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 curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis Across the world, unsuspecting people are unwittingly becoming caught up in a new and growing type of organized criminal enterprise: vehicle transport fraud and theft. Crooks…
A few months ago, you may have heard news about the Social Security Administration’s largest trust fund being depleted by 2033. With the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund…
Meet Pollen, a new French startup that wants to provide a better way to learn new skills. Instead of working with full-time teachers, Pollen invites business executives and top performers in the tech industry so that they can host a class with a small group of people. Behind the scenes, Pollen was co-founded by Julie […]
Foreign inward remittances to India have surged significantly in recent years as Indian diaspora expands globally. The past five years have seen a 30% increase, with remittances rising to $89.13 billion in 2021-22 from $69.13 billion in 2017-18, according to official government data. Naturally, a growing number of startups have been quick to spot this […]
Intellectual property (IP) protection can be a vital part of a company’s journey from young upstart to billion-dollar behemoth, safeguarding all its technologists’ hard work while adding to the company’s value for investors or would-be acquirers. But as we’ve seen countless times through the years, IP can also be weaponized. Patent wars have been a […]
ChatGPT was released just nine months ago, and we are still learning how it will affect our daily lives, our careers, and even our systems of self-governance. But when it comes to how AI may threaten our democracy, much of the public conversation lacks imagination. People talk about the danger of campaigns that attack opponents…
AMD plans to invest around $400 million in India over the next five years and set up its largest R&D facility in the country’s southern city of Bengaluru as the chipmaker joins the growing list of firms that are backing the South Asian nation’s ambition of becoming a semiconductor manufacturing hub. AMD CTO Mark Papermaster […]
A few weeks ago, Uncork Capital shared the news that it recently closed on $400 million in capital commitments across two new funds: $200 million for a seed-stage vehicle and another $200 million for an opportunity-style fund that mostly aims to support startups that are already part of its portfolio. The funds represent twice what […]
The major news from China’s auto industry this week is Volkswagen’s $700 million investment in the country’s electric vehicle startup, Xpeng. This partnership has the potential to set a precedent for Western automakers seeking to leverage Chinese firms for their EV expertise, while their Chinese counterparts can benefit from their foreign allies’ global distribution. The […]
New research published Thursday offers an unprecedented dive into political behavior across Facebook and Instagram — two major online hubs where people express and engage with their political beliefs. The studies, published by an interdisciplinary set of researchers working in tandem with internal groups at Meta, encompasses four papers published in Science and Nature examining […]