November 2023

Noise-canceling headphones could let you pick and choose the sounds you want to hear

November 9, 2023
Future noise-canceling headphones could let users opt back in to certain sounds they’d like to hear, such as babies crying, birds tweeting, or alarms ringing. The technology that makes it possible, called semantic hearing, could pave the way for smarter hearing aids and earphones, allowing the wearer to filter out some sounds while boosting others. …

Investors double down on Snaptrude in challenging legacy building design platforms

November 9, 2023

Snaptrude — a startup aiming to compete against traditional platforms in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) design sector, including Autodesk, Trimble and Nemetschek — with its modern approach and cloud-based offering, has raised $14 million in a Series A round, just 10 months after announcing its seed funding. With Foundamental and Accel leading the […]

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UK-based Ooodles raises $12M to scale up its device-leasing services

November 9, 2023

While refurbished device marketplaces like Back Market have raised substantial amounts in funding (Back Market reached a $5.7B valuation last year after a D round) and Raylo in the UK provides leases for electronics (it’s raised raised $180.6M from the likes of Octopus Ventures and Channel 4 Ventures), the device leasing services for small businesses […]

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Popular video chat service Omegle shuts down

November 9, 2023

Omegle, an online service that allowed individuals to connect and chat with strangers, has shut down after 15 years citing growing misuse of the platform, including in committing “unspeakably heinous crimes.” The site, founded in 2009 by a then 18-year-old programmer and high school student Leif K-Brooks, was bootstrapped throughout its existence. Though it waned […]

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Bob Iger says Disney would like to stay in India amid Hotstar’s subscriber dip

November 9, 2023

Bob Iger said Wednesday that Disney “would like to stay” in India and is considering its options in the world’s most populous country even as its crown jewel streamer Hotstar struggles to contain subscribers loss. Hotstar lost 2.8 million subscribers in the quarter ending September, widening its overall loss to about 23 million in a […]

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UK’s online safety regulator puts out draft guidance on illegal content, saying child safety is priority 

November 9, 2023

The UK’s newly empowered Internet content regulator has published the first set of draft Codes of Practice under the Online Safety Act (OSA) which became law late last month. More codes will follow but this first set — which is focused on how user-to-user (U2U) services will be expected to respond to different types of illegal […]

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Lyft picks comfort over sharing in bid to compete with Uber

November 9, 2023

Lyft is introducing a “more affordable sort of higher-end ride” in an attempt to offer ride-hail products that customers actually want, CEO David Risher said Wednesday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. The move comes after Lyft has been successful, by some metrics, in regaining market share from Uber by slashing its ride-hail fares. In […]

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mogul club raises $3.6M toward its effort to make real estate investing more accessible

November 8, 2023

While the idea of owning rental properties is appealing to many Americans, the ability to vet and afford such investments in single-family homes is out of reach for a large part of the population. mogul club is a new startup that wants to help more people achieve their dreams of becoming a landlord. It’s hardly […]

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Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle “fully” booked next year, will resume flight as early as November-end

November 8, 2023

Rocket Lab is best known for the Electron launch vehicle but the company’s earnings results continue to show that it is much more than a rocket company. The company reported $68 million in revenue for the third quarter, with $46.3 million of that figure coming from its space systems division. (That’s a 17% revenue increase […]

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