Category: Apps

As Election Day in the U.S. nears, social networking startup Bluesky, now flush with new capital, hopes to demonstrate that its platform can serve as a more trusted, fact-checked alternative to Elon Musk’s X. While the latter is dominated by Musk’s support for the Trump campaign, Bluesky tends to lean left, thanks to its influx…

The CEO of AI search company Perplexity, Aravind Srinivas, has offered to cross picket lines and provide services to mitigate the effect of a strike by New York Times tech workers. The NYT Tech Guild announced its strike Monday, after setting November 4 as its deadline months earlier. The workers represented provide software support and…

Apple products are getting an integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT in December when iOS 18.2 rolls out, which should supercharge Siri and a few other features with smarter AI. On Monday, iOS 18.2 beta testers got a taste of how OpenAI could profit off of its Apple partnership. Apple is including an option to upgrade to…

Agtech unicorn Bowery Farming is shutting down, according to PitchBook, which cited internal documents and multiple company employees. The New York-based agtech company was known for building vertical farms that could produce crops including lettuces, herbs, and berries. Per Pitchbook, Bowery Farming has raised more than $700 million in funding from First Round Capital, General…

The end of zero-interest rates has driven companies to look for savings wherever they can, but one area continues to be a major budget drain. Observability — collecting and understanding data and systems — typically remains an organization’s second-highest cloud expenditure, right after cloud provisioning itself. People have even gone so far as to talk…

The former head of Meta’s augmented reality glasses efforts announced on Monday she is joining OpenAI to lead robotics and consumer hardware, according to a post on LinkedIn. OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that Caitlin Kalinowski will be joining the startup. Kalinowski is a hardware executive who began leading Meta’s AR glasses team in March 2022.…

Coatue Management, a hedge fund that invested heavily in tech startups during the pandemic-infused boom, is raising $1 billion to back AI-focused companies, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The funding, which will top up the firm’s flagship fund, will be raised primarily from institutional investors. However, high-net-worth individuals with accounts at the brokerage Raymond James and…

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant Affirm is launching in the U.K., its first market outside North America. Affirm’s long-anticipated arrival comes as U.K. lawmakers mull new rules to bring BNPL firms into line with other traditional consumer credit services, though such laws aren’t expected to come into effect until at least 2026 — long…

X is rolling out its controversial update to the block feature, allowing people to view your public posts even if you have blocked them. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. ​ X is rolling out its controversial update to the block feature, allowing people to view your public posts even if…

Meta’s social network, Threads, now has 275 million monthly active users, the company said on Sunday. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. ​ In Brief Posted: 11:34 PM PST · November 3, 2024 Meta’s social network, Threads, now has 275 million monthly active users (MAUs), the company said on Sunday. “Yesterday…