The lower chamber of the French parliament, the National Assembly, passed a cross-party bill that aims to introduce some new requirements for social media influencers. This is a preliminary vote as the bill will move to the Senate, but there’s a high probably that it will be adopted in a few weeks as all the
Month: March 2023
Roku is the latest tech company to announce a second round of layoffs with today’s news that it’s letting go of 6% of its workforce, or around 200 employees. The company disclosed the cuts in an SEC filing, explaining that the decision is part of a larger plan to lower its year-over-year operating expense growth
French startup Ledger has added more money to its Series C funding round. The company designs and manufactures so-called hardware wallets to secure crypto assets. In 2021, the company raised €356 million ($385 million at today’s exchange rate). And the company is adding another €100 million ($108 million) in new funding. This is an extension
Reliance’s Jio, having aggressively recruited talent from Disney’s Hotstar, is placing a substantial wager on IPL in a bid to win a large slice of India’s streaming market. Manish Singh 7 hours Mukesh Ambani’s Jio, the South Asian telecom powerhouse, has long sought to entice its customer base with a plethora of services aimed at
Stripe competitor Checkout.com announced last month that Céline Dufétel was appointed as its new president. She had previously served as the London-based fintech startup’s CFO and COO for about 18 months before her promotion. In her expanded role, which still includes serving as the company’s COO, Dufétel oversees all operational and go-to-market teams, including finance
When Netflix launched its ad-supported plan four months ago, there were a few devices that the plan didn’t support—Apple TV being one of them. Starting this week, the cheaper tier is available in the Netflix tvOS app. A Reddit user that goes by websgeisti noticed the update yesterday. The user noted that Netflix’s Basic with
After major privacy enforcement finally hit Meta’s tracking ads business in Europe earlier this year, the tech giant has confirmed it will be changing the legal basis it claims for microtargeting users in the region. It’s still not going to ask people for their up-front consent to its data-fuelled behavioral advertising. But it will have to
Netflix is adapting the “Scott Pilgrim” comic books into an anime series, which is exciting in its own right, but fans of the movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” are in for a treat. The entire cast of the 2010 live action hit will return to reprise their roles as voice actors, including Michael Cera
Effy is at a crossroads. The energy renovation company based in France is doing well, but it is addressing a market that is much bigger than anticipated. That’s why it is making a bet. The company just closed a €20 million funding round (roughly $22 million at today’s exchange rate) from Felix Capital. This is
Google is launching a new ad transparency center that will let users search for verified advertisers and their campaigns across all of the company’s platforms including Search, Display, and YouTube. This new transparency center — which is accessible directly via this link and through the My Ad Center page — will let you search for
The UK isn’t going to be setting hard rules for AI any time soon. Today, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) published a white paper setting out the government’s preference for a light-touch approach to regulating artificial intelligence. It’s kicking off a public consultation process — seeking feedback on its plans up to
Earlier this month, YouTube TV launched a new “multiview” feature that allows viewers to watch up to four streams of sports content at once. Now it looks like Apple TV is working on a similar option. Though Apple’s streaming device already supports a picture-in-picture mode, new code discovered in the latest iOS beta points to
AI is riding high on a curve of hype, which means some of the practical questions that might grow louder over time — the many costs (financial and social), the business models — may not be the most front of mind right now. Today a startup called Fetch.ai is announcing $40 million in funding in
At Spotify’s Stream On event this month, the company introduced a redesigned app with TikTok-like discovery feeds, an AI DJ and other tools for artists and podcasters. But the app’s changes may not be stopping there. The company confirmed it’s now testing a revamp of its user profiles, which includes a card-style layout that lets
Digital content and how we consume it continue to endlessly evolve, and with that, so too does the tech that helps manage all of it behind the scenes. In the latest development, Hygraph, a startup out of Berlin that has built a platform around a new, “federated” approach to content management — think: many sources
Apple TV+ is getting a new limited series, the company announced yesterday, that is based on a deep-cover investigator who infiltrates online hate groups to monitor and prevent violent attacks and mass shootings. “The Savant” will have eight episodes and stars Jessica Chastain. The show is inspired by the true story published in 2019 by
It’s 2023, and we’re years past the peak of monster fundraising for on-demand transportation and delivery startups locked in highly competitive races with each other to dominate urban consumer mobility. But with many of the biggest and most tenacious players still in the market, those rounds have not disappeared altogether. Today, Cabify — the Madrid-based platform
Google can add another antitrust investigation to its stack. This one has been opened by Spain’s competition authority, the CNMC, which said today it’s concerned about possible anti-competitive practices related to the licensing of news content by local publishers. In a press release it said it is investigating “a series of practices that could involve
Microsoft is the latest tech giant to be caught in the cross-hairs of Germany’s antitrust authority. The Federal Cartel Office (FCO), aka the Bundeskartellamt, has announced it’s opened a proceeding to determine whether special abuse measures can be applied to the company’s business in Germany — citing Microsoft’s extensive digital ecosystem which it noted cuts across
YouTube TV announced today that it expanded its partnership with internet service provider Frontier to launch a single billing option, which will allow customers in the U.S. to bundle fiber internet with YouTube TV on one bill. YouTube TV teamed up with Frontier in 2021 to give customers access to fiber internet and a live
Concrete. Ubiquitous. A mainstay of the construction industry — over 10 billion cubic meters of concrete are used every year. And also responsible for up to 8% of CO2 emissions — one ton of ordinary Portland cement creates somewhere between 800 and 900 kilograms of CO2 emissions. Finnish startup Carbonaide has just raised €1.8 million (~$1.9
Walt Disney Co. has eliminated its metaverse division as part of staff cuts that promise to reduce head count by around 7,000 across the company over the next two months, reports The Wall Street Journal. CEO Bob Iger said Monday that those layoffs would begin this week. Disney’s next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences unit, the
Have you ever wanted an iPhone case that looks like a pair of Crocs? You know, the ugly-but-comfy slip-on shoes covered in holes that you can optionally decorate with colorful push-pins? You haven’t? Well, apparently some designer at smartphone case maker Casetify saw a pair of Crocs and thought to themselves, wow, that would make
In February, Disney CEO Bob Iger told shareholders in an earnings call that the company plans to lay off 7,000 employees as part of a significant restructuring. Today, in an internal memo to employees, which TechCrunch was able to obtain, Iger revealed that there will be three rounds of layoffs, with the first beginning this
France is the latest country that is taking steps to ban TikTok from government-managed devices. Stanislas Guerini, the Minister of Public Transformation and Service, and his services issued a succinct statement announcing the move and the reasoning behind this change. But there’s a twist. Instead of simply banning the social media app, the French government
Sonos has two new speakers going on sale Tuesday, March 28, and they’re both significant new models that occupy a couple of key spots in the overall Sonos line-up: The Era 100 is essentially the replacement for the Sonos One, arguably the ‘default’ starter speaker for anyone looking to build out a Sonos system. The
The UK’s antitrust watchdog has narrowed its probe of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid for video game giant, Activision Blizzard, the regulator said today. In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally concluded the merger “could harm U.K. gamers” through higher prices, fewer choices or less innovation. Today it updated its position, saying new evidence
Framework is one of a few companies leading the charge against disposable electronics, in particular laptops. It just showed off some new models, but also a unique case that you can slot your old parts into to form a new (old) desktop or home media PC. After reviewing last year’s Framework 13 and finding it
Apple may be partnering with studios to put more titles in theaters, a plan that could cost $1 billion a year. Typically, Apple’s original movies have either received small theatrical runs or been exclusive to Apple TV+. So, the potential investment would be a notable increase and signals a major shift in the streamer’s strategy.
Some say the European tech startup ecosystem lacks investors who have been “operators,” as in former entrepreneurs. And indeed, that has been the case for many years. However, it’s good to see that this has been changing, even if the pace has been slow. One of the newest VC funds to wear it’s “former operators”
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