Author: TechBrunch

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will launch a $1 billion venture capital (VC) fund of funds for international and regional venture capital funds, the sovereign wealth fund announced on Monday. According to QIA, the program aims to attract international VC funds and startups to Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with a particular focus on the fintech, edtech and healthcare sectors. Similar to a typical fund of funds structure, QIA initiatives invest indirectly through other VC funds, but also through targeted co-investments with participating funds. Sovereign wealth funds are increasing the number of startups in Qatar and attracting VC…

A few days later The notorious LockBit ransomware group, based in Russia, was taken offline by a major law enforcement operation over the years, but has returned to the dark web with a new leak site and numerous new victims. I'm here. In a verbose and rambling statement released Saturday, the remaining Rockbit administrators blamed last week's turmoil on their own. A global law enforcement effort reveals how ransomware gangs exploit vulnerabilities in public websites, including the dark web leak site used by ransomware gangs to publish data stolen from victims. An operation was launched to hijack the gang's infrastructure.…

A team led by a former Twitter engineer is reimagining how AI can be used to help people process news and information. Particle.news, which entered private beta last weekend, is a new startup that offers a personalized “multi-perspective” news reading experience, leveraging AI to not only summarize news, but how to compensate it fairly. We aim to do so. Author and publisher, or so it is claimed. Particle has yet to reveal its business model, but it arrives at a time of growing concern about the impact of AI on the rapidly shrinking news ecosystem. News summarized by AI could…

An ongoing cyber attack at U.S. health tech giant Change Healthcare that has disrupted hospitals and pharmacies across the United States over the past week was caused by ransomware, a TechCrunch investigation has found. The healthcare technology giant blamed the BlackCat ransomware group for the cyberattack, said a healthcare executive with knowledge of the incident briefed by company executives over the phone. Reuters first reported the news linking the cyber attack to BlackCat, citing two people familiar with the incident. A Change Healthcare spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. BlackCat (also known as ALPHV) has not yet…

Instagram is developing an opt-in “Friend Map” feature that will allow users to see the locations of their friends in real time, a Meta spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The company says the feature, similar to Snapchat's Snap Map, is an internal prototype and has not been tested externally. This feature was first discovered by Reverse's engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who often discovers social media features in development prior to their official release. If Instagram plans to officially launch Friends Map, it would be copying yet another popular feature from Snapchat, after copying the app's core Stories feature in 2016.…

Threads, Instagram's Twitter-like app, has edged out competitors It's starting to look like. It feels more private than using the public “Like” (heart icon). Bookmarks are a popular feature for original X users and heavy news consumers. Bookmarks allow you to manage collections of links and posts that you need to refer to for any reason. Probably because of a longer article I plan to read later. Or important information you want to remember. X also allows paid subscribers to organize their bookmarks into different folders for easier access. Image credits: thread The bookmark icon is at the bottom of…

Shortly after the successful completion of a grid-connected geothermal power plant in Nevada, Fervo Energy is raising $221 million, according to SEC filings exclusively obtained by TechCrunch. The Houston-based company is one of several stepped-up geothermal startups racing to harness the heat deep in the Earth's crust. Previous geothermal power plants only scratched the surface by accessing hot springs or shallow rock formations. Fervo uses directional drilling techniques pioneered by the oil and gas industry to extend wells far beyond their surface footprint. Not surprisingly, the company's management team includes veterans in the field. Once these wells are drilled, Fervo…

With the Vision Pro finally available, many consumers are interested in Apple's AR/VR headset and the apps that come with it. Some are from familiar companies like Disney+, Max, TikTok, Zoom, and Reddit, but there are also a number of independent developers who have released apps optimized for visionOS. From spatial puzzle games to apps that let you view your interior design projects in 3D, here are some VisionOS apps from small developers that you can try out once your headset arrives. We will add more to this list as they are released. game soul spire Image credits: soul assembly…

Following Microsoft's investment in and partnership with French large-scale language modeling startup Mistral AI, the company is working hard to shake off its image of stifling competition through its deep partnership with (and financial stake in) OpenAI. I keep trying. Today, the company launched a new framework it calls the “AI Access Principles.” This is an 11-point plan that Microsoft says will “define how AI data center infrastructure and other critical AI assets around the world will be operated.” These points cover areas such as building and operating app stores that allow companies to choose from a variety of LLMs…

Two easily exploitable flaws in a popular remote access tool used by more than 1 million companies around the world are currently in mass exploitation, with hackers exploiting them to improve security, security researchers say. It is said to be deploying ransomware and stealing sensitive data. Cybersecurity giant Mandiant said in a post Friday that it has “confirmed mass exploitation” of two flaws in ConnectWise ScreenConnect, a popular remote access tool that allows IT departments and technicians to remotely provide technical support directly to customer systems over the Internet. ” he posted. The two vulnerabilities are CVE-2024-1709, an authentication bypass…