Using AI to reboot brand-client relationships

Marketing automation has usually focused on driving sales, mainly using past purchase or late funnel behavior (e.g., paid search) as a predictor of an imminent purchase. While effective at boosting sales numbers, this widely implemented strategy can result in a disservice to brands and industries t

Salad chain Sweetgreen buys kitchen robotics startup Spyce

Like so many other aspects of the robotics world, the pandemic has dramatically accelerated interest in the automated kitchen. After all, the food and restaurant industry was deemed essential amid global shutdowns, but finding kitchen staff proved a problem for many, especially early on when questi

Inspired by Airbnb, Hims & Hers offers 10,000 free medical visits to displaced Afghan refugees

Hims & Hers co-founder and CEO Andrew Dudum said Thursday that his company is in the process of distributing 10,000 primary care and mental health visits to displaced Afghan refugees. Founded in 2017, San Francisco-based Hims & Hers has built out a multi-specialty telehealth platform that c

YouTube has removed 1 million videos for dangerous COVID-19 misinformation

YouTube has removed 1 million videos for dangerous COVID-19 misinformation since February 2020, according to YouTube's Chief Product Officer Neal Mahon. Mahon shared the statistic in a blog post outlining how the company approaches misinformation on its platform. “Misinformation has moved fro

Dear Sophie: Can I still get a green card through marriage if I'm divorcing?

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. “Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says

LOVE unveils a modern video messaging app with a business model that puts users in control

A London-headquartered startup called LOVE, valued at $17 million following its pre-seed funding, aims to redefine how people stay in touch with close family and friends. The company is launching a messaging app that offers a combination of video calling as well as asynchronous video and audio mess

Elastic acquisition spree continues as it acquires security startup CMD

Just days after Elastic announced the acquisition of build.security, the company is making yet another security acquisition. As part of its second-quarter earnings announcement this afternoon, Elastic disclosed that it is acquiring Vancouver, Canada based security vendor CMD. Financial terms of the

Astroscale successfully demos in-space capture-and-release system to clear orbital debris

Astroscale hit a major milestone Wednesday, when its space junk removal demo satellite that's currently in orbit successfully captured and released a client spacecraft using a magnetic system. The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission was launched in March, with the

Avalo uses machine learning to accelerate the adaptation of crops to climate change

Climate change is affecting farming all over the world, and solutions are seldom simple. But if you could plant crops that resisted the heat, cold or drought instead of moving a thousand mes away, wouldn’t you? Avalo helps plants like these become a reality using AI-powered genome analysis th

Kanye wants to sell you a $200 music gadget

Kanye (or “Ye,” as it were) is going all out in the promotion of his upcoming tenth studio album, “Donda” (named for his late-mother, Donda West). In July, there was a massive listening party at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where he also took up residence in a locker room).

Canalys: US PC sales up 17% YoY for quarter, even as tablet sales stagnate

Canalys released its quarterly U.S. PC sales today, and while the news was quite good with sales overall up 17% YoY, the growth slowed significantly from the prior quarter when sales soared to 74% pushed by the pandemic. Perhaps that is also due the widely reported worldwide chip shortage. HP retai

Europe’s quick-commerce startups are overhyped: Lessons from China

More than 10 companies currently compete across Europe with an instant grocery delivery business model. Half of them were established in 2020, the year of the pandemic. These companies have raised more than $2 billion to date. Existing and well-funded online food-delivery service players like Deliv

Hulu launches support for HDR on select original content

For the first time, Hulu has started adding support for HDR viewing, years after some of its competitors. The gradual rollout of HDR support began on August 19, Hulu told technewss, and should be available to all users with HDR-compatible devices in the coming days. So far, Hulu has only enabled H

Zeit’s early warning wearable for sleep strokes could save hours and lives

Those at risk are always vigilant for the signs of a stroke in progress, but no one can be vigilant when they’re sleeping, meaning thousands of people suffer “wake-up strokes” that are only identified hours after the fact. Zeit Medical’s brain-monitoring wearable could help