Author: TechBrunch

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple on Thursday for monopolistic conduct. The complaint accuses Apple of shaping privacy and security practices in ways that financially benefit it. In particular, where the Department of Justice refers to Apple's privacy and security legitimacy as an “elastic shield,” the following quote jumps out: “Apple deploys its privacy and security rationale as an elastic shield that can be stretched and contracted to serve Apple's financial and business interests,” the paper said. “Apple glosses over privacy, security, and consumer preferences to justify its anticompetitive behavior. In fact, Apple is the only company that can…

WhatsApp announced Thursday that users can now pin up to three messages in a chat for easy access. Previously, users could only pin one message on top of a conversation with a contact or group. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp head Will Cathcart announced the feature on their respective WhatsApp channels. The chat app first rolled out the ability to pin messages in one-on-one and group conversations last December. Users can pin all types of messages, including text, images, and polls. Pinned messages are very useful for quickly getting information like a friend's address or the location of a…

After three years of fundraising, the Global Fund has finally closed its first fund of 300 million euros, which is 50 million euros short of its 2021 target, but against the backdrop of war and economic uncertainty. , it is still a considerable amount. The VC was originally born out of the founders of Ecosia, an independent search engine where search inquiries fund tree planting. If you want to compare, Norsken VC is a $130 million impact VC covering climate, while Demeter Partners last raised €250 million in funding focused on climate. The Global Fund is supported by the European…

It's unclear publicly how much exactly Microsoft is paying all of Inflection AI's investors as part of a bizarrely structured deal that fleeces its co-founders, much of its staff, and the rights to use its technology. It has not been. And Microsoft declined to comment when contacted. However, anonymous sources say the company is shelling out around $650 million. That includes $620 million in non-exclusive license fees for the technology (meaning Inflection is free to license it elsewhere) and an agreement not to sue Microsoft for poaching it. Inflection's $30 million. It also includes co-founders Mustafa Suleiman and Karen Simonian.…

It's so easy to craft the perfect venture capital pitch that there's an entire industry of consultants out there to help founders deck out their decks. TechCrunch has a long-running Pitch Deck Deconstruction series to help founders, and you can find countless Twitter threads on the subject. It's easy? in that case. Not only do venture capital expectations change with the market, but also different types of startups in different industries and at different stages of development are appropriately highlighting their strengths and momentum against implicit venture expectations. I would like to confirm. As a result, pitching advice is rarely…

Many of those building Web3 feel that the traditional web ecosystem leverages users and their data. While this benefits many companies, data miners, and even his AI models, some consider it a step too far. Some of the problems with the web as it currently exists (some Web3-centric people are calling it Web2.0) is that it's centralized, says Edge and Node CEO and co-founder said Tegan Kline on TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast. “A small number of large companies own and control everything we see online, own our data and digital footprint, and can deplatform us. And so many companies want…

Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. Get a roundup of TechCrunch's biggest and most important cryptocurrency articles delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12pm PT. Subscribe here. Hello. Welcome to the TechCrunch Crypto Newsletter. This week, Starbucks ended its Odyssey NFT program launched in 2022, Solana continues its meme coin momentum, and India faces further challenges in the cryptocurrency space due to a government crackdown. Please see below for details. this week's web3 Cryptocurrency Exchange OKX Suspends Services in India Solana Leads New Round of Meme Coin Mania How Cryptocurrency Exchange Backpack Climbed its Path to…

In its wide-ranging antitrust lawsuit against Apple and its iPhone business, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how Apple's large financial operations, specifically its use of Apple Pay, to prohibit competition and reap huge profits in the process. They have set specific goals for what they are doing. Annual revenue is in the billions. The Department of Justice says this not only stifles competition among payment services, but also that the fees banks and others pay to use Apple Pay make it difficult for other types of services that could compete with Apple. They argue that this potentially inhibits…

Threads has officially entered the Fediverse.meta announced On Thursday, it was announced that a beta experience for sharing Threads accounts to the Fediverse is now open to users 18 and older with public profiles. This integration can only be launched in three countries, including the United States, Canada, and Japan. The company previously announced in December that it was testing the feature on networks that support Mastodon and other ActivityPub protocols. To opt in to the integration, go to your account settings and toggle fediverse sharing on. A pop-up will appear explaining what Fediverse is. The company describes Fediverse as…

A lawsuit filed Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice against Apple cites the iPhone maker's fight against Beeper, an app aimed at providing iMessage to Android users. Beeper abandoned its mission late last year when Apple blocked its app efforts. In its lawsuit, the Justice Department cited the dispute as an example of Apple controlling “the actions and innovations of third parties to protect itself from competition.” Beeper, launched by Pebble smartwatch founder Eric Migicovsky, has successfully reverse-engineered the iMessage protocol and brought support for end-to-end encrypted blue bubble iMessage chats to Android users. Beeper functioned as a true…