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Yelp adds AI-powered review insights to restaurants Dec 11, 2024

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Yelp is releasing several new features as part of its year-end release, including AI-powered review insights, a personalized home feed with new content types, and a redesigned inbox for business owners. When it comes to user-facing features, the company is now highlighting reviews in different categories, including food quality, service, and ambiance.

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Dimension raises $500M second fund for investing at the intersection tech and life sciences Dec 10, 2024

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Many VCs, particularly newer firms, readily admit that 2024 has been a challenging year for raising fresh capital. Dimension Capital, a two-year-old venture outfit, had a different experience when raising its second fund. “Every investor from fund one came back very quickly."

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ByteDance asks appeals court to temporarily block sell-or-ban law, Apple sued over abandoning CSAM detection for iCloud ... and more tech news Dec 10, 2024

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ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency motion on Monday asking an appeals court to temporally block the law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership by January 19. Also, Apple is being sued over its decision not to implement a system that would have scanned iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lawsuit argues that by not doing more to prevent the spread of this material, it’s forcing victims to relive their trauma, according to The New York Times; A U.S. breast-screening program claims to demonstrate the potential benefits of using artificial intelligence (AI) in mammography screening, with women who paid for AI-enhanced scans 21% more likely to have cancer detected. DeepHealth, an AI firm owned by radiology giant RadNet, presented its findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America; When it comes to market capitalization, Nvidia is currently the second-biggest public company in the world, behind Apple. That’s why all eyes are on Nvidia these days. And now, as Bloomberg spotted, China Central Television, a public TV broadcaster, is reporting that China’s market regulator has opened a probe into Nvidia’s acquisition of Mellanox; Nikola Corp., a producer of battery and hydrogen-electric trucks, has taken several steps to repay its debts and raise equity, including offering up to $100 million in a common stock sale.

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Former Lakers star launches VC firm, Lucid Motors completes Gravity SUV, Amp Robotics raises $91M, and Fly Ventures sets its eyes on technical founders Dec 09, 2024

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Former NBA Lakers star Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly known as Metta World Peace), has teamed up with Stephen Stokols, the former CEO of Boost Mobile, to launch Tru Skye Ventures, a firm looking to invest in sports and health tech, according to Sportico. Also, The first Lucid Motors Gravity SUV has rolled off the company’s production line in Casa Grande, Arizona, according to a post on X. The company will now set its aim on ramping up production of the new electric vehicle and making the first deliveries. Recently, Amp Robotics changed its business model to focus on running entire facilities that sort recyclables. Fly Ventures, the Berlin-based VC that invests in seed-stage European startups within enterprise and deep tech, has launched its third fund at €80 million. The firm raised its last €53 million fund in 2020. Aiming at technical founders, the firm claims Fund III was oversubscribed and raised in a single closing.

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OpenAI’s o1 model sure tries to deceive humans a lot Dec 09, 2024

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OpenAI finally released the full version of o1, which gives smarter answers than GPT-4o by using additional compute to “think” about questions. However, AI safety testers found that o1’s reasoning abilities also make it try to deceive humans at a higher rate than GPT-4o.

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Waymo outsources fleet operations to African fintech Moove in Phoenix and Miami Dec 06, 2024

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Waymo is partnering with Moove, an African mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to gig workers, to handle fleet management operations for its robotaxi service in Phoenix and, soon, Miami. The partnership marks several firsts, like Waymo’s entry into Miami.

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Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is reshaping social media, but advertising isn’t off the table Dec 06, 2024

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Bluesky has blown up this year thanks to a vibrant community of posters, user customization choices, and a decentralized protocol that doesn’t lock users into the choices of a billionaire CEO.

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Growl is building the Peloton of boxing Dec 05, 2024

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There’s a new connected fitness device in town and it’s called Growl. Inspired by hardware companies like Peloton or Tonal, Growl is building a boxing bag that you can attach to your wall at home. Users can then start immersive, gamified boxing classes from the comfort of their home.

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Spotify Wrapped 2024 adds an AI podcast powered by Google’s NotebookLM Dec 05, 2024

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Spotify Wrapped, the streamer’s highly anticipated annual listening recap, has arrived. In addition to its usual personalized summary detailing your favorite artists, songs, podcasts, and more, the company this year is introducing two new features, including most notably, an AI-powered podcast of your 2024 Wrapped created with Google’s AI summarization tool, NotebookLM.

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The race is on to make AI agents do your online shopping for you Dec 04, 2024

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Millions of Americans will pop open their laptops to buy gifts this holiday season, but tech companies are racing to turn the job of online shopping over to AI agents instead. Perplexity recently released an AI shopping agent for its paying customers in the United States.

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