KTM City Posts

via https://ift.tt/PfV3QYF To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Fri-yay Crunch! We are pretty excited about Disrupt 2023 getting a whole stage dedicated to fintech . And while we’re talking about events…There’s just a few hours left to save $200 on TC Early Stage tickets in Boston in a couple of weeks, so get yer tickets while you can! On that note, enjoy your weekend! — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Italy gives ChatGPT the boot : Italy’s government has been on a blocking kick lately. A few days ago, we wrote about a possible ban on cultivated meat , and today Italy wants to block ChatGPT, citing data protection concerns. Natasha L writes that the country’s data protection authority is opening an investigation into whether OpenAI is breaching the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Groupon gets its Czech book : Ingrid reports that Groupon has lost 99....

via https://ift.tt/gPtoBrl There’s enough trouble on this planet already that we don’t need new problems coming here from the sun. Unfortunately, we can’t yet destroy this pitiless star, so we are at its mercy. But NASA at least may soon be able to let us know when one of its murderous flares is going to send our terrestrial systems into disarray. Understanding and predicting space weather is a big part of NASA’s job. There’s no air up there, so no one can hear you scream, “Wow, how about this radiation!” Consequently, we rely on a set of satellites to detect and relay this important data to us. One such measurement is of solar wind, “an unrelenting stream of material from the sun.” Even NASA can’t find anything nice to say about it! Normally this stream is absorbed or dissipated by our magnetosphere, but if there’s a solar storm, it may be intense enough that it overwhelms the local defenses. When this happens, it can set electronics on the fritz, since these charged particles ca...

via https://ift.tt/ABxRp8j A U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York threw out a lawsuit against Meta this week that had been simmering for a year and a half. The suit, filed in late 2021 by now-shuttered social app Phhhoto, alleged that Meta violated federal antitrust law by copying its core features with the Instagram-adjacent video looping app Boomerang . Like Boomerang, which Meta launched in October of 2015 and later integrated into Instagram itself, Phhhoto invited users to share very short GIF-like loops. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ultimately granted Meta’s motion to dismiss the complaint due to time-limits imposed by the relevant statutes of limitations. “Phhhoto has failed in its 69-page Amended Complaint of 222 paragraphs to allege sufficient facts that cure the untimeliness of all of its federal claims,” Matsumoto wrote in the opinion, calling the possibility of any amendment to resolve the issue of the lawsuit’s timing “futile.” New a...

via https://ift.tt/jHnqmz6 April 1 is the dumbest day on the internet, and this year, it’s not just because brands will try to prank you by selling “hot iced coffee.” Starting on Saturday, Twitter will begin removing blue checks from “legacy verified” users if they don’t sign up for a Twitter Blue subscription. This is part of new owner Elon Musk’s grand plan to make Twitter profitable, but this particular scheme has a glaring issue: if anyone with $8 per month can get a blue check, the symbol won’t be cool anymore (and also disinformation will proliferate , but Musk doesn’t seem super worried about that). Twitter initially launched its verification system in 2009 to protect celebrities from impersonation. Someone made an account pretending to be former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, but instead of just asking for the account to be taken down, La Russa sued Twitter. And so, the three-year-old company introduced its iconic blue check badge. Now, we’ve come full circl...

via https://ift.tt/dJwgeQ2 When Netflix launched its ad-supported plan four months ago, there were a few devices 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 Ads plan is available on the latest version (2.3.0) of the Netflix app on Apple TV. Netflix confirmed to TechCrunch that support on tvOS is now available for the ad-supported tier. Image Credits: TechCrunch Previously, Apple TV users were unable to access the ads tier and were instead asked to either upgrade to Netflix’s pricier plans or try on a different device. When TechCrunch reached out to Netflix back in November, the company told us that while the Basic with Ads plan isn’t available on tvOS at launch, it would be coming soon. The tier has yet to become available on Chromecast, Chromecast Ultra, PlayStation 3 and the Netfli...

via https://ift.tt/gxKw8sl More than five years ago, a newly minted Waymo took the wraps off of what would become its first commercialized autonomous vehicle: a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan loaded with sensors and software. Now, the minivan, a symbol of the early and hypey AV days, is headed for retirement as Waymo transitions its fleet to the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles equipped with its fifth-generation self-driving system. When the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid AV was first revealed, it might not have been what people expected from the former Google self-driving project turned Alphabet-owned business. The design wasn’t ripped from the pages of a graphic sci-fi novel and it was hardly flashy. But the white minivan — highlighted with the same blue and green accent colors found on the Waymo logo — embodied the company’s aim. Waymo wanted a friendly looking vehicle people would feel comfortable using. The partnership with established manufacturer Fiat Chrysler — now Stellant...

via https://ift.tt/zjQN1DF When Stellantis brand Jeep descended on Moab, Utah this week for its annual off-roading and concept roadshow, electrification ruled the road. The automaker showed off this week seven concepts — four of which are electrified — from the Jeep brand and Jeep Performance Parts (JPP) by Mopar ahead of the Easter Jeep Safari, an annual multi-day event hosted by Moab’s Red Rock 4-Wheelers. Jeep is not the organizer of the Easter Jeep Safari. However, the company does use the annual gathering to showcase a handful of concept vehicles to give the world (and media) a sense of what might be coming down the road.  TechCrunch was on hand to test all of them in a controlled off-road environment. While the concept vehicles were equipped with an array of powertrains, it was hard to ignore the variety of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric setups. (Although it was also sure hard to miss the Jeep Scrambler 392 concept equipped with a 6.4-liter HEMI V-8 engine that’s insp...

via https://ift.tt/NBxIrn6 The first crewed flight test of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is facing yet another delay, with NASA officials saying Wednesday that it was now targeting no earlier than July 21 for launch. The space agency and Boeing blamed the delay on certification issues related to the capsule’s parachute system and other verifications on Starliner’s components and capabilities, as well as scheduling constraints with other missions scheduled to fly to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Steve Stich, NASA’s program manager for the commercial crew program, told reporters that NASA and Boeing needs to complete an additional ground test on the parachute system, as well as a test of Starliner’s abort system. Stress testing of the flight and guidance, navigation and control systems and additional testing with crew are due to be complete by the end of this month. “The Starliner spacecraft is in really good shape,” Stich told reporters during a media briefing Wednesd...

via https://ift.tt/RbhpQgj If you think embedded insurance is the only hot thing in insurtech these days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance together with other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, several investors told TechCrunch+. You see, insurtech startups often need to take into account the myriad rules and regulations in place when they seek to innovate and embed insurance into products, which might make it difficult to pull it off. And given the current emphasis on achieving cost efficiency to extend runways in the broader startup ecosystem, it appears investors are open to insurtech startups that can build a sustainable business model, regardless of it including embedded insurance. “Insurtech startups that do not offer embedded insurance, and rather provide other innovative solutions will still attract VC funding this year, especially if they can show c...

via https://ift.tt/XmzLRWe Kia revealed Tuesday the next EV in its portfolio, a three-row flagship SUV called the EV9 that is packed with tech and a key product in the company’s mission to reach annual sales of 1.2 million battery electric vehicles by 2030. The South Korean automaker didn’t disclose pricing, but it did provide numerous details on the SUV, which will go on sale in selected global markets in the second half of 2023. And more specs may come our way next week when the Kia EV9 makes its North American debut at the New York Auto Show. While Kia hasn’t listed every market that the EV9 SUV will be sold, it is certainly one made for North America. Kia has already gained U.S. customers with its full-sized Telluride SUV. Now it’s betting that it can land even more customers with a large all-electric SUV that is likely more affordable than other similarly sized EVs on the market today, such as the Mercedes EQS SUV and the Rivian R1S. The stakes are certainly high for the compa...

via https://ift.tt/Ck1l6L8 Hello and welcome back to Max Q! In this issue: Relativity Space’s Terran 1 reaches Max Q NRO lines up hyperspectral imagery providers News from Virgin Orbit and more Relativity Space’s first launch fails to reach orbit, but proves its 3D-printing rocket tech works Relativity Space achieved a massively important milestone just before 11:30 PM ET on Wednesday, with the first-ever flight of its 3D-printed rocket technology. Its Terran 1 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, successfully clearing the pad and launch structure, and achieving “Max Q” — or the point during the launch sequence at which the vehicle is under the most pressure in terms of atmospheric resistance and stress — and also succeeded at cutting off its main engines and separating its first stage as intended. – Darrell Etherington Image Credits: Relativity America’s space-based spy agency awards six contracts to hyperspectral imagery providers The U.S. National Reconnais...