Instagram locks out developers of third-party consumer apps
A change to Meta’s developer tools is impacting third-party consumer apps that had previously integrated with Instagram. Among those affected by the changes are the Match-owned dating apps Tinder and Hinge, which had allowed their users to link their Instagram profiles to their accounts to di
Hopeful hearts and other startup news
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The week after Thanksgiving is usually rich in announcements, and this year was no exception. Blame it on the holiday season, but we would
a16z-backed Toka wants to help US agencies hack into security cameras and other IoT devices
U.S. government agencies legally hack into cell phones or emails all the time: think of the FBI wiretapping a suspected drug lord or the NSA monitoring emails for terrorism plots.
But now there's rising interest in hacking other kinds of devices people use, like Wi-Fi-connected security came
Meta unveils a new, more efficient Llama model
Meta has announced the newest addition to its Llama family of generative AI models: Llama 3.3 70B.
In a post on X, Ahmad Al-Dahle, VP of generative AI at Meta, said that the text-only Llama 3.3 70B delivers the performance of Meta’s largest Llama model, Llama 3.1 405B, at lower cost.
Y Combinator alum Nowadays, founded by sisters, raises $2M to automate event planning
Not even the people inventing AI always know what it's good for besides writing emails. But there are seed-stage companies, like Y Combinator grad and 2024 Disrupt Battlefield participant Nowadays, that are doing something mind-blowingly useful with AI.
Nowadays uses LLM AI to automatically pl
Elon Musk donated more than $260M to elect Donald Trump
Fresh campaign financing data shows that Elon Musk poured more than $260 million into political groups in 2024 that helped Donald Trump win the presidential election and, consequently, secured a position for himself as the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the Federa
US appeals court upholds TikTok ban
A federal appeals court has unanimously voted to uphold a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership.
The decision comes seven months after TikTok filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the ban. Friday’s ruling from the appeals
Google Photos launches a ‘2024 Recap’ for a look back at this year’s memories
Spotify Wrapped isn’t the only service offering a year-end recap these days. In addition to the year-end reviews from other streamers and social apps, Google Photos is among the apps providing users with a look back at key moments throughout the past year. The feature, “2024 Recap,̶
Heartcore Capital closes $180M fund to pivot toward infrastructure, synthetic biology, climate
Back in the heady days of 2021, Heartcore Capital planned to focus on consumer technology with a $200 million fund. Fast-forward to 2024, and its latest fund will now “leaven the bread” of that thesis, with a fresh $180 million (€170 million) to go broader and more generalist than tha
Uber and WeRide launch robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi
Ride-hail giant Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide have launched a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi. The launch marks Uber's first international autonomous vehicle offering.
Uber has been snatching up partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies acros
OpenAI’s o1 model sure tries to deceive humans a lot
OpenAI finally released the full version of o1, which gives smarter answers than GPT-4o by using additional compute to “think” about questions. However, AI safety testers found that o1’s reasoning abilities also make it try to deceive human users at a higher rate than GPT-4o — o
Zopa, the UK neobank, snaps up $87M at a $1B+ valuation, eschewing the IPO route
Some believe Klarna's planned IPO in 2025 could set the stage for other fintech startups to go public. But with the tech IPO market still sluggish, one of the candidates hotly tipped to follow suit has instead just announced a fundraise, and its CEO says going public is “not a priority.”
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Planet A Foods nabs $30M to make tons more cocoa-free chocolate
Turning sunflower seeds into sustainable, cocoa-free chocolate has netted Munich-based B2B food tech startup Planet A Foods (formerly QOA) a $30 million Series B funding round. Now, the Y Combinator alum is gearing up for industrialization, with the funds set to be deployed to scale its production
Uber will need to fingerprint drivers in California to transport teens
Uber has 30 days to require certain drivers to get fingerprinted if the ride-hail giant intends to continue transporting unaccompanied teens in California.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a ruling Thursday that requires taxi and ride-hail drivers who are carrying una