Judge pressures Apple to approve Fortnite or return to court

A federal judge is asking Apple to approve Fortnite’s submission on the U.S. App Store or return to court to explain the legal basis as to why it has not done so. In a new filing, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers confirms the court has received Epic Games’ latest motion, whe

Deel wants Rippling to hand over any agreements involving paying the alleged spy

Deel has lobbed a new volley in the ongoing legal battle with rival HR tech startup Rippling. Deel filed a series of letters to the Irish court asking Rippling to hand over information. In one letter, Deel wants unredacted versions of witness affidavits, including the famed one by former Rippling

MIT disavows doctoral student paper on AI’s productivity benefits

MIT says that due to concerns about the “integrity” of a high-profile paper on how artificial intelligence affects research and innovation, the paper should be “withdrawn from public discourse.” The paper in question, “Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation

Build, don't bind: Accel's Sonali De Rycker on Europe's AI crossroads

Sonali De Rycker, a general partner at Accel and one of Europe's most influential venture capitalists, is bullish about the continent's prospects in AI. But she's wary of regulatory overreach that could hamstring its momentum. At a technewss StrictlyVC evening earlier this week in Lo

Sam Altman's goal for ChatGPT to remember ‘your whole life' is both exciting and disturbing

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman laid out a big vision for the future of ChatGPT at an AI event hosted by VC firm Sequoia earlier this month.  When asked by one attendee about how ChatGPT can become more personalized, Altman replied that he eventually wants the model to document and remember everything in a

Vibe-coding startup Windsurf launches in-house AI models

On Thursday, Windsurf, a startup that develops popular AI tools for software engineers, announced the launch of its first family of AI software engineering models, or SWE-1 for short. The startup says it trained its new family of AI models — SWE-1, SWE-1-lite, and SWE-1-mini — to be optimized f

$25B-valued Chime files for an IPO, reveals $33M deal with Dallas Mavericks

At long last, digital consumer bank Chime has moved forward with its IPO by filing its S-1 paperwork Tuesday. Chime had reportedly filed confidential S-1 paperwork back in December. S-1 filings typically reveal all kinds of information, covering financial, legal, and other risk factors. But Chime&

The Papal ‘conclave cam’ is slow TV

On YouTube, hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world are staring at an unmoving broadcast of the Sistine Chapel chimney. Occasionally, a seagull will swoop in and perch atop the roof for a few minutes. But for the most part, nothing happens. On Wednesday, the College of Cardinals started

Apple changes US App Store rules to let apps link to external payment systems

Apple has changed its App Store rules in the U.S. to let apps link users to their own websites so they can buy subscriptions or other digital goods. This change comes after a U.S. court ruled in favor of Epic Games in a case against the iPhone maker, ordering the latter not to prohibit apps from

Rising star defense tech startup Mach Industries is raising $100 million, sources say

Mach Industries, the defense tech founded by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, is about to close a fresh $100 million in financing co-led by new investor Khosla and existing investor Bedrock Capital, a source familiar with the deal tells technewss. The new round will value the company at around $470 mi

Epic Games just scored a major win against Apple

Epic Games has notched a win in an ongoing legal dispute with Apple, as a result of which Fortnite could return to the U.S. iOS App Store as early as next week. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in a ruling on Wednesday that Apple was in “willful violation” of a 2021 injunction that pr

From coding tests to billion-dollar startups, Ali Partovi’s eight-year experiment is paying off

In Silicon Valley, where the same high-wattage names tend to dominate the headlines, Ali Partovi has long wielded outsized influence despite limited name recognition. The Iranian-born Harvard graduate built an impressive resume early on — joining the founding team of LinkExchange (acquired by

You’re invited to a fireside chat with Baiju Bhatt on Sand Hill Road on June 18 at StrictlyVC

We're thrilled to announce that Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood and founder and CEO of Aetherflux, will be joining us for a rare, intimate fireside chat as part of technewss’s StrictlyVC evening series on June 18 on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. As with all of our StrictlyVC evenin

StrictlyVC heads to Athens for in-depth conversations on European innovation and investment

StrictlyVC is turning up the heat in 2025 — and we're going international! First stop: Athens, May 8. Get ready for sharp, unfiltered conversations onstage — and your chance to jump into the dialogue. This isn't just an event; it's a forum where every attendee has a voice with some