TechCrunch Industry News
3,880 episodes — Page 19 of 78
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