Blockchain platform Polkadot faces criticism from users after spending $36M+ on marketing and outreach in H1 2024, nearly half of its total spend of $87M — The blockchain spent $87 million in the first six months this year, with marketing…
A look at a US State Department program to train diplomats in cybersecurity, privacy, and other tech issues, allowing them to spot threats and advance US policy — The US State Department is training diplomats in cybersecurity, privacy,…
Sources: Magic, a US startup developing AI models for coding tasks, is in talks to raise $200M+ at a $1.5B valuation — Magic, a U.S. startup developing artificial-intelligence models to write software, is in talks to raise over $200…
Snapchat adds new features, including letting Snapchat+ subscribers design a personalized house on Snap Map and send Snaps that last less than .5 seconds — Snapchat is introducing new ways for users to personalize their accounts, the…
Meta shares its research on Meta 3D Gen, a system that creates high-quality 3D assets from text descriptions in less than a minute — Meta, the tech giant formerly known as Facebook, introduced Meta 3D Gen today, a new AI system that…
Sources: Apple will get an observer role on OpenAI's board, with Phil Schiller chosen for the position, as part of their partnership announced last month — - Apple's observer position would match that of Microsoft — Phil Schiller, Apple's…
Responding to criticism, Figma's CTO says the Make Design feature is “powered by off-the-shelf models and a bespoke design system that we commissioned” — Figma says it didn't train the generative AI models it used and blames a ‘bespoke…
A US judge temporarily blocked a new Mississippi law that would require age verification for all and parental consent for teens to join some social networks — A federal judge blocked a Mississippi law from taking effect that would have…
Meta says it will lift its ban on the word “shaheed”, or “martyr” in English, after its oversight board's year-long review found the approach to be “overbroad” — Meta Platforms (META.O) said on Tuesday it would lift its blanket ban on the…
Source: generative AI video startup Runway is in talks to raise $450M at about a $4B valuation, with General Atlantic in talks to lead the round — Runway, already the best funded among a cluster of startups developing artificial…
How Ukraine is using AI, code found online, and hobbyist computers to weaponize consumer tech and build low-cost weapons like autonomous drones and machine guns — A Ukrainian battalion testing a machine gun that can use A.I.-powered…
Google says its greenhouse gas emissions have surged 48% in the past five years due to the expansion of the data centers that underpin its AI efforts — Tech giant's ambition of reaching ‘net zero’ by 2030 under threat from power demands of…
For ~10 years, millions of macOS and iOS apps using CocoaPods were vulnerable to a serious flaw in the dependency manager, which was patched in October 2023 — Apps that used code libraries hosted on CocoaPods were vulnerable for about 10…
Some YouTube employees detail internal deliberations about content relating to the Israel-Hamas war and accuse the company of inconsistent moderation — Insiders have shared YouTube's playbook for handling the Gaza crisis. They argue that…
A look at why Japan, due to its culture and employment laws, is not undergoing mass layoffs in the gaming industry, as Microsoft-owned Tango Gameworks closes — After Microsoft shut down Tango Gameworks, we look at the reasons why Japan has…
A look at the national security fears around Microsoft's deal with Abu Dhabi's G42, including the US DOD's skepticism that G42 will entirely uncouple from China — US officials see the Microsoft-G42 partnership as way to help Washington…
VFX company DNEG raised $200M from Abu Dhabi's UASG at a $2B+ valuation to expand its Brahma division, which is developing an AI-powered, photo-real CGI creator — London-based The DNEG Group has secured a $200M capital injection from Abu…
The Biden administration awards $504M in funding for 12 regional tech hubs, including in New York and Florida, to expand research in AI, chip making, and more — - Effort aims to draw private investment around more of the US — Awards cover…
Tubi launches in the UK with over 20K movies and TV episodes, featuring content from distributors including Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures — The ad-supported streamer now has more than 80 million monthly active users. —…
Revolut's 2023 revenue almost doubled to £1.8B after interest income grew from £83M in 2022 to £500M; auditor BDO gave Revolut's accounts a clean bill of health — - UK fintech's interest income jumps sixfold to £500 million — Auditor BDO…
China plans to form a technical committee for brain-computer interface standards, including for brain information encoding and decoding, and data communication — - Group will include specialists tasked with drafting standards — Elon Musk's…
Australia's eSafety Commissioner issued notices to internet firms asking for an enforceable code to protect kids from pornography and other content by October 3 — Australia is giving the internet industry six months to come up with an…
An overview of “looksmaxxing” apps that rate teen boys' faces and are criticized for worsening the youth mental health crisis; paid app UMAX has 7M+ downloads — After Dillon Latham's girlfriend dumped him during their junior year of high…
Sources: Northern Data is weighing a US IPO of its combined AI cloud computing and data center businesses at a ~$10B to $16B valuation as early as in H1 2025 — - Combined cloud, data center business could list on Nasdaq — Company secured…
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch: Wise, Affirm, Mercury, and other companies say they're investigating how a recent ransomware attack by LockBit on Evolve Bank and Trust impacted their customers — The money transfer and fintech…
Google says it will require advertisers to disclose election ads that use digitally altered content that depicts real or realistic-looking people or events — Google (GOOGL.O) said on Monday it would make it mandatory for advertisers to…
Qualys researchers say an OpenSSH flaw can let attackers remotely compromise servers and allow unauthenticated RCE as root; over 14M servers may be vulnerable — Researchers from Qualys say regreSSHion allows attackers to take over servers…
SEC charges parent company of crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank and execs with misleading investors about its AML compliance strength; Silvergate settles for $50M — Silvergate Bank, once a cornerstone of the crypto financial world until its…
Meta changes its “Made with AI” label to “AI info”, to indicate images were not necessarily created with AI but that AI editing tools may have been used — After Meta started tagging photos with a “Made with AI” label in May, photographers…
Cyberattacks against CDK Global, used by ~15K car dealerships, and Change Healthcare show how large swathes of some industries have a “single point of failure” — Airlines, banks and hospitals could be vulnerable to a ‘single point of…