The software team at General Motors has now lost three top executives in the past month as the automaker — with its new chief product officer at the helm — combines its disparate technology businesses into one organization. Baris Cetinok, senior vice president of software and services product management, is leaving the company effective December 12, the company confirmed to …
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Breaking down the boom in the Nordic’s startup ecosystem | TechCrunch
The always-a-good-time Slush conference took place last week in Helsinki and, as always, it was a showcase of the growing power of the European ecosystem. The Nordics, specifically, are having a moment, led this time around by Sweden’s vibe-coding darling Lovable, often regarded as an example of the ecosystem’s growing success. Other standout, albeit older names, include Klarna and Spotify. …
Read More »Musk’s xAI to build small solar farm adjacent to Colossus data center | TechCrunch
Artificial intelligence startup xAI, founded by Elon Musk, told city and county planners in Memphis last week that it plans to build a solar farm next to its Colossus data center — one of the world’s largest facilities for training AI models. The project would occupy 88 acres to the west and to the south of the data center. A …
Read More »Are you balding? There’s an AI for that | TechCrunch
For Cyriac Lefort, the idea for his new startup, MyHair AI, came two years ago. The French native was sitting in a hair salon in New York getting a routine haircut when his hairdresser looked at him and said, “You’re starting to lose a bit of hair,” Lefort, who is 32, recalls being told. “He didn’t say that to my friend …
Read More »Bug in jury systems used by several US states exposed sensitive personal data | TechCrunch
Several public websites designed to allow courts across the United States and Canada to manage the personal information of potential jurors had a simple security flaw that easily exposed their sensitive data, including names and home addresses, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. A security researcher, who asked not to be named for this story, contacted TechCrunch with details of the easy-to-exploit …
Read More »The Best Star Wars Gifts for Everyone in the Galaxy
I have received many, many Star Wars gifts over the years. I spent the first Christmas Day that I can remember flying Luke and his X-wing around the house. I met Darth Vader (David Prowse) when I was 6. I can still feel the shiver of fear as he strode through the double doors, reaching over the crowd to shake …
Read More »Onton raises $7.5M to expand its AI-powered shopping site beyond furniture | TechCrunch
Major tech companies aren’t just using AI to help you generate or summarize content — they also want you to use it for shopping. OpenAI, Google, and Amazon have heavily invested in AI assistants that research new product categories for you and suggest the right ones to buy. Startups like Perplexity, Daydream, and Cherry have also built businesses around AI …
Read More »Uber and WeRide’s robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi is officially driverless | TechCrunch
A year after launching a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi, Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide and partner Uber can finally call that service driverless. The companies said the commercial robotaxi service, which will no longer have a human safety operator behind the wheel, is open to the public and will start with routes on Yas Island, a tourist …
Read More »Why ‘hold forever’ investors are snapping up venture capital ‘zombies’ | TechCrunch
Italian company Bending Spoons flew largely under the radar — until last month. In a span of 48 hours, the company announced the acquisition of AOL and a massive $270 million raise, quadrupling its valuation to $11 billion, up from $2.55 billion set in early 2024. Bending Spoons has grown rapidly by acquiring stagnating tech brands like Evernote, Meetup, and …
Read More »YouTube is working on a feature that will fix the messy home feed | TechCrunch
Finding a YouTube video that truly matches our interests can sometimes be a challenge. The video-sharing platform appears to have recognized this issue and is taking steps to address it with its new experimental feature, “Your Custom Feed.” The new test aims to tackle the frustration users often face with algorithm-driven recommendations that sometimes miss the mark. Historically, YouTube’s algorithm …
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