June 20, 2025

The Download: talking dirty with DeepSeek, and the risks and rewards of calorie restriction

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. It’s pretty easy to get DeepSeek to talk dirty AI companions like Replika are designed to engage in intimate exchanges, but people use general-purpose chatbots for sex talk too, despite their stricter content…

‘0ktapus’ hackers are back and targeting tech and gaming companies, says leaked report

February 2, 2023

The hackers who reportedly hit more than 130 organizations last year and stole the credentials of almost 10,000 employees are still targeting several tech and video game companies, according to a report obtained by TechCrunch. The report, prepared by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, calls the hackers “Scattered Spider.” In a previous publicly available report, the company […]

‘0ktapus’ hackers are back and targeting tech and gaming companies, says leaked report by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai originally published on TechCrunch

Is Instagram considering paid verification? Code reveals references to a ‘paid blue badge’

February 2, 2023

New references in Instagram’s code suggest the company could be developing a paid verification feature following the rollout of a similar system at Twitter under Elon Musk. Recently discovered code snippets reference explicitly refer to a “paid blue badge” and a new subscription product, a developer has discovered. The same reference also appears in the […]

Is Instagram considering paid verification? Code reveals references to a ‘paid blue badge’ by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

There are still robotics jobs to be found (if you know where to look)

February 2, 2023

A lot has happened in the half-year since we caught up with Ayanna Howard, dean of the Ohio State University’s College of Engineering — not all of it good. The broader economic slowdown has been deeply felt by the robotics industry, across the board, from the smallest startups to the biggest tech giants like Alphabet […]

There are still robotics jobs to be found (if you know where to look) by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Samooh launches with tech that lets companies share data securely

February 2, 2023

Samooh, a startup developing a “cross-cloud” data collaboration platform, today announced that it raised $12.5 million in a funding tranche backed by Altimeter Capital and Snowflake Ventures, among others. CEO Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan says that the cash infusion — Samooh’s first — will be put toward product development and hiring; the plan is grow the startup’s […]

Samooh launches with tech that lets companies share data securely by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

OneHouse is building a neutral data lake integration layer on top of Apache Hudi

February 2, 2023

OneHouse emerged last year with a cloud data lake product built on top of the open source Apache Hudi project. The startup wants to act as an integration layer to move data between different repositories, rather than competing directly with larger data lake vendors like Snowflake and Databricks. Today the company announced a $25 million […]

OneHouse is building a neutral data lake integration layer on top of Apache Hudi by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

Political ads face tougher targeting restrictions in EU if MEPs get their way

February 2, 2023

Europe has moved a step closer to having dedicated rules on online political ad targeting and transparency after the European Parliament fixed its negotiating position — paving the way for talks to start between MEPs and Member States to agree a final compromise text that can be passed into pan-EU law. MEPs said they hope […]

Political ads face tougher targeting restrictions in EU if MEPs get their way by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch