TECHNOLOGY
General Catalyst’s Anand Chandrasekaran quits, to focus on his AI startup Crescendo
General Catalyst has invested an estimated $250 million across 25-30 startups in India over the past 3-4 years.
TECHNOLOGY
Ads, cloud, subscriptions: How Google parent plans to monetise its AI offerings
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai outlined plans to make money from artificial intelligence at a time when investors are scrutinising Big Tech's massive spending on the rapidly-growing technology.
WORLD
YouTube, Google Cloud to hit $100 billion in annual run rate in 2024: Sundar Pichai
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said strong performance of YouTube and Google Cloud along with the flagship search business drove the Q1 revenue growth.
TECHNOLOGY
Threads now has over 150 million monthly active users, says Mark Zuckerberg
Threads, designed as rival to Elon Musk's X, has been steadily building a range of new features to attract people onto its platform
TECHNOLOGY
Meta to spend billions more on AI; CEO Mark Zuckerberg vows long-term gains
Meta is ramping up its AI spends as it competes with other tech giants Microsoft, Google and upstarts such as OpenAI for supremacy in the rapidly-growing technology.
BUSINESS
Zomato pilots priority delivery feature for extra fees in some locations
This comes days after Zomato increased its platform fees by 25 percent to Rs 5 per order and paused its inter-city food delivery service called Intercity legends
TECHNOLOGY
Elon Musk's X to launch a television app, challenging YouTube
X's TV app launch comes as CEO Linda Yaccarino looks to position the social media firm as a video-first platform to bolster its advertising revenue
TECHNOLOGY
Spotify jumps back to profit in Q1 2024; paid subscribers rise 14% to 239 million
Spotify's user growth slowed down during the quarter due to lower marketing activity. The company is also taking a range of measures to cut costs in a push for monetisation.
TECHNOLOGY
Meta opens up Horizon OS to third-party device makers, escalating battle with Apple
Meta has roped in device makers Lenovo, Microsoft and Asus ROG as its first set of partners who will be building devices based on Meta Horizon OS.
TECHNOLOGY
Meta AI starts limiting responses to election-related queries in India
Meta AI limiting responses to election-related queries comes shortly after Google placed similar restrictions on its AI chatbot Gemini last month.
TECHNOLOGY
Netflix's password-sharing crackdown drives Q1 subscriber growth; adds 9.3 million paid members
Netflix plans to stop reporting quarterly paid membership additions and average revenue per member from the first quarter of 2025
TECHNOLOGY
Meta heats up the AI chatbot race with new assistant powered by Llama 3
Meta AI chatbot will be available to users of the company's apps Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger in over a dozen markets
TECHNOLOGY
Slack's generative AI features now available to all paid customers
Slack AI will be available to businesses of all sizes as a paid add-on with support for English, Spanish and Japanese languages.
TECHNOLOGY
Dailyhunt parent VerSe Innovation buys Magzter to foray into subscriptions
Dailyhunt is launching a subscription-based offering called Dailyhunt Premium that will provide users with access to premium content from international publishers in over 60 languages.
TECHNOLOGY
LightFury Games bags $8.5-million seed funding from Blume Ventures, Mixi, others
LightFury Games plans to build big-budget game titles with an initial focus on mobile games and later expand to other platforms including consoles.
TECHNOLOGY
YouTube extends ad-blocking crackdown to third-party apps
YouTube launched a global crack down on ad blockers in October following an experiment with select users in June 2023
TECHNOLOGY
Naval Ravikant’s Airchat wants to build a social media app around voice notes
Airchat’s relaunch comes as voice messages have become a preferred form of communication over text for many smartphone users across the world, especially in countries such as India.
TECHNOLOGY
Real-money gaming platform SportsBaazi aims to build a spectator gaming universe in India
SportsBaazi's move comes as India's real-money gaming sector remains under turmoil over the government's recent 28 percent GST regime.
TECHNOLOGY
Meta starts testing AI chatbot across Instagram, WhatsApp in India
Meta AI is part of the social networking giant's big push into generative AI as it jostles to be a prominent player in the artificial intelligence arms race with tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and upstarts such as OpenAI
BUSINESS
BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover set to re-enter fintech with ZeroPe app
The ZeroPe app will offer instant pre-approved medical loans of up to Rs 5 lakh in partnership with Delhi-based NBFC Mukut Finvest
TECHNOLOGY
Apple warns iPhone users in 92 countries, including India, of 'mercenary spyware' attacks
In the notification, Apple notes that mercenary spyware attacks, such as those using Pegasus from the NSO Group, are exceptionally rare and vastly more sophisticated than regular cybercriminal activity or consumer malware.
TECHNOLOGY
Google Photos to roll out Magic Editor, Magic Eraser and other AI editing tools to all users from May 15
Google's move comes as consumers around the world are increasingly embracing AI editing tools in their daily lives.
TECHNOLOGY
Nazara subsidiary Nextwave Multimedia to buy IP assets of Games24x7's Ultimate Teen Patti
The IP asset purchase comes amidst diversified gaming and sports media firm Nazara Technologies's push to grow its freemium gaming business.
TECHNOLOGY
Elon Musk's X starts allowing Indian contributors to Community Notes ahead of Lok Sabha elections
Elon Musk-owned X said that the first set of contributors from India will be joining today with plans to expand it over time.
