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

Amazon opens its low-bandwidth, long-range Sidewalk network to developers

March 28, 2023

Back in 2019, Amazon announced Sidewalk, its low-bandwidth, long-range wireless network that uses the 900 MHz spectrum to connect Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It does this by creating a mesh network between Amazon’s own Echo and Ring devices and sharing a small part of their owner’s bandwidth. Ideally, this means Sidewalk will be able […]

Amazon opens its low-bandwidth, long-range Sidewalk network to developers by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

The Download: the threat of microplastics, and mitigating AI bias

March 28, 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. Microplastics are messing with the microbiomes of seabirds The news: While we know that tiny pieces of plastic are everywhere, we don’t fully understand what they’re doing to us or other animals. Now,…

Twitter is dying

March 28, 2023

It’s five months since Elon Musk overpaid for a relatively small microblogging platform called, Twitter. The platform had punched about its weight in pure user numbers thanks to an unrivalled ability to both distribute real-time information and make expertise available. Combine these elements with your own critical faculty — to weed out the usual spam […]

Twitter is dying by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Venti raises $29M for autonomous vehicle tech designed for industrial and logistics hubs

March 28, 2023

We are still likely many years away from wide-scale deployment — let alone adoption — of fully autonomous vehicles on our streets, but in the meantime autonomous vehicle companies focusing on closed-campus environments continue to raise funding and make headway in building self-driving on a smaller scale. In the latest, a startup called Venti Technologies […]

Venti raises $29M for autonomous vehicle tech designed for industrial and logistics hubs by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Neubility plans to roll out 400 lidar-free delivery and security robots by year-end

March 28, 2023

Last-mile robotics startup Neubility — which makes autonomous delivery robots that work without lidar — says that it plans bump its fleet up to 400  by the end of this year, up from the 50 it currently has in circulation. The goal is part of an ambitious plan that the Seoul-based startup has laid out […]

Neubility plans to roll out 400 lidar-free delivery and security robots by year-end by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Cabify, the Madrid-based Uber rival, says it’s raised $110M in new funding

March 28, 2023

It’s 2023, and we’re years past the peak of monster fundraising for on-demand transportation and delivery startups locked in highly competitive races with each other to dominate urban consumer mobility. But with many of the biggest and most tenacious players still in the market, those rounds have not disappeared altogether. Today, Cabify — the Madrid-based platform […]

Cabify, the Madrid-based Uber rival, says it’s raised $110M in new funding by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Apple Music Classical is now available for download to everyone

March 28, 2023

Apple’s new app for classical music, Apple Music Classical, is available for download to everyone. The app is free for everyone, but you need an Apple Music subscription. Notably, it is not available in countries like China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey. The company said that there are more than 5 million tracks available […]

Apple Music Classical is now available for download to everyone by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

What if we could just ask AI to be less biased?

March 28, 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. Think of a teacher. Close your eyes. What does that person look like? If you ask Stable Diffusion or DALL-E 2, two of the most popular AI image generators, it’s a white…

Techstars-backed Fez Delivery gets funding to scale its last-mile logistics platform

March 28, 2023

Fez Delivery, a Lagos-based last-mile logistics startup with hubs across Nigeria, has raised $1 million led by pan-African investor Ventures Platform with participation from Voltron Capital, Acasia Ventures and other angel investors.  CEO Seun Alley, in a statement, said the company plans to use the seed investment to deepen its work in Nigeria (which has […]

Techstars-backed Fez Delivery gets funding to scale its last-mile logistics platform by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch

When life gives you carbon, make Carbonaide

March 28, 2023

Concrete. Ubiquitous. A mainstay of the construction industry — over 10 billion cubic meters of concrete are used every year. And also responsible for up to 8% of CO2 emissions — one ton of ordinary Portland cement creates somewhere between 800 and 900 kilograms of CO2 emissions. Finnish startup Carbonaide has just raised €1.8 million (~$1.9 […]

When life gives you carbon, make Carbonaide by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch