX plans to begin testing in San Francisco
AutoX, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company that has made plays in both the U.S. and its home country, is now making a move into San Francisco, an area where its biggest competitors are creeping towards commercialization.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indiegogo will designate legit crowdfunders with a ‘Trust-Proven’ badge
Indiegogo has a trust problem. It’s something the company is keenly aware of.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sardine’s algorithm helps crypto and fintech companies detect fraud
It’s a great time to be in the fraud detection business in crypto and fintech.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder introduces a way for members to go on virtual ‘blind dates’
Tinder is bringing back the idea of the “blind date” through a new in-app feature, launching today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
eAgronom closes $7.4M Series A to create a farming-based carbon credits platform
There are plenty of competitors in so-called FMS (Farm Management Software), but so far no global dominant leader has emerged. Agrivi has raised $7.3M, Granular $24.9M and Farmlogs $37M. So there’s clearly plenty of scope for more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX loses 40 Starlink satellites to a geomagnetic storm
80% of Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX on February 3 won't reach their intended orbit. SpaceX has revealed that a geomagnetic storm had a severe impact on the satellites.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Artiphon drops the hardware requirement for its musical camera app, Orbacam
We’ve been following Artiphon closely over the years. Back in late 2020, I took a liking to the music startup’s latest smart instrument, the Orba.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
American Express launches its first all-digital consumer checking account
American Express has launched its first all-digital consumer checking account, the company announced on Tuesday. The new offering, American Express Rewards Checking, is currently available for eligible U.S. Consumer Card Members.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joby Aviation to launch air taxi service in South Korea
California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing startup Joby Aviation plans to offer an air taxi service in South Korea in partnership with SK Telecom (SKT), one of the country’s largest telecommunication companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A Twitter slap fight goes wrong
Certain VCs who tweet a lot have grown a little vituperative of late, with some of the most powerful people in the industry lashing out in unprecedented ways.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple to charge 27% fee for Dutch dating apps using alternative payment options
Following a court order, developers working on dating apps don’t have to use Apple’s in-app purchase system in the Netherlands.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In Ford’s transition to EVs, cost-cutting takes center stage
Ford has made cost-cutting a key piece of its EV strategy as the company works to improve profit margins while meeting what CEO Jim Farley has called “incredible demand” of its new electric vehicle models.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Blockchain bridge Wormhole confirms that exploiter stole $320 million worth of crypto assets
Wormhole, a popular cryptocurrency platform that offers bridges between multiple blockchains, announced on Twitter that it noticed an exploit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Travel booking app Hopper upgrades its valuation to $5B on secondary sale
Hopper, the mobile travel booking startup and app that lets users book flights, hotels, cars, and — most recently — short-term home rentals a la Airbnb and VRBO, has been on a fast pace of growth in the wake of Covid-19 travel restrictions loosening up in the last year, with 70 million downloads to date.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX reveals $500 monthly ‘Premium’ Starlink service with speeds up to 500 Mbps
SpaceX has a new tier for its Starlink satellite internet service with higher performance but pricing that might make your eyes water, called Starlink Premium, with speeds between 150 and 500Mbps.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM’s Chevy Silverado EV already has 110,000 reservations
General Motors said it has secured more than 110,000 reservations for its new all-electric Chevrolet Silverado, which includes reservations from more than 240 fleet operators, Chair and CEO Mary Barra said in the company’s full-year and fourth quarter earnings letter to shareholders.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla recalls Full Self Driving feature that lets cars roll through stop signs
Tesla is issuing an over-the-air update to recall a "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) beta feature that allowed cars to roll through stop signs, which appeared in FSD 10.3.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Superpedestrian gets $125M to expand tech that corrects unsafe scooter riding
Shared e-scooter company Superpedestrian is gearing up to deploy its Pedestrian Defense safety system at scale, a feature that allows the company’s e-scooters to detect and correct unsafe riding behaviors, like riding on sidewalks or the wrong way down a one-way street, in real time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AllSpice thinks hardware developers lack their own ‘GitHub,’ so it is building one
The idea behind the company was to get engineers back to spending the majority of their time designing and building hardware products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Joni Mitchell joins Neil Young, pulls her music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation
Spotify’s Joe Rogan headache is about to get a lot worse. Earlier this week, musician Neil Young announced that he would pull his music from the streaming service to protest Spotify’s relationship with Joe Rogan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google will let legacy G Suite users migrate to free Google accounts
Earlier this month, Google announced that it would kill free Google Workspace accounts that were using the G Suite legacy free edition. As spotted by Ars Technica and following customer backlash, Google has updated its support page and says that it plans to offer more options to existing users. Google Workspace as it exists today […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon must pay $2M and end program after price-fixing investigation by Washington AG
Amazon must pay $2.25 million and permanently shut down a previously suspended sales program, following an investigation and lawsuit by the Attorney General of Washington alleging it was essentially price-fixing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Compound aims to be a one-stop-shop for tech employees to manage their finances
Jordan Gonen and Jacob Schein had both worked in the tech industry for a few years when they realized they lacked a clear understanding of their own finances.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple will reportedly allow iPhones to accept contactless payments
Small businesses might soon be able to accept payments using their iPhones without extra hardware. Apple could start rolling out the feature through a software update in the next few months.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paack pulls in a $225M Series D led by SoftBank to scale its E-commerce delivery platform
By now, many of us are familiar with the warehouse robots which populate those vast spaces occupied by the likes of Amazon and others. In particular, Amazon was very much a pioneer of the technology.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTC fines online shop $4M for hiding reviews below 4 stars
We all know online reviews must be taken with a grain of salt, but generally you’d like to think that a product with a 4.5-star average is better than one with a 3.5-star average.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter’s experimental ‘Flock’ feature will let you share tweets with your closest friends
Twitter is still working on a feature that will give you a way to blast tweets that can only be seen by the friends you choose first revealed in July last year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Starship Technologies picks up €50M from the EU’s investment arm to expand its fleet of autonomous delivery robots
Starship Technologies, one of the bigger names in the world of autonomous delivery robots — those little caboose-like, boxy delivery vehicles that self-drive around cities — has been on a roll during Covid-19.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ola Electric valued at $5 billion in new funding
Ola Electric said on Monday it has raised $200 million in a new financing round even as the Indian ride-hailing giant’s spin off struggles to deliver its maiden electric scooter to customers and questions about its work culture are being raised.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FarmRaise aims to become a financial services giant, starting with farm grants
You have to start somewhere. So when Jayce Hafner and Sami Tellatin bonded as Stanford MBA classmates over their shared belief that making U.S. farms more efficient would be good for farmers, good for the country, and a great business.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Peloton CEO acknowledges corrective actions, denies ‘halting all production’ of bikes and treadmills
Ahead of the company’s upcoming earnings, Peloton CEO John Foley took a break from a “quiet period” to address a number of reports related to poor device sales.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix had its lowest year of subscriber growth since 2015
Despite producing global hits like “Squid Game” in 2021, Netflix’s fourth quarter returns show the streaming giant struggling to maintain a lead over its competitors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clench your jaw to skip a track: That’s the magic of Wisear
By adding some electrodes and some electronics to your earbuds, Wisear can make your music experience a lot more hands-free than before.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
French robotic exoskeleton maker Wandercraft eyes US expansion courtesy of a $45M Series C
Wandercraft was founded in 2012, with the vision of improving mobility of wheelchair users. The company’s solution comes by way of exoskeletons, which can offer wearers the ability to walk with robotic assistance.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wrangle secures $2M to automate company workflows
The company’s no-code software can automate any kind of process: employee onboarding, contract approvals, help tickets or any other recurring work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Harness releases open version of continuous delivery product with access to source code
Harness, a startup from AppDynamics founder Jyoti Bansal, has been building a platform of developer tools over the last five years. In 2020, the company made its first foray into open source when it bought continuous integration tool Drone.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Castiron serves up a $6M seed round to support ‘food artisans’
The pandemic hasn’t been easy for anyone, but the food service industry has been hit particularly hard. More than 90,000 restaurants and bars have closed, leaving workers unemployed in an already precarious industry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Wayve raises $200M Series B led by Eclipse for its AI for autonomous delivery vehicles
British autonomous vehicle startup Wayve has raised a $200 million Series B funding round from investors to scale its technology and expand its partnerships with commercial fleets. Wayve is aiming to be a major player in the arena of Robo-deliveries and logistics.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Animoca, Galaxy Interactive and Polygon back gaming firm nCore in web3 push
nCore Games has raised $10 million in a new financing round as the top Indian gaming firm gears up to launch web3 offerings, its top executives said Monday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
InFlow, a science-based app for ADHD, raises $2.3M Seed led by Hoxton Ventures
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms can include anxiety, chronic boredom, impulsiveness, trouble concentrating, controlling anger, and even depression. But ADHD suffers can face lengthy waiting periods for assessment and prohibitively expensive treatments. Now a startup, which launched in 2020, hopes to address this by luring the knowledge of a team of clinicians and coaches […]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EVage raises $28M to be a driving force in India’s commercial EV revolution
A congruence of factors in India — notably, climate change policies, fuel costs and skyrocketing demand for e-commerce — has set up ideal conditions for startups like all-electric commercial vehicle startup EVage.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s loss to Sonos settles it: Big Tech has an IP piracy problem
Simply put, Big Tech benefits from stealing IP. The legal costs and potential damages, if ever issued after years of litigation, are paltry by comparison.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Swell takes in $20M to develop more adaptable headless commerce infrastructure
Starting an e-commerce business is large marketplaces can be an easy process, but what the team at Swell began to notice was that the model could only take a business so far.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Seel secures $17M round to infuse AI in customer product returns
Merchants can add “return assurance” to an order, if it is returned in the next 30 days, Seel, instead of the merchant, will pay for the refund.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Newcomer aggregator Ecommerce Brands snags $40M in equity, debt to deploy eCaaS model
Ecommerce Brands aims to differentiate itself from the crowded aggregator space by being the technology force for DTC brands to scale while operators focus on running their businesses.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BigPanda gets its horn after securing $190M in fresh capital
The company’s technology transforms huge volumes of IT data into actionable insight and automates incident management so IT operations teams can be proactive about their response processes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku adds a new ‘Live TV Zone’ to its homescreen
Roku is furthering its investment in its Live TV platform with today’s introduction of a new “Live TV Zone” that will roll out to the main, left-side navigation on Roku devices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GoStudent Raises $340M Series D funding round as it pushes into international markets
Fresh from raising a $244 million Series C (that valued the company then $1.7 billion) back in June, K12 online tutoring marketplace GoStudent has now raised a $340 million Series D round led by new investor Prosus, an Amsterdam-based investment firm.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM finally agrees California can set vehicle emissions rules as it preps to scale EVs
In what appears to be a politically and economically savvy move by General Motors, the automaker said Sunday it recognized California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle emissions standards.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ankorstore reaches $2 billion valuation two years after launching its wholesale marketplace
French startup Ankorstore has raised a $283 million Series C funding round (€250 million). Founded in November 2019, it took Ankorstore around two years to reach a post-money valuation of $2 billion (€1.75 billion).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Fitness+ introduces new ‘Collections’ feature and ‘Time to Run’ series
Apple Fitness+ is introducing a new “Collections” feature along with a new “Time to Run” series starting on January 10th. Collections are a curated series of workouts and meditations from the Fitness+ library organized to help users reach a goal.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
At CES 2022, metaverses metaversed the metaverse
In the lead up to CES, I wrote a piece reflecting on top tech of CES 2012. It was an interesting exercise for a number of reasons — not the least of which was recalling the buzzwords from 10 years ago. That year, LTE and ultrabooks topped the list. One had a great run.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mosqitter’s machine murders mosquitos with much mirth
After ridiculing one mosquito-fighting product, I figured it’d be only right to highlight another piece of buzz-reducing tech that was showing off its products at CES this year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Canada’s Assent Compliance lands $350M from Vista Equity for supply chain data management
Never before has the importance of a smooth-flowing supply chain been as clear as it has been in the COVID-19 pandemic era. For manufacturers in particular, managing intricate supply chains can be particularly challenging.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
BMW wants to turn your car into a rolling cinema
After fitting some of its cars with comfy lounge chairs at CES 2020, BMW today unveiled the next step in its in-car entertainment story.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stellantis to transform Chrysler into an all-electric brand by 2028
Chrysler, the 96-year-old brand owned by Stellantis that is best known today for its minivans, will become an all-electric brand by 2028.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Labrador set to deliver a robotic helping hand to homes in 2023
Back at CES 2020, Labrador Systems co-founder/CEO Mike Dooley told me, “I think there are fewer fake robots [at the show] this year.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Liquid Death lands $75 million more in funding, including to roll out flavored water
Liquid Death, a water brand that began life in 2018 with a funny video to first test the concept, has grown deadly serious about its growth prospects.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung’s 2022 Smart TVs to support cloud gaming, video chat and even NFTs
Ahead of the official start of CES, Samsung today revealed its vision for its next generation of smart TVs that will include everything from cloud-based gaming services to video chat while watching TV to even NFTs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitter bans Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s personal account over COVID-19 misinformation
Twitter has permanently suspended the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) “for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy,” according to the company.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Let’s talk CES 2022 trends
I spent a chunk of yesterday morning rediscovering the big trends of CES 2012. It’s a strange experience, examining so much technology that feels — at once — extremely dated and very recent.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple puts Foxconn India plant on probation after protests over food and accommodation conditions
Apple has put the southern India factory of Foxconn on probation following protests from workers over subpar food and accommodation conditions, a concern both the firms acknowledged and pledged to improve.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The best tech of CES 2012
Consumer electronics are a bad metric for gauging the passage of time. And, frankly, Consumer Electronics Shows are considerably worse.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fiverr rolls out new Pinterest-like personalized discovery feature
Freelance marketplace Fiverr is rolling out an interactive Pinterest-like mobile experience aimed at enabling users to engage with a constantly updated feed of visual content curated specifically for them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo partners with Geely to make electric AVs for ride hail in the US
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving technology arm, is partnering with Chinese automaker Geely to build an all-electric, self-driving ride-hailing vehicle.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Europe’s antitrust policy shouldn’t ignore China
The TechCrunch Global Affairs Project examines the increasingly intertwined relationship between the tech sector and global politics.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More companies bow out of in-person CES presence
The last few days have been fairly quiet, so far as CES is concerned — no doubt owing to the holiday. The last major dropout came from Microsoft, which confirmed on Christmas Eve it would no longer be traveling to Las Vegas for the event.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Movano targets an H2 2022 launch for its fitness ring
My first in-person experience with a fitness ring was back at CES 2017. Four years later, one wonders if they might be having a moment at next week’s show — in-person or no.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Naren Gupta, co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, passes away
Naren Gupta, a venture capitalist who co-founded Nexus Venture Partners to help cement Indian SaaS startups’ position to the world, died on Saturday. He was 73.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok moderator sues over mental trauma caused by graphic videos
In a proposed class-action lawsuit, TikTok moderator Candie Frazier said that she has screened videos showing violence, school shootings, fatal falls and even cannibalism.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Despite scrapped IPO, Babbel sees fast growth for its language learning service
Berlin-based language learning service Babbel was supposed to IPO on the Frankfurt stock exchange in late September.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FDA authorizes Pfizer’s Covid antiviral pill for people 12 and older
The FDA has issued an emergency authorization for Pfizer's antiviral pill, making it the first oral method for treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19. The EUA covers high-risk people 12 and up.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dealroom raises €6M Series A for its startup data, market intelligence service
European startup and venture capital data company Dealroom has raised a €6 million Series A, it told TechCrunch. The company’s new capital comes nearly two years after it raised €2.75 million in early 2020.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Via files confidentially to go public
On-demand shuttle service and software company Via has confidentially filed to go public, the company said in a statement.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The long haul of Microsoft’s China localization
In 2019, when LinkedIn began asking for Chinese users’ phone numbers, it was clear that the professional social network would have to follow a different set of rules in the country.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI chip maker Kneron raises $25M for autonomous driving push
AI chips, which are semiconductors designed to accelerate machine learning, have many applications. One of the promising use cases, according to Albert Liu, is using AI chips in autonomous driving vehicles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Line to launch NFT service LineNext next year
Japan-based messaging app Line Corporation, which is wholly owned by Z Holdings, will launch NFT service next year via its new organization LineNext to provide the marketplace for companies and individuals to trade NFTs globally, excluding Japan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Security flaws found in a popular guest Wi-Fi system used in hundreds of hotels
A security researcher says an internet gateway, used by hundreds of hotels to offer and manage their guest Wi-Fi networks, has vulnerabilities that could put the personal information of their guests at risk.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fuzey takes in $4.5M to charge up its management tools for service-based businesses
The company's tools digitize for small businesses what was traditionally done manually and on paper, like invoices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify acquires podcast tech company Whooshkaa which turns radio broadcasts into on-demand audio
Spotify is continuing its investments in podcasts with today’s news that’s it’s acquired another podcast technology company, Whooshkaa, an Australia-based all-in-one platform for hosting, managing, distributing, promoting, monetizing and measuring podcasts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Silverflow nabs $17M for its updated, cloud-based take on payments processing technology
When it comes to online payments, the front end of the system has seen a massive amount of disruption in the last several years, with companies like Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Square and others building APIs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon to lower its cut of Alexa skill developer revenue starting in 2022
Amazon is joining other tech giants by lowering its cut of developer revenue generated by voice apps, known as Alexa skills, which run on Amazon’s smart speakers and other Alexa-powered devices.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Papaya raises $50M to give you a way to pay bills via its mobile app
Paying bills is hardly a fun thing. So I think it’s safe to say that any technology that can make the process easier is welcome by all.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Six more women sue Tesla over workplace sexual harassment
In the wake of Jessica Barraza’s lawsuit last month, six more current and former female employees have come forward to accuse Tesla of fostering a culture of rampant sexual harassment at its Fremont factory in California. In separate complaints filed on Tuesday with the Superior Court in Alameda County, the women said they were consistently subjected to catcalling, unwanted advances, physical contact and discrimination while at work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad
Mesh Payments racks up $50M to help corporate users manage spend and payments
Now that the world appears to have settled longer-term into working in a significantly more distributed way in the wake of Covid-19, companies are getting more serious about using tools to manage how their teams operate within those new parameters.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The race is on to patch Log4Shell, the bug that’s breaking the internet
Security teams around the globe are scrambling to fix Log4Shell, a critical security flaw in Log4j, an open source logging software that’s found practically everywhere from online games to enterprise software and cloud datacenters.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mozilla expects to generate more than $500M in revenue this year
The Mozilla Foundation today released its financial report for 2020. As usual, this gives us a good picture of the organization’s financial health from a year ago, but for the first time this year, Mozilla also provided us with more recent data.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Volvo had some R&D data stolen in security breach
Volvo Cars is investigating a cybersecurity breach and theft of a limited amount of the company’s research and development data. The data breach was reported Friday by the Swedish automaker.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Coinbase Ventures backs cross-chain infra Router Protocol
A startup that has built a decentralized exchange as well as a cross-chain infrastructure to facilitate communication across layer 1 and layer 2 blockchain solutions is the latest to receive backing from Coinbase Ventures.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta’s Horizon Worlds is available in the US and Canada for 18+ users
The company formerly known as Facebook is taking a step toward its goal to transport us to the metaverse. Now, Horizon Worlds — the Second Life or Minecraft of Meta’s VR apps — is expanding out of invite-only beta, opening up to all users over 18-years-old in the US and Canada.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Collective helps freelancers work together as a team
Meet Collective, a French startup that wants to redefine what it means to work as a freelancer in development, product design, digital marketing, data strategy and more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chainguard lands $5M to help companies secure their software supply chains
By late last year, the alarm bells were just starting to ring. Researchers discovered that Russian spies had months earlier burrowed deep into the networks of several U.S. federal networks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arch nabs $5.5M to aggregate private market data for investors
More capital has been raised in the private markets than the public markets for over a decade, and this staggering growth has shown no signs of slowing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix’s gaming service adds three more titles globally on iOS and Android
Last month, Netflix’s new gaming service became globally available across both iOS and Android with a debut lineup that included two “Stranger Things”-themed games and a few more casual gaming titles. Netflix has now expanded its lineup with three more games that are rolling out globally for both iOS and Android users.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chinese Amazon aggregator Nebula Brands raises $50M led by L Catterton
2021 has been a rosy year for China-based Amazon vendors looking for exits. Roll-ups, or brand aggregators, have been flooding China’s export-oriented e-commerce market with capital to scoop up sellers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toyota will build its first US battery plant in North Carolina
Toyota Motor will build its first battery factory in the U.S. in North Carolina, the company and state officials confirmed Monday, as more automakers seek to take control of the supply chain with in-house battery manufacturing plants.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VCs eye investment in Polygon
A number of investors including Sequoia Capital India and Steadview Capital are in talks to back Polygon, which operates a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, by way of tokens purchase, three sources familiar with the matter told me.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal begins restructuring as two execs step down
Earlier this week, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from his role. He appointed CTO Parag Agrawal as new CEO, effective immediately.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Porsche invests in German startup aiming to be a one-stop shop for carbon neutral homes
Porsche’s venture arm has taken a minority stake in 1Komma5, a five-month-old German startup aiming to offer households everything needed for a carbon neutral home, including energy storage, charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and solar.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM delays production of new Chevy Bolt EVs until end of January
General Motors will continue to delay production of new Chevrolet Bolt EVs at the company’s Orion assembly plant in Michigan “through the week of Jan. 24, 2022,” the company said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch on Thursday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bounce’s first electric scooter features swappable battery, costs less than $500
Bangalore-based Bounce on Thursday priced its first electric scooter at as low as 36,000 Indian rupees ($480), considerably undercutting the heavily-backed rival Ola as the mobility war intensifies in the world’s second most populous nation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Attack surface management startup CyCognito raises $100M Series C on $800M valuation
As companies look for ways to prevent cyber attacks, one strategy is to be proactive and find vulnerabilities that could lead to a breach in an approach called “attack surface management.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fresh from a $10M round, Plan A launches SaaS tool for ESG reporting aimed at startups/VCs
With key ESG reporting regulations such as the EU Taxonomy and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) covering more than 75 percent of European companies, across the EU and the UK, the regulatory environment is evolving fast.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Irish eSports giant’s new startup bets big on rugby in bid for US market share
A fantasy sports exchange founded by Irish betting veteran Paddy Power is bringing NFT-enabled live trading to rugby fans in a bid to expand globally.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will talk Section 230 reform with Congress this week
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will go before Congress again this week, this time offering her unique perspective on the company’s moderation and policy failures as they relate to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the key legal shield that protects online platforms from liability for the user-created content they host.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Thought Machine closes $200M for its cloud native banking SaaS and becomes a unicorn
Thought Machine, a 2014 (Xoogler) founded startup that sells cloud-based b2b banking services, has closed a $200 million Series C round and announced that it’s achieved unicorn status (aka, passing a $1BN valuation).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paris asks scooter sharing services to restrict speed to 10km/h
Riding a scooter in Paris will soon feel incredibly… slow. The City of Paris has announced that scooter sharing services should restrict the maximum top speed to 10km/h (that’s 6.2mph).
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Perfeggt brings in first capital to shell out plant-based egg alternative
Worldwide, over 1.3 trillion eggs are produced annually, and Perfeggt co-founders believe this market is largely untapped and has room to grow with plant-based alternatives.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On legal demands and press freedoms
In August 2020, two FBI agents were standing on my doorstep, unannounced, wanting to ask me questions about a TechCrunch story we had published the year before. The story was about how a hacker took thousands of documents, including visas and diplomatic passports, from a server at Mexico’s Embassy in Guatemala.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India’s Blume Ventures raises $105 million in the first close of its fourth fund
Blume Ventures said on Wednesday it has raised $105 million in the first close of its fourth fund, less than two years after finalizing its previous fund, as investment activity intensifies in the world’s second largest internet market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polestar is bringing its electric Precept sedan to market in 2024 with a new name
The Polestar Precept sedan — the concept vehicle turned production project — has a new name and an official launch date.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku customers report streaming issues after 10.5 update
A number of Roku customers are experiencing problems with their Roku TVs following the Roku OS 10.5 update.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lydia adds stock and crypto trading to its payment app
French startup Lydia is entering a whole new category by adding trading to its financial super app later this year. The company is partnering with Bitpanda for this feature.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mmhmm eats Macro
Mmhmm has perhaps the noisiest take on the future of video-conferencing: virtual meetings will be fun, flexible, and, as shown by its most recent acquisition, emotive.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zuma takes in fresh capital to convert your next apartment tenant lead into a contract
Given its product market fit in real estate, Zuma now aims to implement its business model into other industries with sales teams, like healthcare, automotive, insurance, education and fashion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Biliti bets US market is primed for electric tuk tuk deliveries
Biliti Electric, a startup founded less than a year ago, wants its electric tuk tuks to become a common sight in densely packed cities in the United States.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cross-selling startup Carro secures $20M to connect brands with each other, influencers
Carro enables brand partnerships to sell each other’s products without having to purchase inventory or manage logistics and returns.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VR glove startup says Meta’s recently unveiled prototype is ‘substantively identical’ to their own device
Facebook, errr Meta, showed off a new prototype haptic feedback glove yesterday which they detailed could eventually bring a new generation of AR/VR users closer to digital content than they’ve ever been.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
QuEra Computing emerges from stealth with $17M to launch quantum device
QuEra Computing, a Boston-based quantum computer developer, is coming out of stealth mode today with $17 million in funding from Rakuten, Day One Ventures and Frontiers Capital. Angel investors Serguei Beloussov and Paul Maritz also joined in the round.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lambda School shakes off its brand with new name
Lambda School, a buzzy coding bootcamp that has landed over $122 million in known venture capital to date, is rebranding to Bloom Institute of Technology, according to a blog post from CEO Austen Allred. The company is also updating its tuition payment options to introduce an outcomes-based loan.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EasySend raises $55.5M for a no-code platform to build online interactions with customers
No-code continues to permeate the many layers of enterprise IT, where traditionally non-technical workers have had to rely on technical experts to get things done, and startups building these tools are raising a lot of money as they see a surge of business.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mark Cuban’s Fireside app attracts NFL stars and others as backers
Mark Cuban’s Fireside, an audio platform that is helping creators share their stories with audiences through live, interactive and virtual shows, is in advanced stages to close a “seed+” round, two sources familiar with the matter told me.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple offers $30 million to settle off-the-clock bag search controversy
California's supreme court ruled Apple broke the law by failing to pay employees while they waited for mandatory bag and iPhone searches. Now, Apple has offered to pay $30 million to settle the suit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oxygen, a neobank for freelancers and small businesses, in talks to raise funds at over $500 million valuation
Oxygen, a startup that is bringing digital banking services to freelancers and micro-and small-sized businesses, is in talks to raise a new round at a valuation of over $500 million, two sources familiar with the matter told me.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Starlink’s new rectangular satellite broadband dish is smaller and lighter than before
Starlink has introduced a new user terminal customers can get with their starter kit. The company now offers a rectangular option that's smaller and lighter than its original circular one.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM plans to build a military vehicle based on the Hummer EV
The Hummer H1 was based on a military truck, and now it appears GM is ready to return the favor: GM plans to build a military vehicle prototype based on the upcoming Hummer EV.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tencent shares its metaverse vision for the first time
How could Tencent not jump on the metaverse bandwagon when Facebook is hinging its future on the new buzzword? At this stage, Tencent’s approach seems more measured than Facebook’s $10 billion investment into its metaverse division.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ample raises $30M to take battery swapping business to Europe
Ample, a startup developing battery swapping technology for electric vehicles, has scored another $30 million from The Blackstone Group and Spanish multinational financial services company Banco Santander.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Digital restaurant startup Zak orders up new capital on mission to be ‘Toast of LatAm’
As food operators themselves, ZAK founders saw first-hand last year the toll it was taking on restaurants that needed to quickly reinvent themselves during the pandemic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
fuboTV to acquire streaming platform Molotov for $190 million
fuboTV is making a significant move in Europe with plans to acquire Molotov, a French startup with a leading television streaming service. fuboTV also operates a TV streaming platform, but it is currently only operating in the U.S., Canada and Spain.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AudioMob, which serves audio ads inside mobile games, raises a $14M Series A
AudioMob is a startup that provides ‘non-intrusive’ audio ads within mobile games. It turns out that gamers don’t seem to mind little ads like this popping up, and somehow AudioMob seems to have cracked the mechanic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram’s creator subscriptions nearing launch, App Store listing reveals
Instagram earlier this year said it would explore the idea of creator subscriptions and was later spotted developing a feature that would offer exclusive Stories that were only visible to a creator’s subscriptions. Now, it seems, the company is poised to launch creator subscriptions into broader testing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Edtech startup BrightChamps comes out of stealth mode with $63 million funding
BrightChamps, an Indian edtech startup that is attempting to bridge the learning gap left by K12 schools, said on Monday it has raised $51 million in a new financing round and $63 million to date since launching a year ago as the Goa-headquartered firm looks to expand its footprints in over 10 nations.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US government offers $10M bounty for DarkSide ransomware hackers
The U.S. Department of State is upping the ante in its fight against ransomware by offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that helps identify or track down leaders of the notorious DarkSide ransomware group.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An accelerator and fund says it’s giving away its voting rights to scientist founders: “They lose control”
SciFounders, an accelerator program and fund launched back in January with $6 million in backing, has a new proposition for the scientist founders who it looks to help run their own companies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian hit with gender discrimination lawsuit that alleges toxic ‘bro culture’
Rivian, the electric automaker that recently filed for an IPO, has been sued by a former sales and marketing vice president for alleged gender discrimination.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nintendo releases Animal Crossing update a day early
Grab your Nintendo Switches and start downloading the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” update, because it’s going to be a late night. Nintendo just dropped the update to version 2.0 – a day early.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Allbirds goes public, sustainability is the mantra of the future
Allbirds started with a humble, natural wool shoe, but it is not merely an apparel company today. It has become a materials innovation company disrupting how clothes are made.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Femtech startup illumigyn secures $33M to provide women with accessible and affordable medical care
According to World Health Organization, cervical cancer, the fourth most common cancer among women, affected approximately 570,000 women and resulted in about 311,000 death in 2018.Â
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook says it will delete facial recognition data on more than a billion users
Just days after rebranding itself, Facebook announced plans to delete a trove of the most worrisome data that the world’s biggest social network collected on more than a billion individuals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices