For Your Information Blog: 20/09/23

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Linux Foundation selects 'OpenTofu' as official name for Terraform fork

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

In today's top story, Terraform renames itself OpenTofu and joins the Linux Foundation. Get the scoop.

Meanwhile, for you WhatsApp lovers in India, you can now pay businesses with a credit card. You’re welcome. And WhatsApp introduced Flows. Find out what that is.

And today was also Amazon's Fall Event, and our team was there to bring you all the cool tech. The story that got you all clicking was about Alexa getting the generative AI treatment. Learn more.

Here are a few others you liked:

Image Credits: kentoh / Getty Images

More top reads

Farm aid: Ghana's Complete Farmer, which connects farmers to global food buyers, raises $10.4 million. Read more.

If you like the Apple Watch: We answer a question for you: Is the Apple Watch Ultra 2 worth the upgrade? And have an Apple Watch Series 9 review for your reading pleasure.

X marks the spot: Airbnb is verifying all properties in its top five markets, including the U.S. Bye-bye, fake listings.

Get it delivered: JOKR is now valued at $800 million — a slight down round — after bagging about $50 million in Series D funding. Get the scoop.

M&A: After relaunching as a studio for creators, LimeWire acquires BlueWillow, a Midjourney competitor. Read more.

Businesses get some Meta love: Meta is expanding its verification program to businesses. It's not just for creators anymore.

OpenAI upgrade ahead: OpenAI unveils DALL-E 3 and allows artists to opt out of training. Talk about some "prompt engineering."

Quack, quack: Database startup MotherDuck lands $52.5 million to grow its DuckDB-based platform. Find out more.

AI in healthcare: Corti, an AI "co-pilot" for healthcare clinicians, raises $60 million. Learn how this benefits patient care.

Listen here: Google-backed Indian audio platform Kuku FM raises $25 million. Read more.

Image Credits: Complete Farmer

At TechCrunch Disrupt

This week, we will be bringing you a sampling of the Startup Battlefield 200 companies as we make our way to the top 20 companies. Only one will win the Disrupt Cup and a $100,000 equity-free grand prize. And check out all of our content from the week here.

Untap Health wants to help offices and care homes track risk from bugs like flu and COVID-19. Read more.

Allie wants to layer intelligence on top of factory floors. Read more.

Mainstack’s no-code online business service eliminates cross-border payment complexity. Read more.

Parallel Health takes a biotech-forward approach to skincare with custom phage therapy. Read more.

PDS is coming to a cop car near you to stop you from drug-driving. Read more.

Reekon hopes high-tech home improvement tools can drag contractors into the 21st century. Read more.

AppFactor drags legacy enterprise apps to the cloud through automation. Read more.

Agri-Trak is helping farms replace pen and paper with digital tools to track labor and production. Read more.

MakersHub deciphers accounts payable data so construction companies don't have to. Read more.

Betweened wants to teach kids how to use social media, not shut them out of it. Read more.

Ask Sophie: Can you explain the H-1B visa, EB-2 green card transfer and Visa Bulletin?

Dear Sophie,

My startup is hiring. A leading candidate for one of the positions has an H-1B visa and has been waiting for an EB-2 green card for more than four years. This will be the first time our startup will navigate immigration.

Can you explain the H-1B visa and EB-2 green card transfer process? When do you stick with EB-2? The "Visa Bulletin" changed?

— Curious Co-Founder

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription.

Ask Sophie: Can you explain the H-1B visa, EB-2 green card transfer and Visa Bulletin? image

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

On the pods

We were live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023! Alex, Kirsten and Becca took the stage with breaking IPO news, and they discussed how Joby is all in on the Buckeye state, growth in the elder tech space and Writer bringing back nine-figure joy. Listen here.