TechCrunch Industry News

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

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 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 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 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

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

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 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 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

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 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

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 taps generative AI to write custom summaries in response to search queries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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’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

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 has acquired Threads.com, the Seqiuoa-backed Slack alternative, Threads said on its website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 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

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 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 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

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 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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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

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

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 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

“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 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 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