Technology Archives - Page 3 of 7

Hotstar and JioCinema merge into JioHotstar as Reliance tightens grip on streaming in India

Hotstar and JioCinema, two widely used video streaming apps in India, have merged into JioHotstar. JioStar, a joint venture between

Data center tweaks could unlock 76 GW of new power capacity in the U.S.

Tech companies, data center developers, and power utilities have been panicking over the prospect of runaway demand for electricity in

Ulu Ventures sticks to its diversity strategy, raises $208M

While large corporations like Google and Meta are curbing their DEI programs, Ulu Ventures, which just raised a fourth fund

Lanch bags $27M for a social media-skewed take on fast food

E-commerce startups built around food continue to gobble up funding as investors look for sticky consumer concepts that can scale

Shopify took down Kanye’s swastika T-shirt shop, but another antisemitic storefront still operates

Shopify took down Kanye West’s online store after the musician sold T-shirts with the swastika symbol. West, who also goes

Insurance co’s stand to lose billions from disasters like the LA fires; Comulate raises $20M to build tech to help them work more smoothly

Unimaginable disasters like the fires in Los Angeles with their hundreds of billions of dollars in destruction put a huge

Zeta valued at $2B in new funding

Zeta, a provider of banking software to banks and fintech startups, has raised $50 million from a strategic investor at

AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li warns policymakers not to let sci-fi sensationalism shape AI rules

Fei-Fei Li, the Stanford researcher who also founded World Labs, was invited to the Grand Palais in Paris on Monday

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits that AI’s benefits may not be widely distributed

In a new essay on his personal blog, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company is open to a “compute

How to use Apple’s new event planning ‘Invites’ app

Apple has released a new app called Invites that is designed to make it easy to create custom invitations for

Trump ends legal battle over Twitter ban

President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the company formerly known as Twitter appears to be over. Trump sued the social media

OpenAI plans to open an office in Germany

OpenAI is expanding its footprint to Germany. According to a press release issued Friday, the ChatGPT maker plans to open

Anthropic CEO says DeepSeek was ‘the worst’ on a critical bioweapons data safety test

Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei is worried about competitor DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that took Silicon Valley by storm with

Coalition of US states to file lawsuit after Musk’s DOGE gains access to Americans’ personal data

A coalition of over a dozen U.S. states say they are planning to file a lawsuit in an effort to

Report: OpenAI’s ex-CTO, Mira Murati, has recruited OpenAI co-founder John Schulman

OpenAI co-founder John Schulman, who left AI company Anthropic earlier this week after a mere five months, is reportedly joining

IMI becomes the latest British engineering firm to be hacked

British engineering company IMI has disclosed a cybersecurity incident just days after rival firm Smiths reported it was targeted by

Boston Dynamics joins forces with its former CEO to speed the learning of its Atlas humanoid robot

Boston Dynamics Wednesday announced a partnership designed to bring improved reinforcement learning to its electric Atlas humanoid robot. The tie-up

Modern Synthesis is making compostable materials that last a lifetime

Jen Keane’s claim to fame is that she grew a shoe using bacteria, coaxing the microbes to deposit their nanocellulosic

Brightpick’s new warehouse robot can reach 20-foot-high shelves

Brightpick, a maker of autonomous mobile robots, on Tuesday announced a lofty addition to its current line. The appropriately named

Archive raises $30M to solve fashion’s pollution problem with online resales

The fashion industry has concerned Emily Gittins since adolescence. The sector is, after all, one of the most polluting in

Ontario cancels, then restores, $68 million Starlink contract after protesting US tariffs

On Monday, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, one of Canada’s most populous provinces, announced on X that the province’s

Riot raises $30 million for its cybersecurity product suite focused on employees

French startup Riot has raised a $30 million Series B round after reaching $10 million in annual revenue in 2024.

OpenAI unveils a new ChatGPT agent for ‘deep research’

OpenAI is announcing a new AI “agent” designed to help people conduct in-depth, complex research using ChatGPT, the company’s AI-powered

Shein app relaunches in India with Reliance partnership

Chinese fast-fashion platform Shein has relaunched in India through a partnership with local conglomerate Reliance’s retail chain, nearly five years

Senator warns of national security risks after Elon Musk’s DOGE granted ‘full access’ to sensitive Treasury systems

A senior U.S. lawmaker says representatives of Elon Musk were granted “full access” to a U.S. Treasury payments system used

India pledges fresh billion for startups

India announced a new $1.15 billion Fund of Funds for startups on Saturday while unveiling sweeping regulatory reforms and an

Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies

People working for, or with, Elon Musk are reportedly taking over the inner workings of multiple government agencies, including the

US nonprofit healthcare provider says hackers stole medical and personal data of 1M+ patients

Community Health Center (CHC), a Connecticut-based nonprofit healthcare provider, has confirmed that hackers accessed the sensitive data of more than

Intel has already received $2.2B in federal grants for chip production

Semiconductor giant Intel Corporation has already received $2.2 billion in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce through the

SuperOps bags $25M to use AI and better help managed service providers

SuperOps, an Indian startup offering tools to help IT service providers and internal system administrators at enterprises, has raised $25

Meta says end of fact-checking hasn’t impacted ad spend

Meta says its controversial decision to put an end to its fact-checking program hasn’t impacted advertiser spend. On its Q4

Meteomatics eyes U.S. expansion for its enterprise-focused weather forecasting tools

Martin Fengler knows a lot about the weather. Fengler got his Ph.D. in mathematics, focused on numerical weather prediction, before

DeepSeek: Everything you need to know about the AI chatbot app

DeepSeek has gone viral. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week after its chatbot app rose to

Atomicwork gets backing from Khosla for its AI alternative to old-school IT software like ServiceNow

Atomicwork, a SaaS startup led by Indian founders, has raised $25 million in a fresh investment round backed by Khosla

Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is already using DeepSeek instead of OpenAI at his startup, Gloo

DeepSeek’s new open source AI reasoning model, R1, sparked a sell-off of Nvidia’s stock and caused its consumer app to

Mistral’s origin story has an insuretech founder at its heart

If you’ve been following the AI industry, Mistral should be a familiar name by now. The French AI startup with

Perplexity submits a new bid for TikTok

Perplexity AI has submitted a revised proposal to merge with TikTok, in an arrangement that would give the U.S. government

Real estate firms pivot to energy development amid booming data center demand

Brendan Wallace has a lot on his mind lately. Wallace is the co-founder of Fifth Wall Ventures, a nine-year-old proptech

Trump administration reportedly negotiating an Oracle takeover of TikTok

The Trump administration is negotiating a deal that would see Oracle take over TikTok alongside new U.S. investors, according to

Wall Street banks plan sale of X debt at a discount

Bankers are reportedly gearing up to offload debt used to fund Elon Musk’s social network, for which he paid $44

Retro Biosciences, backed by Sam Altman, is raising $1 billion to extend human lifespan

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is doubling down on Retro Biosciences, a biotech startup based in San Francisco that wants humans

LG Electronics takes majority stake in Bear Robotics, reportedly valuing startup at $600M

LG Electronics is betting on robotics as its next big growth driver. The South Korean electronics company said on Friday

Even some of the best AI can’t beat this new benchmark

The nonprofit Center for AI Safety (CAIS) and Scale AI, a company that provides a number of data labeling and

African fintech Moniepoint gets Visa backing, plans to work on contactless payments

Visa has joined African fintech Moniepoint as a new investor. The business banking and payments platform confirmed to TechCrunch that

Nearly 10 years later, Tumblr TV launches to all as a TikTok alternative

In 2015, the blogging site Tumblr launched a GIF discovery feature called Tumblr TV as an experimental product. Now, with

Lindus Health raises $55M to ‘fix the broken clinical trial industry’

A four-year-old London startup backed by Peter Thiel has raised a $55 million Series B round as it sets about

Microsoft is no longer OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider

Microsoft was once the exclusive provider of data center infrastructure for OpenAI to train and run its AI models. No

HPE investigating security breach after hacker claims theft of sensitive data

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise is investigating a data breach after a well-known hacker claimed to have stolen sensitive information from the company.

OpenAI’s agent tool may be nearing release

OpenAI may be close to releasing an AI tool that can take control of your PC and perform actions on

Blinkit signals costly battle ahead in Indian quick commerce market

Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit is accelerating its expansion and expects continued losses as competition intensifies in India’s instant delivery

From recruiting for Palantir to landing a plane on Highway 85: meet defense tech’s wildest power broker

In 2023, defense tech recruiter Peterson Conway VIII pulled up to the offices of nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a

Apple lists all apps it removed alongside TikTok in the U.S.

Amid the TikTok shutdown, in a rare move, Apple published a statement and a support document listing all affected apps

Perplexity AI submits bid to merge with TikTok

With a TikTok ban looming in the United States, Perplexity AI is the latest bidder hoping to give the video

What Are the Challenges of Printed Board Assembly?

Challenges of Printed Board Assembly The printed circuit board (PCB) assembly process is complex, and there are countless opportunities for

EV startup Canoo files for bankruptcy and ceases operations

Seven-year-old electric vehicle startup Canoo has filed for bankruptcy and will “cease operations immediately.” The company is liquidating its assets

How Circuit Boards Support Efficient Data Transfer

How Circuit Boards Support Circuit boards have revolutionized electronics by replacing cumbersome point-to-point wiring with standardized, reliable pathways that maximize

ChatGPT’s head of product will testify in the US government’s case against Google

The U.S. government wants to prove that Google’s competitors face overwhelming barriers to entry as part of its antitrust case

Nord Security founders launch Nexos.ai to help enterprises take AI projects from pilot to production

A new AI orchestration startup from the founders of Lithuanian unicorn Nord Security is setting out to help enterprises put

SpaceX catches Starship booster a second time, loses ship to an ‘anomaly’ in space

SpaceX caught the Starship rocket’s Super Heavy booster for a second time, after it launched the upper stage into space

Mistral signs deal with AFP to offer up-to-date answers in Le Chat

Just a day after Google inked a deal with The Associated Press, Mistral is also announcing a content deal with

Reusable rocket startup Stoke raised another massive round: $260M

Y Combinator alum Stoke Space just raised a $260 million series C, bringing its total raised to $480 million. This

SoftBank veteran hunts for profits in payments infrastructure plumbing

In the summer of 2020, as pandemic-driven volatility gripped markets, SoftBank Group shocked Wall Street with a series of massive

Biden admin’s final rule banning Chinese connected cars also bars robotaxi testing on U.S. roads

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a final rule Tuesday that would ban the sale or import of connected vehicles

Bioptimus raises $41M to develop a ‘GPT for biology’

A fledgling French AI startup has raised $41 million to develop a foundational AI model for biology. Just as OpenAI’s

The CIA’s first CTO, Nand Mulchandani, prepares for the Trump administration

In April 2022, the CIA decided to swipe right on Nand Mulchandani, appointing him as its first-ever Chief Technology Officer.

UK throws its hat into the AI fire

In 2023, the U.K. made a big song and dance about the need to consider the harms of AI, giving

Watch Duty was downloaded 2 million times during this week’s LA fires

Fire-tracking app Watch Duty has become a crucial source of information for Los Angeles residents threatened by the ongoing wildfires.

Researchers open source Sky-T1, a ‘reasoning’ AI model that can be trained for less than $450

So-called reasoning AI models are becoming easier — and cheaper — to develop. On Friday, NovaSky, a team of researchers

Snappy aquires swag-gifting startup Covver as it seks to roll-up players

It’s now broadly accepted that customers and employees who receive corporate gifts end up appreciating the brand much more, and

A drone punched a hole into an LA firefighting plane

Don’t fly your drone into an active wildfire. Although capturing video of the devastation can be tempting, it could stop

Automattic says it will reduce its contribution to WordPress core project to match WP Engine

It’s a new year, but drama in the WordPress community keeps going. Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, said that

ChatGPT’s newest feature lets user assign it traits like ‘chatty’ and ‘Gen Z’

Update: Some users report that the new options have disappeared. It’s possible they went live prematurely. OpenAI is introducing a

Grand Games, the Turkish gaming startup behind pouring game Magic Sort, drinks up $30M

Gaming startups — specifically those building casual mobile games — are very hot in Turkey right now, and today another

چگونه پیام های قدیمی را در واتس اپ وب پیدا کنیم؟

چگونه پیام های قدیمی را د واتس اپ یکی از محبوب ترین برنامه های پیام رسان در جهان است که

What Are the Advantages of a Four-Layer Circuit Board?

Advantages of a Four-Layer Circuit Board Compared to 2-layer PCBs, 4-layer circuit boards have two more routing layers. Moreover, they

Astrohaus launches a mechanical keyboard for writers

Astrohaus has cornered a very specific niche. The Michigan-based startup builds hardware for writers looking to eliminate distractions. It’s really

UN aviation agency confirms hacker breached recruitment database to access thousands of records

The United Nations’ aviation agency has confirmed that a hacker accessed thousands of records after compromising its internal recruitment database.

This pool cleaning company made a robot turtle to track water quality

Beatbot makes robotic pool cleaners. In fact, the company is showing off a new one with a docking station this

Just Eat Takeaway completes Grubhub sale to Wonder for a modest $650M

After looking for a buyer for more than two years, Just Eat Takeaway.com has finally closed the menu on Grubhub.

Consumer tech spending will break records in 2025 if Trump’s tariffs don’t squash it, CTA predicts

American consumers will spend a record-breaking $537 billion on new apps, devices, and gadgets in 2025, according to the new

Latest Trends in PCB Board Assembly Manufacturing

Trends in PCB Board Assembly Manufacturing When working with complex printed circuit boards, quality is a major concern. Even if

OpenAI is losing money on its pricey ChatGPT Pro plan, CEO Sam Altman says

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Sunday said that the company is currently losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan

YouTuber LegalEagle sues PayPal over ‘sleeping leech’ Honey extension

A new lawsuit alleges that the PayPal-owned browser extension Honey is cheating creators out of money. Honey, which PayPal acquired

From forced landings to stuffed animal heads, headhunter Peterson Conway is defense tech’s wildest power broker

In 2023, defense tech recruiter Peterson Conway VIII pulled up to the offices of nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran dies

Longtime entrepreneur and cybersecurity executive Amit Yoran passed away Friday after a battle with cancer. Cybersecurity company Tenable, where Yoran

New ship, new year: SpaceX to deploy model Starlink satellites on next Starship launch

SpaceX is significantly upping the ante of its Starship test flight program, with the next rocket launch expected to demonstrate

Inside the wild fall and last-minute revival of Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that imploded over the holidays

Friday, December 27, was supposed to be the start of a relaxing holiday weekend. But it was chaos for thousands

Cloudflare’s VPN app among half-dozen pulled from Indian app stores

More than half-a-dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflare’s widely-used 1.1.1.1, have been pulled from India’s Apple App Store and Google Play

xAI’s next-gen AI model didn’t arrive on time, adding to a trend

The list of flagship AI models that missed their promised launch windows continues to grow. Last summer, billionaire Elon Musk,

Telegram rolls out third-party account verification, filters

Telegram has rolled out its first update of the year, adding a new account verification method powered by third-parties, new

Police investigating Cybertruck fire outside Trump hotel in Vegas

A Tesla Cybertruck that caught fire Wednesday morning just outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is being investigated

Accel closes $650 million for new India fund

Accel has raised $650 million for its eighth India fund as the U.S. venture firm expands its investment strategy in

A look back on my favorite episodes of TechCrunch’s Found podcast

TechCrunch’s Found podcast, which has brought listeners the stories behind the startups since April 2022, released its final episode today.

Gupshup investor cuts value of its stake again, implying new valuation of $486M

Asset management firm Fidelity slashed the estimated worth of its stake in business messaging platform Gupshup by another 7.7% last

From AI agents to enterprise budgets, 20 VCs share their predictions on enterprise tech in 2025

While AI is lauded by some as the biggest technological breakthrough since the industrial revolution, enterprises — arguably the tech’s

Nvidia’s next move: powering humanoid robots

The chipmaking giant Nvidia is leaning more heavily into robotics in 2025. More specifically, in the first half of the

India’s mobile payments dilemma | TechCrunch

India’s payments regulator is set to decide as early as Monday whether to curb the dominance of Walmart’s PhonePe and

Google CEO says AI model Gemini will the company’s ‘biggest focus’ in 2025

CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly told Google employees that 2025 will be a “critical” year for the company. CNBC reports that

Trump asks Supreme Court to pause imminent TikTok ban

Attorneys representing President-elect Donald Trump have asked the Supreme Court to pause a law that would force TikTok-owner ByteDance to

Bench shuts down, leaving thousands of businesses without access to accounting and tax docs

Bench, a Canada-based accounting startup that offered software-as-a-service for small and medium-sized businesses, has abruptly shut down, according to a

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon will face fraud charges in the US

Do Kwon, the co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs, will be extradited from Montenegro to the U.S. to face

AI sales rep startups are booming. So why are VCs wary?

When you really probe venture capitalists about investing in AI startups, they’ll tell you that businesses are experimenting wildly but

ChatGPT and Sora are down for the second time this month

ChatGPT, Sora, and OpenAI’s developer-facing API went down Thursday for an hour and counting. OpenAI says it started experiencing a

PharmEasy investor cuts value of its stake drastically, implying new valuation of $456M

Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy is now being valued at about $456 million after its investor Janus Henderson said in a

Elon Musk’s xAI lands $6B in new cash to fuel AI ambitions

Updated December 25, 12:21 p.m. Pacific: Added details of xAI’s valuation and Kingdom Holdings’ contribution. xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company,

A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year

Onyx Motorbikes is back, one year after its owner died leaving the company in shambles

A year after Onyx Motorbikes owner James Khatiblou died suddenly, leaving customers with unfulfilled orders and millions in unpaid debts,

Proton’s device aims to help those with kidney disease, and cut heart failure risks

People with chronic kidney disease, or those at risk of heart failure, are greatly affected by potassium imbalances in the

How Flexible PCB Can Be Used in Military Applications

Flexible PCB Can Be Used in Military Applications Military applications demand reliability and functionality that withstand harsh conditions, resist vibration

An investigation finds that Google Maps fails users in the West Bank

A Wired investigation found that Google Maps can be near impossible to use in the West Bank, especially since the

xAI is testing a standalone iOS app for its Grok chatbot

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is testing out a standalone iOS app for its chatbot, Grok, which was available only

OpenAI trained o1 and o3 to ‘think’ about its safety policy

OpenAI announced a new family of AI reasoning models on Friday, o3, which the startup claims to be more advanced

OpenAI announces new o3 model — but you can’t use it yet

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at OpenAI’s last — and biggest — announcement from its

OpenAI’s GPT-5 reportedly falling short of expectations

OpenAI’s efforts to develop its next major model, GPT-5, are running behind schedule, with results that don’t yet justify the

Sam Altman disputes Marc Andreessen’s description of AI meetings with Biden administration

Famed investor Marc Andreessen recently talked about meetings with Biden administration staff who gave him the impression they wanted to

Nvidia clears regulatory hurdle to acquire Run:ai

Chip company Nvidia gets the green light from the European Union to complete its acquisition of Run:ai. The EU came

European Solo GP Robin Capital closes first fund with €15M to play with

Robin Capital — the Germany-based, Solo GP-led VC fund by former entrepreneur Robin Haak — has hit its final close

How to Improve the Quality of a Printed Circuit Board Prototype

Quality of a Printed Circuit Board Prototype A printed circuit board prototype serves as a vital checkpoint in the overall

In just 4 months AI coding assistant Cursor raised another $100M at a $2.5B valuation led by Thrive, sources say

Anysphere, the developer of AI-powered coding assistant Cursor, raised $100 million Series B at a post-money valuation of $2.6 billion,

Indian startups raised 32% fewer rounds in 2024 as VCs got selective

Indian startups raised 32% fewer funding rounds in 2024 compared to last year, per new numbers from data intelligence platform

Perplexity acquires Carbon to connect AI search to your work files

Perplexity acquired a small Seattle-based startup called Carbon which specializes in connecting AI systems to external data sources, the companies

What is the reliability of printed circuit board assembly services?

reliability of printed circuit board assembly services The reliability of printed circuit board assembly services is a critical factor for

Threads is testing a post scheduling feature

Meta’s social network Threads is experimenting with a feature that will let you schedule posts, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said.

AI boom masks fundraising struggles for non-AI startups

Earlier this year, IVP general partner Tom Loverro, proclaimed that the post-pandemic downturn is over, and companies that made it

Can Pcb productions be waterproof?

Pcb productions be waterproof In modern electronics, the need for devices that can withstand harsh environmental conditions has grown significantly.

Nubank leads $250M round in African digital bank Tyme at $1.5B valuation

Tyme Group, a South African-born fintech operating in the African country and the Philippines, has secured $250 million in a

Google experiments with a new image generator that remixes three images into one creation

Google Labs, Google’s experimental arm, is testing a new image generator called Whisk. This tool allows people to prompt with

Serbian police used Cellebrite to unlock, then plant spyware, on a journalist’s phone

This year, a Serbian journalist and an activist had their phones hacked by local authorities using a cellphone-unlocking device made

Apple reportedly developing foldable iPhone and iPad

The next big upgrade to Apple’s mobile devices could be foldability, according to multiple reports published Sunday. According to The

Rhode Island says personal data likely breached in social services cyberattack

State officials said hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island residents could be affected by a cyberattack on the state’s online

What are AI ‘world models,’ and why do they matter?

World models, also known as world simulators, are being touted by some as the next big thing in AI. AI

X gains a faster Grok model and a new ‘Grok button’

XAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, may be embroiled in an escalating lawsuit with OpenAI. But that’s not stopping it from

Biden administration races to approve clean energy loans before Trump takes over — here’s who is benefiting

The Department of Energy (DOE) is on a loan-approval spree in the lead-up to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, and the

Microsoft debuts Phi-4, a new generative AI model, in research preview

Microsoft has announced the newest addition to its Phi family of generative AI models. Called Phi-4, the model is improved

ChatGPT now understands real-time video, seven months after OpenAI first demoed it

OpenAI has finally released the real-time video capabilities for ChatGPT that it demoed nearly seven months ago. On Thursday during

Laam lands $5.5M to provide South Asian fashions to migrants around the world

Demand for South Asian fashion is growing globally as more South Asians are migrating and settling in new markets, then

Stigg makes it easy to change your SaaS pricing

Stigg (not The Stig, just Stigg) describes itself as “the first scalable monetization platform for the modern billing stack.” There’s

Lina Khan’s FTC era ends; Andrew Ferguson named chair

Andrew Ferguson, one of two Republican FTC commissioners appointed by U.S. President Joe Biden, will be the country’s next FTC

Phhhoto’s antitrust claim against Meta is heading back to the courts

A U.S. appeals court has overturned a decision in an antitrust lawsuit against Meta, which was filed in in late

Automattic acquires WPAI, a startup that creates AI solutions for WordPress

WordPress hosting company Automattic said Monday that it is acquiring WPAI, a startup that builds AI solutions for WordPress, at

Ukraine says Russian hackers are targeting country’s defense contractors

Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) said in a report published over the weekend that a hacking group has been

Apple’s Vision Pro might add support for PlayStation VR controllers

Apple is looking to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive to gamers and game developers, according to

Lead Edge is increasingly steering its 700+ investors away from VC deals

Mitchell Green worked variously in investment banking, as an analyst with Bessemer Venture Partners, and for a hedge fund backed

Google says its new AI model outperforms the top weather forecast system

Google’s DeepMind team unveiled an AI model for weather prediction this week called GenCast. In a paper published in Nature,

As YC retreats from Africa, alumni launch accelerators to fill the gap

The influential accelerator Y Combinator made a splash in Africa in 2020 when it shined its light on the market

Grok is now free for all X users

X users no longer need to pay for X Premium to use the service’s AI chatbot, Grok. Instead, X is

Meta unveils a new, more efficient Llama model

Meta has announced the newest addition to its Llama family of generative AI models: Llama 3.3 70B. In a post

GitLab names Bill Staples as its new CEO

GitLab, the popular developer and security platform, has named a new CEO, Bill Staples, effective immediately. Staples, who’s also been

Meta eases up on issuing strikes for Facebook users and Instagram creators

Days after Meta admitted that it’s been over-moderating its content, with mistakes impacting creators, the company announced an expansion of

Bitcoin zooms past $100,000 mark for the first time

Bitcoin prices have been on the rise this year and the cryptocurrency has reached the mark of $100,000 price point

Threads tests a way to hide your replies from your profile

Instagram Threads, Meta’s competitor to Elon Musk’s X, is testing a way to make your replies to others’ posts less

‘Surreal Elderhood’ using OpenAI’s text-to-video model, Sora

Katsukokoiso.AI is a project from professional photographer Eugenio Marongiu, an alpha tester on OpenAI’s text-to-video model Sora. Marongiu used the

Spotify Wrapped 2024 is almost here, but first let’s explore all the copycats

Spotify’s annual Wrapped feature — which is coming out soon — provides listeners with a fun, personalized summary of their

KPay, a financial management platform for SMEs, raises $55M Series A

Sometimes, the easiest way to find a great idea for a startup is to look beyond the current problem you’re

Tesla updates include Apple Watch app and fart prank

Tesla has revealed an app designed for the Apple Watch and says it should be live by next week. The

Y Combinator’s Demo Day is back in person

As promised, startup accelerator Y Combinator’s imminent Demo Day will be happening in person. In fact, YC seems to have

Elon Musk files for injunction to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit

Attorneys for tech billionaire Elon Musk have filed for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, several of its co-founders, and its

Bluesky promises more verification and an ‘aggressive’ approach to impersonation

As more celebrities and popular influencers join Bluesky, the fast-growing social media service has been facing more concerns around impersonation

Black Friday hits a record $74.4B in sales online, up 5% on last year

The momentum of Thanksgiving — which saw consumers spend a record $33.6 billion spent globally online on the day —

Canadian news companies sue OpenAI

A group of Canadian news and media companies filed a lawsuit Friday against OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker has

Sequoia nears first Asia-Pacific deal since regional split

Sequoia is closing in on making its first deal in India and the broader Asia Pacific region since its split

Early Thanksgiving online sales numbers are up 7% YoY to $15.6B, on par with pre-pandemic trends

Thanksgiving weekend has long been seen as the traditional start to the most important sales period for retailers, and so

Australia approves law banning social media for under 16s

In a step likely to be tracked around the world, Australia has approved legislation that will ban the use of

Time spent online by adults in the UK jumped by nearly an hour in 2024 says Ofcom

Adults are spending an average of 4 hours and 20 minutes each day online across smartphones, tablets and computers in

TikTok will restrict some beauty filters for under-18s

TikTok is now the go-to social network for more than a billion users, bringing it to the attention of 14

Figure 02 performing tasks autonomously

Robotics startup Figure released a video update showcasing their Figure 02 humanoid robot autonomously performing tasks at HQ for a

Cardless swipes up $30M to build a new generation of co-branded credit cards

More than a quarter of all U.S. residents use co-branded credit cards today to get discounts and other extras from

Marc Andreessen, Joe Lonsdale, and all the other VCs reportedly in the running for new Trump committees

With Elon Musk playing such a high-profile role in Donald Trump’s transition team, Musk’s buddies, many of them Silicon Valley

South Korean prosecutors request 5-year jail sentence for Samsung chief Jay Lee

South Korean prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence and a 500 million KRW fine, equivalent to $375,000, for Samsung Electronics

Entrepreneur Marc Lore on ‘founder mode,’ bad hires, and why avoiding risk is deadly

Entrepreneur Marc Lore has already sold two companies for billions of dollars, collectively. Now he plans to take his food

How a digital “you” can sit through your agonizing web conference calls

Now you can appear to be on a Zoom call in your office, even when you’re sipping a margarita in

DOJ tells Google to sell Chrome

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re exploring the DOJ telling Google to sell off Chrome to break

OpenAI accidentally deleted potential evidence in NY Times copyright lawsuit (updated)

Lawyers for The New York Times and Daily News, which are suing OpenAI for allegedly scraping their works to train

Money for tech that matters

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. If you’d like to receive this newsletter in your

A company is now developing human washing machines

Forget cold plunge pools. The new flex could soon be human washing machines. According to one of Japan’s oldest newspapers,

Marissa Mayer just laid out a possible business model for ad-supported AI chatbots

Marissa Mayer has a lot of insights into the promise and problems with online advertising. She played an instrumental role

Lighthouse, an analytics provider for the hospitality sector, lights up with $370M at a $1B valuation

Here is yet one more sign of the travel industry’s noticeable boom: a major growth round for one of the

FTX CTO Gary Wang avoids prison time

Not every former top FTX executive is heading to prison. Gary Wang, former FTX chief technical officer, was spared prison

You have a few hours left to bid on this burned-out husk in San Francisco

Houses in San Francisco are notoriously expensive, with the average home price hovering around $1.26 million. It’s no wonder that

Nuclear startups face new competition as energy giant Enel enters the ring

Italian energy giant Enel is placing a bet on small modular nuclear reactors through a partnership with Ansaldo, another Italian

Yuka, the app that rates food and makeup, now lets users complain to companies directly

Yuka is a popular health app that allows users to scan the barcodes of food items to quickly see a

Ex-Duolingo execs raise $13M for startup making it easier to access a college education

As college tuition increases and the student loan debt crisis continues, three former executives from language learning app Duolingo are

Oyo founder seeks new investment at $3.8 billion valuation

Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal’s investment vehicle has proposed to inject another $65.1 million into the hotel management startup, according to

Norwegian startup Factiverse wants to fight disinformation with AI

In the wake of the U.S. 2024 presidential election, one fact became clear: Disinformation proliferated online at a startling rate,

Consumer tech is bouncing back, and consumer founders like Brynn Putnam are bouncing back with it

When Brynn Putnam sold her last company, Mirror, to Lululemon for $500 million at the start of the pandemic, it

‘AI Granny’ is happy to talk with phone scammers all day

On Thursday, the UK’s largest mobile network operator, O2, introduced a chatbot designed to frustrate phone scammers. Called “dAIsy,” it

Former TuSimple co-founder urges courts to block asset transfer to China

Xiaodi Hou, the co-founder and former CEO of self-driving trucking startup TuSimple, has urged a California district court to issue

Musk’s amended lawsuit against OpenAI names Microsoft as defendant

Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI accusing the company of abandoning its non-profit mission was withdrawn in July, only to be

Heroku CEO Bob Wise departs

Bob Wise, the CEO of Heroku, Salesforce’s cloud platform as a service (PaaS), has left. A Salesforce spokesperson confirmed the

Snapchat will soon be able to alert parents when their teen leaves or arrives at certain locations

Snapchat is bringing enhanced location sharing to Family Center, its parental controls hub, the company announced Thursday. Users have been

OpenAI’s take on AI agents could come in January

OpenAI could release an “AI agent” tool as soon as January. That’s according to Bloomberg, which reports that OpenAI is

Just Eat Takeaway sells Grubhub to Wonder for $650 million

Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway announced today that it is selling Grubhub to Wonder in a deal valued at $650 million. The company

Sam Bankman-Fried is coming back

Well, to the big screen, at least. Variety reports that Lena Dunham is working with Apple and production studio A24

Agicap secures $48 million for its cash flow management platform

On average, Agicap’s clients manage 15 different bank accounts each. So the chief financial officers (CFOs) working for these companies

Gift Guide 2024: The best gadgets for new home owners

In August, I did something I never imagined myself doing: I bought a house. After spending most of my adult

Elon Musk’s X is moving its legal disputes to Northern Texas

Lawsuits against X (formerly Twitter) will soon be heard in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

a16z VC Martin Casado explains why so many AI regulations are so wrong

The problem with most attempts at regulating AI so far is that lawmakers are focusing on some mythical future AI

FTX bankruptcy estate sues Anthony Scaramucci, FWD.us, others

Bankrupt cryptocurrency company FTX filed 23 lawsuits Friday against Anthony Scaramucci (pictured above), his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, and other

VCs on how to ‘survive and thrive’ after a down round

Founders hope that their startups continually raise larger funding rounds at escalating valuations. But unexpected challenges, such as a global

OpenAI loses another lead safety researcher, Lilian Weng

Another one of OpenAI’s lead safety researchers, Lilian Weng, announced on Friday she is departing the startup. Weng served as