Author: TechBrunch

A federal appeals court has ruled that geofencing warrants are unconstitutional, a decision that could limit the use of controversial search warrants in several US states. A ruling Friday from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, said geofencing warrants are “blatantly prohibited by the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Civil rights and privacy advocates applauded the ruling, which currently effectively makes the use of geofencing warrants illegal in three US states. Geofencing warrants, also known as “reverse” search warrants, allow police to draw a shape on a map of a…

The one and only Parker Conrad stopped by TechCrunch's Found this week to talk about his company, Rippling, and the X controversy that's making waves in Silicon Valley. When I asked him about his experience founding Rippling, an all-in-one workforce management platform, after he was forced out of his previous company, Zenefits, he didn't hesitate to talk about it. In some ways, he said, Rippling is the company he always wanted and would have allowed him to stay at Zenefits, except for a few differences. “One of the great things you can do as an entrepreneur when starting a company…

Labeling and annotation platforms may not get as much attention as flashy new generative AI models. But they're essential: the data that many models train on must be labeled, otherwise the models will not be able to interpret that data during the training process. Annotation is a massive task, with the large, sophisticated datasets in use requiring thousands or even millions of annotations. To ease that burden, Eric Landau and Ulrik Hansen founded Encord, which they call a “data development” platform for businesses to manage and prepare data for AI models. Now the company has raised another $30 million in…

Asia-Pacific has long been an important market for wealth managers, thanks to its many developing countries and a fast-growing retail investment market. But there is still a huge market to be captured: About 40% to 45% of retail financial assets in the region will be held in cash and deposits as of 2023, according to a McKinsey report. Singapore-based investment platform Syfe has been working to make wealth management more accessible in the region by offering a range of investment products and options through its smartphone app. The company has now raised $27 million in a Series C round to…

Following on from launching photo and text Stories last year, Twitch is now introducing video Stories, allowing streamers to shoot 60-second videos in the Twitch mobile app or upload videos from their camera roll. Twitch sees the new feature as a way for streamers to take their audience with them when they're on the go or away from their streaming environment. Streamers typically share short, behind-the-scenes content in places like Instagram Stories and maybe TikTok, but now Twitch wants streamers to share on its own platform as well. Snapchat popularized the Stories format over a decade ago, and since then…

Outside of science fiction movies, there's no precedent for AI systems being used to kill people or launch cyberattacks, but some lawmakers want to put in place safeguards before bad actors can make that dystopian future a reality. California's bill, SB 1047, aims to prevent real-world disasters caused by AI systems and is due for a final vote in the state senate in late August. While this seems like a goal we can all agree on, SB 1047 has drawn the ire of Silicon Valley players big and small, including venture capitalists, major tech industry associations, researchers, and startup founders.…

ArborXR, a startup that helps companies remotely manage AR and VR devices, figured that enterprise customers would be its primary target. Now, that bet is paying off: On Tuesday, the company announced it had secured $12 million in Series A funding, which it will use to develop and expand its platform. The new round was led by Mercury Fund and Cortado Ventures, with participation from Impact Venture Capital and Lewis & Clark Ventures. To date, ArborXR has raised more than $25 million. The hype around XR (extended reality), which includes AR and VR, is still early days among consumers, but…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been a top priority for brands for over a decade, helping them rank high on search result pages and get as much attention as possible for their websites and products. But search is changing, and with consumers increasingly turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude for search, brands need a new strategy. Profound was launched to help brands get a better understanding of how they appear in AI search by tracking common search queries. For example, if a user is in the automotive industry, the dashboard will automatically include search data like “what is…

Music streaming service SoundCloud has launched a merchandise marketplace called the SoundCloud Store, which not only sells SoundCloud-themed items but also serves as a service for artists to present their own designs. The store's first wave features designs from Wiz Khalifa, Denzel Curry, wolfacejoeyy, Bktherula and Armani White, and the company has also partnered with select artists on SoundCloud's paid service for artists, Next Pro, to allow them to submit their own designs. According to SoundCloud, artists submit designs, and the company creates mockups, produces merchandise, and lists the products in the SoundCloud store. Additionally, the company also handles fan…

Health care costs in the United States are rising sharply, but the share of costs that fall on the patient's shoulders is growing even faster: Just 20 years ago, patient fees accounted for just 5% of hospital and physician revenues; by 2017, those fees accounted for 35% of revenues. This trend has inevitably left millions of Americans with huge medical debt, which the independent health policy research firm KFF estimates now stands at at least $220 billion. While there's no direct solution to this spiraling debt problem, PayZen, a five-year-old startup, aims to make medical costs more affordable by allowing…