Author: GT

A Chinese-backed hacking campaign that previously hacked into nine U.S. telecommunication and internet providers is now confirmed to have hacked at least 200 American companies, according to the FBI’s top cyber chief. FBI assistant director Brett Leatherman told The Washington Post that the hackers, dubbed Salt Typhoon, also broke into companies in 80 countries, revealing for the first time the global scale of the Chinese spying campaign. Leatherman didn’t name the hacked companies. AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen were previously confirmed as breached, and Charter Communications and Windstream were later named as victims, among others. The hackers targeted call records among…

SpaceX has long marketed Starship as a fully and rapidly reusable rocket that’s designed to deliver thousands of pounds of cargo to Mars and make life multiplanetary. But reusability at scale means a space vehicle that can tolerate mishaps and faults, so that a single failure doesn’t spell a mission-ending catastrophe.   The 10th test flight on Tuesday evening demonstrated SpaceX’s focus on fault tolerance. In a post-flight update, SpaceX said the test stressed “the limits of vehicle capabilities.” Understanding these edges will be critical for the company’s plans to eventually use Starship to launch Starlink satellites, commercial payloads, and…

Swarm Network, a platform developing decentralised protocols for AI agents, recently announced the successful results of its first Swarm, a tool (perhaps “organism” is the better term) built to tackle disinformation. Called Rollup News, the swarm is not an app, a software platform, nor a centralised algorithm. It is a decentralised collection of AI agents that collaborate to solve a bigger problem. The problem is that platforms like X allow any type of viral claims, some by incredibly influential people. How can we know what is true?Currently, we try to solve this problem through equally loud opposing voices who offer…

WhatsApp is launching a new AI feature that allows users to rephrase, proofread, or adjust the tone of their messages, the Meta-owned company announced on Wednesday. The new feature, called “Writing Help,” uses Meta’s Private Processing technology, which allows users to receive AI-generated responses without Meta or WhatsApp reading the original message or the suggested rewrites. This means that messages on the platform remain private even if people use the new tool. With Writing Help, users can get AI-generated suggestions that rewrite their messages in a professional, funny, supportive, or rephrased way. WhatsApp showcased the feature in a product image…

When Max Keenan joined Y Combinator’s summer 2022 batch, he was working on Aurelian, a company that automated appointment bookings for hair salons. But less than a year later, a conversation with one of his clients led him to a far more significant problem. A nearby school’s carpool line was constantly blocking the parking lot of one of Aurelian’s hair salon clients. The salon owner called the city’s non-emergency line and was put on hold for 45 minutes before reaching a dispatcher. “She called me into her office afterwards, and was like, ‘Max, do you want to help me out?’”…

Google is rolling out a raft of powerful new generative AI features for Vids designed to take the pain out of video creation.Between wrestling with complicated software, finding someone willing to be on camera, and then spending hours editing out all the “ums” and “ahs,” video production often feels more trouble than it’s worth. Google is aiming to change that narrative with Vids.So far, it seems to be finding its audience. Google announced that Vids has already rocketed past one million monthly active users, a clear sign that teams are crying out for simpler ways to bring their ideas to…

Google is rolling out a new device protection program called Pixel Care+, the tech giant announced on Wednesday. Pixel Care+ will replace Google Preferred Care and Fi Device Protection in the U.S., and current monthly subscribers will be transitioned to the new program in the coming months. Google said in a blog post that Pixel Care+ provides a “higher level of coverage, service, and peace of mind for Google hardware owners.” The new program includes unlimited claims for accidental damage, extended warranty claims, and mechanical damage. It also comes with $0 screen and battery repairs, $0 post-warranty malfunction claims, genuine…

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, reported another quarter of sustained sales growth in its earnings statement Wednesday, with $46.7 billion in revenue, a 56% increase compared to the same period last year. That growth was largely fueled by AI-dominated data center business, which saw a 56% year-over-year increase in revenue. Nvidia also saw its net income grow substantially since last year. The company reported a net income of $26.4 billion in the second quarter, a 59% spike since the same period last year.  All told, the company brought in $41.1 billion in revenue from data center sales in the quarter,…

While digitization has transformed banking for Indian consumers, corporate banking has been left in the slow lane — still relying heavily on clunky infrastructure, paper trails, and spreadsheet-heavy workflows. TransBnk wants to address that gap, and Bessemer Venture Partners has invested in the three-year-old startup in a $25 million round to accelerate its progress. Over the past decade, India has experienced a significant boom in consumer fintech, driven by transformative shifts such as the rise of digital payments through the government-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the proliferation of payment aggregators. However, these innovations have done little to enhance the…

Fixing climate change is no small task — just ask carbon removal developers like Mitti Labs. The New York-based startup has developed technology to measure how much methane is released by rice paddies and uses it to train hundreds of thousands of farmers in climate-friendly practices. It’s the sort of high-touch endeavor that venture capitalists typically avoid. So how has Mitti managed to raise funding from its investors? In short: partnerships. Mitti has started working with The Nature Conservancy on a partnership to promote regenerative, no-burn agriculture, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch, the latest in a string of deals that…