[[{“value”:” Amazon shared an impressive vision of an “agentic” future on Wednesday — one in which the company’s improved Alexa, Alexa+, handles countless mundane tasks, from booking restaurants to finding appliance repairmen. If Amazon can deliver, it could be the first out to the gate with a comprehensive, consumer-focused agent tool. The company hopes to marry […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Trump signs executive order to expand DOGE’s spending review powers
[[{“value”:” In a newly issued executive order (EO), the Trump administration has instructed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-advised initiative to reduce federal spending, to create a “centralized technological system” in every agency to record contract and grant awards. As part of the ramp-up of these systems, agency employees who approved individual contract […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
a16z hires former Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry as advisor
[[{“value”:” Former North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry announced Wednesday that he landed a job with VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. He will be a Senior Advisor. His post on X said little about what the job entails, except to be advocating for startups (which a16z likes to call “little tech”) with policymakers. A16z did not immediately respond […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Maternity clinic Millie nabs $12M Series A from an all-star, all female class of VCs
[[{“value”:” Millie, a California-based maternity clinic, founded by Anu Sharma, announced the raise of a $12 million Series A by investors including RH Capital, TMV, and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures. Sharma was inspired to launch the company after the birth of her daughter in 2019. She faced pregnancy complications and, as the child of a […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Avride’s sidewalk delivery bots land in Japan
[[{“value”:” Avride sidewalk bots will start delivering restaurant orders and groceries in central Tokyo this week through a partnership with e-commerce giant Rakuten, the latest commercial expansion by the Yandex spinout into Northeast Asia. The Austin-based autonomous vehicle startup is one of four projects under Nebius Group, a Netherlands-based company formerly called Yandex NV that sold […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
These alternatives to popular apps can help reclaim your online life from billionaires and surveillance
[[{“value”:” Not every app or service wants to monetize your personal data. Here are some of our favorite alternatives to popular apps. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. “}]]
Here are all the tech companies rolling back DEI or still committed to it — so far
[[{“value”:” Companies around America have started cutting DEI programs and eliminating DEI commitments from public documents in response to legal and political threats from the Trump administration. Just a few weeks ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the Department of Justice to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize,” DEI programs deemed illegal in private sector companies that receive […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Inception emerges from stealth with a new type of AI model
[[{“value”:” Inception, a new Palo Alto-based company started by Stanford computer science professor Stefano Ermon, claims to have developed a novel AI model based on “diffusion” technology. Inception calls it a diffusion-based large language model, or a “DLM” for short. The generative AI models receiving the most attention now can be broadly divided into two types: […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Hacked crypto exchange Bybit offers $140 million bounty to trace stolen funds
[[{“value”:” Bybit has already paid more than $4 million to bounty hunters who helped trace and freeze some of the stolen funds. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. “}]]
ElevenLabs is launching its own speech-to-text model
[[{“value”:” ElevenLabs, an AI startup that just raised a $180 million mega funding round, has been primarily known for its audio generation prowess. The company took a step in another technological direction by launching its first standalone speech-to-text model called Scribe. The startup, valued at $3.3 billion, has aided many other companies in providing speech-to-text services […] © 2024 TechCrunch….