-
AI Start-Up Kaon AI Raises $60 Million in Funding Round in Quest to Build a ‘Personalized Story Engine’ for Users
Kaon AI, a Berkeley, California-based start-up that builds personalised, generative-AI story worlds, has raised $60 million in its latest funding round, valuing the company in the several hundreds of millions. Backers included B Capital, Redpoint Ace, Goodwater Capital and DCM. The raise signals growing investor appetite for interactive AI entertainment, which one investor described as…
-
Rosie O’Donnell ‘Horrified’ by Trump’s World Cup Intervention and AI Video of Her: ‘A Failure at Everything He’s Ever Tried’
Comedian Rosie O’Donnell told Variety she was “horrified” by Donald Trump’s alleged intervention at this year’s World Cup, in which she says the US president personally lobbied FIFA president Gianni Infantino to overturn a red card issued to American player Folarin Balogun. According to the article, the reversal — described as the first of its…
-
Fi Ultra pet tracker uses T-Mobile’s Starlink satellite service for coverage
Fi has launched the Fi Ultra, a new dog tracker that uses T-Mobile’s T-Satellite with Starlink service to keep tracking pets even when they roam beyond the reach of cell towers. This matters because it promises continuous location data anywhere in the US, including rural areas and remote backcountry, appealing to owners of adventurous dogs…
-
Venus Williams-backed WeWard can now lock your apps until you hit your steps
WeWard, a France-based app that rewards users for logging their steps, is launching a feature called “Walking Mode” that locks chosen apps until the user reaches a set step count. Backed by tennis star and angel investor Venus Williams, the app is positioning the tool as a way to encourage physical activity while cutting screen…
-
Outcry as Meta lets users make AI images from public Instagram profile pics
Meta is facing criticism over Muse Image, a new text-to-image tool that can generate pictures using other people’s public Instagram profile photos without notifying them. The feature matters because it feeds into wider concerns about non-consensual AI-altered imagery, arriving as regulators and campaigners intensify scrutiny of such technology. Critics including the tech justice non-profit Foxglove…
-
Villagers’ fury as property developer is given permission for new build home to become holiday let as council lifts strict ‘no Airbnb’ rule
Residents of Langton Matravers, a coastal village on Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck, have reacted angrily after Dorset Council granted a property developer permission to convert one of the homes on a new estate into a holiday let, despite a condition that had barred second homes and holiday lets. The decision matters because the area is…
-
The Best MagSafe Power Banks for iPhone and Android, Plus Ones to Avoid
WIRED has updated its buyer’s guide to the best MagSafe and Qi2 wireless power banks for iPhone and Android phones, drawing on months of hands-on testing. The guide matters because, despite improved battery life and faster charging, smartphones still frequently run flat before the day is out, and magnetic power banks let users top up…
-
Interpol confront artificial intelligence on new single Iron City
Interpol have released ‘Iron City’, the third single from their forthcoming ninth album ‘This Mirror Weighs A Ton’, due out on 28 August via Partisan Records. The atmospheric track engages directly with the subject of artificial intelligence, framed by frontman Paul Banks as a conversation between a human narrator and a future AI that is…
-
Former OpenAI exec Kevin Weil is now on the board of Stoke Space
Kevin Weil, a technology executive whose career spans Twitter, Meta, Planet Labs and OpenAI, has joined the board of Stoke Space, a well-funded Seattle startup developing fully reusable rockets to rival SpaceX. The appointment matters because it deepens the ties between Silicon Valley’s tech and AI worlds and the private space sector, and because Weil…
-
German car industry warns of job collapse unless ‘bold decisions’ made to address Chinese threat
Germany’s motor industry has warned that employment across Europe’s car sector could collapse unless workers, society and politicians accept that “bold decisions” are needed to counter competition from China and other rivals. The warning, from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), coincides with Volkswagen’s preparations to formally propose up to 100,000 job losses,…