Bench, a Canada-based accounting startup that offered software-as-a-service for small and medium-sized businesses, has abruptly shut down, according to a notice posted on its website.   “We regret to inform you that as of December 27, 2024, the Bench platform will no longer be accessible,” the notice reads. “We know this news is abrupt and may […]

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Encode, the nonprofit organization that co-sponsored California’s ill-fated SB 1047 AI safety legislation, has requested permission to file an amicus brief in support of Elon Musk’s injunction to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit company. In a proposed brief submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Friday afternoon, counsel for […]

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Do Kwon, the co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs, will be extradited from Montenegro to the U.S. to face federal fraud charges, as first reported by Bloomberg. Kwon faces charges in both the U.S. and South Korea; Terraform Labs’ TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies crashed in 2022, causing investors to lose over $40 billion. Terraform […]

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If there was one phrase that captured the vibe and theme of 2024 — at least in the transportation sector — it was “business whiplash.” Legacy automakers changed direction on their all-EVs-or-bust strategy, startups pivoted, and some Silicon Valley VCs and executives adjusted their views on a changing political landscape in which they now are […]

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The data-loss startup says it was targeted as part of a "wider campaign to target Chrome extension developers."

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Earlier this week, DeepSeek, a well-funded Chinese AI lab, released an “open” AI model that beats many rivals on popular benchmarks. The model, DeepSeek V3, is large but efficient, handling text-based tasks like coding and writing essays with ease. It also seems to think it’s ChatGPT. Posts on X — and TechCrunch’s own tests — […]

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Lyft is suing the city of San Francisco, claiming the city unfairly charged the rideshare company over $100 million in taxes.

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LG may have the earliest big press conference of CES, but the Korean electronics giant still can’t help announcing a bunch of products ahead of the show. As ever, the pile of news is a mixed bag with a few interesting additions. These plant lamps undoubtedly qualify as the latter. Details on the products — […]

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Researchers at the University of Leeds recently demonstrated a framework for a quadruped robot with a design inspired by the biomechanics of four-legged animals. The versatile robot is able to navigate complex environments, maintain stability on uneven ground, and recover after a fall — all without the use of extra-perceptive sensors.

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There are many iPad apps to help you organize recipes; sync tasks across devices; be more productive; and manage your notes.

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Hertz has been contacting people who are in the middle of renting electric vehicles recently to offer them the option to buy the car instead of returning it, reports The Verge. And the offers are pretty sweet, according to some renters who shared the offers on Reddit.  One renter was reportedly offered a 2023 Chevy […]

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OpenAI says its corporate structure must evolve to advance its mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence (AGI) — AI that can complete most tasks humans can — benefits all humanity. The company currently has a for-profit org controlled by a nonprofit, with a “capped profit” share for investors and employees. But in a blog post […]

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From LoanDepot to Evolve Bank and Blue Yonder, these ransomware attacks affect tens of millions of people.

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When you really probe venture capitalists about investing in AI startups, they’ll tell you that businesses are experimenting wildly but are very slow to add AI solutions into their ongoing business processes.  But there are some exceptions. And one of them appears to be an area known as AI sales development representatives, or AI SDRs. […]

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Scientists at the Suzumori Endo Robotics lab in Tokyo have developed the Superman Suit: a suit powered by hydraulic artificial muscles that allow it to perform superhuman tasks. In this video, the suit demonstrates the ability to complete 15 rotations around a bar, making anyone into a great gymnast.

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ChatGPT's new search feature can be told to generate entirely positive product summaries thanks to hidden code, new research finds.

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ChatGPT, Sora, and OpenAI’s developer-facing API were down on Thursday for more than four hours. OpenAI says it started experiencing a major outage at 11 a.m. PT, but now says its services are slowly coming back online as of 3:16 p.m. PT. Frequent users of ChatGPT may recall that the service went down earlier this […]

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DeepSeek V3 can handle a range of text-based workloads and tasks, like coding, translating, and writing essays and emails from a descriptive prompt.

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Here is a timeline of the events that led fledgling automaker Fisker to file for bankruptcy.

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Microsoft and OpenAI have a very specific, internal definition of artificial general intelligence (AGI) based on the startup’s profits, according to a new report from The Information. And by this definition, OpenAI is many years away from reaching it. The two companies reportedly signed an agreement last year stating OpenAI has only achieved AGI when […]

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