Gaza’s internet connectivity ‘in bad shape’ as war continues

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Friday, October 27, 2023

In today's top story, we look at the toll the Israel-Hamas war is having on Gaza's internet access. Lorenzo reports that Palestinian internet service provider NetStream "has collapsed days after the operator notified subscribers that service would end due to a severe shortage of fuel supplies." Lorenzo spoke with an expert who said "the evidence of the crippled internet in Gaza is not hard to find. By every metric of internet connectivity, things are in bad shape." Find out more. Meanwhile, it's been a year since Elon Musk took over Twitter and renamed it X. Ivan writes that X now says an average user spends 32 minutes per day on the platform. Any X users are encouraged to concur. And look out, PR Newswire and BusinessWire, the social media giant is coming for you. Leaders say the company is headed into some new directions, namely newswire services. And India's Reliance Industries has been a busy beaver these days. The company, best known for its retail and telecom businesses, recently launched lending and insurance businesses and now is dipping its toe into co-branded credit cards, according to Manish's story. Get the scoop. Image Credits: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images / Getty Images

More top reads Let's stay over in India a bit more: Rapido, a bike taxi startup, is adding a few wheels and getting into the cab business. Meanwhile, Taiwan-based conglomerate Tata Group will start making iPhones in India. Find out why this is a special deal. Finally squash that pesky bug: Apple fixes a privacy feature that made a certain aspect of iOS vulnerable. It only took three years. Pitch Deck Teardown: Find out why Haje called Aether's $49 million Series A deck "a head-scratcher." (TC+) Going for the gold: As market advantages go, Microsoft and Alphabet may have grabbed the headlines this week for all of their AI announcements and misses in the cloud, respectively, but Amazon is still top dog in the cloud. Read more. We second that emotion: A group behind Stable Diffusion wants to open source emotion-detecting AI. It's AI's party and it can cry if it wants to. Don't get spooked: Looking forward to Apple's Scary Fast Mac event? Here's how to watch and what to expect. OpenAI, Google and a digital anthropologist walk into a bar: It's the start of a joke I'm sure you are familiar with. In this case, they are all part of a United Nations board exploring AI governance. Find out who else is on the board. Can't get to your call right now: Shares of Truecaller drop 32% today on reports of lower revenue. Read more. SBF on the stand: Sam Bankman-Fried says he didn't defraud FTX customers or take their funds; rather, Alameda "borrowed" them. (TC+) Okay . . . Also, SBF initially took the stand without jurors present.  Here's why. (TC+) All charged up with new capital: Byterat nabs a $4 million seed round to collect and analyze data for battery labs. Learn about the bottleneck in battery design. (TC+) Sharing is caring: Startup browser maker Arc now lets you share Spaces, Folders and Split Views with non-Arc users. Test drive it yourself. The Amazon of ads: Big Tech's massive ad businesses are getting a boost from AI. Find out how. (TC+) In case you missed it: Cruise pauses all driverless robotaxi operations to 'rebuild public trust' Ford delays $12B in EV investments as automaker wrestles with demand Twitch's money guy talks about the revenue split controversy and its monetization long game Magic Leap has a new CEO Image Credits: Rapido

On the pods Today on Equity, Mary Ann and Alex were lucky enough to have Kirsten aboard for the roundup, which means we got to tackle an even wider array of stories than usual. We covered a few deals of the week, including news from I Own My Data and AgentSync. The big news we talked about included Carta’s CEO’s major comms boo-boo, where he alerted customers to some bad press by trying to tell them to ignore it. We also looked at the recent roadblock for Cruise driverless taxis and why Waymo appears to be winning, and we provide a few notes on Alphabet’s and Microsoft’s earnings. Listen here. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

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You’ll never be lost again if Google has anything to say about it

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Thursday, October 26, 2023

Seek and you shall find. In today's top story, Aisha writes about Google unleashing a slew of new features for Google Maps. Of course they are AI-powered. And it appears the search giant doesn't want you to be bored, or be without a charge for your car, or not know where you’re going for too long. Get the scoop. Meanwhile, Rita reports on XPeng, often called the Chinese challenger to Tesla, becoming even closer to a competitor after removing high-definition mapping from its XNGP-assisted driving feature. Find out the driver of that decision. And in the pursuit of being an influencer, Lauren reports that 1337, pronounced "Leet," is tapping into generative AI to create a community of AI-driven influencers. Here's how. Image Credits: NurPhoto / Getty Images

More top reads All hail the driverless car: Cruise may be having a tough time, but Waymo has its foot firmly on the gas as its driverless vehicles are now available through Uber, starting first in Phoenix. Here's how to get one. No unraveling here: Threads has a "good chance" of reaching 1 billion users in a few years, according to Mark Zuckerberg. How does he know? He took a poll. Oh, and now Meta says users and businesses have 600 million chats on its platforms every day. Extending the runway: AgentSync raises $50 million more in a massive Series B extension. Find out how this insurtech shook up its business. (TC+) This will get a charge out of you: Inlyte Energy reels in $8 million in a seed round to revive a 50-year-old battery technology. Read more. (TC+) The glue holding social media together: Despite usage declines, X remains "stickier" than first thought. Here's where X is succeeding. Contracts need love too: GGV Capital U.S. backs Arteria AI's digital makeover for financial document creation. Finally, all that unstructured data will have a home. There's always a catch: African VCs and startups are eyeing the Middle East for new capital. However, there might be some requirements. How to make that next decision: Now with $3.8 million in new funding, Outset is using GPT-4 to make user surveys better. Research that. Scooting into the future: Temasek and SBI pour $384 million into India's Ola Electric. Read more. Amazon is your new doctor: The delivery giant's virtual health clinic can now treat patients for a cough, cold or flu. Here's how. Even more for your Thursday: Memory chip maker SK Hynix, a shareholder of Kioxia, opposes a merger with Western Digital There could be a simple reason why seed deals are so expensive today (TC+) Spam is about to get even more terrible (TC+) EU lawmakers agree on key detection limits in controversial CSAM-scanning file Image Credits: Uber

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