July 4, 2025

The Download: India’s AI independence, and predicting future epidemics

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. Inside India’s scramble for AI independence Despite its status as a global tech hub, India lags far behind the likes of the US and China when it comes to homegrown AI. That gap…

Technology

Post, a Twitter alternative that pays publishers via microtransactions, launches public beta

April 3, 2023

Post, a Twitter alternative of sorts that’s rethinking how publishers should engage with social media — and how they should monetize their readership — has opened its doors to the public. The startup, like others in this space, gained ground in the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter as many began to look for […]

Post, a Twitter alternative that pays publishers via microtransactions, launches public beta by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

Spotify is shutting down its live audio app Spotify Live

April 3, 2023

Spotify is shutting down its live-audio app Spotify Live, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The company says it will continue to explore live features on its main platform. The news was first reported by Music Ally. “After a period of experimentation and learnings around how Spotify users interact with live audio, […]

Spotify is shutting down its live audio app Spotify Live by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch

A decade later, this VR treadmill is finally ready to ship

April 3, 2023

As free promotion for hardware startups go, one would be hard pressed to point to something better than a $175 million Spielberg film. “It was actually Warner Bros. that had reached out to us to get two Omnis for use in the movie,” Virtuix founder and CEO Jan Goetgeluk tells TechCrunch. “We shipped them two, […]

A decade later, this VR treadmill is finally ready to ship by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Three ways AI chatbots are a security disaster 

April 3, 2023
AI language models are the shiniest, most exciting thing in tech right now. But they’re poised to create a major new problem: they are ridiculously easy to misuse and to deploy as powerful phishing or scamming tools. No programming skills are needed. What’s worse is that there is no known fix.  Tech companies are racing…

Warner Bros. gives DC fans an official ‘Blue Beetle’ trailer

April 3, 2023

Warner Bros. is giving DC fans a “Blue Beetle” movie, set to hit theaters on August 18. The trailer was released today, providing a glimpse into the world of the bug-legged superhero. “Blue Beetle” stars “Cobra Kai” actor Xolo Maridueña as Jamie Reyes, a recent college graduate who gets his Iron Man-style powers from an […]

Warner Bros. gives DC fans an official ‘Blue Beetle’ trailer by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Kaszek earmarks nearly $1B in new funds for Latin American startups

April 3, 2023

Kaszek Ventures, one of Latin America’s first venture firms, has raised $975 million across two funds. Specifically, the São Paulo-based firm has closed on Kaszek Ventures VI, a $540 million early-stage fund and Kaszek Ventures Opportunity-III (KVO-III), a $435 million vehicle for later stage investments.  In recent years, there has been an explosion of global […]

Kaszek earmarks nearly $1B in new funds for Latin American startups by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch

Nintendo and mobile games company DeNA launch Nintendo Systems

April 3, 2023

Back in November, Nintendo and app developer DeNA announced its joint venture company called Nintendo Systems, which is meant to help reinforce Nintendo’s business and “create value-added services,” according to Nintendo’s Japanese website. Today, the companies officially launched the Nintendo Systems website. “Nintendo Systems was born in April 2023, led by a team of engineers […]

Nintendo and mobile games company DeNA launch Nintendo Systems by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

The Download: a bitter campus privacy row, and AI-powered lawyers

April 3, 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. Inside the bitter campus privacy battle over smart building sensors When computer science students and faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Software Research returned to campus in the summer of 2020, there…

UK’s greenworkx takes aim at the domestic retrofit skills challenge

April 3, 2023

Steering humanity out of the climate crisis demands action in a very literal way. Boots on the ground, people rolling up sleeves and getting hands dirty retrofitting existing infrastructure, such as poorly insulated houses, type stuff. The goal is to re-make our built environment to be energy efficient and drive down carbon emissions ASAP. So […]

UK’s greenworkx takes aim at the domestic retrofit skills challenge by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

AI might not steal your job, but it could change it

April 3, 2023
(This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here.) Advances in artificial intelligence tend to be followed by anxieties around jobs. This latest wave of AI models, like ChatGPT and OpenAI’s new GPT-4, is…