In preliminary findings, the EU charges Microsoft with antitrust violations over concerns that it gave Teams an “undue advantage” by bundling it with Office
Allegations that software giant is ‘tying’ its video app to Office are the first such case against it in more than a decade
Sources: Apple rejected Meta's overtures to integrate Llama into the iPhone months ago, in part because it sees Meta's privacy practices as not stringent enough
- Apple has been looking to forge agreements to use AI chatbots — Report indicated that Apple and Meta are in discussions
Amazon plans to hold Prime Day 2024 on July 16 and July 17 in 23 countries, including the US, the UK, and Japan; India will get a Prime Day later this summer
As expected, Amazon's annual sales event for Prime subscribers will once again take place in mid-July.
Sources: the US is probing China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom for possibly providing Americans' data to Beijing via the companies' US cloud services
The Biden administration is investigating China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom over concerns the firms could exploit access …
Waymo drops its waitlist in San Francisco, letting anyone download its app and hail a robotaxi; in Phoenix, Waymo has been open to the public since October 2020
‘Simply download the app and ride.’ — The wait(list) is over. — Waymo is opening up its robotaxi service to anyone who wants to ride in San Francisco.
With an economy hobbled by Western sanctions and inflation, desperate Iranians are flocking to “tap-to-earn” crypto mini apps in Telegram like Hamster Kombat
Cab drivers and bikers tap away furiously on their mobile phones as they wait at red lights in the Iranian capital during an early June heatwave.
Sources: Google has been developing a product for creating customizable chatbots, which could be modeled on celebrities, and plans to launch it as soon as 2024
Google wants chatbots that people can hang with—not just pelt with questions. — The search engine giant has been developing …
Windows 11 changed the initial setup process to enable the automatic backup of folders to OneDrive without asking permission, annoying and confusing many users
Microsoft has made OneDrive slightly more annoying for Windows 11 users. Quietly and without any announcement …
Sources: Amazon is working on an AI chatbot, codenamed Metis, designed to compete directly with ChatGPT; source: Metis is tentatively set to launch in September
- Amazon is working on a new AI service that competes with ChatGPT. — The project is internally codenamed Metis.
The RIAA sues AI music services Suno and Udio over alleged mass copyright infringement and claims they are trying to “hide the full scope of their infringement”
here's what it means Ben's Bites : Major labels are suing AI music startups Suno and Udio Andy Maxwell / TorrentFreak : RIAA Sues Suno & Udio AI Music Generators For ‘Trampling’ on Copyright Markus Ka...
In preliminary findings, the EU says Apple's anti-steering developer rules breach the DMA; the EU is also probing if Apple's developer fees comply with EU rules
After the news broke yesterday - on a Friday afternoon, no less … Oscar Gonzalez / Gizmodo : Apple Could Be Fined $30 Billion for Violating Competition Laws Livia Giannotti / Tech Monitor : EU finds A...
Etched, which is building Sohu, an inferencing chip that only runs transformer AI models, raised a $120M Series A, bringing its total funding to $125.36M
As generative AI touches a growing number of industries, the companies producing chips to run the models are benefitting enormously.
EvolutionaryScale releases AI models called ESM3 to help engineer novel proteins and raised a $142M seed led by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Lux Capital
Snap announces updates to Snapchat's account blocking functionality and enhanced friending safeguards, making it difficult for strangers to contact its users
Snapchat on Tuesday announced a new suite of safety features, including updates to its account blocking functionality …
Bright Machines, which automates manufacturing with AI, ML, and robotics, raised a $126M Series C from Nvidia, Microsoft, and others, including $20M in debt
Software and robotics startup Bright Machines raised $106 million in a Series C funding round that included Nvidia (NVDA.O) …
A look at the privacy concerns surrounding women's health apps and services; PitchBook: femtech startups raised almost $4.9B between March 2021 and March 2024
US 2022 abortion ruling has heightened concerns over the safety of women's healthcare trackers X: @1br0wn . LinkedIn: Stephanie Stacey X: Ian Brown / @1br0wn : These (well-based) privacy fears can sur...
Uber has begun locking NYC drivers out of its app during low demand periods to fight a local rule that requires drivers to be paid for idle time between rides
Evan Gorelick / Bloomberg :
Uber Freight plans to use Aurora's driverless trucks on routes between Dallas and Houston as part of a new long-term deal, after the three-year commercial pilot
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge :
Meta has seemingly stopped trying as hard to moderate its services, overrun with AI spam and scams; X gutting safety staff may have lowered the industry's bar
k-ID, a platform that helps game developers comply with child safety and data privacy regulations, raised a $45M Series A led by a16z and Lightspeed
Kate Park / TechCrunch :
Q&A with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters on updating the company's famous culture memo, its advertising ambitions, bundling, game streaming, AI use cases, and more
[Verge] Let's start with Netflix. I feel like there are a lot of similarities between what happened on that side with cable and what is going on with streaming now. … See also Mediagazer
Chinese state media: OpenAI told Chinese developers that they will lose API access from July 9 as they are in a “region that OpenAI does not currently support”
Eduardo Baptista / Reuters :
A Google DeepMind study of ~200 observed incidents of misuse between January 2023 and March 2024 finds political deepfakes are the most common misuses of AI
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times :
Belgium-based TechWolf, which provides AI-powered internal talent management software, has raised a $42.75M Series B led by Felix Capital at a $150M valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Sources: Meituan considers raising $1B+ via a bond offering in 2024, as the food delivery and shopping platform seeks to repay some debt and fund its expansion
Bloomberg :
Alibaba creates an English language version of Modelscope, an Amazon Bedrock like service for building AI models launched in 2022, and claims to host 5K+ models
Simon Sharwood / The Register :
Source: OpenAI has changed its policies towards secondary share sales to let current and former employees participate equally in its annual tender offers
Hayden Field / CNBC :
Meta launches Meta AI in India with only English support, a week after Google debuted its Gemini app for Android in India with support for nine local languages
Klarity, which uses AI to let companies automate reviews of invoices and other documents, raised a $70M Series B led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross
Emergence, which is building “agent-based” systems that orchestrate tasks by routing them to first- and third-party AI systems, emerges from stealth with $97.2M
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch :
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.