Houses in San Francisco are notoriously expensive, with the average home price hovering around . It’s no wonder that a fire-ravaged shack priced at $299,000 in one of San Francisco’s southernmost neighborhoods saw at least tour the this past weekend, according to The San Francisco Standard. Potential buyers were asked to sign a liability waiver …
2024
VW taps former Rivian exec to run US business
Volkswagen of America has a new CEO: Rivian’s Kjell Gruner. The appointment comes just one week after VW parent company Volkswagen Group a $5.8 billion joint venture with Rivian, which will be focused on EV architecture and software. While Gruner’s new post isn’t really related to that new JV, it may help that he spent …
Fintech giant Finastra confirms it’s investigating a data breach
, a London-based financial software company that serves most of the world’s top banks, has confirmed it’s investigating a data breach after a hacker claimed a compromise of the company’s internal file-transfer platform. In a statement given to TechCrunch, Finastra spokesperson Sofia Romano confirmed the fintech giant detected what it calls “suspicious activity” related to …
Federato fixes insurance risk analysis with AI, raises $40M
Insurance has been fertile ground for artificial intelligence innovation, working as it does at the nexus of giant datasets, risk assessment, predictive analytics, fintech, and customer service. , a startup riding that momentum, has now raised $40 million to expand its business: an AI-powered underwriting platform to help insurers better understand and respond to risk. …
TV Time points to Apple’s ‘significant power’ over developers after being removed from App Store
, a popular with more than 30 million registered users, disappeared from Apple’s App Store for several weeks, leading to questions about its future from the app’s avid fan base. Considering that 2.5 million users use the app every month to track what they’re watching and to engage in a social network where they can …
Chinese AV startup Pony AI boosts its IPO goal to $260M
Pony AI, the Chinese autonomous vehicle startup that’s , now wants to raise around $260 million, according to a new regulatory . That’s up from its previous target of around $224 million. To meet the goal, Pony will sell as many as 20 million American depository shares. That’s still down from the much higher target …
Messenger gets HD video calls, AI backgrounds, and more
Meta is new features for Messenger, its messaging app, including AI-powered noise suppression. Messenger is getting HD video calls and voice isolation, both of which can be enabled via the call settings menu. HD calls are now the default for calls placed over Wi-Fi, Meta says, and an option for calls over cellular. Image Credits:Meta …
Federal prosecutors have charged another Forbes 30 Under 30 alum with fraud
The FBI that alleges Joanna Smith-Griffin, founder of the AI startup AllHere Education, engaged in “securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with defrauding investors” out of nearly $10 million. The FBI claims she misrepresented her company’s revenue, customer base, and cash to investors from at least November 2020 until June 2024. …
May Mobility to test driverless shuttles in Ann Arbor
May Mobility is slowly advancing its driverless capabilities. The startup this week launched a small-scale deployment of autonomous shuttles, which will drive themselves along a fixed route without a human safety driver present. May will initially deploy one to two autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans to ferry employees and “invited guests” across a 2-square-mile area of …
UK open to social media ban for kids as government kicks off feasibility study
The U.K. government is not ruling out further beefing up of existing online safety rules by adding an technology secretary Peter Kyle has said. Back in the summer, the in the that were perceived to have been fueled by online disinformation following a knife attack that killed three young girls. Since then it’s emerged that …