Author: GT

Veterans of the European startup scene, who’ve launched multiple consumer apps in the past, are partly coming out of stealth Tuesday with a new app. On the face of it, Grouphug will simply generate memes from the archive of a group WhatsApp chat. However, that masks a wider play.  Grouphug is led by Felix Petersen, one of the most experienced and seasoned B2C founders in Europe, who built the Amen and Plazes apps.  Right now, all users can do on Grouphug is export the text from a group WhatsApp chat and generate funny images from the content.  However, this is…

The stock market is riding the waves of fear and optimism related to President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. Further downside may be in the cards in the short term as well as in the long term if the tariffs bring on a recession or exacerbate inflation. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » But Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is showing some very interesting behavior at the moment. It might even be confirming a hypothesized part of its investment thesis that wasn’t fully supported by the evidence…

Storied Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is backing a fledgling U.K. startup that’s setting out to “redefine” how AI is used to match companies with talent. Dex, as the startup is called, targets candidates and companies with various AI-powered recruitment smarts, including matchmaking and coaching, with a view toward improving retention in the long run. Dex is the handiwork of CTO Harry Uglow and CEO Paddy Lambros (pictured above), who recently left their positions as software engineer and head of talent, respectively, at European VC firm Atomico. While they say that Dex has already lured some two dozen U.K.…

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — An unprecedented blackout across Spain and Portugal upended the lives of millions across the Iberian Peninsula, a stark reminder of modern society’s reliance on electricity, and how quickly life can descend into chaos when the grid goes down. Power was nearly completely restored across the region on Tuesday, but the cause of the previous day’s blackout remains unclear. For those affected, the experience will likely leave a lasting impression and raise questions on how to respond if another crisis emerges. While such widespread failures of power grids are rare, having a plan for how to react…

Heading into 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) was supposed to be one of the biggest investment trends of the year for the crypto sector. Until recently, that hadn’t been the case, with many top AI cryptos down big for the year. But, over the past 30 days, some of the most popular AI cryptos are suddenly up as much as 30%, seemingly out of nowhere. Is this a sign of a potential comeback for the AI crypto sector, or just a dead cat bounce? Let’s take a closer look. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they…

CEO of PayPal Alex Chriss speaks during the Semafor 2025 World Economy Summit at Conrad Washington on April 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong | Getty ImagesPayPal reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, but the company missed on revenue and reaffirmed its guidance for 2025 due to macro uncertainty. The stock fell more than 3% in pre-market trading.Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Earnings per share: $1.33, adjusted vs. $1.16 expectedRevenue: $7.79 billion vs. $7.85 billion expectedWhile sales increased just 1% from $7.7 billion a year earlier, PayPal said the…

Hackers working for governments were responsible for the majority of attributed zero-day exploits used in real-world cyberattacks last year, per new research from Google. Google’s report said that the number of zero-day exploits — referring to security flaws that were unknown to the software makers at the time hackers abused them — had dropped from 98 exploits in 2023 to 75 exploits in 2024. But the report noted that of the proportion of zero-days that Google could attribute — meaning identifying the hackers who were responsible for exploiting them — at least 23 zero-day exploits were linked to government-backed hackers.…

Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesVenmo, long a centerpiece of PayPal’s growth story but often criticized for its lack of monetization, is becoming a bigger contributor to the business.PayPal said Tuesday in its first-quarter earnings release that revenue at Venmo increased 20% year-over-year in the first quarter, though the company didn’t provide a dollar figure. PayPal acquired Venmo in 2013 through the acquisition of parent company Braintree. While it’s long been a popular consumer service for sending money to friends, Venmo’s ability to drive meaningful revenue has been a major question mark for investors, especially as competition from rivals like Zelle…

Yelp said on Tuesday that it’s working on deploying AI-powered “voice agents” to help service providers and restaurants handle calls, answer basic questions, and accomplish tasks like adding a customer to a restaurant waitlist. Yelp says its agents don’t require a complicated setup or API integrations, and can draw from existing metadata along with data from businesses, such as pronunciation guides, customized voice greetings, and call forwarding rules. In the case of a restaurant, for example, Yelp’s agents can connect to the restaurant’s management software to send reservation details to a customer post-call. Yelp’s agents can also handle things like…

The Trump 2.0 era is producing new crossovers in the financial world as some crypto firms consider applying for banking licenses and some banks consider issuing their own digital assets. The convergence is picking up momentum as the new administration loosens restrictions on both crypto operations and traditional banking giants. The latest evidence of this mashup is that crypto upstarts Circle, BitGo, Coinbase Global (COIN), and Paxos are all either considering or planning to seek a US bank license in some form, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. “This is something Coinbase is actively considering but has…