Author: TechBrunch
All companies and organizations that publish AI models must decide whether to set boundaries on what they will and will not discuss. Goody-2 takes this exploration of ethics to its extreme by refusing to talk about anything. The chatbot is clearly a satire of what some perceive to be coddling by AI service providers, and is a no-brainer when the topic of conversation could put the model in a dangerous state. Department providers (but not all) can and do (but not always) err on the safe side. For example, asking about the history of napalm is very safe, but asking…
The startup that develops the phone app for casino resort giant WinStar has secured a public database that was leaking customers' personal information onto the open web. Oklahoma-based WinStar bills itself as “the world's largest casino” by square foot. The casino and hotel resort also offers an app called My WinStar. The app allows guests to access self-service options, reward points and loyalty benefits, and casino winnings during their hotel stay. The app was developed by a Nevada software startup called Dexiga. The startup left one of its log databases on the internet without a password, so anyone with the…
Oregon is coming soon Becomes the newest state to pass a Right to Repair law. Last month, Google announced its support in an open letter, calling Senate Bill 1596 “a compelling model for other states to follow.” The bill, sponsored by a group of six state senators and representatives, is inspired in part by California's SB 244, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in October. Apple publicly supported the bill. This is rare support from the tech giants, who love to push through this bill at the last minute. However, Cupertino is less than enthusiastic about Oregon's law including…
Twitter/X alternative Bluesky is gearing up for one of social media's biggest weekends with the launch of a custom feed tailored for Super Bowl fans. One feed will focus on conversations about the big game itself, and the other will feature her expected to be in attendance to cheer on her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Also includes news about Taylor Swift. Swift's high-profile attendance at Kelce's games throughout the season has divided opinion among sports fans, especially after Kelce's comments that the NFL is “going too far,” and the NFL's coverage of the pop star. decided…
Welcome to Startups Weekly — A weekly roundup of everything you can't miss from the world of startups. sign up here Delivered to your inbox every Friday. Oh my god, how about another Friday? I feel like just yesterday he wrote one of these newsletters. But there's a lot of exciting movement in the startup world. There are highs, lows, drama, and fun new trends. My big contribution this week was a deep dive into the world of crowdfunding and whether you should use it to raise money for your startup. So what else happened this week? . . The…
Some people watch the Super Bowl because of the actual football game. Many people watch this event for the halftime show or as an excuse to eat wings and other game day snacks. Some people watch this to find a better software solution for their company. probably? Papaya Global hopes so. The late-stage global employee payments startup is running his 30-second ad on Sunday. The ad aims to highlight the company's software that helps other companies comply with payroll for cross-border teams. The commercial takes place inside an office and is a relatively lackluster Super Bowl ad compared to Super…
Meta doesn't want its new app, Threads, to become a second Twitter, full of heated political debate and the toxicity that comes with it. In today's announcement, the company detailed how it will approach recommending political content on both Instagram and its sister app Threads, Elon Musk's X competitor. That means we will no longer impose politics on our users. Similar to Meta's existing policies on Facebook, the Instagram and Threads recommendation engines will not proactively suggest political posts to users by default, the company announced Friday. At Facebook, Meta has reduced the amount of political content that appears in…
great rollback It is here. The phrase refers to how big tech companies began cutting back on some of their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's murder. Just recently, Zoom announced that it had fired his DEI-focused team. Google and Meta have started cutting funding to their DEI programs, and funding for Black founders continues to decline. Lawsuits targeting DEI programs are being filed, and while billionaires debate X over whether their DEI efforts are discriminatory, companies are being forced to hide their inclusion efforts. ing. It's clear this year will be a…
2023 was the year social networks realized that they were sitting on massive troves of data. And some companies, such as Twitter (now X) and Reddit, decided to change their terms to shut out third-party experiences on these platforms. In the process, they also put a price on their data — something they believe is highly valuable today as it can be used to train AI models. After talking to several third-party developers who built apps and services on top of these larger social networks, we learned that there are mixed feelings among the developers about building experiences around social…
When I was… As a student in the UK, I remember that it was common for some people, especially students living in short-term accommodation, to rent home appliances such as washing machines and televisions. Israeli startup Xyte (pronounced “excite”) believes a return to this kind of Hardware-as-a-Service model is the way forward for manufacturers whose profits are constantly under pressure, and has raised $30 million. I just procured it. If software-as-a-service works well, why doesn't it work well in hardware? Xyte let me look at a deck of 27 slides to see how it worked. Were you excited about Zayt's…