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…

The first round of Disney layoffs begins this week, CEO Bob Iger shares in memo

March 27, 2023

In February, Disney CEO Bob Iger told shareholders in an earnings call that the company plans to lay off 7,000 employees as part of a significant restructuring. Today, in an internal memo to employees, which TechCrunch was able to obtain, Iger revealed that there will be three rounds of layoffs, with the first beginning this […]

The first round of Disney layoffs begins this week, CEO Bob Iger shares in memo by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Neptyne is building a Python-powered spreadsheet for data scientists

March 27, 2023

Douwe Osinga and Jack Amadeo were working together at Sidewalk Labs, Alphabet’s venture to build tech-forward cities, when they arrived at the conclusion that most spreadsheet software doesn’t scale up to today’s data challenges. Data science tools like Pandas and Jupyter Notebooks do, but they tend to be too inaccessible to the layperson — at […]

Neptyne is building a Python-powered spreadsheet for data scientists by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Apple discusses iPadOS 16.4’s new Pencil hover features

March 27, 2023

In December of last year, Apple announced that hover was being added to the Pencil’s bag of tricks. What might sound like a minor update to non-artists represents an important addition to workflow. While digital drawing is more forgiving in terms of correcting errors than its real-world counterpart, stopping and starting is still an extremely […]

Apple discusses iPadOS 16.4’s new Pencil hover features by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Recruiting marketplace Paraform gets backing from Primer Sazze and Twitch founders

March 27, 2023

Among the casualties of the mass tech layoffs are people who helped get their co-workers hired in the first place. Paraform, a startup that wants to change how the recruiting industry works by taking a marketplace approach, is giving professional recruiters a new way to find work by going freelance. Today, Paraform announced that it […]

Recruiting marketplace Paraform gets backing from Primer Sazze and Twitch founders by Catherine Shu originally published on TechCrunch

Lucid recalls hundreds of Air sedans over risk vehicles could lose power

March 27, 2023

Lucid Group issued a recall for hundreds of Air sedans over a flaw that could cause the vehicles to lose power and increase the risk of a crash, according to a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Newark, California based automaker first filed a recall notice with NHTSA in February for 273 model […]

Lucid recalls hundreds of Air sedans over risk vehicles could lose power by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Deep Agency shows the perils of applying AI to the fashion industry

March 27, 2023

Generative AI is disrupting industries — with understandable controversy. Earlier this month, Danny Postma, the founder of Headlime, an AI-powered marketing copy startup that was recently acquired by Jasper, announced Deep Agency, a platform he describes as an “AI photo studio and modeling agency.” Using art-generating AI, Deep Agency creates and offers “virtual models” for […]

Deep Agency shows the perils of applying AI to the fashion industry by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch