Kate Park / TechCrunch: Tokyo-based mobile banking app Kyash raises a $41M Series D from Block, Greyhound, and others; report says it is Block’s first investment in Asia — Kyash, a Tokyo-based mobile financial app, has raised $41.2 million (4.9 billion JPY) Series D funding. — The round comes from a number …
Sources: Alibaba and Tencent are planning to cut tens of thousands of jobs combined this year as companies try to cope with China’s regulatory crackdown (Reuters)
Reuters: Sources: Alibaba and Tencent are planning to cut tens of thousands of jobs combined this year as companies try to cope with China’s regulatory crackdown — Alibaba Group (9988.HK) and Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) are preparing to cut tens of thousands of jobs combined this year …
Watch emu-inspired robot legs that use less energy to run
Robotic legs that mimic flightless running birds like emus and use just two motors per leg can run more efficiently than more complex devices
Sensors inspired by dandelion seeds can record signs of climate change
Tiny sensors that can drift in the breeze like dandelion seeds can help record environmental signals across a wide area
7 Great Deals to Get You Through the Workweek
If you’re anything like me, you’re looking for every way to stay focused until Friday. Noise-canceling headphones (and other gadgets) just might help.
The End of Infinite Data Storage Can Set You Free
The belief that we could save endlessly online turned us all into information hoarders. What society needs instead is better systems for preserving public knowledge.
How to Back Up Your Digital Life
Backups are boring, but they’ll save your bacon. Here’s how to make sure your data lives on, even when your PC doesn’t.
French cloud service OVHcloud files an antitrust complaint about Microsoft with the European Commission; sources say complaint focuses on Microsoft’s licensing (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal: French cloud service OVHcloud files an antitrust complaint about Microsoft with the European Commission; sources say complaint focuses on Microsoft’s licensing — France’s OVHcloud has filed a complaint that Microsoft is abusing its position to hurt competition
Sources: Yandex is in negotiations to sell its media unit, including Yandex News and personal recommendations site Yandex Zen, possibly to social network VK (TechCrunch)
TechCrunch: Sources: Yandex is in negotiations to sell its media unit, including Yandex News and personal recommendations site Yandex Zen, possibly to social network VK — Sources say the company is seeking a media exit as top exec hit with sanctions over propaganda charge
Bored Ape Yacht Club launches ApeCoin, or the $APE token, with 1B in total supply, and forms the ApeCoin DAO, whose founding members include Alexis Ohanian (Lucas Matney/TechCrunch)
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Bored Ape Yacht Club launches ApeCoin, or the $APE token, with 1B in total supply, and forms the ApeCoin DAO, whose founding members include Alexis Ohanian — Even among the fastest-growing crypto startups, Yuga Labs has had a particularly explosive year. — The startup is behind …
A possible new Covid-19 vaccine could be accessible for more of the world
While many people in wealthier countries have been vaccinated against Covid-19, there is still a need for vaccination in much of the world. A new vaccine developed at MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center may aid in those efforts, offering an inexpensive, easy-to-store, and effective alternative to RNA vaccines. In a new paper, the […]
A fabric that “hears” your heartbeat
Having trouble hearing? Just turn up your shirt. That’s the idea behind a new “acoustic fabric” developed by engineers at MIT and collaborators at Rhode Island School of Design. The team has designed a fabric that works like a microphone, converting sound first into mechanical vibrations, then into electrical signals, similarly to how our ears […]
Fixing Data Overload in Health Care
A five-step approach to get the right data into the right hands at the right time.
5 Key Trends Leaders Need to Understand to Get Hybrid Right
New research from Microsoft.
What Great Hybrid Cultures Do Differently
It only works when all employees are treated like they’re remote.
Apple’s New iPhone SE Could Have Been Great
The cheapest iPhone has the same processor as the most expensive iPhone. But it doesn’t feel very special.
The War in Ukraine Is a Reproductive Health Crisis for Millions
Russia’s invasion is making it harder to deliver babies and provide birth control, abortion services, and other essential care.
The Workaday Life of the World’s Most Dangerous Ransomware Gang
A Ukrainian researcher leaked 60,000 messages from inside the Conti ransomware group. This is what they reveal.
Wasoko, formerly Sokowatch, a Kenya-based B2B marketplace that offers a BNPL service to retailers, raises a $125M Series B, source says at a $625M valuation (Tage Kene-Okafor/TechCrunch)
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch: Wasoko, formerly Sokowatch, a Kenya-based B2B marketplace that offers a BNPL service to retailers, raises a $125M Series B, source says at a $625M valuation — Informal retail is king in Africa, with hundreds of billions of dollars of consumer goods are sold through its channels yearly.
Treehouse, which provides DeFi data analytics, raises an $18M seed led by an “undisclosed large fintech investor”, with Binance and others participating (Jamie Crawley/CoinDesk)
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: Treehouse, which provides DeFi data analytics, raises an $18M seed led by an “undisclosed large fintech investor”, with Binance and others participating — Treehouse aims to provide retail investors the infrastructure needed for them to make informed decisions on their DeFi positions
SpaceFill, which helps companies build flexible logistics networks in Europe by offering warehouse space and a SaaS monitoring tool, raises $27M led by NGP (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: SpaceFill, which helps companies build flexible logistics networks in Europe by offering warehouse space and a SaaS monitoring tool, raises $27M led by NGP — French startup SpaceFill has raised a $27 million funding round (€25 million) led by NGP Capital with Maersk Growth …
The Lapsus$ Hacking Group Is Off to a Chaotic Start
Telegram polls. Unusual demands. The latest extortion gang is on an unorthodox rampage.
Not Everyone Wants NFTs to Be the Future of Gaming
Tim Morten, cofounder of Frost Giant Studios and formerly production director on StarCraft II, doesn’t see the same dollar signs some studios do.
The Best Weighted Blankets for Calm and Comfort
These accessories might not cure your anxiety or insomnia, but they can feel like a hug when you really need one.
Google Domains comes out of beta in 26 countries, seven years after launch; the service now supports over 300 domain endings (Kris Holt/Engadget)
Kris Holt / Engadget: Google Domains comes out of beta in 26 countries, seven years after launch; the service now supports over 300 domain endings — Seven long, long years ago, Google started offering users a way to buy a domain without having to deal with a host provider. Now, Google Domains is at last […]
Bear Robotics, which develops food service robots that aim to reduce the workload of human waitstaffs, raises a $81M Series B led by IMM (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)
Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Bear Robotics, which develops food service robots that aim to reduce the workload of human waitstaffs, raises a $81M Series B led by IMM — One of the most interesting things about following food robotics startups over the past couple of years is tracking all of the different tasks companies …
Akeneo, which makes product experience management and product information management software, raises a $135M Series D led by Summit Partners (FinSMEs)
FinSMEs: Akeneo, which makes product experience management and product information management software, raises a $135M Series D led by Summit Partners — Akeneo, a Nantes, France- and Boston, MA-based provider of product experience management (PXM) and product information management (PIM) solutions, raised $135M in Series D funding.
IT Army of Ukraine: The amateur hacker team striking at Russia
An amateur army of hackers formed by the Ukrainian government is bringing down the websites of Russian government departments and national banks
Look! Up in the sky! Is it a planet? Nope, just a star
The first worlds beyond our solar system were discovered three decades ago. Since then, close to 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed in our galaxy. Astronomers have detected another 5,000 planetary candidates — objects that might be planets but have yet to be confirmed. Now, the list of planets has shrunk by at least three. In […]
How to Ease Back into Traveling for Work
Four strategies for your next business trip.
DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership
A conversation about race, the workplace, and how corporate America can improve.
Standardized APIs Could Finally Make It Easy to Exchange Health Records
A U.S. law requires that the process be simplified by the end of 2022.
It’s a Perfect Time for EVs. It’s a Terrible Time for EVs
Gas prices are up, commutes are back, and Russian oil is under sanction. Too bad the electric vehicle industry isn’t ready to seize the moment.
Russian Missiles and Space Debris Could Threaten Satellites
As the war in Ukraine continues, the growing debris in low Earth orbit is a matter of national security.
It’s Like GPT-3, but for Code—Fun, Fast, and Full of Flaws
OpenAI’s new tool can autocomplete lines of programming or conjure software from a simple prompt. It could also riddle the internet with even more bugs.
France-based Doctolib, a booking service for doctors and medical workers, raises €500M in equity and debt led by Eurazeo at a €5.8B valuation (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: France-based Doctolib, a booking service for doctors and medical workers, raises €500M in equity and debt led by Eurazeo at a €5.8B valuation — French startup Doctolib has announced that is has raised a new funding round. With this round, the company has reached a valuation …
Germany-based Staffbase, a communications service for internal teams to send messages and measure their impact, raises a $115M Series E at a $1.1B valuation (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Germany-based Staffbase, a communications service for internal teams to send messages and measure their impact, raises a $115M Series E at a $1.1B valuation — The Covid-19 pandemic, with its by-product of social distancing to help reduce the spread of infection, led to many organizations working …
ChannelEngine, which helps brands manage their products and inventory across multiple third-party marketplaces, raises a $50M Series B led by Atomico (Paul Sawers/VentureBeat)
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: ChannelEngine, which helps brands manage their products and inventory across multiple third-party marketplaces, raises a $50M Series B led by Atomico — ChannelEngine, a platform that helps brands manage their products and inventory across multiple third-party marketplaces, has raised $50 million in a series B round of funding.
When it comes to AI, can we ditch the datasets?
Huge amounts of data are needed to train machine-learning models to perform image classification tasks, such as identifying damage in satellite photos following a natural disaster. However, these data are not always easy to come by. Datasets may cost millions of dollars to generate, if usable data exist in the first place, and even the […]
4 Years On, a New Experiment Sees No Sign of ‘Cosmic Dawn’
Astronomers tried to confirm a signal from the birth of the first stars after the Big Bang. They saw nothing.
The Top Features in Apple’s iOS 15—and Its Newest Update
You can now download iOS 15.4, which allows you to use Face ID even if you have a face mask on, among other new perks.
The Best Sunglasses for Every Outdoor Adventure
Protect your eyes in style while you lounge, run, paddle, or work on your computer outside.
Microsoft brings its DirectStorage API from Xbox to Windows to improve game load times and graphics details, after promising it in September 2020 (Michael Kan/PCMag)
Michael Kan / PCMag: Microsoft brings its DirectStorage API from Xbox to Windows to improve game load times and graphics details, after promising it in September 2020 — “Starting today, Windows games can ship with DirectStorage,” Microsoft says. “This public SDK release begins a new era of fast load times …
Gauntlet, which offers a financial-risk modeling platform for crypto lending, raises a $23.8M Series B at a $1B valuation led by Ribbit Capital (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Gauntlet, which offers a financial-risk modeling platform for crypto lending, raises a $23.8M Series B at a $1B valuation led by Ribbit Capital — Gauntlet, a financial-risk modeling platform for crypto lending, raised a new round of funding that pushed its valuation to $1 billion.
Israel’s National Cyber Directorate says the country has recovered from a large-scale DDoS attack on Monday, which took down several government websites (Jon Fingas/Engadget)
Jon Fingas / Engadget: Israel’s National Cyber Directorate says the country has recovered from a large-scale DDoS attack on Monday, which took down several government websites — Israel appears to be recovering from a large-scale cyberattack. According to Haaretz and Kan’s Amichai Stein, attackers took …
How do organisations find and debunk disinformation on war in Ukraine?
The war in Ukraine is the subject of much online disinformation and propaganda but fact-checking organisations are tracking down how social media posts spread and debunking them
What Stops People on Your Team from Leaving?
Ask these four questions in your next one-on-one.
Why U.S. Frontline Workers Are Quitting
And what companies can do to stem the tide.
Stop Wasting People’s Time with Meetings
Prepare in advance to showcase your best self and make the most of your time.
In Life, as in Wordle, Success Often Depends on Where You Start
We all have to start somewhere, but some of us have a leg up over others—even when it comes to simple games.