February 7, 2025

These documents are influencing the DOGE-sphere’s agenda

Reports from the US Government Accountability Office on improper federal payments in recent years are circulating on X and elsewhere online, and they seem to be a big influence on Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its supporters as the group pursues cost-cutting measures across the federal government.  The payment reports have been…

Technology

US lawmaker says FBI notified him of email breach linked to Microsoft cloud hack

August 15, 2023
U.S. House lawmaker Rep. Don Bacon said the FBI warned him that China-backed hackers who used a stolen Microsoft key to raid the email accounts of senior U.S. government officials also accessed his email accounts. In a tweet, the Republican congressman from Nebraska said the FBI notified him on Monday that the Chinese government “hacked […]

The Download: China’s autonomous race, and Kiva’s controversial changes

August 15, 2023
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The race to lead China’s autonomous driving market Chinese car companies all seem fixated on one goal: launching their own autonomous navigation services in more and more cities as quickly as possible. In…

Voiceflow, a platform for building conversational AI experiences, raises $15M

August 15, 2023
The demand for conversational AI — mostly chatbots — has arguably never been higher, riding the publicity wave of systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Last year, Gartner predicted that one in 10 agent-customer exchanges will be automated by 2026, an increase from the estimated 1.6% of chats that were handed off to chatbots in 2022. Unsurprisingly, […]

The rise of the tech ethics congregation

August 15, 2023
Just before Christmas last year, a pastor preached a gospel of morals over money to several hundred members of his flock. Wearing a sport coat, angular glasses, and wired earbuds, he spoke animatedly into his laptop from his tiny glass office inside a co-working space, surrounded by six whiteboards filled with his feverish brainstorming. Sharing…

The race to lead China’s autonomous driving market

August 15, 2023
Toward the end of a nearly 15-minute video, William Sundin, creator of the ChinaDriven channel on YouTube, gets off the highway and starts driving in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Or rather, he allows himself to be driven. For while he’s still in the driver’s seat, the car is now steering, stopping, and changing…

Indian court ruling threatens Google’s advertising revenue model

August 15, 2023
The Delhi High Court has ruled that Google’s Ads Programme falls under the purview of the trademarks act, meaning the search giant’s use of trademarks as keywords amounts to “use” under the act, in a major decision that may redefine online advertising’s legal landscape. The decision (PDF), delivered by a division bench of Justice Vibhu […]

Atomic, GV, & SOSV join the Startup Battlefield judges lineup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

August 14, 2023
The Startup Battlefield pitch competition is a Silicon Valley legend that’s reached far beyond its Bay Area beginnings. It’s a global launching pad for some of the most successful tech companies, including Cloudflare, Dropbox, Fitbit, Mint and Yammer. More than 900 Startup Battlefield alumni companies have generated over 121 exits and more than $9.7 billion […]

Brex expands into group events while Mesh Payments moves into travel

August 14, 2023
As the spend management space continues to get more competitive, the various players seem to be constantly iterating to add new features to their products. Today, fintech startup Brex announced it is moving in an unexpected direction with its travel offering while Mesh Payments said it’s expanding into travel in addition to general expense management. […]

Ford taps Apple exec to lead new software services unit

August 14, 2023
Ford has hired Peter Stern, a former executive at Apple, to lead its newly formed Ford Integrated Services unit. The unit will create and market software-enabled customer experiences across Ford’s three business units: Ford Blue, for gas and hybrid vehicles, Model e for connected EVs, and Ford Pro for commercial products. As the era of […]