Author: TechBrunch

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) could face a critical response from MPs in its next parliamentary mandate, with key parts of the region's data protection and privacy regime under attack from industry lobbyists. I was warned that there would be. Wojciech Wiewiorowski, the head of the regulator that oversees compliance with data protection rules by European Union institutions, warned on Tuesday: “We are making a very strong attack on the very principles.” . He was responding to questions from members of the European Parliament's Human Rights Committee who were concerned about the risk of watering down the European Union's…

At an event in London on Tuesday, Meta confirmed that it plans an initial release of Llama 3, a next-generation large-scale language model used to power generative AI assistants, within the next month. . This confirms a report published by Information magazine on Monday that Meta is nearing launch. “Within the next month, in fact within a much shorter period of time, and hopefully within a very short period of time, we hope to begin rolling out Llama 3, our new suite of next-generation infrastructure models,” said Meta's global president. said one Nick Clegg. He described what sounds like the…

WordPress.com owner Automattic plans to acquire Beeper, which develops an iMessage-on-Android solution that was cited by the Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The deal, valued at $125 million, is Automattic's second acquisition of a cross-platform messaging solution, following its acquisition of Texts.com last October, according to people familiar with the matter. The acquisition creates a new head of messaging in Texts.com founder Kishan Bagaria Automattic. This role will be filled by Beeper founder Eric Migicovsky, who was previously the founder of Pebble smartwatches and a Y Combinator partner. Reached for comment, Automattic said it has begun…

X (formerly Twitter) is Expand passkey supportprovides all iOS users around the world with a new and more secure login method compared to traditional passwords.This option was first rolled out in January, but only for iOS users in the US In the update of X @safety account The company announced Monday that Passkey is now available as a login option for iOS users around the world. Similar technology has already been added to other popular apps and services, including PayPal, TikTok, WhatsApp, and GitHub. Last fall, Google made passkeys the default sign-in option for all users. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and…

Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) plans to back up to 21 growth-stage companies across the continent after closing its first fund for $60 million. The pan-African VC reached the milestone with new support from Nigeria's SCM Capital (formerly Sterling Capital Markets Limited) and its only foreign investor. Other recent investors (limited partners) include Taiyo Holdings and his C2C Global Education Japan. This new capital injection is supported by major Japanese institutions including SBI Holdings, Toyota Tsusho, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and Japan ICT Fund, and is the first installment of the fund in 2022 and last year,…

When hackers called the company they claimed their organization had breached, they felt the same frustration most of us feel when calling the front desk. The phone call between a hacker claiming to be a representative of ransomware gang DragonForce and a victim company employee was posted on a dark website by the ransomware gang in an attempt to pressure the company to pay the ransom demand. In reality, this call recording merely shows a rather hilarious and failed attempt to blackmail and intimidate rank-and-file employees of a company. The recording also shows that ransomware gangs are always looking for…

Nearly 20 years after finding success helping startups build products, Canadian interface design company Metalab has launched Metalab Ventures to invest in a number of product-driven startups. Serial entrepreneur and investor Andrew Wilkinson founded Metalab in 2006. The company has supported product innovation by companies like Slack, Coinbase, Uber, and Tumblr. Metalab often works with startups, acting as a co-founder and helping get the product off the ground. Metalab was then “freed up” to grow, CEO Luke Des Cotes told TechCrunch. Metalab had a record year in 2023 and was involved in the development of his 40 products that were…

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google's DeepMind AI Institute, said in February that putting large amounts of compute into the types of AI algorithms currently widely used could lead to diminishing returns. I was warned that there would be. Hassabis said that reaching the “next level” of AI, so to speak, will require breakthroughs in basic research that create viable alternatives to today's entrenched approaches. Former Tesla engineer George Morgan agrees. So he founded the startup Symbolica AI to do just that. “Traditional deep learning and generative language models require unimaginable scale, time, and energy to produce useful results,” Morgan told…

Google's Cloud Next 2024 event runs through Thursday in Las Vegas. That means lots of new cloud-focused news from Google's AI-powered chatbot, Gemini, on everything from AI to his DevOps and security. Last year's event was the first in-person Cloud Next since 2019, and Google took to the stage to share its continuation in AI, including Duet AI for Gmail and many other debuts, as well as the expansion of generative AI into its security product line. demonstrated their efforts. From other enterprise updates and debuts. Don't have time to watch the Google Cloud Next livestream? That's okay; we've summarized…

If you think choosing the color of your nail polish or the ingredients in your face cream have nothing to do with blockchain, think again. Kiki World, a beauty startup founded last year, wants consumers to co-develop products and co-own the company with the help of web3 technology. On Tuesday, Los Angeles-based Kiki raised $7 million in a seed round from Andreessen Horowitz Cryptocurrency Fund and Estée Lauder Companies' New Incubation Ventures, as well as backers including Orangedao and 2Punks Capital. announced that it had been procured. Jana Bobosikova, co-founder of Kiki, said she believes being a loyal user of…