Author: TechBrunch

As it gears up for the summer travel season, Uber on Tuesday unveiled a new feature that streamlines the planning process for riders, giving users a convenient way to search for destinations in another city and book a ride in advance before their plane even touches down. Uber's new feature is aimed at catering to a surge in summer travel and making it easier for travelers to arrange transportation before they arrive. Airlines for America predicts that about 271 million passengers will fly worldwide from June through August, up sharply from the 255 million that flew last summer. The company…

The tech world has long promised to democratize software development through “visual” tools that help non-coders develop digital products. In the past, this might have been something like Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or Dreamweaver. More recently, no-code and low-code startups have raised a ton of funding, widening access to the software development process. That's why Danish startup Toddle has entered the visual development space, launching a full-featured no-code platform alternative to Javascript frameworks with real-time collaboration, version control, and hosting capabilities. Ultimately, the company says it wants to “change the way software is built.” Todor in action Image…

If you've ever bought a sofa from an online store, have you ever thought about the house you see in the background? When launching a new collection, furniture brands usually spend a lot of money on photo shoots, a tedious and expensive process because it's not easy to move furniture around. That's why French startup Presti, which uses generative AI to turn single product images into lifelike photographs, has already raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Partech and with participation from several angel investors. “We immediately got on the phone and spoke to 50 potential users,” Presti…

Google has joined investors backing Moving Tech, the parent company of Nama Yatri, an open-source Indian ride-hailing app that is taking market share from Uber and Ola with its commission-free model. Nama Yatri runs on the Open Network for Digital Commerce, an interoperable system backed by the Indian government that aims to democratize e-commerce in the world's most populous country. Nama Yatri's app connects customers with autorickshaw and taxi drivers and doesn't charge either for the ride. Instead, the startup collects a small monthly fee from its driver-partners. In comparison, Uber and Ola charge drivers 25-30% of the trip fare…

The biggest update iOS 18 brings to Apple's iMessage and Messages app isn't AI Emoji, Genmoji, or the ability to send texts via satellite. It's finally the ability to send messages at a later date and time, and support for RCS, the next-generation messaging standard that replaces SMS. RCS makes texting with Android users a lot easier. These updates are now available in the public beta of iOS 18, which rolled out this week. Though they got lost amid a flurry of AI announcements and other user interface tweaks at WWDC 2024, these messaging features will have a major impact…

Apple's WWDC 2024 was packed with announcements about iOS 18, the next version of the iPhone operating system, introducing a ton of new features. The highlight is a set of customization options, such as the ability to arrange apps and widgets on the home screen and customize buttons. Other features include new text effects, the ability to lock and hide apps, a new way to manage your email inbox, the introduction of iMessages via satellite, and a major redesign of the Photos app. You can test many of these updates right now through the just-released iOS 18 public beta, but…

A TikTok glitch appears to be allowing some teens to access the TikTok Shop tab, even though TikTok's policies state that e-commerce offers should be limited to users over the age of 18. The issue occurs when teens lie about their age when signing up for TikTok by entering a date of birth that indicates they're already over 18, and then are prompted by their parent to pair their account using TikTok's built-in parental controls. Despite the pairing process, teens still have access to adult-only features. TikTok's parental controls are called Family Pairing, and allow adults to manage the teen's…

The shortage of affordable housing is a growing issue around the world, even in emerging markets where demand is high, in part because traditional developers and real estate companies are focused on serving luxury housing seekers and want to avoid the huge operating costs associated with affordable housing, which can eat into their gross margins over time. Lhoopa appears. The Singapore-based startup combines technology with decentralized operations to partner with local experts such as brokers and builders to solve problems for people looking to buy housing, especially affordable homes. The six-year-old startup launched in the Philippine market, where there is…

Former President Donald Trump on Monday picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate as he seeks to reclaim the job he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. Vance, best known for his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” worked for many years as a venture capitalist before leaving the industry after being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. After graduating from Yale Law School in 2013, Vance moved to San Francisco and served as a principal at Mithril Capital, a fund co-founded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Loyan. Mithril launched two funds, $540 million and $850 million, in 2013…

At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple split its keynote into two parts: the regular OS updates and a look at the company's AI features. Apple separated the two sections because Apple Intelligence features will be available starting this fall, meaning they likely won't be included in the 18.0 release. Major iOS updates usually coincide with new iPhone releases in September. The Apple Intelligence feature is also not available in the currently available developer beta, and it may be a while before it's actually available, which is why the current iOS 18 beta release feels like the first half of…