Sea’s Free Fire India relaunch in limbo six months on
Sea is “still making changes” and has yet to launch its popular mobile game Free Fire in India, more than six months after announcing plans to do so. Yanjun Wang, Group Chief Corporate Officer at Sea,...
India’s smartwatch market in flux as unknown brands challenge heavyweights
India’s smartwatch market has transformed, seemingly overnight. For years, it has been dominated by its homegrown players, while global giants like Apple and Samsung have struggled for presence, amid ...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/india-worlds-biggest-smartwatch-market-change/
India’s Election Commission fixes privacy flaws that exposed citizens’ information-seeking data
India’s federal election commission has fixed flaws on its website that exposed data related to citizens’ requests for information related to their voting eligibility status, local political candidate...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/india-election-commission-rti-privacy-flaws-fixed/
AALTO seeks to democratize high-speed internet access through solar-powered drones
In the beginning of 2021, Alphabet shuttered Loon. It was a familiar story within the annals of Google X history: an ambitious moonshot with tremendous upside that sputtered out prior to gaining any s...
NFT platform Zora is offering a novel way for AI model makers to earn money
Zora, a NFT-based social network platform is continuing its expansion beyond the crypto-sphere into the hot artificial intelligence market, Dee Goens, the startups’ co-founder said on Chain Reaction. ...
Astra is the space industry’s first SPAC bust of 2024
Astra Space, the launch company that went public in 2021 at a $2.1 billion valuation, is going private again after months of burning cash and failing to secure alternate investment. The company announ...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/astra-is-the-space-industrys-first-spac-bust-of-2024/
Here’s why most AI benchmarks tell us so little
On Tuesday, startup Anthropic released a family of generative AI models that it claims achieve best-in-class performance. Just a few days later, rival Inflection AI unveiled a model that it asserts co...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/heres-why-most-ai-benchmarks-tell-us-so-little/
Binance launches a crypto perfume and Coachella partners with OpenSea
Welcome back to TechCrunch Crypto. It was an eventful week: bitcoin’s price hit a new high, Spain’s data protection authority banned Worldcoin and Binance raised eyebrows after making perfume.
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Lensrentals acquires BorrowLenses
Lensrentals, a titan in the online rental service for photo, video, audio and lighting equipment, has announced its acquisition of BorrowLenses, a key competitor in the space of photographic and video...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/lensrentals-acquires-borrowlenses/
AI2 Incubator scores $200M in compute to feed needy AI startups
The AI2 Incubator, spun out of the Allen Institute for AI in 2022, has secured a windfall $200M in compute that startups going through its program can take advantage of to accelerate early development...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/ai2-incubator-scores-200m-in-compute-to-feed-needy-ai-startups/
Apple will make it easier to move to Android by fall 2025
Apple says it plans to make it easier for customers to switch to Android as a result of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which went into force today. Alongside support for alternative app stores, n...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/apple-will-make-it-easier-to-move-to-android-by-fall-2025/
TikTok hijacks the For You page with call to action on ban
When some American users opened TikTok on Thursday morning, they were met with a full-screen message encouraging them to call Congress and say no to a TikTok ban. “Speak up now — before your governmen...
Rivian takes the wraps off $45,000 R2 SUV, its biggest bet yet
As customers, VIP guests and media milled into the Rivian South Coast Theater in Laguna Beach on Thursday — the Pacific Ocean crashing on the beach just a few hundred feet away — a mix of hope and exc...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/rivian-takes-the-wraps-off-45000-r2-suv-its-biggest-bet-yet/
Rivian surprise announces the R3 hatchback, and it’s cute as hell
Rivian just surprise-announced an all-electric hatchback called the R3 — giving the company a big Apple-esque “one more thing” announcement at the event that was ostensibly supposed to be all about it...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/rivian-r3-hatchback-ev-specs-preorder-info/
Databricks keeps marching forward with $1.6B in revenue
While the world waits for Databricks to IPO, the data lakehouse company just keeps raking in the dough, reporting $1.6 billion over the last year.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/databricks-revenue-numbers-ipo/
Brevian is a no-code enterprise platform for building AI agents
Sunnyvale-based Brevian wants to make it easier for business users to build custom AI agents. Currently, the company is focused on support teams and security analysts — areas where both the use cases ...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/brevian-is-a-no-code-enterprise-platform-for-building-ai-agents/
Tracking ads industry faces another body blow in the EU
It’s been over two years since a key piece of the tracking-ads’ industry’s consent collection apparatus was found to breach European Union’s data protection laws. Today the surveillance data complex s...
Threads now lets all users save drafts and take photos within the app
Threads, the Twitter-like app from Instagram, is rolling out the ability for users to save a draft and take photos within the app. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the features today, noting they...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/threads-save-drafts-take-photos-within-app/
Oura starts selling its products on Amazon
Smart fitness ring maker Oura announced a partnership with Amazon today to sell its products through the e-commerce site. The company said that both its rings — Horizon in six finishes and Heritage in...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/oura-starts-selling-its-products-on-amazon/
PayPal launches Tap to Pay on iPhone for businesses using Venmo and Zettle in the US
PayPal announced today that it’s launching “Tap to Pay” for merchants with an iPhone through the Venmo and Zettle apps in the U.S. PayPal, which owns both Venmo and Zettle, says the feature will allow...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/07/paypal-launches-tap-to-pay-iphone-businesses-using-venmo-zettle/