TechCrunch Industry News
3,850 episodes — Page 22 of 77
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