Napkin turns text into visuals with a bit of generative AI

We all have ideas, but effectively communicating them and winning people over is no easy feat. So how can we best accomplish this in an era of information overload and shrinking attention spans? If you’re engineers Pramod Sharma and Jerome Scholler, you use Napkin, a new “visual AI” platform that …...Read More

Hackers could spy on cellphone users by abusing 5G baseband flaws, researchers say

A group of researchers say they have uncovered a series of security flaws in different 5G basebands — essentially processors used by cellphones to connect to mobile networks — which could have allowed hackers to stealthily hack victims and spy on them. The researchers from Pennsylvania State University presented their …...Read More

Bandana lands new investment to help hourly wage workers find good jobs

Most startups are looking to solve a problem inside a business, but Bandana, a New York City-based startup has a different goal. It wants to help people at the lower end of the wage scale find better jobs with higher wages and good benefits, all while being closer to home …...Read More

After EU approval, UK clears HPE’s $14B Juniper Networks acquisition

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) planned $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks is one step closer to completion — the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that the deal won’t face any further scrutiny. The CMA is yet to publish its full findings, but it has updated the deal’s …...Read More

Lyft to ‘open up a can of whoop ass’ on surge pricing

Ride-hail giant Lyft will pilot a new feature called Price Lock that will let a rider purchase a monthly subscription “that caps the price for a specific route at a specific time,” according to CEO David Risher. The feature is designed to address the inconsistencies of surge pricing, particularly for …...Read More

Audible is testing an AI-powered search feature

Audible, the audiobook company owned by Amazon, announced on Wednesday that it is testing an AI-powered search feature to assist users in narrowing down their audiobook search. Starting today, select U.S. customers can interact with “Maven,” Audible’s new personal recommendation expert that surfaces title suggestions based on users’ specific requests. …...Read More

Database startup Neon nabs a Microsoft investment

In a sign that big tech companies are ready and willing to shell out cash for database tech, Neon, a startup building an open source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres, on Wednesday announced that Microsoft’s venture arm M12 led a $25 million strategic investment in its business. The capital will …...Read More

Ex-Clubhouse employees take another swing at a social networking startup

Maya Watson and Lexi Nisita, cofounders of a new social app called why?!, met when they both worked at Netflix. They had one of those friendly co-worker relationships, where they laughed, and just vibed. They were on the streaming giant’s brand and editorial teams and found that their skills complemented …...Read More

Fintech Payoneer is buying 5-year-old global payroll startup Skuad for $61M in cash

New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skuad, a Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup, for $61 million in cash, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Payoneer said it could also pay up to another $10 million, contingent on if Skuad meets various performance goals within the first 18 months of the …...Read More

Elon Musk's X taken to court in Ireland for grabbing EU user data to train Grok without consent

Elon Musk’s X is being taken to court in Ireland for using Europeans’ data to train AI models, RTE reported late on Tuesday. The development relates to the social media platform’s decision last month to process user data to train its “Grok” AI model without notifying or asking people if …...Read More