Author: GT

The energy transition is seemingly under assault, with congressional Republicans killing tax credits for clean energy and the Trump administration threatening to cancel billions of dollars’ worth of grants.  But there are signs the setback might not be as catastrophic for the transition as the headlines make it sound. Investor sentiment, judging by the size of two new funds, remains strong. And more founders are pouring into the sector. The upshot: People and organizations are betting money and time that the energy transition isn’t going away. This week, Brookfield, the Canadian infrastructure and asset management giant, announced it had raised…

Rishi Sunak, who served as the United Kingdom’s prime minister from 2022 to 2024, has taken on senior advisory roles at Microsoft and Anthropic, The Guardian reports.   Letters from the Parliament’s office of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) disclosing Sunak’s appointments revealed concerns that the ex-Conservative PM’s privileged information could “grant Microsoft an unfair advantage.”   Sunak has some history with Microsoft, which has several active contracts with British government departments. In 2023, he unveiled a £2.5 billion deal with Microsoft to invest in new data centers and training in the U.K. Acoba also noted that “there is a reasonable concern that your appointment could be…

Earlier this week, OpenAI launched a way for developers to build apps within ChatGPT, allowing users to prompt the assistant to perform tasks and answer questions directly related to the participating apps.  Several companies have launched their interactive experiences, including Spotify, allowing listeners to ask ChatGPT to create playlists, recommend songs, and more.  When you mention Spotify in your ChatGPT prompt, you’ll have the option to connect your account. A button that says “Use Spotify for this answer” will appear at the bottom of the page. Connecting your account allows the AI to access your data, such as your likes…

Elon Musk’s Boring Co., the tunneling and infrastructure firm, repeatedly violated state environmental regulations, even after the company agreed not to, Nevada regulators say. The Boring Co., which is in the process of expanding a tunnel network under Las Vegas, is accused of nearly 800 violations, according to a report from ProPublica. Nearly 100 of the violations occurred after the company signed an agreement with state regulators in 2022, which sought to force the company to comply with state laws. The alleged violations include digging without approval, dumping untreated water onto city streets, failing to install silt fences, and tracking…

Israeli spyware maker NSO Group has confirmed to TechCrunch that a U.S. investment group has acquired the company.   NSO spokesperson Oded Hershowitz told TechCrunch on Friday that “an American investment group has invested tens of millions of dollars in the company and has acquired controlling ownership.”  Confirmation of the deal came soon after Israeli tech news website Calcalist reported Friday that a group led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds agreed to purchase the surveillance tech maker in a deal valued in the tens of millions of dollars.   Hershowitz declined to specify the amount invested, as well as who the…

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said AI will change who can be creative, as the new tools and technology will give people who couldn’t be creators before the ability to produce content at a certain quality and scale. However, he also admitted that bad actors will use the technology for “nefarious purposes” and that kids growing up today will have to be taught that you can’t believe something just because you saw a video of it. The Meta executive shared his thoughts on how AI is impacting the creator industry at the Bloomberg Screentime conference this week. At the interview’s start,…

When Apple announced its thin and light iPhone Air, some people said, “Who asked for a thinner phone?” Moments later, the company went in the other direction and announced a slightly thicker and bulkier iPhone 17 Pro lineup. With this, Apple did what those people had wanted: It made a phone with a thicker form factor to accommodate a larger battery, leading to better performance. Out of the new iPhones, the Pro phones received more iterative updates (unless you count the new orange color). But people who buy these phones will still reap the benefits. The build The first thing…

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reassigning hundreds of employees across several of its agencies to assist in the Trump administration’s broad immigration crackdown and will dismiss staffers who refuse to comply, according to news reports. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the department moved staffers from the U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA, many of whom focus on issuing cyber guidance to help U.S. government agencies and critical infrastructure defend from cyber threats, to other agencies within the federal department, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  Both Bloomberg and Nextgov reported that many of the affected…

There are a number of iPad apps that can help you explore and express your creativity. Although the iPad started off as a simple device that could be used to stream content or browse the web on the go, Apple has essentially turned its iPads into powerful machines that can be used to do things like create digital art and edit videos. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best iPad apps for creativity that are available on the App Store.  Before we get into the list, it’s worth noting that although Adobe’s creative apps are often top choices…

Prezent, a startup that offers an AI-powered presentation builder to enterprises, said today that it has raised $30 million in funding led by Multiplier Capital, Greycroft, and Nomura Strategic Ventures, with participation from existing investors like Emergent Ventures, WestWave Capital, and Alumni Ventures. The Los Altos, California, startup, which is now valued at $400 million, has raised over $74 million to date. It plans to use the new capital largely for acquisitions. The company has also made its first acquisition, buying Prezentium, a services-led presentation company that operates in the life sciences vertical. In an unusual arrangement, Prezent founder Rahul…