TechCrunch Industry News
3,850 episodes — Page 25 of 77
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