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…

Watch SpaceX try to fly a fully stacked Starship for the first time

April 17, 2023

In a few short hours, SpaceX will attempt to fly its fully integrated Starship launch system for the first time from the company’s massive base on Texas’s southeastern coast. While SpaceX has conducted a number of suborbital tests of the Starship upper stage from its base in Texas, this will be the first time that […]

Watch SpaceX try to fly a fully stacked Starship for the first time by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

The US is pouring money into surveillance tech at the southern border

April 17, 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. For years, the US has struggled to process all the people who want to come and live here. It’s a slow-rumbling problem that has become…

3 Budget-Friendly Food Stocks Investors Are Buying

April 17, 2023
The food industry is expected to thrive despite the tense macroeconomic backdrop. As food stocks tend to prove great defensive options amid recessionary fears, investors could consider buying fundamentally strong,…

Developers are looking for creative ways to build AI-powered chatbot assistants

April 17, 2023

Since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT last year, it has been almost impossible to go a day without a company or developer releasing an AI-powered tool. Now, with the release of new models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthroipic’s Claude, more app makers are trying their hands at tools that are more accessible and useful to people. Some […]

Developers are looking for creative ways to build AI-powered chatbot assistants by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Teachers in Denmark are using apps to audit their students’ moods

April 17, 2023
In a Copenhagen suburb, a fifth-grade classroom is having its weekly cake-eating session, a common tradition in Danish public schools. While the children are eating chocolate cake, the teacher pulls up an infographic on a whiteboard: a bar chart generated by a digital platform that collects data on how they’ve been feeling. Organized to display…

US tech giants voice concern over India’s fact-checking rule

April 17, 2023

The Asia Internet Coalition, an influential industry organization representing technology giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, and Amazon, has voiced concerns over a recent amendment to India’s IT rules, saying the changes grant the local government expansive content removal authority without implementing adequate procedural safeguards. India recently updated its IT rules, barring social media platforms […]

US tech giants voice concern over India’s fact-checking rule by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Sega to acquire Angry Birds-maker Rovio for $775M

April 17, 2023

Japanese gaming giant Sega has confirmed that it’s buying Finland’s Rovio in an all-cash deal worth €706 million ($775 million). News first emerged back in January that Israeli mobile gaming company Playtika had tabled a €750 million ($810 million) bid for Rovio, though talks collapsed last month with no reasons provided by either company. Rovio did, however, […]

Sega to acquire Angry Birds-maker Rovio for $775M by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

LLMs come to workplace morale monitoring, as Loopin raises $1.9M for its platform

April 17, 2023

There have been several startup attempts to measure staff morale, some more halting that others. We reported on Plasticity Labs back in 2014, though their web site seems no longer functioning. Officevibe appeared around the same kind’ve era. More recently out of the UK, WorkBuzz has raised £2.3M. And Spill ($3.5M) is a startup that […]

LLMs come to workplace morale monitoring, as Loopin raises $1.9M for its platform by Mike Butcher originally published on TechCrunch

Device-as-a-service startup Fleet expands beyond laptop leasing

April 17, 2023

French startup Fleet has been growing nicely over the past four years as the company has deployed nearly 10,000 devices with long-term leasing contracts. The company hasn’t raised any outside funding and is reinvesting as much of its revenue in the company as possible. Originally, Fleet had a very simple product offering. Companies of all […]

Device-as-a-service startup Fleet expands beyond laptop leasing by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch