Artificial Intelligence

Google unveiled several new Android, Chromebook, and Wear OS features to boost connectivity, productivity, and accessibility. MWC, which begins today in Barcelona, was the occasion for the announcement. New features include Chromebook Quick Pair compatibility, Google Keep shortcuts for phones and smartwatches, and Wear OS accessibility modes. Quick Pair will …

OnePlus may no longer release with caution. The Oppo-owned OnePlus 11 debuted in January. The 11R, targeting the expanding Indian smartphone market, came this month. The business now sells last year’s 10T and 10 Pro, three affordable Nord devices, five earphones, and a tablet. Expect a new mechanical keyboard and …

As generative AI’s fast-unfolding power to supercharge content-creation raises concerns about what automation might mean for free access to quality information online, Berlin-based startup Spoke AI is preparing to apply it in a more bounded (but still noisy) context: Internally, pitching information workers on tools to automatically summarize inbound communications …

Chris Farmer, a venture capitalist, doesn’t mind being labeled a cheap founder by employees. Farmer’s 10-year-old, seed-stage venture firm SignalFire lost frustrated employees who couldn’t compete for deals when the market was frothy, but holding the line on price appears poised to pay off. For one, SignalFire raised $900 million …

Amadeus Capital Partners of the U.K. and Apex Ventures of Austria are forming a deep tech startup fund. The Amadeus Apex Technology Fund has raised €28 million ($30 million) with plans to raise €80 million ($85 million). The fund’s first investment was $1 million in German space startup Okapi-seed Orbits’s …

As part of its streamlining efforts, Jumia cut managerial headcount by 60% in Dubai and over 900 positions across its 11 markets, affecting 20% of its staff. Jumia’s FY2022 financials show this happened in Q4 last year. This follows the Jumia Supervisory Board’s note on senior management shake-ups when it …

Today, TikTok announced “TikTok Trivia,” a 5-day live trivia game for U.S. users 18 years or older to win a share of a $500,000 prize pool by answering multiple-choice questions about beauty, lifestyle, music, and sports. Next week’s TikTok Trivia runs from February 22 to 26. TikTok Trivia will have …

Even Tesla has agreed to new requirements for companies seeking funding from the Biden Administration’s $7.5 billion EV charging initiative. The Biden Administration announced Wednesday the final standards for its plan to build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers along highways, including a requirement that all Inflation Reduction …

As activist investors pressure Salesforce, the company is exploring cost-cutting options. Today, Insider reported that the company is implementing stricter engineering performance measurements, with some salespeople being pressured to quit or adopt harsh performance policies. Performance reviews based on engineers’ code output, a flawed way to measure engineering productivity, encourage …

AI photo apps: over? AI-powered photo apps like Lensa AI’s “magic avatars” and others that promise to turn text into images have gone viral on the App Store in recent months. Apptopia data shows consumer interest in AI photo apps has fallen as quickly as it rose. The firm tracked …