Author: GT

Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, has launched a virtual desktop service for set-top box users. This means that India’s richest man, Reliance’s chairman Mukesh Ambani, hopes to turn millions of TVs in the world’s most populous country into PCs. Called JioPC, the service offers a cloud-based PC experience through Jio’s set-top box, which comes bundled for free with the telco’s home broadband service or can be purchased separately for ₹5,499 ($64). Currently in free trial and available via waitlist, users can access the virtual desktop on their TV by plugging in a keyboard and mouse…

Software engineer workflows have been transformed in recent years by an influx of AI coding tools like Cursor and GitHub Copilot, which promise to enhance productivity by automatically writing lines of code, fixing bugs, and testing changes. The tools are powered by AI models from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and xAI that have rapidly increased their performance on a range of software engineering tests in recent years. However, a new study published Thursday by the non-profit AI research group METR calls into question the extent to which today’s AI coding tools enhance productivity for experienced developers. METR conducted a randomized…

Praxis Labs, a learning development platform, announced its acquisition on Thursday for an undisclosed amount by the leadership and coaching enterprise Torch.  “As a small company with fewer than 20 people serving companies as large as Amazon, we knew we needed to build powerful partnerships, across product and go-to-market, to reach more companies,” co-founder and CEO of Praxis Labs, Elise Smith, told TechCrunch about the reason for the sale. She and her co-founder, Heather Shen, met Torch CEO Heather Conklin as they were both already working in the leadership development space.  “We were immediately struck, not just by our shared…

Tesla is nearly ready to start selling its electric vehicles in India, according to Bloomberg News, after years of flirting with the idea. The company is about to open its first showroom in Mumbai and could start deliveries as early as August, according to the report. A few hours after Bloomberg published its report, Tesla created an account specifically for its Indian operation on CEO Elon Musk’s social media platform X. The account has one post so far: an illustration of the Mumbai skyline with the caption “Coming soon.” Tesla has been pushing into a number of new markets as…

Paragon, an Israeli spyware company that claims to operate as an “ethical” surveillance vendor, faced scrutiny when earlier this year Italy was caught using Paragon’s tools to spy on the phones of two journalists. Paragon responded by cutting Italy off from its surveillance products, becoming the first spyware company to ever publicly name one of its customers after the misuse of its products. Now, Paragon might face a new ethical dilemma: whether or not it will allow ICE agents to use its spyware. A $2 million one-year contract that Paragon signed in September 2024 with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement…

Firefly Aerospace is taking its orbital ambitions to the public markets. The company, which notched a string of successes this year, including a historic commercial moon landing, submitted its formal declaration to regulators Friday detailing its plans to IPO sometime this year.  The S-1 document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provides a wide-ranging look into the company’s finances and governance plans, though the number of shares to be offered and their price range has not been disclosed. This means the final valuation is still to be determined.  Firefly is heading into the initial public offering with $176.9…

OpenAI’s deal to acquire the viral AI coding startup Windsurf for $3 billion fell apart on Friday, according to The Verge. In a shocking twist, Google DeepMind is now hiring Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some of the startup’s top researchers. A Google spokesperson confirmed the hiring of Windsurf’s leaders in a statement to TechCrunch. Notably, Google is not taking a stake in Windsurf and will not have any control over the company. However, as part of the deal, Google will have a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, meaning the AI coding startup remains free to…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Friday the company is delaying the release of its open model, which was already pushed back a month earlier in this summer. OpenAI had planned to release the model next week, however Altman said the company is pushing it back indefinitely for further safety testing. “We need time to run additional safety tests and review high-risk areas. we are not yet sure how long it will take us,” said Altman in a post on X. “While we trust the community will build great things with this model, once weights are out, they can’t be pulled…

There is a time-honored crisis management strategy, wherein one says nothing and waits for the outrage to pass. For Sequoia Capital, the strategy worked pretty well this week. While partner Shaun Maguire initially weathered criticism over an inflammatory social media post, that initial indignation cooled quickly. Now, some seem to think that Maguire’s defiant stance may even be strengthening his position. Business Insider actually called it “good for deal flow” — controversy as competitive advantage. Sequoia’s calculated gamble carries real risk, though. Another provocative post from Maguire that hits the wrong nerve, a shift in political winds, or escalating consequences…

Alistair Berg | Digitalvision | Getty ImagesOnline spending soared $24.1 billion across U.S. retailers during the stretch from July 8 to 11 – dubbed “Black Friday in Summer,” outpacing Adobe Analytics’ prior forecast, as eager shoppers rushed to snap up deep discounts on back-to-school essentials.Retailers recorded online sales growth of 30.3% during events that included Amazon Prime Day, Adobe said on Saturday, compared with its projections of 28.4%.Online retail sales in the U.S. rose 11% to $14.2 billion a year ago.The Prime Day event has also been cemented as a “back-to-school” shopping moment, as consumers jumped on early deals to…