Quantum computing has been something of a holy grail in the world of technology: in theory, it promises an unprecedented amount of processing power that could be used to solve the most complicated problems; in practice, most attempts at building the physical manifestation of the concept produce too many errors as a byproduct to make…
As if being a scholar in ancient Greek wasn’t hard enough fundamentally, the primary texts they rely on are frequently damaged beyond repair, being as they are thousands of years old. Historians may have a powerful new tool in Ithaca, a machine learning model built by DeepMind that makes surprisingly accurate guesses at missing words…
More than five years ago, Volkswagen showed off its vision for its next-generation of vehicles — a cheerful two-tone lime yellow and white microbus concept that gave a nod to its T1 van life past and embraced an electric and connected future. That electric microbus future has finally arrived. At least, for Europe. Volkswagen introduced…
The UK government has again announced an extension to the scope of the draft Online Safety Bill — this time bringing scam ads into scope following pressure from campaigners. In parallel, it has also launched a consultation on strengthening existing regulation of the online ad industry, laying out a range of options to beef up…
Indian food delivery giant Swiggy has hired bankers as it gears up for an initial public offering next year, a source familiar with the matter said. The startup, which was valued at $10.7 billion in its Series K financing in January this year, is looking to raise as much as $1 billion in the IPO,…
Swedish fintech giant Klarna was doing well before the pandemic, but today, it’s a mega-unicorn: In June 2021, it reached a $45.6 billion valuation after raising $639 million. Much of this growth was fueled by U.S. consumers, which makes sense, considering that most of us still can’t cover a $1,000 emergency expense. Today, BNPL can…
While the TechCrunch team is hunkered down watching Apple’s event today, we’re taking a short break from our more serious coverage to share our real-time reactions to the return of the iPhone SE. After Tim “Apple” Cook announced the new piece of hardware, our Slack room for the event had an immediate, and immediately positive,…
People who purchase as a group, for anything from insurance to a group of neighbors fixing their fence, can often command a better purchase deal. In Trela’s case, it is developing a way for Brazilian neighbors to connect groups of people to suppliers, particularly for food purchases with the goal of eliminating the middleman so…
Una Brands, a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator, has partnered with South Korean peer KlickBrands to expand its footprint in South Korea. The strategic partnership will help South Korean e-commerce brands grow domestically and make inroads into more countries in Asia. Una, one of the largest e-commerce aggregators in Asia, has already established its presence across Asia, including Singapore,…
Amazon-owned robotaxi firm Zoox this week announced that it has acquired Strio.AI. The Boston-based robotics startup was founded in 2020 by MIT alumns to bring autonomous picking and pruning to strawberry crops. It got up and running quickly during the pandemic, bringing its first prototype system to farms in California and Florida within about six…
