Gogoro, Belrise JV to spend $2.5B on battery swapping network in Indian state

January 18, 2023

Gogoro, the Taiwanese paladin for two-wheeler battery swapping, is working with the Indian state of Maharashtra to establish state-wide battery charging and swapping infrastructure. The initiative will be driven by a “50-50” partnership between Gogoro and Belrise Industries, an automotive systems manufacturer based in India, that will form an infrastructure company to own the batteries […]

Gogoro, Belrise JV to spend $2.5B on battery swapping network in Indian state by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Discord acquires Gas, a compliments-based social media app for teens

January 17, 2023

The messaging platform Discord announced its acquisition of Gas, an app that’s popular among teens for its positive spin on social media. On Gas, users sign up with their school, add friends, and answer polls about their classmates. But the questions in the polls are intended to boost users’ confidence, rather than damage it. Teens […]

Discord acquires Gas, a compliments-based social media app for teens by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

Tesla engineer testifies that 2016 video promoting self-driving was faked

January 17, 2023

Tesla faked a 2016 video promoting its self-driving technology, according to testimony by a senior engineer reviewed by Reuters. The video, which shows a Tesla Model X driving on urban, suburban and highway streets; stopping itself at a red light; and accelerating at a green light is still on Tesla’s website and carries the tagline: […]

Tesla engineer testifies that 2016 video promoting self-driving was faked by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Oversight Board presses Meta to revise ‘convoluted and poorly defined’ nudity policy

January 17, 2023

Meta’s Oversight Board, which independently evaluates difficult content moderation decisions, has overturned the company’s takedown of two posts that depicted a non-binary and transgender person’s bare chests. The case represents a failure of a convoluted and impractical nudity policy, the Board said, and recommended that Meta take a serious look at revising it. The decision […]

Oversight Board presses Meta to revise ‘convoluted and poorly defined’ nudity policy by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ gets a warm welcome with 4.7M U.S. viewers

January 17, 2023

“The Last of Us” made its debut last night on HBO and HBO Max. The series premiere garnered 4.7 million U.S. viewers, making it HBO’s second-largest debut since “Boardwalk Empire” premiered over a decade ago with 4.81 million viewers, the company announced today. “House of the Dragon” remains the biggest premiere in HBO history with […]

HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ gets a warm welcome with 4.7M U.S. viewers by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Delphia co-founder placed on leave after sexual assault allegations from former employee

January 17, 2023

Delphia, a mobile investment platform, is facing a lawsuit and allegations that its co-founder and CTO Cameron Agius-Westland sexually assaulted and harassed a former employee, according to a complaint filed on Monday and shared exclusively with TechCrunch. The complaint alleges that on August 17, 2022, Westland “sexually assaulted and harassed Plaintiff for at least 30 […]

Delphia co-founder placed on leave after sexual assault allegations from former employee by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

UK privacy watchdog silent as Google flicks off critique its Topics API fails to reform ad-tracking

January 17, 2023

Late last week it emerged Google intends to ignore a call by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) — the international body that works to guide the development of web standards — to rethink the Topics API: A key ad-targeting component of Google’s so-called “Privacy Sandbox” proposal to evolve the adtech stack Chrome supports for […]

UK privacy watchdog silent as Google flicks off critique its Topics API fails to reform ad-tracking by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Twitter rivals, unicorn trivia and valuation homework

January 17, 2023

Welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. It’s Tuesday, not Monday, but hey, the week ahead is as busy as ever. Here’s what I chatted about today: Big tech: Good news for Bitcoin and Ethereum, even as late-stage companies in the space […]

Twitter rivals, unicorn trivia and valuation homework by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch