Technology

Ten years ago this December, Google acquired Bot & Dolly and about a dozen other robotics companies. San Francisco-based firm known for special effects work on films like “Gravity,” was merged into a new portfolio with ambitious industry-changing plans. Things didn’t go as planned for many reasons we won’t discuss. …

Canopy is a new peer-to-peer social networking app for content creators to connect, crowdsource, and “spill the tea.” The company announced its 1,000-influencer pilot program today. Founder and CEO Ayomi Samaraweera told that Canopy hopes the program will “build critical mass on the platform in our core content niches: beauty, …

Spotify is restricting free features in India to attract paid users. Years after the streaming service launched in India in 2019, these limits will prevent users from playing songs manually or rewinding, skipping, or repeating them. The Swedish company has offered a generous free tier in India to let users …

In order to compete with X (formerly Twitter), Instagram’s Threads will launch Trends, a popular feature. A Threads user noticed the update in a screenshot posted accidentally by a Threads employee over the weekend, which showed a numbered list of trending topics and how many “threads” were discussing each item. …

2023 will likely be a turning point for AR and VR. Apple unveiled the Vision Pro at WWDC in June after years of waiting for the iPhone moment. This was the company’s usual big, boisterous, polished presentation with lofty promises and a high price. From my conversations with most of …

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating whether big cloud infrastructure companies make it hard for businesses to switch or use multiple providers, putting the U.K. cloud market in the regulatory crosshairs. A year ago, Ofcom announced it was starting a market study of the £7.5 billion U.K. cloud …

The resource demands of generative AI models have driven demand for Nvidia GPU chips to an all-time high, but what if there was a cheaper chip with similar power? Google, Intel, and Nvidia alumni’s early-stage startup Lemurian Labs aims to build that. It’s a moonshot idea, and it takes a …

Google launched Android 14 in NYC today at its Made By Google event. Android 14 has new customization, accessibility, and more, the company said. Pixel devices are getting Android 14 today, and Samsung Galaxy, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, Vivo, and Xiaomi devices will get it later …

Google launched the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro at a hardware event this morning. Temperature sensor, off-device video processing, and improved photo editing are highlights. Both have substantially improved AI features thanks to Google Assistant. Google Assistant can summarize, read aloud, and translate web pages on the Pixel 8 …

Stanford biology graduate and two-time entrepreneur Cyrus Khajvandi struggled to balance scientific research with his daily workload. Khajvandi developed an AI platform to summarize and answer questions about documents, particularly scientific studies, after realizing he wasn’t alone and AI technology was becoming more accessible. Former Labelbox founder Dan Rasmuson became …