Author: TechBrunch

Apple announced at its WWDC 2024 event on Monday that several new features coming to iOS 18 will make it easier to customize your iPhone's interface. The company will now support long-requested features like the ability to place app icons and widgets anywhere on your home screen, as well as support for dark mode icons with different color schemes. Previously, iOS app icons were fixed to a grid, which forced workarounds like white space and transparent iPhone widgets to let users organize their screens however they wanted. But now that you can move icons around the screen and place them…

Apple has released the first details about the next major release of iOS, the operating system designed specifically for iPhones. The company is holding its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week, kicking off with an online conference focused on software releases. As expected, this is a pivotal moment for the mobile platform, as iOS 18 will have a strong focus on artificial intelligence. “We're thrilled to introduce groundbreaking new intelligence capabilities that will inspire developers, delight users and make our platform smarter and more useful than ever,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in introducing the event. But before talking about…

Apple kicked off what promises to be a packed WWDC 2024 event today with some visionOS announcements, and at the top of that list is the ability to turn existing images into spatial photos. The new feature uses machine learning to build additional angles, and marks a change from the existing method, which required taking the image with the iPhone 15 Pro or Vision Pro itself. The move is an attempt to increase content creation for Apple's headsets, which it announced at last year's WWDC, allowing users to convert old photos taken on older devices, following the company's long-awaited delayed…

At WWDC 2024 in Cupertino, Apple announced updates to visionOS, the operating system that runs on the Vision Pro. The upgraded visionOS (visionOS 2) brings productivity improvements and, as Apple describes it, “new immersive experiences.” One of them is that it leverages AI and machine learning technology to turn your photos into interactive experiences, “spatializing” your photos from normal photos. Another is new navigation options. With visionOS 2, you can switch to the home screen with just a tap, or flip your hand to bring up the control center and access notifications, shortcuts, and more. visionOS 2 adds train support…

Security researchers say they believe financially motivated cybercriminals stole “vast amounts of data” from hundreds of customers of cloud storage giant Snowflake, who host their vast data banks on the company. Mandiant, an incident response firm that is working with Snowflake to investigate the recent spate of data thefts, said in a blog post on Monday that the two companies have notified about 165 customers that their data may have been stolen. This is the first time Snowflake has publicly disclosed how many customers were affected since the account hacking began in April. Snowflake has said little about the attack…

A final call and a big shout out to all early stage founders: now is the time to dig deep and take advantage of TechCrunch Disrupt 2024's unparalleled opportunity: the Startup Battlefield 200. Applications for Startup Battlefield 200 close today The Startup Battlefield 200 experience is not just good, it's amazing. But if you don't apply here by 11:59 PM PDT today, you won't know the results. Why should you buckle down and commit? Thousands of early-stage startups compete for participation, but only the top 200, carefully vetted by the TechCrunch editorial team, earn a coveted spot on the San…

If you’re looking for startup ideas that can help slow climate change, you might become an expert in home energy assessments. At least, that was the case for the founders of Kelvin, a French startup that uses computer vision and machine learning to facilitate energy efficiency audits of homes. Clémentine Lalande, Pierre Joly and Guillaume Sempé started to look at energy efficiency audits of homes, because renovation works have a huge impact on reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. But like other companies in the construction industry, most companies in this sector do not use technology to improve their processes.…

Privacy watchdogs in the UK and Canada have launched a joint investigation into the 23andMe data breach last year. On Monday, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) announced investigations into genetic testing companies, saying the organizations would leverage “the combined resources and expertise of both agencies.” 23andMe disclosed a security incident last year that affected the genetic and ancestry data of 6.9 million users, about half of its total user base. The company said in its data breach notice that it did not detect the hackers' activity for about five months, between…

The UAE faces a good problem: The real estate market is booming and there's no shortage of buyers. According to Deloitte, rents in Dubai are expected to rise 23% year-on-year in 2024, returning to pre-pandemic levels, while sales are up 18%, a trend that's set to continue for the next few years. Some of that demand is no doubt spreading to neighboring Abu Dhabi, so much so that its sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company, recently participated in a $14 million Series A funding round raised by Dubai-based Stake, which plans to bring its fractional real estate investment platform to…

The folks at Collaborative Fund certainly like a challenge. They don't specialize in SaaS, VCs' favorite business model, but instead prefer to invest in areas like climate, health, and food. Plus, they like consumer-focused companies, whose fickle attitudes can add another layer of complexity to any business plan. Oh, and they decided to raise their sixth flagship fund at a time when limited partners are getting increasingly stingy. It turns out that wasn't a bad strategy after all: Collaborative recently raised $125 million for its sixth flagship fund, a process that was completed in just over 90 days, the firm…