News

The father of Toku CEO and co-founder Ehsan Vaghefi was blind at four from congenital glaucoma. Thus, his father joined the Iranian Blind Foundation. VAGHEFI says most of his childhood friends were blind or had blind parents. Vahefi considered becoming a clinician to help people like his father, but he …

According to a regulatory filing, cybersecurity startup-focused venture capital firm Ballistic Ventures is seeking $300 million for a new fund. Over a year after launching its first fund in May 2022, a San Francisco VC firm filed with the SEC on Wednesday to raise $300 million for its second fund. …

Apple announced Thursday that it will add RCS support to iOS next year, resolving the widespread issue of text messaging compatibility between iPhones and Android smartphones but not eliminating the “green bubble” dread. Critics have long argued that Apple’s refusal to support RCS has fragmented messaging ecosystems, particularly for Android …

“Avengers” director Joe Russo and I are increasingly convinced that fully AI-generated movies and TV shows are possible in our lifetimes. In recent months, OpenAI’s ultra-realistic text-to-speech engine has shown glimpses of this brave new frontier. As for me, Meta’s announcement today brought our AI-generated content future into sharp relief. …

The state of Maine confirmed that a Russia-linked ransomware gang stole over a million people’s personal data earlier this year. Hackers exploited a vulnerability in Maine’s MOVEit file-transfer system, which stored sensitive resident data, the state said Thursday. The statement said hackers downloaded state agency files between May 28 and …

One of the biggest tech antitrust cases since the U.S. tried Microsoft in the 1990s, the Justice Department’s landmark case against Google, is nearly two months old, and the revelations keep getting deeper. In our last roundup, we learned how Google spent $26.3 billion in 2021 to become the default …

In the coming weeks, will host robotics expert Q&As. I’ve spoken with Matthew Johnson-Roberson several times since he became Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute director last year. Johnson-Roberson is a double threat, with significant insights from two angles. He has a strong startup CV and a long academic career, most …

In response to user feedback, Instagram’s Threads will now let users turn off automatic post sharing on Instagram and Facebook. Meta added a carousel of suggested threads to other Meta-owned apps in late August to boost Twitter/X traffic. Given that their Threads audience was different from their Facebook and Instagram …

Bose was the answer to the question “What headphones should I buy for a flight?” for years. The QuietComfort line was known for blocking plane noise on long flights. Apple and Sony have risen to the top of the category in recent years, making the question harder to answer. In …

Chris DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb, the founders of Myspace and Jam City, have followed tech trends for nearly two decades. The veteran tech entrepreneurs launched Plai Labs, an a16z-backed social platform development startup that provides AI tools for consumers to collaborate and connect, earlier this year. Plai Labs launched PlaiDay, …