The Latest
Reddit announced Thursday that it would buy Spell, a platform for running machine learning experiments, for an undisclosed amount. Spell was founded by former Facebook engineer Serkan Piantino in 2016…
Media & Entertainment
Instagram chases TikTok with a new full-screen feed, changes to photos and navigation to come
1:52 pm PDT • June 16, 2022
Instagram announced today it will begin testing a new version of its full-screen feed, similar to TikTok’s, which aims to improve upon the way photos appear in this new format.…
Transportation
Waymap’s app helps the visually impaired navigate public transit
1:52 pm PDT • June 16, 2022
London-based Waymap wants to help guide visually impaired people to navigate their surroundings, and it’s starting with public transit. The company just concluded a closed two-week trial of its navigation…
Climate
Are carbon offsets bullshit? A renowned climate expert weighs in.
1:34 pm PDT • June 16, 2022
Onstage at TC Sessions: Climate 2022 this week, climate modeling expert Dr. William Collins shared why he’s deeply skeptical of carbon offsets, and tree-based offsets in particular. According to Collins,…
Venture
Venture funding in Europe is declining faster than in the US — but causing much less panic
1:00 pm PDT • June 16, 2022
The U.S. has seen monthly funding drop 36.7% through the end of May, while Europe saw a decline of 50% in the same period. But it doesn’t feel like the…
Featured Article
How disruptive could a Nike-owned resale platform be?
Last month, we learned Nike is accusing StockX of knowingly selling fake Jordans. Originating earlier this year, the now-amended lawsuit was initiated, with Nike suing the marketplace over their release of an NFT series of Nike shoes, alleging the “stock market of things” is using the company’s trademark without authorization or approval. As the suit…
12:33 pm PDT • June 16, 2022
The crypto markets buckled this week as fears of cascading failures of key blockchain finance players showed just how fragile things are for the asset…
Today’s chatbots are compelling. They use AI and ML algorithms to learn, speak like people, offer solutions and basic customer support, route customers and much more.
Featured Article
Funding the robot revolution
Greetings from Berkeley, California, where we’ve just wrapped up our first-ever Climate-focused event. It was slightly surreal being back on stage at Zellerbach Hall, given the last time I stepped foot in the building was a very different time, way back in March 2020. I’m writing to you from an extremely sunny sidewalk a few…
11:30 am PDT • June 16, 2022
The company’s U.S. operations accounted for about 5% of the grocery delivery startup’s overall business.
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A new sculpture going live on Wednesday in the Flatiron South Public Plaza in New York is not your typical artwork. It combines technology, sociology, anthropology and art to let…
Apple’s iPad event had a lot to like. New iPads with new chips and new sizes, a new Apple Pencil, and even some software updates. If you are a big…
Autonomous, AI-based players are coming to a gaming experience near you, and a new startup, Altera, is joining the fray to build this new guard of AI agents. The company announced…
Biotech & Health
Google DeepMind debuts huge AlphaFold update and free proteomics-as-a-service web app
19 hours ago
Google DeepMind has taken the wraps off a new version of AlphaFold, their transformative machine learning model that predicts the shape and behavior of proteins. AlphaFold 3 is not only…
Startups
$450M for Noname, two billion-dollar rounds, and good news for crypto startups
8:00 AM PDT • May 8, 2024
Good news, crypto founders! Venture capital activity is picking up in the sector, recovering from the multi-year lows investments fell to in late 2023. Put…
Uber plans to deliver more perks to Uber One members, like member-exclusive events, in a bid to gain more revenue through subscriptions. “You will see more member-exclusives coming up where…
We’ve all seen them. The inspector with a clipboard, walking around a building, ticking off the last time the fire extinguishers were checked, or if all the lights are working.…
Startups
Controversial drone company Xtend leans into defense with new $40 million round
21 hours ago
Close to a decade ago, brothers Aviv and Matteo Shapira co-founded a company, Replay, that created a video format for 360-degree replays — the sorts of replays that have become…
Usually, when something starts to rot, it gets pitched in the trash. But Joanne Rodriguez wants to turn the concept of rot on its head by growing fungus on trash…
Monzo has raised another £150 million ($190 million), as the challenger bank looks to expand its presence internationally — particularly in the U.S. The new round comes just two months…
