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Today — 9 January 2025TechCrunch News

Rounded is an AI orchestration platform that lets anyone build an AI voice agent

9 January 2025 at 05:27

French startup Rounded believes AI voice agents are going to become the default way customers interact with companies, so instead of building AI voice agents that are ready to use, the company is building an orchestration platform that lets companies build their own voice agent. Rounded started off working on a web3 product before shifting […]

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Biosphere zaps germs with UV light to make biomanufacturing cheaper

9 January 2025 at 05:00

Using LEDs has the potential to bring down the cost of biomanufacturing, allowing such processes to make materials that previously would have been too expensive. 

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Hackers are exploiting a new Ivanti VPN security bug to hack into company networks

9 January 2025 at 04:53

Mandiant says a Chinese cyberespionage group has been exploiting the critical-rated vulnerability since at least mid-December.

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Xocean raises $119M to capture ocean data with uncrewed surface vessels

9 January 2025 at 03:44

Xocean, an Irish marine robotics startup that provides ocean data to the energy and hydrography industries using uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), has raised €115 million ($119 million) as it looks to expand coverage to additional sectors. Founded in 2017, Xocean has built a fleet of remotely-controlled USVs that can remain offshore for long periods of […]

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VLC tops 6 billion downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

9 January 2025 at 02:56

VLC media player, the popular open-source software developed by nonprofit VideoLAN, has topped 6 billion downloads worldwide and teased an AI-powered subtitle system. The new feature automatically generates real-time subtitles — which can then also be translated in many languages — for any video using open-source AI models that run locally on users’ devices, eliminating […]

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Apple might be working on a new ‘Invites’ app

9 January 2025 at 02:34

The year has just begun, and Apple might already be in “Sherlocking” mode to create a new app for iOS called Invites. Details are still thin on what this app might look like, but it could potentially be a competitor to Evite or Partiful. According to findings in iOS 18.3 beta 2 code by 9to5Mac, Apple […]

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Grand Games, the Turkish startup behind Magic Sort, drinks up $30M

9 January 2025 at 02:19

Gaming startups, specifically those building casual mobile games, are very hot in Turkey right now, and today another one is announcing a sizable round.

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Defiant is a new European VC firm that uses data and products to make better investments

9 January 2025 at 02:00

Defiant is a new early stage VC firm focused on B2B SaaS and fintech coming out of stealth today. Joseph Pizzolato (pictured right) and Cam Rail (pictured left), the duo at the helm of the firm who met when they were six years old, have already secured $30 million and plan to raise as much […]

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Yesterday — 8 January 2025TechCrunch News

Flipkart hires Dunzo’s co-founder to lead quick commerce push

8 January 2025 at 22:17

Flipkart has hired Kabeer Biswas, the co-founder of Indian delivery startup Dunzo, as the Walmart-owned e-commerce group expands its quick-commerce business in the country. Biswas will lead Flipkart’s quick commerce effort, called Flipkart Minutes, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The move comes nearly a year after Flipkart was considering a potential acquisition […]

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Elon Musk agrees that we’ve exhausted AI training data

8 January 2025 at 20:01

Elon Musk concurs with other AI experts that there’s little real-world data left to train AI models on. “We’ve now exhausted basically the cumulative sum of human knowledge …. in AI training,” Musk said during a livestreamed conversation with Stagwell chairman Mark Penn streamed on X late Wednesday. “That happened basically last year.” Musk, who […]

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We talked to the guy who was stuck in a Waymo robotaxi on a dizzying loop

8 January 2025 at 16:59

A month ago, a video circulated around social media of a Waymo robotaxi stuck in a roundabout loop – an isolated incident with no passengers in the vehicle, according to Waymo. Apparently, it wasn’t a one-time thing. Around the same time, in another Waymo robotaxi headed for the Phoenix airport, Mike Johns, founder and CEO […]

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The US has a new cybersecurity safety label for smart devices

8 January 2025 at 16:58

The White House this week announced a new label for internet-connected devices, the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, intended to help consumers make more-informed decisions about the cybersecurity of products they bring into their homes. To earn the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, which is being administered by the Federal Communications Commission, companies have to test their […]

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The LiberLive C1 stringless instrument isn’t a guitar, and that’s fine

8 January 2025 at 16:54

I’m old enough to remember musicians getting angry over Guitar Hero. But they always seemed to be missing the point. Nobody was seriously suggesting that a video game controller would replace an instrument that’s been going strong since the 15th century. Guitar Hero was a fun game, and if it persuaded a new generation to […]

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CES 2025 was full of IRL AI slop

8 January 2025 at 16:04

It’s 2025, and companies still don’t know what AI is good for. That’s the impression I got from this year’s CES, which featured AI-powered kitchen appliances, baby cribs, and other products that really weren’t calling for AI. See: Spicerr, an “intelligent” touchscreen-equipped spice dispenser that learns your taste as you cook to recommend unique recipes. […]

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CES 2025: The weirdest tech products and claims from this year’s event

8 January 2025 at 15:36

CES 2025 is in full swing. While the conference features reveals from tech powerhouses like Nvidia, Samsung, and Toyota, there are also some very strange product concepts and announcements circulating on the show floor. We’ve compiled the weirdest, silliest, and most eyebrow-raising products from CES 2025. A robotic cat that cools down your coffee for […]

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Pickpad addresses the chaos of restaurant takeout

8 January 2025 at 14:25

There was a time when baristas just had to write a customer’s name on a cup and call it out. They wouldn’t always get the name right, but more often than not, it went to the right person. The prospect of picking up takeout has, however, become considerably more dicey in this post-pandemic era dominated […]

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Astrohaus launches a mechanical keyboard for writers

8 January 2025 at 14:00

Astrohaus has cornered a very specific niche. The Michigan-based startup builds hardware for writers looking to eliminate distractions. It’s really tough finishing up that novel when Instagram exists, after all. While the company has made its name bucking most tech trends, however, its latest offering has found a bandwagon to jump onto. Announced at CES […]

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Grok may soon get an ‘Unhinged Mode’

8 January 2025 at 13:33

Last April, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, teased a mysterious “Unhinged Mode” for X’s AI-powered chatbot, Grok. Nearly a year later, xAI, the Musk-owned company behind Grok, has updated an FAQ page on its website that sheds light on the new mode. Grok in Unhinged Mode will provide responses “intended to be objectionable, […]

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Halliday’s $489 smart glasses beam a tiny screen to your eye

8 January 2025 at 13:09

Walk up to someone wearing a pair of Halliday’s smart glasses, and you might not notice they’re looking at smartphone notifications, live language translations, or advice from an AI assistant. The only giveaway is the tiny green dot of light on their eyeball. Wearables startup Halliday launched a pair of smart glasses at CES 2025 […]

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This $1,500 iPad bundle will Rickroll your family after you die

8 January 2025 at 12:41

It’s only the second day of CES 2025, and we’ve already reached the point where it’s difficult to distinguish real products from elaborate pranks. In Case of Death currently leads that race by a country mile. Produced by Zugu, the product is designed as a kind of dead man’s switch for your digital life. It […]

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