Sometimes it’s nice when a product launch falls when I’m on the road. I qualify that statement because, well, it’s one more thing to shoehorn into an invariably overloaded work trip. But there are some products that are just better tested on the road: laptops, earbuds, travel chargers and the occasional operating system. I’ve been … Read more
As part of its larger commitment to combat “cyberflashing,” the dating app Bumble is open sourcing its AI tool that detects unsolicited lewd images. First debuted in 2019, Private Detector (let’s take a moment to let that name sink in) blurs out nudes that are sent through the Bumble app, giving the user on the … Read more
On Friday, TechCrunch reported the latest Crunchbase venture capital data, and the news isn’t very good from a diversity point of view: Black founders raised a paltry $187 million out of the $150.9 billion in venture capital allocated in Q3 this year. To put that into perspective, that’s only 0.12% of the total investment made … Read more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has unsealed charges against two alleged DPRC spies who are accused of attempting to obstruct a federal prosecution against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. In a criminal complaint dated October 20 and made public on Monday, the U.S. claims that two Chinese intelligence officers, Guochun He (known as “Dong He”) … Read more
Marvel released the first trailer for “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” today, which gives fans a look at Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror and, for some reason, Bill Murray. The superhero movie will premiere in theaters on February 17, 2023. Disney told TechCrunch that the film would likely stream on Disney+, but there’s no … Read more
The third quarter was far from favorable for Chinese startups looking to raise money. Data shows that for upstart tech companies in the country, Q3 2022 was the worst time to raise venture capital since Q1 2020, with far less capital invested than either the rest of 2020 and 2021, or for most of 2018 … Read more
Apple has released iOS 16.1, iPad OS 16.1 and macOS 13, as it announced it would do last week. The updates include a number of new features for iPhone, iPad and Mac devices, including the introduction of Continuity Camera, which allows iPhone owners to use their device as a webcam for their Macs. The iPad … Read more
Today marks another blow to subscribers and their wallets. Apple increased the subscription prices for Apple TV+, Apple Music and the Apple One bundle in the U.S. — joining various other companies that have raised the prices of their subscription plans this year. Apple TV+ will increase by $2 monthly and $10 annually. Subscribers will … Read more
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive the full edition of the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. This is a shorter version of The Station newsletter that is emailed to subscribers. Want all the deals, news roundups and commentary? Subscribe … Read more
Instacart has left us IPO nerds feeling whiplashed. Late last week, Reuters reported that the American grocery delivery and technology company might probably shelve its IPO until next year. The richly valued startup was poised to become the splashiest public offering of the year in the United States, but now it appears we won’t get … Read more
PayPal is making it easier to log in to its services — if you’re an Apple device user, that is. The payments giant today announced that it’s adding passkeys as a log in method for PayPal accounts, allowing iPhone, iPad and Mac users on PayPal.com to sign in without using a password. Passkeys are a … Read more
At its Build conference in May, Microsoft debuted Project Volterra, a device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform designed to let developers explore “AI scenarios” via Qualcomm’s Neural Processing SDK for Windows toolkit. Today, Volterra — now called Windows Dev Kit 2023 — officially goes on sale, priced at $599 and available from the Microsoft Store … Read more
The original Orba was a curious little baseball-sized device that invited people who couldn’t play a triangle if they tried to somehow create beats, bops and bass lines. The success of the original — and the adoption of it as a tool for more serious musicians — inspired the Artiphon team to release an updated … Read more
Docker is still around and likely doing better — at last in financial terms — than during its early hype cycle that kicked off the container revolution (only to then be eclipsed by Kubernetes and its ecosystem). Today, the company announced the first technical preview of its WebAssembly (Wasm) support. Browser vendors pioneered Wasm to … Read more
Travel is back on the radar for investment, with consumers and business users both on the move again after a long pandemic period of staying in one place. Today, a startup called WeTravel — which builds tech for the specific needs of group travel — has raised $27 million, money that it will be using … Read more
YouTube announced a makeover to its interface today, including a new look, a pinch-to-zoom feature, precise seeking, new buttons, ambient mode and a dark mode that’s “even darker.” The updates will gradually roll out to all users beginning today. YouTube’s new pinch-to-zoom feature lets users on iOS and Android devices zoom in on videos so … Read more
While the overall crypto markets have been in a rough spot lately, web3 venture capitalists have never had more conviction — or more funding at their disposal — to back startups and teams building in the space. The big question on their minds is whether tokens and startup valuations have bottomed out, or if they … Read more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) famously declared 2021 as the “worst year” for ransomware attacks, but it seems that title could be in 2022’s hands very soon. Despite some rare wins in the war against hackers over the past 12 months — from the government’s seizure of $2.3 million in bitcoin paid out to the … Read more
The funding environment may have changed in recent months, but startups with strong fundamentals are still able to raise. Merge, a startup that offers an API integration service with a focus on HR, payroll and accounting systems (among others), today announced that it has raised a $55 million Series B round led by Accel, with … Read more
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. We are back from Disrupt, which means we’re picking up the pieces of our work lives, getting back on track. Equity is now on its regular schedule, which is good. A big thanks … Read more
Smart lock startup Level has a new version of its lock available, and this one includes Apple Home Key out of the box. Th new Level Lock+ is almost identical to its predecessor, the Level Lock Touch, in every other way — but the addition of Home Key takes what was already a super strong … Read more
Matt Butcher and Radu Matei worked on container technologies for years, “containers” in this context referring to software packages containing all the necessary elements to run in any environment, from desktop PCs to servers. As engineers at Deis, and then DeisLabs once Microsoft acquired it in 2017, their team explored the container landscape and built … Read more
Devin Abbott Contributor Share on Twitter Devin Abbott was founder of Deco (acquired by Airbnb) and specializes in design and development tools, React and web3 applications, most recently with The Graph. It’s too early to predict all the implications of the recent Ethereum blockchain Merge, but it definitely addresses the most frequent (and valid) criticism … Read more
It’s time to accept that cloud gaming is the future of gaming. At least for some people and even though Stadia failed. But that group of people is becoming larger every year. For the past few weeks, I have been playing video games on a brand new device — the Logitech G Cloud. But my … Read more
Australia has confirmed an incoming legislative change will significant strengthen its online privacy laws following a spate of data breaches in recent weeks — such as the Optus telco breach last month. “Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing safeguards are inadequate. It’s not enough for a penalty for a major data … Read more
Access to funding and lack of support systems are some of the greatest challenges faced by startup founders in sub-Saharan Africa. And while venture capital and founder support programs within the continent are growing, a lot still remains to be done to meet the financing, technology and social capital needs of the especially marginalized groups … Read more
Tech giants are increasingly looking for tech talent in Africa, where the number of developers reached 716,000 last year, up 3.8% from 2020, according to Google. In the last six months, Microsoft and Amazon have been on a recruitment drive that came along with enticing offers including relocation to their hubs in the U.S. and … Read more
Valuations have been top of mind for the entire venture industry this year as many VCs try to navigate their overvalued portfolios and founders scramble to conserve cash and grow into their lofty valuations. So one might have predicted that valuations would fall off a cliff this year. But that hasn’t happened because venture investing … Read more
Welcome to The Interchange! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you’re reading this as a post on our site, sign up here so you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I’ll take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week. … Read more
Wire has retracted its stories on Meta after discovering “certain discrepancies” in its reporting, the Indian outlet said Sunday, marking what should be an end to the high-profile drama with the social juggernaut that captured the interest of newsrooms and tech companies globally for two weeks. The move follows Wire, a small but gutsy Indian … Read more