In 2023, defense tech recruiter Peterson Conway VIII pulled up to the offices of nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a black Suburban, donning his signature cowboy hat. He picked up a recent Fuse hire and proceeded to regale her with stories of his old recruiting days. One story involved prostitutes attending a recruiting event (“not … Read more
TikTok flickered back to life in the United States on Sunday after President-elect Donald J. Trump said that he would issue an executive order to stall a federal ban of the app. The abrupt shift came after just hours after major app stores removed the popular social media site and it stopped operating for U.S. … Read more
Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at the impacts of the looming TikTok ban in the U.S., including the “TikTok refugees” moving to Chinese app RedNote, the surge of English speakers learning Mandarin on Duolingo, and more! Let’s get into it. The Supreme Court upheld the law that will effectively ban … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission said in a staff report issued Friday that there are potential competitive issues in partnerships between big tech companies and generative AI developers — specifically, Microsoft’s backing of OpenAI and Amazon and Alphabet/Google’s partnerships with Anthropic. “The FTC’s report sheds light on how partnerships by big tech firms can create lock-in, … Read more
With a TikTok ban looming in the United States, Perplexity AI is the latest bidder hoping to give the video app a new corporate home. CNBC first reported on Perplexity’s interest. A source with knowledge of the offer confirmed to TechCrunch that Perplexity (whose CEO Aravind Srinivas is pictured above) has submitted a bid to … Read more
The incoming Trump administration and the Biden administration went back and forth on Saturday over the status of TikTok and whether a ban of the service would take place, after the video app said that it would be forced to “go dark” on Sunday when a federal law takes effect. President-elect Donald J. Trump told … Read more
The U.S. government wants to prove that Google’s competitors face overwhelming barriers to entry as part of its antitrust case against the tech giant. So it’s turning to ChaptGPT’s head of product, Nick Turley, to testify as a witness in hopes he will help fortify its case. In a landmark ruling last August, a court … Read more
Read.cv, a social media platform for professionals that competed with LinkedIn, has been acquired by AI-powered search engine Perplexity. As part of the deal, Read.cv will begin to wind down operations Friday. Users will be able to export their data, including their profiles, posts, and messages, until May 16. “We’ve long admired Perplexity and believe … Read more
Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of car accidents and a major reason why auto insurance premiums are expected to increase in 2025. For commercial fleets, that’s a nightmare. But for California-based startup Netradyne, it’s a tailwind. Netradyne provides fleet owners, including big names like Amazon, with AI-enabled dashcams that collect vehicle data … Read more
CMF Phone 1 Intro The CMF Phone 1 often gets mentioned as the best budget phone around. In many ways it is – it has a surprisingly smooth performance for a $200 device, easily beating competitors. It’s got a good looking OLED screen too. Being a subsidiary of the clever Nothing brand, you have a … Read more