Author: TechBrunch

TikTok has suspended its gamification features in the European Union following intervention by the European Union. The announcement garnered little attention when it was made late Wednesday local time, with attention focused on TikTok's mounting legal troubles in the United States. TikTok's move comes as the EU launches an investigation into the so-called “tasks and rewards” mechanism of the TikTok Lite app, citing concerns about addictive design that could pose mental health risks to young people. It took place just two days after. This feature allows users to earn points by watching and liking TikTok videos. TikTok's parent company, ByteDance,…

It remains to be seen whether cloud gaming will be the next big thing. The appeal is obvious. The game you're playing runs in a nearby data center, and the video output is streamed directly to your local device. When you interact with the game, everything is relayed to the data center. When it works, it's a great experience. A flexible and easy way to play games on multiple devices without purchasing new hardware. Therefore, many companies have launched services that allow you to play games remotely. These include Nvidia's GeForce Now service, Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, and…

As the world's population continues to grow, many companies are addressing the need to feed everyone. Paris-based Edonia is one of the startups working on creating protein raw materials using microalgae. Edonia joins companies such as Bevel, AlgaeCore Technologies, Algenuity and NewFish that are tapping into the global commercial algae market expected to be valued at $25.4 billion by 2033. The company is currently funding an initiative with €2 million ($2.1 million) to produce plant-based ingredients from microalgae biomass produced from spirulina and chlorella, which Valentin claims are more nutritious than meat. “We're making progress,” Edonia CEO Hugo Valentin told…

Swiggy plans to raise $1.25 billion in an initial public offering and is seeking shareholder approval, the Indian food delivery and instant commerce startup said in a local regulatory filing. . The Bangalore-headquartered startup, which competes with listed Zomato and StepStone Group-backed unicorn Zepto, has raised $450 million through a new share issue and $800 million from existing backers in its IPO. The company said in a filing that it plans to offer the company's shares. Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The Indian startup ecosystem has been eagerly awaiting Swiggy's public launch scheduled for later this year. Swiggy's backers include Prosus,…

Meta's Twitter/X rival, Threads, is growing at a steady pace. The social network now has more than 150 million monthly active users, up from 130 million in February, Mark Zuckerberg said in the company's first quarter 2024 financial results. mentioned at the press conference. Since its last quarterly earnings report, Threads has made significant progress toward integrating with ActivityPub, a decentralized protocol that powers networks such as Mastodon. In March, the company began allowing U.S.-based users age 18 and older to connect their accounts to Fediverse, allowing their posts to appear on other servers. The company also plans to release…

Advances in generative AI are taking the technology world by storm. Biotech investors are making big bets that similar computational techniques could revolutionize drug discovery. On Tuesday, Foresite Labs, an affiliate of ARCH Venture Partners and Foresite Capital, announced the formation of Xaira Therapeutics and $1 billion in funding for the AI ​​biotech. Other investors in the new company, which has been operating in stealth mode for about six months, include F-Prime, NEA, Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures and SV Angel. Zaira CEO Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a former Stanford University president and Genentech's chief…

If there's one big takeaway from last night's Rabbit R1 launch event, it's this: Hardware can be fun again. After a decade of unquestionable dominance of smartphones, there is renewed excitement in consumer electronics. The wisdom and longevity of individual products and form factors, while important, can be set aside for a moment. Just sit back and enjoy the show. Despite flying out of the airport almost every month, last night was my first night at the TWA Hotel, located at the maze-like junction of JFK Airport's Terminal 5. After all, people rarely stay in hotels where they live. The…

JioCinema, India's popular on-demand video streaming service, introduced new monthly subscription plans on Wednesday. The lowest level costs just 35 cents. The revamped pricing strategy comes as the market-leading service seeks to put more pressure on rivals such as Netflix and Prime Video and “redefine the premium entertainment narrative.” The service, backed by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has introduced two monthly pricing plans. One costs INR 89 ($1), which features support for four simultaneous screen accesses, and the other costs INR 29 for single screen access. Aside from simultaneous viewing, both tiers offer identical features, including an ad-free experience,…

AI is greatly enhancing coding, and developers are embracing it. In a recent StackOverflow poll, 44% of software engineers said they currently use AI tools as part of their development process, and 26% said they plan to use them in the near future. Gartner estimates that more than half of organizations are currently piloting or have deployed AI-driven coding assistants, and that 75% of developers will use some form of coding assistant by 2028. . Igor Ostrovsky, a former Microsoft software developer, believes that soon there will be no developer who does not use AI in their workflows. “Software engineering…

While much attention is focused on space as orbit develops into a thriving business ecosystem, Radical is bringing things a little closer to Earth, but not too close. Its high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft aims to succeed where Facebook's infamous Aquila failed by honing its technology and reaching more markets. It's hard to believe that Facebook's ambitious plan to use solar-powered planes to provide internet access to far-flung places began 10 years ago. However, that dream fell apart when the project fell through, but the concept remained. Ultralight aircraft in the stratosphere could theoretically stay in the air almost forever by powering…