The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ended a long-running investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system after looking at hundreds of crashes where it was used incorrectly. Thirteen of these crashes were fatal, and “many more” involved major injuries. At the same time, the NHTSA is starting a new review to see if the fix Tesla made to the Autopilot recall in December works well enough. In papers made public on Friday, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation said it had finished “an extensive body of work” that showed “Tesla’s weak driver engagement system was not appropriate for Autopilot’s permissive…
Author: David
Google Cloud, Google’s cloud computing business, had a hugely successful fiscal quarter, way above what analysts had predicted. This caused Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to see its stock rise more than 13% after regular trading hours. In the first quarter of 2024, Google Cloud’s income jumped 28% to $9.57 billion. This was due to the high demand for generative AI tools that use cloud infrastructure, services, and apps. That keeps the division’s good run going. In the previous quarter (Q4 2023) it saw year-over-year growth of 25.66%. It went from $191 million to $900 million, which is a growth of…
One reliable source close to the deal says that xAI, Elon Musk’s 10-month-old AI rival to OpenAI, is raising $6 billion at a pre-money value of $18 billion. If the terms of the deal don’t change, the deal should go through in the next few weeks. Investors will get a quarter of the company. The terms of the deal have already been changed once. Late last week, Jared Birchall, who runs Musk’s family office, told potential investors that xAI was raising $3 billion at a $15 billion value before the money was raised. Because so many people wanted to get…
Meta’s Twitter/X competitor Threads is rising steadily. As Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s Q1 2024 results call, the social network now has more than 150 million monthly active users. This is up from 130 million in February. Threads has made progress toward connecting with ActivityPub, the decentralized system that makes networks like Mastodon work, since the last quarterly earnings call. The company let people over 18 in the U.S. connect their accounts to the Fediverse in March so that their posts would appear on other sites. Also, by June, the company wants to give its API to a lot…
When the European Union stepped in, TikTok took down a game-like function in that area. TikTok is having more and more legal problems in the US, so the news, which happened late Wednesday night local time, wasn’t given much attention. The EU started looking into a “task and reward” feature on the TikTok Lite app two days before TikTok did. They were worried that it could be too addicting for young people and put their mental health at risk. People can use this function to get points for doing things like liking and watching TikTok videos. Early this month, ByteDance,…
Years ago, IBM made the smart decision to stop trying to be a pure cloud infrastructure provider. It knew it could never compete with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Since then, it has helped IT departments handle complicated hybrid environments by buying a number of well-known companies with its money. It started when the company bought Red Hat for $34 billion in 2018, then Apptio for the same amount of money last year, and on Wednesday, it announced that it would be buying cloud management company HashiCorp for $6.4 billion. Big Blue gets a set of cloud lifecycle management and security…
Soon, X, the company that used to be Twitter, will release a TV app just for movies posted to the social network. Yesterday, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, said that the new app will bring “real-time, engaging content to your smart TVs.” An early movie that Yaccarino shared shows that the app’s interface looks a lot like YouTube’s. The app will have an algorithm for trending videos that will help users stay up to date with relevant popular content. It will also have AI-powered topics that will sort videos by theme. Cross-device viewing will also be possible through the app.…
Tesla has been going through some big changes, and now we know why: “Pressure” on EV sales has caused the company to change its product plan. There are now “more affordable models” in the new, faster plan, which the company says will come out next year. Or, if you believe Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which is a big if because of how bad he is at keeping promises, maybe as early as the end of 2024. The shocking news sent the company’s stock up more than 11% in trading after the market closed on Tuesday. Even though Musk and other…
Senate passed a bill that will ban TikTok if its owner, ByteDance, doesn’t sell it within a year. The bill was part of the foreign aid deal. The bill was passed by the Senate 79–18 on Tuesday, after the House passed it with a huge majority over the weekend. To become law, President Joe Biden must sign the bill. The White House says that he plans to do that on Wednesday. In March, the House passed a similar bill that would have banned TikTok or forced its sale with a six-month time limit. The Senate never did take up that…
As of today, Amazon announced a new grocery delivery service for Prime users and people in the U.S. who have an EBT card (Electronic Benefit Transfer). This service is available in 3,500 cities and towns. Last year, the company tested grocery service in three cities: Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; and Sacramento, California. People with an Amazon Prime membership pay $9.99 a month, while people with a registered EBT card pay $4.99 a month. The Amazon site lets subscribers get free deliveries on food orders over $35 from Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, and other nearby grocery and specialty stores like…
A new study by Mozilla found that dating apps are not being very honest about privacy and are gathering more information than ever to get Gen Z users. In 2021, researchers looked at how private dating apps were. They said in the most recent study that dating apps are using more data and getting in the way more. After looking at 25 apps, the group marked 22 of them as “Privacy Not Included,” which is Mozilla’s lowest grade. Mozilla only gave Lex, which is owned and run by queer people, a good review. Harmony and Happn got a passable grade.…
The company is making more moves to go “balls to the wall for autonomy,” as CEO Elon Musk said last week in a post on X. This comes as Tesla gets ready to report what will likely be lackluster financial results for the first quarter on Tuesday. Tesla lowered the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver aid system from $12,000 to $8,000 over the weekend. Also, last week, the monthly FSD subscription price dropped from $199 to $99, so this is another price drop. More FSD could be being put into more cars as a way for Tesla…
In the vast world of computers, some people stand out as true leaders, making an indelible mark on their area. “jaart011” is a big deal when it comes to construction-related material. Its digital presence echoes the timeless values of workmanship and the beautiful nature of building. What is Jaart011? Jaart011, which isn’t a well-known company, works on the top edge of technology. It was started at the beginning of the 21st century because of the need to deal with difficult problems in the digital world. With a goal to always be better, Jaart011 has been a key player in creating…
The search engine Ecosia buys trees for good causes with the money it makes from ads. It has now released a new cross-platform browser to expand its reach online. The new browser is compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. It is based on Chromium, Google’s open source browser project, which is why it is very similar to Chrome. The German company, on the other hand, thinks that’s a good thing because users might be more likely to switch if the experience is close to what they’re used to. Users can change the look of the landing page on Ecosia…
This afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if its owner, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the popular social media app. TikTok has been wanted to be banned since the Trump administration, but the problem has been brought up again in the last few months. A bill very much like this was passed by the House in March, but the Senate didn’t seem very interested in taking it up. The president can give ByteDance an extra 90 days to sell TikTok, and the new form of the bill gives them nine months to…
Do you ever look at a redwood and think, “Wouldn’t it be great if this was poetry instead of a tree?” Joyce Kilmer didn’t either. The poems Camera, on the other hand, was created by Kelin Carolyn Zhang and Ryan Mather as a way to bring together AI technology and poems. Cutting-edge technology and creative vision come together in the open source device to make a work that pushes the limits of both. At first glance, the Poetry Camera looks like just another digital device in a world that is always changing. But when you look more closely, it’s clear…
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that Tesla has recalled the Cybertruck because the speed pedal can get stuck. This puts drivers at risk of a crash. The recall is the end of a rough week for Tesla. Three of the company’s top leaders were let go along with more than 10% of its staff on Monday. A few days later, Tesla asked shareholders to vote again on CEO Elon Musk’s huge pay deal, which had already been thrown out by a judge earlier this year. In the past few weeks, there have been reports of problems with the…
Apple finally changed the rules for the App Store so that developers from around the world can run iOS emulators for old games. You no longer have to hack your iPhone or download any sketchy software. The App Store gives you a high-tech emulator that you can use right away. This change in Apple’s policy makes Riley Testut, the high school developer who made GBA4iOS a decade ago, look even better. When he released GBA4iOS, I taught half of my AP Statistics class how to play Pokémon on their phones in class—sorry, Mr. Cinelli. But back then, you had to…
Artificial intelligence has been in the crosshairs of governments over how it might be misused for fraud, disinformation and other malicious online activity; now a U.K. regulator wants to explore how AI is used on the other side: in the fight against malicious content when it involves children. Ofcom, the regulator charged with enforcing the U.K.’s Online Safety Act, it plans to launch a consultation on how AI and other automated tools are used today, and can be used in the future, to proactively detect and remove illegal content online, specifically to protect children from harmful content and to identify…
Dark, based in Paris, is working on a mobile platform that can launch, connect to, and eventually de-orbit objects in space that won’t cooperate. This platform is meant to solve both the problem of space junk and the problem of conflict in orbit. Clyde Laheyne, CEO of Dark, said that the company wants to be the “S.W.A.T. team of space.” The three-year-old company is making Interceptor, a spaceship that looks like a rocket-powered boxing glove and can be sent into orbit quickly to gently knock an object out of its path. Interceptor is fired from an airplane that has been…
People from Google in Sunnyvale went into the office of Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. Google fired 28 workers after they refused to leave their jobs during a long protest at the company’s offices in Sunnyvale and New York. Project Nimbus is a cloud computer deal that Google and Amazon made with the Israeli government and military three years ago. The protests were in response to the deal. According to reports, the controversial project includes giving Israel advanced AI and machine learning technology. Google and Amazon are said to be legally bound by strict terms that prevent them from…
The company Nothing updated two of its earbuds today. There are a lot of different names for these things, but the Nothing Ear is an update to the Nothing Ear (2) and the Nothing Ear (a) is more of a spiritual successor to the Nothing Ear Stick. The most important news of the day, though, is possibly that Nothing has joined ChatGPT this time. When “AI smartphones” like the Ai Pin and the Rabbit R1 are competing for your attention, the London-based mobile company seems to have missed a step by putting the technology in their new earbuds. What’s more,…
Has heard that former senior SpaceX executive Tom Ochinero is working on a new project with Achal Upadhyaya, who used to work at SpaceX and is now a venture capitalist, and Spencer Hemphill, who is one of Sequoia’s top finance leaders. The project is called Interlagos Capital. Few public details are known about Interlagos, and the three did not answer TechCrunch’s request for comment. Officially, the company was formed in Delaware on March 7. It was also registered as an out-of-state business in California just a few days ago, on April 11. On the papers, Ochinero, Upadhyaya, and Hemphill are…
Even though sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have dropped, Tesla has stopped discounting all of its inventory. This is part of CEO Elon Musk’s bigger, less clear plan to “streamline the whole Tesla sales and delivery system.” Musk replied to a comment on X, the social media site he owns, with the words “It has become complex and inefficient.” Musk’s news about X comes a day after thousands of Tesla workers were laid off. More than 10% of the staff, or about 14,000 people, will be let go because the company wasn’t making enough money, a source told TechCrunch. This…
NASA’s director, Bill Nelson, said that the agency’s $11 billion, 15-year plan to get samples from Mars and bring them back is not enough. But the new plan could be very good for space startups, and a lot of the planned money will almost certainly be sent there. In the end, Nelson told the press, a $11 billion budget is too much money and a return date in 2040 is too far away. “We have to think outside the box to find a solution that works for us, doesn’t cost too much, and gets us the samples quickly.” To put…
A preview of the app that the company shared by accident on the Google Play store in India says that Google Wallet will finally come out in India. This comes almost two years after it was relaunched as a digital wallet platform in the U.S. When TechCrunch saw the listing for the app, which will, among other things, let users load up loyalty cards and buy things, the company wouldn’t say for sure that it would be coming soon to Android users. On the other hand, it seems to pull some information from the ad, like what look like well-known…
Elon Musk wants to stop the bot problem by charging new X users a small fee to let them post on the social network. Musk replied to an X account that wrote about changes to X’s website by saying that giving new accounts a small fee was the “only way” to stop the “onslaught of bots.” Musk said that tools like CAPTCHA make it easy for AI and troll farms to get past the “are you a bot” test. In response to another user, Musk later said that new accounts would not have to pay to post for three months…
“I lost some really good players and 20% of my team.” To a person who knew about the situation and said that Tesla management told workers on Monday that the recent layoffs, which affected good performers and cut some departments by 20%, were mostly because of poor financial performance. The staff was told about the layoffs just one week before Tesla is supposed to report its earnings for the first quarter. As a result of an EV price war that has been going on for at least a year, Tesla’s profit margin has been getting smaller over the last few…
(The Web Desk) – Meta, the social media company, lowered the minimum age for WhatsApp users in the UK and EU from 16 to 13. This made activists very angry. The change was made public in February, and it became official on Wednesday. Smart Phone Free Childhood said that the move “goes against the growing national demand for big tech to do more to protect our children.” “Letting anyone over the age of 12 use their platform (the minimum age was 16 before today) sends a message that it’s safe for kids,” it said. Teachers, parents, and experts, on the…
Core cloud tech wasn’t talked about much. This week, 30,000 people got together in Las Vegas to hear about the newest and best things from Google Cloud. All they heard was creative AI all the time. Before anything else, Google Cloud is a cloud infrastructure and platform provider. You might have missed that in all the AI news if you didn’t know it. Not to take away from what Google had on display, but the company didn’t really talk about its main business, except when it came to generative AI, just like Salesforce did at its moving road show in…
Some tech experts don’t think it’s ready for prime time yet. It can make and analyze text, images, audio, videos, and more. Generative AI is making its way into healthcare more and more, with help from both big tech companies and small startups. Google Cloud, Google’s division for cloud services and products, is working with Highmark Health, a charity healthcare company based in Pittsburgh, to create generative AI tools that will make the patient intake process more personalized. An unnamed customer of Amazon’s AWS says the company is working on a way to use generative AI to look through medical…
Screenshots shared by users suggest that the name of TikTok’s upcoming app for sharing photos that will compete with Instagram could be TikTok Notes. TikTok also stated that the app was being made. TikTok users have been getting pop-up messages about a new app called TikTok Notes that lets them share pictures for the past few days. The alert says that TikTok will soon be releasing “a new app for photo posts” called TikTok Notes. Users’ old photo posts will be able to be shared on this app. People can also choose not to share their photo posts on the…
Targus, a company that makes bags and mobile gadgets, says that its business is having a “temporary interruption” because of a cyberattack on Friday. Targus’ parent company, B. Riley Financial, told regulators on Monday that “a threat actor gained unauthorized access to certain of Targus’ file systems.” To contain the incident, the company shut down a large part of its network. “Targus is working to get their systems back up and running after the incident,” the statement said.The new rule from the U.S. securities regulator makes public companies report hacks on their subsidiaries or other parts of the business within…
A consulting company in the United States called Greylock McKinnon Associates (GMA) said that hackers stole up to 341,650 Social Security numbers. The breach was made public on Friday on Maine’s government website, which is where the state posts notices of breaches. GMA told people who were affected by a data breach in the mail that it was hit by an unknown cyberattack in May 2023 and “promptly took steps to mitigate the incident.” Companies and U.S. government bodies, like the U.S. Department of Justice, that are involved in civil litigation can get economic and legal help from GMA. GMA…
Apple changed the rules for the App Store on Friday so that emulators for old computer games can be used everywhere and titles can be downloaded. So, the company told the coders that it is their job to make sure they follow copyright rules. There are already a lot of apps for Android that let people play old games on their phones. Some of those makers will probably be more likely to put their emulators on the App Store after Apple’s update. The company said that these emulator apps must have a way to buy digital things inside the app.…
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai spoke at a Stanford event on Wednesday put on by the school’s business school. He shared some small thoughts on how he runs one of the most valuable tech companies in the world. While Pichai has been having a rough go lately, this was a big event for him. Most people think that Google got behind on generative AI and is now behind OpenAI, which was supported by Microsoft. That’s true even though Pichai has been leading the company’s focus on AI for most of the last ten years and Google researchers wrote the groundbreaking paper…
Elon Musk told Reuters that they were “lying” about their plans to stop working on the $25,000 low-cost EV and instead focus on a robotaxi. A few hours later, Musk said that the robotaxi would be shown off at an event on August 8. The news comes at a time when Tesla EV sales have been slowing down and profits have been going down. The company and its CEO are now looking for another product to boost sales or at least the stock price. Three anonymous sources and internal documents shared by Reuters earlier Friday said that Tesla was giving…
Rooms is a 3D design tool that was made by people who used to work at Google. Its beta version was released on the App Store five months ago. The free iOS app is getting a big update today that adds a lot of new features that are designed to help people find new things. These include an activity feed, an explore page, the ability to browse by area, and more. Rooms is an app for decorating your home that is in the cosy game area. From a library of more than 7,500 digital things, players can build and code…
Sachin Bansal, one of the co-founders of Flipkart, is having talks to get money for his new business, Indian bank Navi. The amount of money Bansal wants to raise is about $2 billion, according to three people who know about the situation. Someone who knows him said that he wants to get $200 million to $400 million. Up until now, Bansal has mostly paid for Navi himself. This would be the Bengaluru-based startup’s first big outside fundraising since it began in 2018. The sources warned that since talks haven’t turned into a deal yet, both the terms and Bansal’s desire…
Ghost Autonomy, a startup that worked with automakers to make software for self-driving cars, has shut down. The startup, which had raised almost $220 million, said on its website that it would no longer be doing business anywhere in the world as of Wednesday. About 100 people worked for the company, which had offices in Mountain View, Dallas, and Sydney. “We are proud of the important technical advances and progress the Ghost team made in its quest to provide software-defined consumer autonomy,” the website says in a note. “The way to long-term profitability was unclear because of the current funding…