Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica
The child, whose age is not public, sustained minor injuries according to Waymo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating.
Tech
Upwind raises $250M at $1.5B valuation to continue building ‘runtime’ cloud security
The $250 million Series B was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital.
There won’t be a Nothing Phone 4 this year
Nothing CEO Carl Pei confirmed the Phone 4 won’t launch in 2026 in a new video on the brand’s YouTube channel. “There’s no new flagship this year,” Pei said when asked about phone plans for 2026, instead emphasizing that last year’s Phone 3 remains the Nothing flagship. “We’re not just going to churn out a […]
Google disables Take a Message on older Pixel phones amid audio leak bug
Google is disabling some Phone app features on older Pixel devices after acknowledging a bug that inadvertently leaked audio to callers. The issue has specifically been linked to the Take a Message feature released last year, which automatically answers and transcribes voicemails when you miss a call, with a handful of Pixel 4 and 5 […]
Deezer makes it easier for rival platforms to take a stance against AI-generated music
Last year, Deezer introduced an AI detection tool that automatically tags fully AI-generated music for listeners and removes it from algorithmic and editorial recommendations. The company announced on Thursday that it’s now making the tool available to other streaming platforms in an effort to help address the rise of AI and fraudulent streams, as well […]
Meta burned $19 billion on VR last year, and 2026 won’t be any better
The reported financial losses follow a series of layoffs at the VR unit.
Halide co-founder Sebastiaan de With is joining Apple’s design team
Sebastiaan de With, known for his work on apps like Halide, Kino, and Orion as the co-founder of Lux, is joining Apple’s design team, he announced today. “So excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products,” de With says in his post. de With is well-known for his […]
Mark Zuckerberg is all in on AI as the new social media
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse dreams seem to have been replaced by a new vision: an AI-generated social feed. In an earnings call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg reiterated his belief that AI will become the next big media format, making feeds “more immersive and interactive:” We started with text, and then moved to photos when we […]
Windows 11 has reached 1 billion users faster than Windows 10
Windows 11 now has 1 billion users. Microsoft hit the milestone during the recent holiday quarter, meaning Windows 11 has managed to reach 1 billion users faster than Windows 10 did nearly six years ago. “Windows reached a big milestone, 1 billion Windows 11 users,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on the company’s fiscal Q2, […]