A Pixel Fold reviewer says the device's flexible OLED screen died after four days of light use, starting at the bottom and moving upwards, likely due to debris
The closed display halves almost touch, and that can smash debris into the screen. — A flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
AI is killing the web with spam sites, mass article producing “AI editors”, AI-generated junk on Etsy, Reddit, and Wikipedia that exhausts moderators, and more
In recent months, the signs and portents have been accumulating with increasing speed. Google is trying to kill the 10 blue links.
A 2019 email by Xbox Game Studios' Matt Booty encouraged buying content to “spend Sony out of business”; Microsoft argues the company didn't pursue the strategy
Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios chief, Matt Booty, was encouraging Xbox CFO Tim Stuart to spend big money …
John B. Goodenough, who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in developing the lithium-ion battery used in mobile devices and EVs, dies at 100
An unassuming professor who remained active into his 90s, he is credited with the breakthrough that gave rise to the batteries powering today's electronic devices.
Google plans to offer DIY repairs for the Pixel Fold via its iFixit partnership, including the battery and inner, folding display
One of the biggest downsides of foldable smartphones right now is durability and, more so, repairability. Google is breaking new ground with the Pixel Fold …
Meta launches new parental controls and other safety features for Messenger and Instagram in the US, the UK, and Canada, including letting parents view contacts
Meta announced new parental control tools across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger today. This includes a new parental supervision hub …
Baidu claims Ernie 3.5, the latest version of its LLM, has surpassed ChatGPT in general abilities and outperformed GPT-4 on many Chinese-language capabilities
Baidu Inc.'s ChatGPT-style service has outperformed OpenAI's seminal product on several measures, China's search leader said on Tuesday.
French and Dutch police say the ~115M communications obtained by cracking the encryption of EncroChat phones, announced in 2020, has so far led to 6,558 arrests
Investigations triggered by the cracking of encrypted phones three years ago have so far led to more than 6,500 arrests worldwide …
Decentralized social media app Damus says Apple rejected an app update and told the company to remove its tipping feature or use Apple's in-app purchase system
Damus, a decentralized social networking app backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, will be removed from the App Store due to Apple's strict payment rules.
How routine drug use by Silicon Valley executives moved from an after-hours activity squarely into corporate culture, causing issues for boards and tech leaders
Entrepreneurs including Elon Musk and Sergey Brin are part of a drug movement that proponents hope will expand minds, enhance lives and produce business breakthroughs
Apple says the UK's Online Safety Bill, which would mandate scanning messages for CSAM, should be amended to protect encryption, joining WhatsApp and Signal
Apple has criticised powers in the Online Safety Bill that could be used to force encrypted messaging tools like iMessage …
A survey of 20+ professionals finds all but one do not plan to buy the Mac Pro with M2 Ultra, citing Apple's cheaper and similarly powerful laptops and desktops
Apple's latest Mac Pro targets professionals with highly demanding computing workloads. But we talked to those professionals …
Meta launches parental controls for Messenger in the US, the UK, and Canada, letting parents view their child's contacts and activity but not message contents
Meta is rolling out more child-safety features as government scrutiny heats up — Amid growing pressure from state …
Snowflake partners with Nvidia to let customers build generative AI models using their own data; Nvidia plans to embed NeMo Framework into Snowflake Data Cloud
Snowflake (SNOW.N) a cloud data analytics company, is partnering with computing company Nvidia (NVDA.O) to allow customers ranging …
TikTok plans to shut down TikTok Now, its BeReal clone unveiled in September 2022, without giving a reason; user estimates suggest that BeReal has faded in 2023
TikTok is killing off its BeReal clone TikTok Now, according to notifications being sent to users.
Apple Vision Pro documentation shows the device has a safe area, defined as a radius of 1.5 meters from the headset, when in a “fully immersive VR experience”
Apple has limited a Vision Pro safe area to 10 feet by 10 feet, when using fully immersive VR experiences.
A look at how the $42.5B US broadband infrastructure plan will be allocated: Texas leads with $3.3B+, California gets $1.8B+, Missouri gets $1.7B+, and more
find out how much your state will get Kris Holt / Engadget : The Biden administration's $42 billion broadband program is finally getting underway Anton Shilov / Tom's Hardware : U.S. to Invest $42 Bil...
Some doctors say that their current best use for generative AI is to ease the heavy burden of documentation, which takes hours a day and contributes to burnout
The best use for generative A.I. in health care, doctors say, is to ease the heavy burden of documentation that takes them hours a day and contributes to burnout. Twitter: @zacharylipton , @stevelohr ...
Prosus, a top shareholder in Byju's, cuts the value of its Byju's stake, implying a $5.1B valuation, far below the Indian edtech giant's recent $22B valuation
Prosus, the largest non-founder shareholder in Byju's, has drastically slashed the worth of its stake in the edtech giant …
Meta announces Quest+, a VR subscription service that gives Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro users access to two games every month for $7.99/month or $59.99/year
Analysis: in May and June 2023, 141 major brands ran ads, mostly via Google Ads, across 55 low-quality sites with AI-generated articles, some posting ~1,200/day
Sources: Byju's is in advanced talks with new shareholders to raise $1B, seeking to stave off attempts by investors to reduce founder Byju Raveendran's control
Anto Antony / Bloomberg :
Thomson Reuters agrees to acquire YC-backed Casetext, which builds AI-powered workflows and tools for lawyers, for $650M in cash, expected to close in H2 2023
Thomson Reuters has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Casetext, a Y Combinator-backed legal tech startup.
Sources: Sam Altman told developers in May that OpenAI plans to turn ChatGPT into a “supersmart personal assistant for work”, setting up a Microsoft rivalry
In the span of half a year, ChatGPT has become one of the world's best-known internet brands.
Meta says WhatsApp Business crossed 200M MAUs, up from 50M in 2020, adds a tool to let users create “click-to-WhatsApp” ads without a Facebook account, and more
Meta announced today that WhatsApp Business, its app designed specifically for small businesses …
FTX's bankruptcy team says the exchange owed its customers ~$8.7B after commingling and misusing their deposits, and has recovered ~$7B in liquid assets so far
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk :
A look at Amazon's army of smaller AI-powered warehouse robots, including Proteus, which carries suitcase-sized bins of packages and works alongside humans
A wave of advanced machines is coming to the company's facilities thanks to better AI and robots smart enough to work with—and without—humans.
A last-minute amendment to an Irish bill would let the Data Protection Commission declare some info in privacy complaints as “confidential”, sparking an uproar
given the lack of public discussion it may have simply been overlooked what this really means for freedom of speech and journalism. https://twitter.com/... Forums: Hacker News : Irish Gov Makes Critiz...
Databricks plans to acquire generative AI startup MosaicML in a ~$1.3B deal set to close by July 31; MosaicML debuted in 2021, raised $64M, and has 62 employees
Israeli autonomous cloud security startup Cyera raised a $100M Series B led by Accel with Sequoia and others participating, a source says at a $500M valuation
The Israeli company's data security platform learns an enterprise's unique data and business purpose using large language models …
A look at review-bombing campaigns on Goodreads that can derail a book's publication long before its release, frustrating both new and established authors
New York Times :
DeepMind co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis details Gemini, an upcoming ChatGPT rival meant to combine the strengths of AlphaGo-type systems and those of LLMs
A survey of 2,000+ US adults finds 57% know of ChatGPT, 46% for Bing Chat, 45% for My AI, and 38% for Bard; only ~33% have used the tools, with Gen Z dominating
Source: 3AC liquidators seek to recover $1.3B from co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, taking action against the failed hedge fund in the British Virgin Islands
Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg :
Nevada-based identity verification startup Socure acquires rival service Berbix for $70M in cash and stock; Berbix raised $11.6M in total, including $9M in 2020
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
The EU launches four “crash test” experimental AI facilities, funded by a €220M investment, which will let companies test AI and robotics in real-life settings
Sanne Wass / Bloomberg :
Austin-based Cart.com, which sells end-to-end e-commerce services, raised a $60M Series C at a $1.2B valuation, after raising $240M in February 2022
Christine Hall / TechCrunch :
A look at Newark Public Schools' test of Khan Academy's Khanmigo, one of the first in the US, and worries the chatbot handles too much of the students' thinking
Natasha Singer / New York Times : Twitter: @megankstack and @natashanyt Twitter: Megan K. Stack / @megankstack : Is it my imagination or does Newark often get singled out for experimental school prog...
Zalando files a complaint in EU general court, arguing the EC unfairly labelled the German online retailer as “very large”, in the DSA's first legal challenge
Javier Espinoza / Financial Times :
Redpanda, a data streaming service for developers, raised a $100M Series C led by Lightspeed, GV, and Haystack VC, after a $50M Series B in February 2022
Ron Miller / TechCrunch :
In the first five months of 2023, ~45,000 people in Vietnam lost jobs in electronics manufacturing, after Samsung and others substantially slowed production
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says the service plans to add Stories in early July; the company was against adding Stories due to their ubiquity but listened to users
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch :
Tel Aviv-based NoTraffic, an AI traffic intersection management service, raised a $50M Series B led by M&G Investments, following a $17.5M Series A in July 2021
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch :
After Elon Musk highlighted Twitter's TikTok-like “swipe up for more videos” feature, some users said they were shown gun violence, police brutality, and more
Khadijah Khogeer / NBC News :
Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque says Head of Research David Ha resigned and COO Ren Ito was “let go” in June 2023; VP of Product Christian Cantrell left in March
Now it's head of research, COO & VP of product have left in past 3 months. — https://www.bloomberg.com/... Twitter: Rachel Metz / @rachelmetz : An update on this story: @EMostaque told me that whi...
Sources: US official Kurt Campbell confronted Sequoia's Don Vieira over funding Chinese startups that may threaten US security, leading to the three-way split
Wall Street Journal : Twitter: @niubi , @sarthakgh , and @kate_okeeffe Twitter: Bill Bishop / @niubi : Sequoia made a fortune investing in the U.S. and in China. Then the venture firm found it had to...
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26
Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.