Quantum scale-up Pasqal plans $2B SPAC listing, promises to ‘remain French’
A SPAC deal that is set to take French quantum company Pasqal public on the Nasdaq values the company at $2 billion pre-money.
Tech
India’s Karnataka signals intent to ban social media for under-16s
Karnataka’s proposal highlights a growing global debate over children’s rights and online policy.
This phone starts fires on purpose
Until now, most mobile phone companies have worked to ensure their phones won’t start fires. (Occasional Samsung devices excepted, of course.) But this week at Mobile World Congress, we found a company that dared to go in a different direction. Oukitel’s WP63 rugged smartphone includes a built-in fire starter, and this is what it looks […]
After Europe, WhatsApp will let rival AI companies offer chatbots in Brazil
Meta is now allowing rival AI companies to provide their chatbots on WhatsApp to Brazilian users for a fee, a day after the company confirmed a similar decision for users in Europe.
Marathon is in a sprint
Marathon is weird as hell – and I mean that in the best possible way. The latest game from Destiny studio Bungie mixes the slick gunplay the developer is known for with a dark, and frankly bizarre, sci-fi universe. It’s part of the burgeoning “extraction shooter” subgenre, where teams of players are dropped into a […]
Meet your new phone away from phone
Unihertz’s booth at MWC was a little out of the way, but those who did find it all seemed to want to pick up the Titan Elite 2. Sure, the cosmic orange color attracted attention, and the QWERTY keyboard reminded one showgoer of his old BlackBerry. But once I picked it up, I could see […]
Anthropic to challenge DOD’s supply chain label in court
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he plans to challenge the Department of Defense’s designation of the AI firm as a supply chain risk. He claims most Anthropic customers are unaffected by the label.
What if your real computer was a super-sized Lego computer brick?
In 1979 – nearly 50 years ago – Lego jazzed up its very first spaceships with an iconic sloped computer brick that was just painted plastic. In 2022, we introduced you to the engineer who fit an actual tiny computer inside. Now, industrial designer Paul Staal has flipped the script with a working desktop PC […]
Lawmakers just advanced online safety laws that require age verification at the app store
A package of child safety bills is headed to the House floor following an hours-long session that left Democrats and Republicans divided. On Thursday, lawmakers on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted to advance the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act; Sammy’s Law; and the App Store Accountability Act, which would require […]
DiligenceSquared uses AI, voice agents to make M&A research affordable
Instead of relying on expensive management consultants, the startup uses AI voice agents to conduct interviews with customers of the companies the PE firms are considering buying.