March 18, 2025

The Download: speaking to robots, and growing pharmaceutical mushrooms

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. When you might start speaking to robots Last week, Google made a somewhat surprising announcement. It launched a version of its AI model, Gemini, that can do things not just in the digital…

YouTube launches a multi-language audio feature for dubbing videos, previously tested by Mr. Beast

February 23, 2023

The Korean-language Netflix series “Squid Game” became one of the streaming service’s most popular shows of all time, thanks to the ability to subtitle or dub episodes in the viewer’s own language. Now, similar technology is coming to YouTube for the broader creator economy. YouTube announced today it’s rolling out support for multi-language audio tracks […]

YouTube launches a multi-language audio feature for dubbing videos, previously tested by Mr. Beast by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

Logistics startup Slync raises $24M, attempts to distance itself from disgraced founder

February 23, 2023

Supply chain management software startup Slync, which was at one point valued at $240 million, hasn’t had the easiest go of it lately. Slync’s founder, Christopher Kirchner, was charged by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this month for misappropriating $20 million from the company to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a […]

Logistics startup Slync raises $24M, attempts to distance itself from disgraced founder by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Coinbase launches blockchain Base to help developers build dApps on-chain

February 23, 2023

Coinbase, the second largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has launched Base, an Ethereum-focused layer-2 (L2) blockchain, Jesse Pollak, lead for Base and head of protocols at Coinbase, told TechCrunch. In the past, Coinbase has homed in on the trading and exchange side of its business, but from the utility perspective, it’s still too hard […]

Coinbase launches blockchain Base to help developers build dApps on-chain by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

Motional opens Las Vegas robotaxi service to nighttime hours

February 23, 2023

Autonomous vehicle technology company Motional is moving one step closer to its goal of removing the safety driver from robotaxi operations by expanding its service in Las Vegas to nighttime rides. Passengers in Vegas have been able to access Motional’s robotaxi service through ride-hail companies Lyft and Uber since August and December, respectively. The rides […]

Motional opens Las Vegas robotaxi service to nighttime hours by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Houseparty’s founder launches Towns, an open source group chat app that comes with a blueprint

February 23, 2023

After launching a pair of well-loved but ultimately star-crossed social apps, Ben Rubin is going all-in on decentralization. Rubin previously founded Meerkat and Houseparty — apps that pioneered mobile livestreaming and group video chat, respectively — shaping massive social trends in their earliest stages. After working on Slashtalk, an “anti-meeting tool” for the workplace, Rubin […]

Houseparty’s founder launches Towns, an open source group chat app that comes with a blueprint by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

Cloud optimization startup ProsperOps lands $72M investment

February 23, 2023

The cloud is growing expensive. According to a recent survey from ESG, more than half of companies say that their spending on public cloud apps will increase in 2023 while 56% expect their public cloud infrastructure services spending will go up this year. A separate report from Gartner forecasts that worldwide spending on public cloud […]

Cloud optimization startup ProsperOps lands $72M investment by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

BlueCargo reduces logistics late fees by tracking containers in port terminals

February 23, 2023

BlueCargo has raised an $11 million in a new round led by Soma Capital and Left Lane Capital. The company optimizes logistics in port terminals and reduces late fees for drayage trucking companies and shippers. Other investors in the company include Mike Roth, Cathexis Ventures, EXPA, SpringTime Ventures and HyperGuap. When I first covered the […]

BlueCargo reduces logistics late fees by tracking containers in port terminals by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch

Report details how Big Tech is leaning on EU not to regulate general purpose AIs

February 23, 2023

It’s still pretty early in the year but the disruptive power of general purpose AI (GPAI) already looks cemented as the big tech story of 2023, with tech giants including Microsoft and Google duking it out to fast-follow OpenAI’s viral conversational chatbot, ChatGPT by productizing large language models (LLM) in interfaces of their own — […]

Report details how Big Tech is leaning on EU not to regulate general purpose AIs by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

NBA Top Shot creator to face lawsuit around securities status

February 23, 2023

Dapper Labs, the company behind many popular NFT collectible projects, will face a lawsuit accusing it of selling unregistered securities. In particular, the company has developed popular NFT game NBA Top Shot and one of the original NFT collectible game CryptoKitties. A class-action lawsuit was first filed against Dapper Labs in 2021. The company filed […]

NBA Top Shot creator to face lawsuit around securities status by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch