Author: GT

Apple Watch and iPhone owners in the United States will now be able to carry a copy of their U.S. passport on their device, which they can then use at TSA checkpoints across more than 250 U.S. airports when traveling domestically. The feature, known as Digital ID, was previously announced as part of the iOS 26 release, and adds passports to the list of existing government IDs supported in Apple Wallet. The company has rolled out the feature to a dozen states and Puerto Rico, with more on the way. Using Digital ID in Apple Wallet, users can create and present an ID,…

A group of Democratic lawmakers have sent letters to several state governors, including in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Wisconsin, warning that their states are inadvertently sharing drivers’ data with federal immigration authorities. The letter, which was first reported by Reuters, told governors that their states are providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies “with frictionless, self-service access to the personal data of all of your residents,” through a nonprofit managed by state police agencies called the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or Nlets. Nlets facilitates the sharing of state residents’ personal data, in this case driver…

If there’s any question about whether data centers are driving the global economy, a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) should dispel any doubts. This year, the world will spend $580 billion on data centers, $40 billion more than it will spend on new oil supplies. “This point of comparison provides a telling marker of the changing nature of modern, highly digitalized economies,” the agency said in the report. Electricity consumption from AI data centers is expected to grow fivefold by the end of the decade, doubling the total used by all data centers today. Conventional data centers…

Internet radio service TuneIn, a competitor of sorts to Sirius XM and other streamers that was valued at around $500 million during its heyday, has sold for just $175 million. The acquirer is the music and technology company Stingray Group, which will pay $150 million at closing and up to $25 million one year later. It financed the deal with a loan under its renewed credit facility, the company said on Wednesday. Founded in 2002, TuneIn was an early player in the online music space. Unlike rivals such as Apple Music or Spotify Premium that offer ad-free, subscription-based music on…

Crafting a perfect prompt for AI chatbots is often a challenge — so much so that startups are creating roles for prompt engineers. Consumer-facing AI apps are increasingly adding features like suggestion buttons or autogenerated recommendations to nudge customers to use the chatbot more frequently and show them about what the app can do. Hero, a productivity startup founded by former Meta employees, announced a new autocompletion SDK today that will fill in prompts for you based on context. The SDK is currently invite-only and will let developers integrate this tech into their apps. Here is how it works: When…

Einride said Wednesday it plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, just six weeks after the Swedish electric and autonomous truck startup raised $100 million from investors. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride at $1.8 billion in pre-money equity, according to the companies. The deal is expected to generate about $219 million in gross proceeds, a figure that doesn’t take into account any redemption of Legato’s public shares. The company is also seeking up to $100 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) capital. The merger is expected to close…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his $300 million White House ballroom will be paid for “100% by me and some friends of mine.” The White House released a list of 37 donors, including crypto billionaires, charitable organizations, sports team owners, powerful financiers, tech and tobacco giants, media companies, longtime supporters of Republican causes and several of the president’s neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.It’s incomplete. Among others, the list doesn’t include Carrier Group, which offered to donate an HVAC system for the ballroom, and artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, whose CEO, Jensen Huang, publicly discussed its donation.The White House hasn’t…

Matt Carey, the co-founder and CEO of Boston-based startup Teradar, loves when people tell him: “I don’t believe you.” That’s “right where we want folks,” he recently told TechCrunch. Carey has spent the last few years quietly building a solid-state sensor that sees the world using the terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, which sits between microwaves and infrared. It essentially combines the best traits of radar sensors — like no moving parts and the ability to pierce rain or fog — with the higher definition afforded by laser-based lidar sensors. It’s a product that’s never been done at this…

NEW YORK (AP) — Oscar-winning actors Michael Caine and Matthew McConaughey have made deals with voice-cloning company ElevenLabs that will allow its artificial intelligence technology to replicate their voices. Caine said in a statement that ElevenLabs is “using innovation not to replace humanity, but to celebrate it.”“It’s not about replacing voices; it’s about amplifying them, opening doors for new storytellers everywhere,” said the 92-year-old British actor in a written statement.McConaughey also said he is investing in the New York-based startup and has had a relationship with it for several years. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. McConaughey said…

Indian online brokerage platform Groww’s IPO on Wednesday proved to be the largest listing by an Indian fintech so far this year, as the company raised ₹66.3 billion (about $748 million) with its shares closing 29% higher from their issue price. The company’s shares opened at ₹112, about 12% above their issue price of ₹100, and closed at ₹128.85, lending it a market cap of ₹795 billion (approximately $9 billion). Groww’s listing comes amid a broader pickup in Indian startup IPOs. Eyewear retailer Lenskart made its market debut earlier this week, and payments platform Pine Labs is scheduled to list…