Is a Soft Retirement the Right Move for You?
When you picture your retirement, what comes to mind? You might envision yourself relaxing on a beach, spending time with family, traveling the world, or participating more in your favorite…
Judge rules Google illegally monopolized ad tech, opening door to potential breakup
A federal judge has found that Google has violated antitrust laws by “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in the advertising technology market, rounding out a two-year saga after the U.S. and eight states filed its initial complaints against the Alphabet-owned company. The court will set a briefing schedule and hearing date to determine appropriate […]
February 2024
Why Big Tech’s watermarking plans are some welcome good news
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. This week I am happy to bring you some encouraging news from the world of AI. Following the depressing Taylor Swift deepfake porn scandal and the proliferation of political deepfakes, such as AI-generated robocalls…
AI-powered Estonian QA startup Klaus acquired by Zendesk
Klaus – an Estonian-born startup which emerged in 2019 to aid customer services agents – has been acquired by global customer services platform Zendesk for an undisclosed amount. Last year Zendesk also acquired Tymeshift, a workforce management tool, to fold into its product. It would be remiss of us not to mention that the downturn in […]
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EU AI Act secures committees’ backing ahead of full parliament vote
The European Parliament’s civil liberties (LIBE) and internal market (IMCO) committees have overwhelmingly endorsed draft legislation setting out a risk-based framework for regulating applications of artificial intelligence. In a vote this morning the committees voted 71-8 (with 7 abstentions) in favor of the compromise negotiated with EU Member States at the back end of last […]
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How environmental DNA is giving scientists a new way to understand our world
In the late 1980s, at a federal research facility in Pensacola, Florida, Tamar Barkay used mud in a way that proved revolutionary in a manner she could never have imagined at the time: a crude version of a technique that is now shaking up many scientific fields. Barkay had collected several samples of mud —…
African product, global market: Expensya employees cashed out $10M from 2023 acquisition
What’s more rewarding for an angel investor than paper returns in a startup? An acquisition that turns those paper returns into a cash payout while still maintaining shares in the company. “The return after dilution was eight times my investment,” said Selma Ribica in an interview with TechCrunch recently. “I kept some stock of the […]
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Finom, a European challenger bank for SMEs, raises $54M
Finom, a European challenger bank aimed at SMEs and freelancers, has raised €50 million ($54 million) in a Series B equity round of funding. Founded out of the Netherlands in 2019, Finom lets businesses open up an online bank account in minutes and receive an IBAN (International Bank Account Number) to support cross-border transactions. On […]
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FCC commissioner pushes to investigate Apple’s decision to block Beeper Mini
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Monday that the agency should investigate Apple over the company’s decision to block the Beeper Mini service, which worked on bringing iMessage to Android. Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky’s Beeper launched a new service called Beeper Mini in December, which claimed to have reverse-engineered the iMessage stack to make it work on […]
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India stumped on how to cut PhonePe and Google dominance in payments
India is facing a quandary in enforcing long-delayed rules to curb the dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay in the country’s booming digital UPI payments market. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a special unit of the central bank, wants to cap market share of any player at 30% in the Unified Payments Interface […]
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Bob W, a European short-stay apartment rental marketplace, raises $43M
Bob W, a marketplace for premium short-term apartment rentals, has raised €40 million ($43 million) in a Series B round of funding. Founded out of Finland in 2018, Bob W touts itself as a “tech-enabled hospitality operator,” with some 3,000 “aparthotels” offered for rent in 17 cities across Europe including Amsterdam, Athens, London, Berlin, Madrid, […]
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