Demand for HR-tech solutions in Africa is growing, and Senegals Socium is out to tap the opportunity in French-speaking countries on the continent. Socium has since 2021 built HR solutions that target users within the 21 countries of Francophone Africa and plans to continue narrowing its focus on the region, where it is enjoying first-mover [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Deep into Adobe apps like Photoshop or Premiere? Logitechs MX Creative Console is designed to streamline your creative workflow with a totally customizable dialpad and keypad. Use the dial or wheel to quickly scrub through timelines in Premiere, detailed brush precision in Photoshop, or cycle through presets on Lightroom. Adding functions and icons is as [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Unions representing Hollywood actors and writers went on strike last year to secure protections against AI systems taking their jobs. But Ben Affleck says that actors and screenwriters shouldnt worry about AI because its not capable of doing either job today, and likely wont for a long time. Movies will be one of the last [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The Department of Justice is reportedly pushing to force Google to spin off its Chrome browser business. Thats according to Bloomberg, which reports that the Justice Department is also planning to recommend to a federal judge that Google face antitrust requirements related to AI and its Android mobile operating system. The enforcement actions are the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space! This week, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said she wouldnt be surprised if the company launched Starship 400 times over the next four years. What do you think? How realistic are those numbers, on the scale of almost certain to no chance in hell? I believe SpaceX has the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

With ServiceTitan's public IPO documents, we may be witnessing the birth of a new boilerplate warning: LLMs. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

While online grocery shopping is generally convenient, manually adding items to your cart one by one can become a bit of a chore. To address this, food and grocery shopping app DoorDash has launched a new feature that allows you to sync your grocery list to the app. The app will then suggest what to [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Marlon Nichols took the stage at AfroTech last week to discuss the importance of building relationships when it comes to entering into a new market. One of the first things you do when you go to a new market is youve got to meet the new players, he said. Like, what do people need? Whats [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

From Keith Rabois to Ethan Kurzweil, a lot of VCs have switched firms or spun out of storied VC institutions to launch their own funds this year. These employment changes are surprising because unlike in many other fields, venture capitalists dont traditionally move around very much especially those who reach the partner or general [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Elon Musk may be suing OpenAI, accusing the ChatGPT maker of abandoning the companys original mission as a nonprofit organization, but Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and one of the companys key investors, has nothing but good things to say about the worlds richest man. I have deep admiration and respect for Elon, Kushner [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Chris Wright has been a big booster of oil and gas, but he's also no stranger to climate tech. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Decentralized social network Mastodon is also seeing some uplift from the X exodus, founder Eugen Rochko shared on the platform just ahead of the weekend. While the Twitter-like startup Bluesky has been capturing headlines and attention for its rapid adoption among former X users, a smaller group has apparently turned to the open source networking [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Jessica Owens and Iana Dimkova, co-founders of Initiate Ventures, are launching their new healthcare/ life sciences-focused firm with a respectable $45 million debut fund. One of the ways they convinced limited partners to become investors is because they are building a combination early-stage and incubation firm. So not only will they invest in early-stage startups [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Marc Benioff famously got into tech as a child coder writing games. Hes always loved tech gadgets. During an episode of TechCrunchs Equity, when asked about his latest gadgets, he showed off his Oura ring. But then he considered and said that his favorite gadget these days is his car. I think my car is [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Weve seen AI chatbots in religious apps before, but a chapel in Lucerne, Switzerland has gone further putting artificial intelligence inside a confessional. DWs report shows the AI Jesus in action dispensing machine-generated spiritual advice via an avatar visible inside the wooden enclosure. Parishioners sitting on the other side interact with the AI by [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

San Franciscos mayor-elect, Daniel Lurie, has tapped OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to help run his transition team, the campaign announced on Monday, as part of the administrations effort to embrace the tech industry. Altman, alongside nine other San Francisco leaders, will provide guidance to Luries team on ways the city can innovate, and help the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As college tuition increases and the student loan debt crisis continues, three former executives from language learning app Duolingo are building a new startup aimed at making college education more affordable and accessible. The company, tentatively named Outsmart Education (the name is not final yet), is headed by co-founders Daniel Falabella (CPO), former senior director [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

AI-powered search engine Perplexity is venturing into e-commerce. On Monday, the company debuted a new shopping feature for its paid customers in the U.S. which offers shopping recommendations within Perplexitys search results as well as the ability to place an order without going to a retailers website. With the move, Perplexity is taking on Google [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

ElevenLabs, a startup that provides AI voice cloning and a text-to-speech API, launched the ability to build conversational AI bots on Monday. The company announced that users can now build complete conversational agents on ElevenLabs developer platform, with customizable variables such as tone of voice and response length. ElevenLabs has mostly worked on providing different [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

French AI startup Mistral has released a slew of updates to its product portfolio as it looks to stay competitive in the cutthroat AI space. Mistrals Le Chat chatbot platform can now search the web with citations in line, a la OpenAIs ChatGPT. Its also gained a canvas tool along the lines of ChatGPT [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

If a software product is successful enough, youll probably be able to find a company building an open source alternative. And yet, nobody has created a modern open source CRM product that can be considered as a serious competitor to Salesforce. Thats exactly what Twenty is trying to achieve. For the past couple of years, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Beyonc is headed to Netflix.The singer will perform live during the halftime show during the Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens Christmas Day game, which is set to be streamed on the as part of its newly minuted three-year deal with the NFL. Your early Christmas wish has been granted as Beyonc will perform during Netflixs [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

After a brief delay, Meta says that its begun to roll out certain AI features to users of its Ray-Ban Meta AR glasses in France, Italy, and Spain. Starting today, people in those countries can invoke Metas AI assistant, Meta AI, using their voice to get answers to general questions (e.g. What are some good [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

SuperAnnotate, a platform for managing and prepping AI training data sets, has raised a new round of capital. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Maxar has 2,600 employees with more than half having security clearances to work on classified U.S. government projects. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Moonvalley, a new generative video startup, claims it's building models using more ethical and transparent approaches. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Xiaomi will replace its app store with fintech PhonePes offering for customers in India starting January. The move is a major win for the Indian startup, as well as a sign of further recalibration for the Chinese hardware giant in one of its biggest markets outside its home country. Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone vendor [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Take Blip, a conversational marketing platform, has raised $60 million in funding from SoftBank and Microsoft. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Roblox will not let users under the age of 13 message others outside of games and experiences on the platform, the company said Friday. Roblox also announced a series of other built-in protections for young users, such as age-gating certain experiences, along with enhanced parental controls. Roblox has been criticized for failing to protect children [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

MakeMyTrip, Indias largest online travel company, has agreed to acquire the expense management platform Happay from fintech CRED. The deal, announced on Monday, will see Happays expense management business and team transition to MakeMyTrip, while the payments division will remain at CRED. The financial terms were not disclosed and couldnt be immediately learned. CRED, which [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Juna.ai wants to help factories become more efficient by automating complex industrial processes using AI agents. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Indian nutrition startup HealthKarts valuation has surged to about $500 million in a new investment of $153 million, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The investment, one of the largest for an Indian consumer startup this year, was co-led by private equity firms ChrysCapital and Motilal Oswal, with Avendus Capital serving as financial [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwals investment vehicle has proposed to inject another $65.1 million into the hotel management startup, according to shareholder notifications reviewed by TechCrunch. The investment, through Redsprig Innovation Partners, would value the SoftBank-backed company at $3.8 billion, according to terms shared in the extraordinary general meeting notice. While this represents a 38% premium [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Bluesky is having a moment a moment thats already stretched on for nearly three months. Over the summer, the social media app saw a wave of new signups in Brazil after X (formerly Twitter) was temporarily banned there. And in the United States, unhappiness with changes at X, and with owner Elon Musks close [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Only two companies currently provide cargo delivery to and from the International Space Station, and both are based in the United States. The Exploration Company, which operates out of Germany, France, and Italy, is looking to change that: It just closed a large funding round to further its mission of building Europes first reusable space [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

In the wake of the U.S. 2024 presidential election, one fact became clear: Disinformation proliferated online at a startling rate, shaping Americans views about each candidate as well as a diverse set of topics, including public health, climate change, and immigration.Generative AI with its ability to produce deepfakes in seconds and its propensity to [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Charles Hudson, managing partner of Precursor Ventures, told an audience at AfroTech the basics of knowing when to invest: A company should have product-market fit and some form of traction. But the next thing he said garnered some surprised looks from the audience: Founders should test investors with a small issue to see how they [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Two things are immediately notable when watching the Carter Prorobot navigate the aisles of the demo warehouse inside Robust AIs San Carlos, California, headquarters. The first is the shelving units: standardized, modular, and off-the-shelf. The wire frames will look familiar to anyone who has spent time in warehouses, and thats certainly by design. The second [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

One of the most widely used techniques to make AI models more efficient, quantization, has limits and the industry could be fast approaching them. In the context of AI, quantization refers to lowering the number of bits the smallest units a computer can process needed to represent information. Consider this analogy: When [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

House plants are great. They can also be hard. All of those stress-reducing self-care qualities they promise tend to fade into the background when they suddenly turn brown for seemingly no reason. Unlike pets and human children, they cant bug you when something is wrong. They just sort of wither. Theres a reason Reddit is [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.