June 17, 2025

Own, a new social media app, aims to tokenize the creator economy

Own is the latest alternative to TikTok to emerge in the market, featuring blockchain technology and a token economy.

August 2023

Steg.AI puts deep learning on the job in a clever evolution of watermarking

August 1, 2023
Watermarking an image to mark is one’s own is something that has value across countless domains, but these days it’s more difficult than just adding a logo in the corner. Steg.AI lets creators embed a nearly invisible watermark using deep learning, defying the usual “resize and resave” countermeasures. Ownership of digital assets has had a […]

These new tools could help protect our pictures from AI

August 1, 2023
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Earlier this year, when I realized how ridiculously easy generative AI has made it to manipulate people’s images, I maxed out the privacy settings on my social media accounts and swapped…

China is suddenly dealing with another public health crisis: mpox

August 1, 2023
Hazmat suits, PCR tests, quarantines, and contact tracing—it was hard not to feel déjà vu last week when China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidance on how to contain a disease outbreak.  But what was happening was not another covid wave. Rather, the Chinese government was addressing a potentially significant new public…

Vanguard cuts Indian ride-hailing giant Ola’s valuation by 52%

August 1, 2023
The U.S. index fund pioneer Vanguard has cut the worth of its holding in the Indian ride-hailing startup Ola by more than half since original investment, according to an analysis of its filings. Vanguard cut the worth of its shares in Ani Technologies, Ola’s holding firm, by 51.6% as of the end of May, it […]

Traction raises $6M seed as Nigeria’s merchant acquiring space continues to heat up

August 1, 2023
Micro, small, and medium-sized firms (MSMEs) constitute the backbone of the Nigerian economy, accounting for more than 60% of GDP growth and playing a crucial role in job creation. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there are over 39 million such firms, and 87% operate informally, meaning they primarily receive cash and perform activities […]

Reddit updates its site design for logged-out users

August 1, 2023
Reddit is rolling out a number of updates to its website for logged-out users, including improved performance, a more helpful search results page and better communities and related post suggestions. The company said in a blog post on Monday that people are coming to the Reddit website from different search engines to find relevant content […]

NATO announces $1B fund to back startups supporting ‘safety, freedom and human empowerment’

August 1, 2023
After announcing plans nearly two years ago, defense alliance NATO has officially closed its first fund to back startups that are building technology strategic to NATO’s own goals in defense and security. Member nations are collectively committing capital totalling €1 billion (around $1 billion at current rates) to the NATO Innovation Fund, which plans to […]

Ola’s Aggarwal sets eyes on AI, semiconductor design

August 1, 2023
Indian entrepreneur Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder of ride-hailing firm Ola and electric vehicle startup Ola Electric, is venturing into fresh terrain as he navigates his businesses towards initial public offerings. He has set up an AI startup that seeks to develop a large language model and is currently scouting two U.S.-headquartered AI startups for a potential […]