WeRide received the first national self-driving vehicle license from the UAE. The permit lets WeRide test Level 4 autonomous vehicles on public roads nationwide. SAE Level 4 vehicles can drive autonomously in certain conditions. The license advances UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s goal of making 25% of …

Nearly 70 IT security and privacy academics have voiced concern that the UK’s Online Safety Bill could undermine strong encryption if it isn’t amended. In an open letter, 68 UK-affiliated security and privacy researchers warned the draft legislation threatens critical security technologies used to secure digital communications. We develop online …

Calendarize it. European pals: July 4th could become independence-from-Meta-surveillance-capitalism day. Today’s long-awaited Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling appears to have destroyed the social media giant’s ability to violate EU privacy law by denying users a choice over its tracking and profiling. The ruling stems from a …

Reddit had a rough month after changing its data API. In the past month, Reddit’s CEO gave interviews defending the company’s decision, the social network fought with developers and moderators, and many subreddits went dark and protested. Since the API changes and rate limits went into effect on July 1, …

ClickUp, a workforce productivity platform startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global, laid off 10% of its staff. It employs about 900 people. The company wants to improve efficiency and position itself for a public listing amid the market slowdown. Learned and confirmed via email that the San Diego …

Twitter released a new version of TweetDeck on Monday after many users were unable to access parts of the web app. TweetDeck users must be verified in 30 days, the company added. Only Twitter Blue subscribers, verified organizations, and some Twitter-verified users can use TweetDeck. Twitter will import all saved …

Tech companies continue to pursue M&A and consolidation in a tight market. Startups, larger tech companies, and their partners are affected by this trend. HappyFunCorp, a product engineering firm that builds apps for Apple, Disney, Amazon, and Twitter, is being acquired by Canadian firm Tiny for $30 million. Tiny is …

Reliance’s digital arm, Jio Platforms, has launched a new mobile handset and tariff plans to convert “trapped” 2G users. Jio Platforms’ 4G-enabled “Jio Bharat” phone has UPI mobile payments and access to Jio’s on-demand video and music streaming services, JioCinema and JioSaavn. The company will build the Jio Bharat and …

RoboDeck must be tired of being called a “Roomba for decks.” We did so in our Startup Battlefield write-up, and I did so above. It’s an impressive pitch. The system applies a sealant to the wood’s surface to protect it from outdoor elements, a tedious part of deck ownership. Two …

Elon Musk limited daily tweet reading over the weekend to prevent data scraping. This measure has affected all Twitter users, but TweetDeck users are reporting major issues, including notifications and columns not loading. Musk initially limited verified users to 6,000 daily posts and unverified users to 600. He raised these …