Author: TechBrunch
With all eyes on how the new Trump administration will work with ChinaTech in the coming years, neighboring China to the north has dealt a blow to one of the country's biggest apps. Canada has ordered the closure of ByteDance's Canadian operations, specifically the offices of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc., citing national security risks. These risks do not extend to the app itself. Consumers can still download, use, and create content on TikTok, and businesses can still advertise on TikTok. “The decision to use social media applications and platforms is a personal choice,” François-Philippe Champagne, the country's Minister of Innovation,…
Solar energy is booming, and that's good news for Glint Solar. Norwegian Software-as-a-Service startup helps energy giants and large-scale solar developers such as E.ON, Recurrent Energy and Statkraft reduce the time it takes to plan and pre-engineer solar installations We've built a platform to help you accelerate. Toward renewable energy. Glint's software ingests data from multiple sources to speed the evaluation of solar projects. The platform features adaptable layout design and yield estimation, as well as country-specific geographic information system (GIS) data and terrain analysis to help solar developers easily evaluate potential sites. Cloud-based collaboration features give your team access…
The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping away from their day-to-day operations, marking the end of an era at one of Sweden's most successful consumer technology companies. Alan Mamedi and Nami Zaringaram (pictured above), who co-founded Truecaller in 2009, hired Risit Jhunjhunwala, the company's head of product and head of its significant India operations, to run the company in January. take over the rights. Both founders will remain with the company as strategic advisors and directors. “We are approaching 500 million users and are confident we can reach 1 billion users within the next few years,” Mamedi…
Apple has released iOS 18.2, the AI-powered version of its latest mobile operating system, to public beta users. This update includes new features such as an AI emoji generator app called Genmoji, Image Playground AI image app, ChatGPT and Siri integration, and visual search using the iPhone 16 camera. Previously, these features were only available to developers. Consumers can now line up to try out new AI features, but there are some caveats. Some of them require you to join a waiting list to gain access. The AI features and tools included in the new iPhone 16 and other supported…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday that it will take action against online cash app and neobank Dave for engaging in “misleading marketing to deceive consumers.” At issue is how Dave marketed the rarely offered $500 cash advance to consumers and the “rush fee” he charged customers if they wanted their money right away. The FTC said Dave's marketing implied that the cash advance was “instant,” did not disclose the fees involved until the consumer completed the sign-up process and paid, and used terms such as “on the spot.” Claimed that the service used was misleading. Dave accesses his…
On Tuesday, two AI startups, xAI and Perplexity, tried to convince the world that their AI chatbots are good enough to serve as sources of accurate, real-time information during a high-stakes presidential election. Ta. Elon Musk's Grok failed almost instantly, providing incorrect answers about the outcome of the race before voting ended. Meanwhile, Perplexity provided helpful real-time election information and maps throughout the night, linked to trusted resources, and provided historical context where needed. Perplexity took a risky gamble, but it paid off. Late last week, the startup announced the launch of an election information hub featuring real-time maps that…
OpenAI acquires Chat.com, adding to its collection of high-profile domain names. As of this morning, Chat.com now redirects to ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the acquisition in an email. Chat.com is one of the oldest domains on the web, having been registered in September 1996. Last year, it was reported that Hubspot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah acquired Chat.com for $15.5 million, making it one of the top two. Domain sales published to date. The domain name does not appear to have changed hands since being sold last year, indicating that OpenAI is no longer hosting ChatGPT…
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and owner of The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X, is using his vast wealth and influence to support Donald Trump in this election. It has moved sharply to the right in support of the next president. , take up the megaphone with X and influence the outcome of the election. Musk's endorsement comes despite Trump's anti-EV stance and climate change skepticism, a pivot point from Musk and Trump's relationship years ago. . Musk served on two advisory committees during President Trump's first term, but resigned from both in protest of Trump's…
Hello everyone, welcome to TechCrunch's regular AI newsletter. If you'd like to have this sent to your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. It was surprisingly easy to create a convincing audio deepfake of Kamala Harris on Election Day. It cost $5 and took less than two minutes. This shows how cheap and ubiquitous generative AI has opened the floodgates of disinformation. Creating a Harris deepfake was not my original goal. I was trying out Cartesia's Voice Changer. This is a model that transforms your voice into another while preserving the original prosody. That second voice could be a “clone”…
Pinstripe aims to reimagine the used goods market by offering sellers the opportunity to have both a digital storefront and a physical retail store. The platform, launched in June, offers an alternative approach compared to other marketplaces such as Archive, Depop, Facebook Marketplace, and Poshmark. With Pinstripe, sellers bring their clothing to a local consignment store, vintage shop, or retail store, where store employees handle the delivery process, freeing sellers from the burden of dealing with in-person interactions. It will be released. Pinstripe also recently introduced an automated offer system that uses an AI-powered assistant to manage the bidding and…