TechCrunch Industry News

General Motors is rolling out a new end-to-end software platform in vehicles starting in 2023 that executives say will usher in a sweeping set of capabilities including giving drivers access to in-car subscription and using over-the-air updates to offer new apps and services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The platform is available in across all 50 states and is designed for any type of employee leave, like parental, medical, caregiver or bereavement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon is introducing two new services tied to user health and fitness, and its Halo personal health devices. They include Halo Fitness, a new service for interactive home video workouts that looks a lot like Apple Fitness+, and Halo Nutrition, a personalized, guided meal planner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Indian food delivery startup Swiggy is in talks to raise over $500 million in a new financing round that could value it at over $10 billion, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Atlanta-headquartered Invesco is in talks to lead — or co-lead — the new financing round in the Bangalore-based startup, which counts […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LinkedIn earlier this month unveiled a new push around creators to bring more original content (and engagement) to its platform, but that’s not the only effort they are making to bring more activity to its networking site. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that LinkedIn is also running a test around events — specifically, paid events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company whose tech powered the sensational MyHeritage app that turned classic family photos into lifelike moving portraits is back with a new implementation of its technology: Transforming still photographs into ultra-realistic video, capable of saying whatever you want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Starting in 2030, California will require all light-duty autonomous vehicles operating in the state to emit zero emissions, thanks to a new bill signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

China’s central bank said on Friday that all cryptocurrency-related transactions are illegal in the country and they must be banned, citing concerns around national security and social stability. The world’s most populated nation also said that foreign exchanges are banned from providing services to users in the country. In a joint statement, ten Chinese government […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unagi Scooters has revealed what it claims is the first 'smart scooter' in the Model Eleven. It includes a bunch of intriguing features, such as audible directions, remote kill and an ADAS sensor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sternum, a three-year-old IoT cybersecurity startup based in Tel Aviv, has secured $27 million in Series B funding, led by Spark Capital. Internet of Things devices are more popular than ever, yet cybersecurity remains a looming concern. The number of attacks on IoT devices more than doubled during the first six months of 2021, according to […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world of vertical farming has seen a massive uptick in interest over the past decade, as the world grapples with concerns over resource use, farmable area and exploding population growth. While promising, there are still plenty of question marks surrounding the technology, including the diversity of crops one can grow indoors at scale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The web version Google Meets can soon detect when someone is underexposed due to bad lighting. Meet will then increase the brightness so it's easier to see yourself and your cohorts on calls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Igor Bonifacic Contributor Igor Bonifacic is a contributing writer at Engadget. More posts by this contributor Rivian announces membership plan with complementary charging and LTE connectivity Microsoft Office 2021 will be available on October 5th General Motors has spent a lot of time recently talking up the capabilities of its upcoming Ultium battery technology but […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the end of this week, potentially thousands of Tesla owners will be testing out the automaker’s newest version of its “Full Self-Driving” beta software, version 10.0.1, on public roads, even as regulators and federal officials investigate the safety of the system after a few high-profile crashes. A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coinbase efforts to play hardball with the Securities and Exchange Commission didn’t last too long. The cryptocurrency exchange had garnered the ire of the regulatory commission over its plans to launch a crypto lending product, with the SEC sending the company a Wells notice which indicated that the agency would sue Coinbase if they launched. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon has launched an investigation into the conduct of its legal representatives in India following a complaint from a whistleblower who alleged that one or more of the company’s reps had bribed government officials, Indian news and analysis outlet the Morning Context reported on Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a big day for the Amazon of the decentralized internet — OpenSea now has an app for iOS and Android. For most companies, having a mobile app is a milestone you’d reach before hitting a $1.5 billion valuation. But like any store — whether you’re selling NFT art or not — there’s a hefty […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a message posted on an internal employee message board today, Apple said that it was monitoring the legal challenges to what it refers to as the “uniquely restrictive abortion law” that was recently passed in Texas. Apple confirmed the authenticity of the message to TechCrunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mirantis has been around the block, starting way back as an OpenStack startup, but a few years ago the company began to embrace cloud-native development technologies like containers, microservices and Kubernetes. Today, it announced Mirantis Flow, a fully managed open source set of services designed to help companies manage a cloud-native data center environment, whether […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The high speed wireless optical link technology Alphabet originally developed for its shuttered Loon balloon company is currently being used for another moonshot called Project Taara. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Clubhouse has hired a veteran editor from NPR to lead news publishing for the app. Nina Gregory will serve as Clubhouse’s Head of News and Media Publishers, working as a liaison between news publishers and the Clubhouse’s ecosystem of audio-based communities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple has announced its new lineup of phones at its virtual conference. In addition to the regular iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, the company has two Pro models with some premium features that you won’t find in the regular iPhone 13. Of course, the Pro models are also more expensive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Space rideshare service provider Spaceflight Inc. is going to be shuttling customers on a lunar flyby mission next year, part of its long-term vision of giving companies easy access to lunar orbits and beyond. The Seattle-based company will be delivering payload using its propulsive transfer vehicle, Sherpa EScape, or Sherpa-ES, the latest iteration of Sherpa […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 51 of its Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday night at 8:55 PM PDT (11:55 PM EDT). This was the first launch for the Starlink satellite internet constellation from the west coast, and also the first batch of a second stage of Starlink. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ford Motor has hired Mike Amend as its chief digital and information officer as the automaker seeks to expand into software, subscriptions and in-vehicle connectivity. Amend, who was president of Lowe’s Online for three years, will focus on Ford’s “use of data, software and technology” — all areas central to Ford’s new Ford+ strategy, the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Freshworks disclosed on Monday that it is aiming for a valuation of up to $9 billion in its US initial public offering in which it is hoping to raise over $800 million. The California-based firm, which started its journey in India and rivals Salesforce, said it plans to sell 28.5 million shares at a price […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter today is introducing a new feature that will allow accounts to self-identify as bots by adding a label to their profile. This feature is designed to help people better differentiate between automated accounts — like bots that retweet the news, public service announcements, or other updates — from those operated by humans. It’s not, […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Epic Games has asked Apple to rejoin its Fortnite developer account in South Korea as the U.S. game maker plans to re-release Fortnite on iOS in South Korea, offering both Epic and Apple payments side-by-side, said in a tweet on September 10. Epic has asked Apple to restore our Fortnite developer account. Epic intends to […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GM has extended a shutdown at its Orion Assembly Plant another two weeks due to a battery pack shortage related to the widespread Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV safety recall. GM said the extended downtime at the Orion plant will last through September 20. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Roomba is easily among the most ubiquitous robots in the world — but it has never been one of the smartest. On the whole, that’s not a major issue. The top-selling vacuum is good at what it does: cleaning floors. But a roboticist’s work is never done; iRobot has turned the vast majority of […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In late summer, car collectors converged in Monterey, Detroit and, most recently, Oxford, England, in an annual tradition focused on ogling over — and oftentimes bidding for — luxury and historic vehicles. The outdoor luxury automotive events ruled in 2021 after a universal pause the year before due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The events, which […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life exposed the personal information of hundreds of job applicants after a website bug allowed anyone to access their resumes, which were stored in an unprotected folder on its website. A security researcher told TechCrunch that the group’s main website, built largely in WordPress, was not properly protecting the file […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Washington D.C’s Howard University has canceled classes after becoming the latest educational institution to be hit by a ransomware attack. The incident was discovered on September 3, just weeks after students returned to campus, when the University’s Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) detected “unusual activity” on the University’s network and intentionally shut it down in order […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Zip this week acquired South Africa-based BNPL player Payflex for an undisclosed amount. It’s a piece of news that once again highlights the hype around BNPL services and the quest for global dominance among the leading players. This year we have covered BNPL services from the likes of […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dukaan, a one-year-old Bangalore-based startup that enables merchants to set up online stores and sell products digitally, said on Monday it has raised $11 million in a new financing round as it looks to broaden its offerings and deepen footprints in the South Asian market. The new financing round, a Pre-Series A, was led by […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rivian announced Friday that the first edition version of its all-electric R1T pickup truck has an official EPA range of 314 miles, while its R1T SUV comes in a skosh higher at 316 miles. The official range and fuel economy values have been posted on the U.S. EPA website. The official numbers align with Rivian’s […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Add the Roadster to the list of delayed Tesla vehicles. On Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk said the performance EV wouldn’t make its previously announced 2022 shipment date. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Challenger bank Point has raised a $46.5 million Series B funding round. The company offers an account associated with a debit card. And the startup positions itself as a premium debit card company and tries to offer credit card rewards with debit cards. Existing investor Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures is investing more money in the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Beleaguered electric truck developer Nikola Corp. has inked a new agreement with Bosch for its hydrogen fuel cell modules. The modules will be used to power two of Nikola’s hydrogen-fueled semi-trucks, the short-haul Nikola Tre and Nikola Two sleeper. “This announcement is the result of a multi-year working relationship with Bosch,” Nikola CEO Mark Russell said […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FAA is looking into an anomaly on the Virgin Galactic flight that carried Richard Branson to space. Virgin's spacecraft went off-course during descent, triggering an "entry glide-cone warning." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management this morning announced that it has completed its acquisition of Yahoo (formerly known as Verizon Media Group, itself formerly known as Oath) from Verizon. The deal is worth $5 billion, with $4.25 billion in cash, plus preferred interests of $750 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If the world is to reach NetZero, and avoid climate disaster it needs to make every product sustainable and that means every purchase. But to do that you need a lot more transparency, so that means more data on suppliers to improve sourcing and benchmarking companies. While companies are often doing their best, the problem […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies is getting into the NFT game. Larva Labs, the creator of CryptoPunks, just signed with United Talent Agency (UTA) in a representation deal that will bring one of the earliest and most iconic NFT projects into the entertainment and branding worlds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft offered a broad “Holiday 2021” release date when it announced Windows 11, back in June. Of course, it didn’t specify precisely which holiday. Perhaps the company was aiming for World Teachers’ Day, a belated Sukkot or an extremely early Halloween. After strongly implying a late-October release a few months back (which some pointing to […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

China’s National Press and Publication Administration has released a notice imposing limits on online gaming for minors. On September 1st, video game companies will have to restrict gaming time to three hours a week — from 8 PM to 9 PM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Astra, now a public company, ran into a problem during its first commercial launch (the mission carried a test payload contracted by the U.S. Space Force as part of its Space Test Program) that meant the rocket never made it to orbit. On Saturday, the rocket ignited all its engines at liftoff time on the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

India has a fascination for gold. The households in the South Asian market are estimated to have a stash of over 25,000 tons of the precious metal, whose value today is about half of the country’s nominal GDP. But much of this gold has been sitting idly in lockers in big metal wardrobes for generations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can an old Terminal learn new tricks? Fig, a company out of Y Combinator’s S20 class, has raised a $2.2M seed round to prove that it can. Their goal: augment (but don’t try to replace) the command line terminal that so many people use every day and make it more powerful and easy to use […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It isn’t only tech giants that are struggling to fill open roles with talented individuals, it’s your local Jamba Juice, too. Since 2017, San Francisco-based Workstream has been working on an answer to recruitment for the hourly worker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Canalys released its quarterly U.S. PC sales today, and while the news was quite good with sales overall up 17% YoY, the growth slowed significantly from the prior quarter when sales soared to 74% pushed by the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices