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Google’s new Gemini AI model is getting a mixed reception after its big debut yesterday, but users may have less confidence in the company’s tech or integrity after finding out that the most impressive demo of Gemini was pretty much faked. A video called “Hands-on with Gemini: Interacting with multimodal AI” hit a million views […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Battery swapping could usher in freedom for a wide range of people, allowing them to participate in the EV transition in ways that traditional built-in batteries don't. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google launched Gemini, its next-level AI...... →

Amazon is piloting a new grocery subscription offering for Prime members in three cities, the company revealed on Thursday. The new $9.99 per month subscription gives Prime members access to unlimited free grocery delivery on orders over $35 from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. The subscription also offers unlimited 30 minute pickup on orders […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

YouTube announced today a new comment moderation setting, “Pause,” letting creators and moderators prevent viewers from adding new comments yet keep existing comments on videos. Instead of turning off comments completely or holding comments to review them manually, you can temporarily pause comments until you have enough time to filter out trolls and negativity. The […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Email is quite profitable, as it turns out. Or rather, email communications software is. Today, ContactMonkey, a platform that lets companies create, send and track internal comms from Outlook and more, announced that it raised $55 million in a Series A round led by Updata Partners. It’s a sizeable round from a single VC, so […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Welcome back to Chain Reaction. In general, the total crypto market cap steadily rose 14% in the past week as more capital enters the crypto market. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Secondary activity is expected to return to normal in 2024. Five investors tells us where they are interested and where they are not. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

The crypto industry is facing the same macroeconomic headwinds as others, with the added bonus of regulatory uncertainty. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

After scaling back operations and reassigning staff to other projects, Tumblr owner Automattic’s CEO Matt Mullenweg said that the company would hone in on the parts of Tumblr’s service that worked, and kill those that didn’t — as it did with the subscription offering, Post+ last month. Now, the company wants to focus on the […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

It seems like the writing is on the soundproofed wall: The podcast boom is over, and this week’s news is evidence. Spotify laid off 17% of the company – its third round of layoffs this year – and canceled two highly acclaimed shows, including a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting. But as […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Credit scoring companies operating in the European Union could be facing tighter curbs under the bloc’s privacy laws following a ruling issued by the Court of Justice (CJEU) today. The referral relates to complaints brought against the practices of a German credit scoring company, called Schufa, but could have wider significance for credit information agencies […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

U.S. authorities have indicted two hackers linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for allegedly carrying out a years-long cyber espionage campaign targeting government officials.  The Department of Justice alleged on Thursday that Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko, an officer with the FSB intelligence service, and IT worker Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets attempted to compromise the computers of […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Amazon is dropping Venmo as a payment option next month, the PayPal owned mobile payment service announced on its website. The official announcement comes as Amazon notified users last night via email that Venmo will no longer be accepted on Amazon.com starting January 10, 2024. Amazon will still, however, accept Venmo debit and credit cards. […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

A new Seattle biotech organization will be funded to the tune of $75 million to research “DNA typewriters,” self-monitoring cells that could upend our understanding of biology. The collaboration between the University of Washington, the Chan-Zuckerberg Institute, and the Allen Institute is already underway. Called the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology, the joint initiative will […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

While today’s bigger news from the world of Meta’s messaging apps was the rollout of end-to-end encryption in Messenger, the company is also bringing another useful feature to its WhatsApp users: disappearing voice messages. The new feature will allow users to send a voice message that can only be listened to once before it disappears, […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

A number of fintech startups similar to Coinbase and Robinhood could benefit from the renewed optimism around the two companies. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Kenyan insurtech Lami Technologies February last year announced its acquisition of Bluewave, another startup within the insurance space, to expand its product offerings and enable it to scale into new markets in Africa, but it has now emerged that the deal fell through months later. TechCrunch has exclusively learned that at the time Lami went […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Texas has been historically known for its oil booms. Today the state is perhaps better known as a magnet for tech companies and tech talent, especially in its capital city of Austin. But with some startups pulling up stakes, and critical industry participants curtailing their activity in Austin, the Texas dream of taking on tech’s […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →

Retro is a super interesting social app that helps you share photos and catch up with long-distance friends, family members and everyone who matters in your life. And today, the company is shipping a major update with a handful of new features. Retro is now also available on Android and in more places following a […] © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.... →