It turns out that the problem with iPhone web apps (also called progressive web apps, or PWAs) in the EU wasn’t a bug. Apple has changed its website to explain why PWAs stopped working in the EU after the latest iOS betas were installed. This came after developer concerns and news stories said it. It’s no surprise that the tech giant is blaming the new EU law, the Digital Markets Act, for the change. They say that the DMA’s rule to let different browser engines work is what made things so complicated.In case you missed it, security expert Tommy Mysk…
Author: David
OpenAI tried to trademark “GPT,” but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said no because the word is “merely descriptive” and can’t be registered. While this is bad for OpenAI’s reputation, don’t think that its rivals will start making their own versions of the popular chatbot any time soon.As of right now, ChatGPT is the most well-known AI brand. It is the most famous conversational model on the market and the one that made large language models popular around the world.The USPTO says that the name doesn’t meet the requirements to be registered as a trademark, which would give it…
Since then, You season 4 finished in 2023, fans have been waiting for Joe Goldberg to come back. We have good news: You Season 5, the show’s final season, has been officially set to come out in 2025. Netflix picked up You for a fifth and final season in the spring of 2023, not long after the second half of season 4 started. They also announced that Sera Gamble would be leaving her role as director and Michael Foley and Justin Lo would take over. “As I step back from running the show day-to-day to focus on new projects, I’m…
Technology news site TechCrunch has learned that BMW’s cloud storage server was set up incorrectly, letting private keys and internal business data become public.TechCrunch talked to Can Yoleri, a security expert at threat intelligence company SOCRadar, who said that he found the open BMW cloud storage server while he was regularly scanning the internet.Yoleri said that the exposed storage server housed by Microsoft Azure, which is also called a “bucket,” in BMW’s development environment was “mistretched and set to be public instead of private.”The storage bucket also had “script files that include Azure container access information, secret keys for accessing…
Some 100 Starlink satellites will be sent to an early retirement by SpaceX today because of a flaw that could make them a problem in the future. But don’t expect a burning light show. Also, if you use Starlink, your service shouldn’t be bad.The announcement says that “the Starlink team identified a common issue” with these first-generation communication satellites that could “increase the probability of failure.”I’ve asked the company for more information and will change this post if I hear back. But from what was said and what was happening, it sounds like the “failure” would mean losing power. Seventeen…
On Bluesky and Mastodon, there is a fight over how to connect the two autonomous social networks and whether there should be a bridge at all. Even though there are mean comments on GitHub, these code disputes aren’t just for fun. They could affect how the internet works in the future.Mastodon is the most well-known open social app right now. Mastodon grew quickly last year as people looked for an option to Elon Musk’s Twitter. It now has 8.7 million users. Then Bluesky became available to everyone last week. In just a few days, it gained 1.5 million users, taking…
Ukraine’s armed forces say that the Caesar Kunikov, a big Russian assault ship, has sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea.Local social media said they heard loud blasts early Wednesday morning, which made them think the landing ship had been hit not far south of the town of Yalta.In occupied Crimea, Ukraine has hit Russia’s Black Sea force many times.From space last year, it looked like most of the ships had left the peninsula.It was said that the landing ship was hit by Magura V5 navy drones in a video released by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence.Russia’s full-scale war in…
Waymo is pulling the software that runs its robotaxi fleet because, in December, two of them crashed into the same towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s the first recall for the business.In a blog post, Waymo’s top safety officer, Mauricio Peña, called the accidents “minor” and said that neither car was carrying anyone at the time. It did not hurt anyone. Also, he said that Waymo’s ride-hailing service, which is live in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, “is not and has not been interrupted by this update.” The company wouldn’t give TechCrunch photos of the crashes.The company…
A well-known and respected study scientist named Andrej Karpathy said today that he is leaving OpenAI. Karpathy is leaving the top AI company for the second time. He said it’s not because of any event, problem, or drama.Karpathy was one of the founders of OpenAI and first left the company to work for Tesla in 2017. When he left Tesla in 2022, he was in charge of the autopilot team. He returned to OpenAI almost a year ago. Karpathy has also gained a huge following on social media and YouTube by sharing thought-provoking articles about the new field and movies…
As part of a change, grocery delivery giant Instacart said today that it is letting go of about 250 workers, which is about 7% of its global workforce. In a letter to investors, Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart, said that the layoffs would help the business run more efficiently. The company revealed the layoffs at the same time it reported its earnings for the fourth quarter.In the letter, Simo said, “Today, we had to make the hard choice to let go of about 250 talented team members.” “This will let us reshape the company and make the organisation flatter so…
A company called TheTruthSpy that makes consumer-grade spyware puts the security and privacy of thousands of people at risk because its mobile spying apps are installed on their Android devices without their knowledge. This is because the company’s owners never fixed a simple security flaw.Now, two separate hacking groups have found the hole that lets a lot of people get to the data on stolen phones straight from TheTruthSpy’s servers.In a blog post, hacker Maia Arson Crimew from Switzerland said that the flaw was found and used by the hacking groups SiegedSec and ByteMeCrew in December 2023. ByteMeCrew gave Crimew…
The effort to keep President Joe Biden in office has finally set up shop on TikTok.Even though the app has caused problems in Congress, experts say that presidential candidates can’t do without TikTok to reach young voters.Annie Wu Henry, a digital communications strategist who has run social media for several political campaigns, said, “I wasn’t surprised at all that the campaign made a TikTok account. It would have been such a waste to go through this cycle and a missed opportunity to not be on that platform.”She told TechCrunch, “I always thought it would happen; it was just a matter…
The National Transportation Safety Board, a government body in the U.S. that looks into crashes, told the Dawn Project to stop using its seal after it was used in a Super Bowl ad that told people to stop buying Tesla cars.In a letter, the NTSB said that its seal had to be taken off of the Dawn Project’s website and YouTube page right away, along with any other airings of the commercial. In a news statement, the NTSB said that the Dawn Project did not have permission to use its seal and that the NTSB does not support their work.“We…
Zee told the Indian stock markets that Sony was asking for $90 million in termination fees for allegedly breaking the terms of their merger agreement and by “invoking arbitration” for emergency support. Zee said it doesn’t agree with any of Sony’s claims and will take legal action if necessary. Sony said in a statement that “closing conditions” for the merger had not been met despite “good faith discussions” with Zee. The companies also said they had not been able to agree on an extension by the date of January 21. “They are very disappointed with us after more than two…
Everything Is Going As Planned For Epic’s Big Fortnite Plans The race to build a linked, avatar-driven virtual world didn’t stop over the last year, even though the M word isn’t used as much these days.It doesn’t matter what we call the metaverse—a tech buzzword that came out between the talk of NFTs and AI—it’s still being built. And because of recent events, one company is becoming more and more likely to rule in the near future.Epic Games and Disney said on Wednesday that they are working together to create a “entertainment universe” with Disney-themed games and other items to…
Google’s Gemini robot, which used to be called Bard, thinks that the 2024 Super Bowl already happened. If you needed more proof that GenAI makes things up, this is it. There are even (fake) numbers to back it up.A Reddit thread says that Gemini, which is driven by Google’s GenAI models with the same name, is answering questions about Super Bowl LVIII as if it happened yesterday or weeks ago. It looks like a lot of bettors think the Chiefs will beat the 49ers (sorry, 49ers fans).Gemini adds on pretty creatively. In one case, they gave a breakdown of player…
AP reports that in Tokyo, People have said that Japan’s current foreign trainee program is just a way to bring in cheap labor. On Friday, the Japanese government decided to get rid of the program and replace it with a system that they say will teach skills and protect trainees’ rights. Japan needs more foreign workers to help its aging and shrinking workforce.A group of related Cabinet ministers passed a new program on Friday that lets people who come with a three-year trainee visa change their status to a skilled worker category. This will let them stay for up to…
Russia vs. Ukraine War After a Russian attack on a private neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, February 10, 2024, firefighters put out a fire. The city government says that Russian drones attacked a civilian area and fired on about 12 private homes. A lot of people had to leave the area. Picture by Andrii Marienko for APTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSMore The news came from Kyiv, Ukraine. Kharkiv is the second biggest city in Ukraine. Overnight, a Russian drone strike killed at least seven people, three of them children, according to Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region.He said that the…
An option to Twitter/X Bluesky is getting ready for one of the biggest weekends in social media by putting out news feeds just for Super Bowl fans. One feed is all about talks about the big game, and the other is about Taylor Swift. She’s planning to go to support her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Fans of different sports have different opinions on how much attention was paid to Swift’s participation at Kelce’s games this season. This led the NFL to defend its coverage of the pop star, especially after Kelce said that the NFL was…
Could 2024 be the year that fintech companies go public? The State of Fintech 2024 study from F-Prime Capital says it’s possible.F-Prime is a venture capital firm that manages more than $4.5 billion and keeps an eye on the progress of new, publicly traded, and privately held financial technology companies. The firm is still very optimistic about the fintech space, stating that “In aggregate, fintech companies have captured ~10% of financial services revenue, yet many scaled private fintech companies are generating $1B+ revenue, still growing quickly, and are expected to list in public markets.””A lot of big companies are filing…
Pinterest made a new ad deal with Google as part of its plan to make more money from ads. Amazon made a deal with Pinterest last year for a number of years, and Google is the first third-party ad partner for the social network.On its earnings call for Q4 2023, the company talked about its relationship with Google. The call came after the company reported results that were worse than expected by analysts. During that time, Pinterest made $981 million, which is 12% more than the same time last year. While the number of monthly active users rose by 11%…
As part of a reorganization, Getaround, a company that helps people rent out their cars, trucks, and SUVs to other people, is letting go of 30% of its North American staff.In a statement, the company said it would reorganize its operations and staff to cut costs. The goal is to create more cash flow and speed up “its path to profitability.”The company Getaround wouldn’t say how many employees it has in North America or Europe, where it also does business. The most recent report on the company’s full-year earnings says that as of December 31, 2022, it had 283 full-time…
The software giant Microsoft has become the most valuable company in the world thanks to its smart bets and bold investments in AI. But Satya Nadella, the company’s usually quiet CEO, couldn’t help but poke fun at the rest of the business. “Today we have the best model…” “GPT4 is better now, after all the fuss, a year later,” Nadella said at a company event in Mumbai on Wednesday. “We are waiting for the other teams to come in.” It will get here, I’m sure, but the truth is that we have the best LLM out there. A rare dose…
Bollegraaf Group, a Dutch recycling company, is investing in Greyparrot, a UK AI startup that uses computer vision for waste analytics. This is another sign of the rush to speed up the adoption and transformative possibilities of AI. The company that makes MRFs (Material Recovery Facilities) and “turnkey” recycling systems was founded in 1961 as a maker of baler machinery. In recent years, it has been experimenting with AI, opening an innovation test center in its home country of the Netherlands in 2021 and hiring an in-house AI team to work on integrating AI analytics with its recycling machinery, which…
Alan Clarke, who used to be in charge of both Tesla and Ford’s Advanced EV development, is now in charge of a Ford skunkworks project to make a cheap electric car. A “skunkworks” team has been set up to make a “low-cost” electric vehicle platform, Ford CEO Jim Farley said briefly during the company’s fourth-quarter results call on Tuesday. Since then, TechCrunch has revealed that Clarke is in charge of the skunkworks project. The project has been going for about two years and is based in Irvine, California. It has engineers from Auto Motive Power (AMP), the EV power startup…
Today, Bumble announced that it will be adding a new tool that uses AI to help users spot spam, scams, and fake profiles. The goal of the new tool, which is called Deception Detector, is to block harmful material before Bumble users even see it. Based on their tests, Bumble found that the tool could immediately block 95% of accounts that were flagged as spam or scam accounts. Bumble saw a 45% drop in user reports of spam, scams, and fake accounts in the first two months of trying the tool. Deception Detector works with Bumble’s human review team. A…
Snap, the company that makes Snapchat, is the latest tech company to lay off workers. On Monday, the company announced plans to cut its workforce by 10%. Based on Snap’s headcount numbers from November 2023, when it laid off a few of its more than 5,000 workers, the layoffs would affect more than 500 people. An SEC statement said that Snap was letting people go, saying that the move was needed to help the company grow even more. In order to put our business in the best situation to carry out our top priorities and to make sure we can…
There don’t seem to be any sidewalk delivery robot services going, but the person who came up with the idea says it makes money and has now raised more money to grow to meet market demand. A startup from Estonia called Starship Technologies was one of the first to use robots for delivery. It has now raised $90 million to solidify its place at the top of its field. There are two new investors in this round: Plural, a venture capital firm with roots in both Estonia and London that announced a new $430 million fund last month; and Iconical,…
People were hopeful that the value of the well-known cryptocurrency would rise quickly after the long-awaited start of bitcoin spot ETFs in the US this year. It made sense: now that regular investors have an easy and cheap way to buy bitcoin, the supply-and-demand curve would change, and each bitcoin would be worth more. But people have had a range of reactions. Bitcoin has almost doubled in value in the past year and is now worth about $43,000. However, it has mostly stayed the same in value over the last few weeks. Was all the talk and reaction another case…
A South Korean court ruled on Monday that Jay Y. Lee, executive chairman of Samsung Electronics, is not guilty of manipulating stock prices and cheating on taxes linked to the 2015 merger of Samsung affiliates. At the November hearing, authorities wanted Lee to spend five years in jail and pay a fine of 500 million KRW ($375,000). They said he broke the Capital Markets Act by manipulating stocks and lying about finances related to a 2015 $8 billion merger of Samsung companies. South Korean authorities said the merger helped Lee take control of the huge Korean tech company. At the…
A false seven-second video of Vice President Biden could change Facebook’s rules on fake news before the 2024 election, but the site and the people who vote are running out of time. The Oversight Board, an outside advisory group that Meta set up to look over its moderation choices on Facebook and Instagram, made a decision on Monday about a video of Biden that was changed and shared on social media last year. The first video showed the president going with his granddaughter Natalie Biden to early voting in the 2022 midterm elections to help her cast her vote. Trump’s…
That Was Quick A settlement was reached just two days after district attorneys from 25 California counties sued Tesla, saying the company regularly messed up the handling of hazardous waste at its facilities across the state. A press statement from the Office of the District Attorney in San Francisco says that Tesla has agreed to pay $1.3 million in fines and $200,000 to cover the costs of the investigation. Tesla is also subject to a detailed injunction that lasts for five years and says it must train its workers and hire a third party to check the trash cans at…
A Chinese company called Xpeng is competing with Tesla. It wants to sell its cars all over the world and hopes to use its smart driving software as a selling point. At an event this week, the electric vehicle startup from Guangzhou said that it will begin working on its highway-specific Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) for users around the world in 2024. In the same year, it will start working on the foreign version of its next-generation, all-purpose XNGP feature. Ai Wei, founder and CEO of Xpeng, said at the event, “We look forward to letting overseas users access Xpeng’s…
Apple said almost a week ago that the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules require big changes to the App Store. The company also said that the market brings in 7% of its total App Store sales. If developers choose to use different methods, the company’s CFO, Luca Maestri, said that these changes will have an effect on the company’s finances. “The decisions that are made will have a big impact. To put things in perspective, the changes only affected the EU market, which makes up about 7% of our total app store income, he told an analyst. Because…
Washington, D.C. (Reuters) -When U.S. and Australian troops practiced amphibious landings, ground fighting, and air operations last summer, it made news that the allies were working together more on defense to counter China’s growing military ambitions. U.S. officials told Reuters that the high-profile Talisman Sabre exercises had a much more hidden benefit for war planners in the U.S. who were getting ready for a possible conflict over Taiwan: they helped build up new stocks of military equipment that were left behind in Australia after the drills finished in August. The US and its allies are getting more and more worried…
Twenty-five counties in California have sued Tesla, saying that the car company has regularly messed up with hazardous waste at facilities across the state. It seems that settlement talks that had been going on for months fell through. Tesla is being sued in San Joaquin County Superior Court for mislabeling and getting rid of things like “lead acid batteries and other batteries,” paints, brake fluid, aerosols, antifreeze, acetone, diesel fuel, and more at its factories and service centers across the state. Tesla is also said to have thrown away the trash in the wrong way, both on-site and at sites…
The headset that cost $3,500 just got here. What now? Today is February 2, 2024, a Friday. It’s time now. You’ve been interested in the Vision Pro ever since Tim Cook showed it off at WWDC last year. It’s been longer than that if you count the years of whispers, leaks, and renderings. It’s a first-generation product, so the price wasn’t even close to what you had hoped for. Manufacturing isn’t at full market scale yet, and you have to think about the millions of dollars that were spent on research and development over seven or eight years. After debating…
On Tuesday, a judge in Delaware said that Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay plan is unfair. This means that the biggest pay deal in the history of business is no longer valid. Judge Kathaleen McCormick made the decision Tuesday in the Delaware Court of Chancery. It means that Musk, who is the richest person in the world, can’t keep the 2018 pay deal. The decision can be fought. Chancery Daily, a website that keeps up with the Delaware Chancery Court, was the first to report the ruling on Threads. The decision doesn’t give Musk or the Tesla board a clean…
CEO Sundar Pichai of Google said that the number of people who use its Google One cloud storage service is “just about to cross” 100 million. Pichai said that the company wants to add more AI-powered features to the Google One service during Alphabet’s Q4 2023 earnings call. Google One was first released by the search giant in 2018. It has changed since then, and now Google Photos has added features like magic eraser, portrait light and portrait blur, color pop, and sky suggestion for editing photos. If you pay $1.99 a month for Google One, you can use its…
The KOSA bill, which is controversial, will be a big deal at the meeting on Wednesday. The heads of some of the biggest social networks will go before Congress on Wednesday to defend their businesses against growing claims that they don’t do enough to keep kids and teens safe online. The meeting, which starts at 10 a.m. ET, is the latest in a long line of tech hearings in Congress that go back years. Despite all the work, there haven’t been many new rules or policies made. The latest meeting will be held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is…