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Showing posts from February, 2023

Typeface, which offers generative AI for marketing copy and images, emerges from stealth with $65M from Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, M12, and Menlo Ventures (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

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Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Typeface, which offers generative AI for marketing copy and images, emerges from stealth with $65M from Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, M12, and Menlo Ventures   —  Typeface, a startup developing an AI-powered dashboard for drafting marketing copy and images, emerged from stealth this week … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/pNBcsTb

Dollar General's stores are so overrun with merchandise that fire marshals are closing them

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A Dollar General store in Minnesota, where merchandise was stored on the sidewalk outside of the store this winter. Insider source Some Dollar General stores have temporarily closed because they are overcrowded with goods. Photos show items like bottled water and dog food clogging aisles, and boxes packing back rooms. Local fire marshals have ordered the stores to close until they can clear up the clutter. Some Dollar General stores are so full of stuff that local fire marshals are ordering the stores to close until they can cut down on the clutter. At some locations, aisles are clogged with plastic tubs and metal-framed dollies, called "rolltainers," that hold goods still wrapped in their shipping containers, according to photos shared with Insider.  Typically, these items are stored in back rooms until employees can unpack them. But some Dollar General stores appear to be unloading truck deliveries directly onto sales floors. In some cases, the merchandise has bl...

Dish confirms ransomware attack allowed hackers to steal personal data

U.S. satellite television provider Dish confirmed that a ransomware is to blame for an ongoing outage and warned that intruders exfiltrated data from its systems. The multiday outage , which began last Thursday and was confirmed by Dish on Monday, is affecting Dish’s main website, apps, and customer support systems, along with the company’s Sling TV streaming and wireless services. Now, in a public filing published Tuesday, first spotted by Bleeping Computer , Dish said it had “determined that the outage was due to a cyber-security incident and notified appropriate law enforcement authorities.” Dish initially blamed the outage on “internal systems issues.” The company goes on to say that the filing relates to expectations “regarding its ability to contain, assess and remediate the ransomware attack and the impact of the ransomware attack on the corporation’s employees, customers, business, operations or financial results.” Dish said in the filing that the attackers extrac...

US-based MKS Instruments, a little-known but key chip equipment supplier, says a "ransomware event" on "production-related systems" will cause delays into March (Financial Times)

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Financial Times : US-based MKS Instruments, a little-known but key chip equipment supplier, says a “ransomware event” on “production-related systems” will cause delays into March   —  US-based MKS Instruments says attack would cost at least $200mn in lost or delayed sales from Techmeme https://ift.tt/bJ36pzX

Tesla’s next factory will be in Mexico, president confirms

Tesla plans to build a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico, the country’s president said Tuesday confirming speculation that the automaker would set up shop there. Notably, Tesla has agreed to use recycled water, addressing a major environmental concern in northern Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. Tesla will share more information about the new factory during its investor day event scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, said López Obrador who is also known as ALMO. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is expected present the long-awaited and often teased Master Plan 3 during the company’s investor day that will be held at the company’s Gigafactory Texas located near Austin. Investors will be able to see its production line and discuss with its leadership team topics like the company’s long-term expansion plans, generation 3 platform and capital allocation, according to the company . Tesla has several factories in the United States, including in Fremont, California, where vehicles...

Inside Startup Battlefield: Getting to know the Battlefield 200

Welcome back to  Inside Startup Battlefield , the TechCrunch podcast where we take you behind the scenes of one of tech’s top startup competitions. There are 180 companies solving crucial problems that didn’t make it to the Disrupt stage, but that doesn’t mean they’re making any less of an impact. In this episode, TechCrunch writers Devin Coldewey and Harri Weber take us on a walk through the Expo Hall and let us listen in on their conversations with a handful of the most interesting companies in the Battlefield 200.  New episodes of Inside Startup Battlefield drop every Monday. Be sure to check out all of the other podcasts in the TechCrunch Podcast Network: Found , Equity , The TechCrunch Podcast , Chain Reaction and The TechCrunch Live Podcast . Inside Startup Battlefield: Getting to know the Battlefield 200 by Maggie Stamets originally published on TechCrunch from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/oXQqehH

Coinbase will suspend trading for Binance USD Stablecoin on March 13, as it doesn't meet its listing standards; users will still be able to access their BUSD (Derek Andersen/Cointelegraph)

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Derek Andersen / Cointelegraph : Coinbase will suspend trading for Binance USD Stablecoin on March 13, as it doesn't meet its listing standards; users will still be able to access their BUSD   —  The San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange referred to its “listing standards” in a tweet.  —  131 Total views  —  1 Total shares from Techmeme https://ift.tt/nhjrxmC

I'm a Black woman who left her job at an architecture firm to go out on her own and I've never been happier

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Xena Stryker left corporate America to start her own architecture design and marketing firm. Xena Stryker Xena Stryker left corporate America several years ago after feeling discriminated against.  She now runs her own architecture-consulting firm and feels in control of her life.  She recommends other women seek mentorship before they launch their own companies.  This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Xena Stryker, 35, an architectural designer who previously worked in corporate America, about why she decided to start her own firm. The company, Xena Design + Marketing Firm , has offices in Atlanta and Beverly Hills, California. The following has been edited for length and clarity.   At a previous job, I was the only Black woman at an architectural firm with hundreds of designers. By the way things looked at the office, you'd think it was 1950. It often felt like the other designers would stare at me, like they were examining my ha...

VSCO is growing into a legit social network for photographers

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Four years after the dawn of the VSCO Girl , VSCO wants you to know that it’s very much alive. Photographers and other aesthetically-inclined creators still flock to the app’s suite of tools , which imbue the editing process with joy while still providing the creative control that visual artists value. If you wouldn’t be caught dead using Mayfair, you’re probably already familiar with VSCO’s vast palette of lush, film-inspired filters. That deep collection of photo filters coupled with the app’s serene, vibes-above-all design make it a natural digital studio space for creators who still care a lot about the look and feel of what they post. “They can be authentic, they can explore their creativity; increasingly, they can connect with others and build community around that and really pursue whatever goals and aspirations they have,” VSCO President Eric Wittman told TechCrunch. As social media trends toward the casual and chaotic, VSCO warriors everywhere are still meticulously white ...

Tesla pauses rollout of Full Self-Driving beta software

Tesla paused the rollout of its Full Self-Driving beta software in the United States and Canada following a recall of the system that federal safety regulators warned  could allow vehicles to act unsafe around intersections and cause crashes. Tesla said in a new company support page that new or pending installations of FSD beta software — an advanced driver assistance system that costs $15,000 — will be halted until it issues an over-the-air software update that corrects the issue. The software update is free. “Until the software version containing the fix is available, we have paused the rollout of FSD Beta to all who have opted-in but have not yet received a software version containing FSD Beta,” the company wrote on the support page. Earlier this month, Tesla said  it was recalling  certain 2016–2023 Model S, Model X; 2017–2023 Model 3; and 2020–2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving Beta (FSD Beta) software or those pending installation. The re...

Tesla stops FSD beta installations in the US and Canada until a future OTA update addresses an NHTSA recall; owners with FSD installed may keep using it, as is (Umar Shakir/The Verge)

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Umar Shakir / The Verge : Tesla stops FSD beta installations in the US and Canada until a future OTA update addresses an NHTSA recall; owners with FSD installed may keep using it, as is   —  Tesla is putting a hold on new installations of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software in the US and Canada until a firmware update … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/pmgZ2RE

More layoffs at Twitter, and loyalist Esther Crawford isn’t spared

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Twitter has laid off at least another 50 employees, according to a report from The Information and posts on social media from former workers. And apparently not even Elon Musk loyalist Esther Crawford, the chief executive of Twitter payments who oversaw the company’s Twitter Blue verification subscription, was spared, according to Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer . Alex Heath of The Verge also confirmed that Crawford and most of the remaining product team were laid off this weekend, leading many to speculate that Musk is cleaning house to redecorate with a new regime. Recall that Crawford had been swept up by Musk’s hardcore takeover of Twitter last year, even boasting on the platform about sleeping at the office to handle round-the-clock demands from her new boss. When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork https://t.co/UBGKYPilbD — Esther Crawford (@esthercrawford) November 2, 2022   The layoffs came this weekend after...

A single mother escaped Kyiv with her 5-year-old at the onset of the Russian invasion. She is one of 8 million refugees who can only dream of returning home.

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Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/Insider Kseniya Kharchenko and her then 5-year-old son fled Kyiv a day after the start of the invasion. Since then the single mother has fantasized every day about returning to her country and family. Kharchenko is among 8 million Ukrainians who have been made refugees by the war. The sky over Ukraine was streaked with missile smoke as bombings began and troops advanced in a ground invasion , as Kseniya Kharchenko packed what she could carry in her Volkswagen Golf and —with her then 5-year-old son in tow — began searching for a safe place to escape the war just a day after the Russian invasion began on February 24 last year. "When the bombs started falling, we didn't know when they will stop — and whether they will stop or not — and how it will all go," Kharchenko told Insider, describing the fear she felt when she chose to leave the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Her parents stayed behind. As did some of her ...

Reports: 50+ Twitter staff were laid off on Saturday, including Twitter's product lead Esther Crawford, and Revue founder Martijn de Kuijper (Emma Roth/The Verge)

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Emma Roth / The Verge : Reports: 50+ Twitter staff were laid off on Saturday, including Twitter's product lead Esther Crawford, and Revue founder Martijn de Kuijper   —  Crawford headed up various projects at Twitter, including the company's Blue with verification subscription as well as Twitter's forthcoming payments platform. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/9ycXlU0

New images offer rare glimpse of the DMZ between North and South Korea where wild animals find peace and flourish

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Otter (Lutra lutra) captured in the DMZ. National Institute of Ecology / Google Arts & Culture New images were released showing a "wildlife sanctuary" in Korea's demilitarized zone (DMZ). The project marks 70 years since the Korean armistice agreement split the nation between North and South. Photographs show many rare flowers and endangered animals living in the area. The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is currently no place for people — which is exactly why, 70 years after the Korean War armistice, rare flora and fauna have flourished on the untouched strip of land. To mark the 70th anniversary of the end of active hostilities between North and South Korea, newly released images show a wildlife haven in the 160-mile-long buffer zone between the two countries surrounded by fences and landmines.  Released by Google Arts & Culture and several South Korea-based institutions, the striking images show high-level biodiversity in a 560-squa...

Source: Esther Crawford, who became one of the most influential leaders at Twitter after Musk's takeover, is out as Director of Product Management (Zoë Schiffer/@zoeschiffer)

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Zoë Schiffer / @zoeschiffer : Source: Esther Crawford, who became one of the most influential leaders at Twitter after Musk's takeover, is out as Director of Product Management   —  Just got confirmation that Esther Crawford, chief executive of Twitter Payments, is out. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/rCd3kAx

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan says he won't attend the 2024 Republican National Convention if Trump is the party's presidential nominee: 'I'm not interested in participating in that'

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Former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster Paul Ryan said he won't attend the RNC in 2024 if Donald Trump is the party's presidential nominee. Ryan told WISN-TV that he the convention being held in his home state didn't affect his decision. The ex-speaker has brought up Trump's poor standing with suburban voters in pushing for a new nominee. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan in a recent interview said he won't attend the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee if former President Donald Trump earns the party's nomination. Ryan, who represented a southeastern Wisconsin-anchored congressional district from 1999 to 2019 and served as speaker from 2015 to 2019, worked with Trump to pass the Republican-authored Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. But since leaving office, Ryan has strongly opposed Trump seeking a return to the Oval Office, having become convinced that the former president cannot win the presidency for the Republi...

Sources: Sequoia resigned from Citizen's board, after the startup offered a "pay to play" deal obliging existing investors to participate in a new funding round (Tabby Kinder/Financial Times)

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Tabby Kinder / Financial Times : Sources: Sequoia resigned from Citizen's board, after the startup offered a “pay to play” deal obliging existing investors to participate in a new funding round   —  Investor abandons start-up over fundraising that has massively diluted its shareholding, as Silicon Valley VCs re-evaluate deals from Techmeme https://ift.tt/C2XnaAd

This Week in Apps: Meta’s paid verifications, Instagram’s founders’ new app and Spotify’s AI DJ

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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app economy in 2023 hit a few snags, as consumer spending last year dropped for the first time by 2% to $167 billion , according to data.ai’s “State of Mobile” report. However, downloads are continuing to grow, up 11% year-over-year in 2022 to reach 255 billion. Consumers are also spending more time in mobile apps than ever before. On Android devices alone, hours spent in 2022 grew 9%, reaching 4.1 trillion. This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more. Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters Top Stories Meta starts selling blue badges…but also security and customer service Image Credits: Bloomberg /...