Meta apps experience global outage

Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads on Wednesday were all experiencing issues to varying degrees as a result of a global outage affecting Meta’s apps. The cause of the outage was not disclosed, but Meta acknowledged a “technical issue” in a post on X. The compan

Apple brings ‘Layered Recordings’ to Voice Memos app in iOS 18.2 update

Alongside the release of a host of new AI features, Apple is also updating the Voice Memos app in iOS 18.2. On Wednesday, the iPhone maker announced that iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max users will be able to layer a vocal track on top of an existing instrumental recording in the Voice Memos app, without

How Apple Intelligence changes the way you use Siri on your iPhone

Following years of talk around Apple's lack of innovation when it comes to Siri, Apple promised the launch of a smarter version of its digital assistant. Siri is getting new features and updates with iOS 18 thanks to the addition of Apple Intelligence, the company's generative AI offering,

This Week in AI: Seeking balance in the deluge of news

Hiya, folks, welcome to technewss's regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. Longtime readers of the newsletter might’ve noticed that we skipped a week last week. That wasn’t our intent, and we do apologize. The re

Founder who built Snap’s AI launches a snappy new take on video chatbots

A deep learning scientist whose last startup was acquired by Snap to build its My AI chatbot has raised seed funding for his latest venture: a platform for building and operating real-time, video-based conversational AI agents.  eSelf, as the startup is known, is today coming out of stealth w

Here’s how OpenAI uses your data when you use ChatGPT through Apple's integrations

Following Apple's integration of OpenAI's ChatGPT within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, OpenAI has detailed how your data is handled when you use ChatGPT through Apple's integration.  You can use ChatGPT through Apple's integrations without logging into a ChatGPT account, b

Stigg makes it easy to change your SaaS pricing

Stigg (not The Stig, just Stigg) describes itself as “the first scalable monetization platform for the modern billing stack.” There’s a lot going on in that sentence, but what it comes down to is that the startup, which on Wednesday announced a $17.5 million Series A round, helps

Russian government spies targeted Ukraine using tools developed by cybercriminals

A Russian-government backed hacking group targeted Ukraine's military using tools and infrastructure developed by cybercriminals, according to new research. On Wednesday, Microsoft published a report detailing a hacking campaign carried out by a group it calls Secret Blizzard, which the U.S. C

MariaDB spinout SkySQL secures seed funding to ‘bring conversational AI to databases’

Anyone who’s followed the fortunes of MySQL and MariaDB these past 15 years will probably remember SkySQL, another brand that once existed within that same database ecosystem and, a year ago, became a stand-alone company once more. That company today announced it has raised its first outside

Linux Foundation sets up India entity to boost open source collaboration

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization promoting open source adoption, has announced the launch of its India entity. The organization is looking to promote open source contributions across the South Asian nation’s ecosystem of enterprises, startups, and the government. India alread

Video app Kino, from the maker of Halide, is Apple’s iPhone app of the year

ChatGPT may currently be the No. 1 app on the iPhone App Store in the U.S., but it’s not Apple’s iPhone app of the year. That honor goes to a newer app for videographers called Kino. Launched this spring from Lux, the company behind the professional photography app Halide, Kino advances

Krispy Kreme discloses cyberattack that is disrupting online orders

International doughnut chain Krispy Kreme disclosed a security incident on Wednesday, which the company said has caused “certain operational disruptions, including with online ordering in parts of the United States.” Krispy Kreme disclosed the cyberattack in an 8-K filing with the SEC. The co

200 VCs wanted to get into Lumen Orbit’s $11M seed round

Lumen Orbit, a startup looking to build data centers in space, was able to close its recent seed round in mere days amid intense investor interest. The Redmond, Washington-based company closed on an $11 million seed round at a $40 million valuation, confirming prior technewss reporting that the c

Snapchat users can now keep messages in a chat for a week

Snapchat is rolling out a few new features for users and Snapchat+ subscribers for the holiday season, the company announced on Wednesday. The features include expanded chat options, new app themes, and more. Snapchat users now have the option to save their conversations for seven days instead of