Microsoft launches Phi-4, a new generative AI model, in research preview

Microsoft has revealed the newest addition to its Phi family of generative AI models. Called Phi-4, the model improves in several areas over its predecessors, Microsoft claims, particularly in solving math problems. That’s partly the result of better training data quality. P

Meta debuts a tool for watermarking AI-generated videos

Throw a stone and you’ll likely hit a deepfake. The commoditization of generative AI has led to an absolute explosion of fake content online: According to ID verification platform Sumsub, there’s been a 4x increase in deepfakes worldwide from 2023 to 2024. In 2024, deepfakes accounted f

Carta is making it too difficult to cancel subscriptions, some founders say

Running a startup can be expensive, requiring a multitude of different subscriptions. Cap table management software, which helps founders organize their funding, can cost thousands of dollars a year. San Francisco-based Carta is the market leader in this industry. But some startup founders sa

Yahoo cybersecurity team sees layoffs, outsourcing of ‘red team,’ under new CTO

Yahoo laid off around 25% of its cybersecurity team — known as The Paranoids — over the last year, technewss has learned. Overall, the company has laid off or lost through attrition 40 to 50 people from a total of 200 employees in the cybersecurity team since the start of 2024, according to m

ServiceTitan’s IPO is a big winner that could inspire fintechs

ServiceTitan, which offers financial and customer management software for the trades, went public in a big way on Thursday, much to the delight of retail investors. The stock quickly popped from its opening IPO sales price of $71 to $105 a share in modest trading volume. It closed the day at $101.

Threads rolls out its own version of Bluesky’s ‘Starter Packs’

Meta’s Threads is rolling out its own take on Bluesky's “Starter Packs,” which are curated lists of suggested accounts that help new users find people to follow. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on Thursday that the social network is testing a way for users to find and ea

RIP, Cruise robotaxi

Welcome back to technewss Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click technewss Mobility! GM's decision to no longer fund its self-driving car subsidiary Cruise was a surprise to many — and got me thinking about

Tumblr launches its interest-focused Communities out of beta

A year after initial tests began, the web blogging site Tumblr, now owned by WordPress.com parent Automattic, is launching its Communities feature out of beta. Communities offer semi-private spaces on Tumblr where people can network around topics of interest, similar to Reddit’s forums known

ChatGPT now understands real-time video, seven months after OpenAI first demoed it

OpenAI has finally released the real-time video capabilities for ChatGPT that it demoed nearly seven months ago. On Thursday during a livestream, the company said that Advanced Voice Mode, its human-like conversational feature for ChatGPT, is getting vision. Using the ChatGPT app, users subscribe

Google wraps ‘blue links’ search test, lobbies for less maximalist application of EU’s DMA

Google has ended a test in which it was returning basic “blue link” search results for hotel-related searches in a handful of markets in the European Union, in response to compliance complaints related to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). These blue links appeared instead of v

Microsoft anchors $9B renewable energy coalition

Big tech companies spent several months this year touting their investments in nuclear power. Now, the tide is turning to renewables. Google announced on Tuesday that it was funding $20 billion worth of renewable power projects across the U.S. On Wednesday, it was Microsoft's turn, helping to

Google announces Android XR platform, will launch first on Samsung’s Project Moohan device

Google said that it is launching a new Android-based XR platform on Thursday to accommodate AI features. The company said the platform, called Android XR, will support app development on different devices, including headsets and glasses. The company is releasing Android XR’s first developer

Google wants to sell those Project Astra AR glasses some day, but it won’t be today

Google is slowly peeling back the curtain on its vision to, one day, sell you glasses with augmented reality and multimodal AI capabilities. The company’s plans for those glasses, however, are still blurry. At this point, we’ve seen multiple demos of Project Astra — DeepMind’s

Humba Ventures raises $40M fund to invest in deep tech, defense tech 

Humba Ventures said today it has raised $40 million to invest in deep tech and defense tech startups. It is a sister-firm to Susa Ventures, the seed-stage firm that has backed companies like Robinhood, Human Interest, and Flexport.  The fund comes at a time when defense tech is seeing venture inv