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Consumer Reports Finds Tesla’s Autopilot Recall Fix to be ‘Inadequate’

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Tesla’s fix for Autopilot recall of more than 2 million vehicles criticized as ‘insufficient’ consumer reportfollowing a preliminary test.

Kelly Fankhauser, associate director of vehicle technology at the nonprofit organization, told TechCrunch that they’ve discovered it’s possible to cover the interior camera while using Autopilot. That means it could disable one of the two main ways cars monitor whether you’re paying attention to the road.

Additionally, Funkhouser said that when activating or using Autosteer, Autopilot’s flagship feature, outside of access-controlled highways, where Tesla claims the software is designed to said that they did not notice any difference.

The test was not comprehensive, but it showed that questions remain about Tesla’s approach to driver monitoring, the technology at the heart of the recall.

The group has a long history of critically evaluating both Tesla technology and vehicles, and plans to conduct more extensive testing in the coming weeks. Fankhauser said Consumer Reports has only received over-the-air software updates for the Model S sedan, so it has not yet evaluated other changes, such as more prominent visual warnings in the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV. .

Tesla has also added a suspension policy that disables Autopilot for a week if “inappropriate use” is detected, but Funkhouser said such a suspension policy did not occur for two drives lasting 15 to 20 miles each. He said he had not encountered any such situation.

The recall, announced last week, affects more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada and comes amid a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This product focuses on an autosteer feature designed to keep your car centered in its lane on access-controlled highways, even around curves.

Tesla tells drivers to keep their eyes on the road and keep their hands on the wheel while using Autosteer, and it monitors this through a combination of a torque sensor on the steering wheel and, in newer cars, an interior camera. But NHTSA said in a document released last week that it considers these checks “insufficient to prevent abuse.”

However, Tesla does not limit the use of Autosteer to access-controlled highways. Instead, drivers can activate Autosteer on other roads as long as certain basic conditions are met (such as visible lane markers). NHTSA said that as part of the recall, Tesla will add “additional checks when Autosteer is activated, when using the feature outside of controlled access highways, and when approaching traffic stops.” Ta.

Some owners feared this would mean Tesla would limit autosteer and limit it to controlled-access highways. Just like Ford and General Motors do with their Blue Cruise and Super Cruise systems. As the update began rolling out over the weekend, several opinions were shared in online forums. how to avoid it By disconnecting your Tesla’s cell phone or Wi-Fi radio.

But Funkhouser’s tests show that such drastic measures are clearly not necessary. In the release notes for the latest software update, Tesla says the camera “can determine driver inattention and issue an audio warning to remind you to keep your eyes on the road when Autopilot is engaged. “Now we can do that,” the company says, but the wording is the same as the company’s.Used to enable driver monitoring with interior cameras for the first time in 2021she points out. And dDespite what Tesla says, Release notes it is”[i]”Driver attentiveness requirements have been increased when using Autosteer and when approaching traffic lights and stop signs off-highway,” Funkhouser said, adding that these changes were not noticeable in preliminary testing. Ta. Part of the reason is that it’s hard to know exactly what Tesla means in the first place.

All of this makes it unclear whether or to what extent Tesla has changed the functionality of the driver’s attentiveness camera in the update. (NHTSA declined to comment, instead directing questions to Tesla, which disbanded its media department several years ago.)

“None of this is very prescriptive or explicit in terms of what they’re trying to do.” [change]”Funkhouser says.

Source: techcrunch.com

‘Divergent Views on Personalization in Big Tech Prompt New EU Calls for Default Turning Off of Profiling-Based Content Feeds’

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Another policy tug-of-war may be emerging in the European Union over Big Tech’s content recommendation systems, with the European Commission ruling out profiling-based content feeds (also known as “personalization” engines that process user data). Many members of Congress are calling for the government to curb this. To determine what content to display. The tracking and profiling of users by mainstream platforms to power “personalized” content feeds has long raised concerns about potential harm to individuals and democratic societies, and whether this technology is fueling social media addiction. , some critics say poses mental health risks to vulnerable people. There are also concerns that this technology is undermining social cohesion through its tendency to amplify divisive and polarizing content that can push individual anger and anger towards political extremes.

Of letter, 17 MPs from political groups including S&D, the Left, the Greens, EPP and Renew Europe have signed the petition, which calls for recommendation systems on technology platforms to be switched off by default. The idea emerged during negotiations over the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA). ), but it was not included in the final regulations because it did not have a democratic majority. Instead, EU lawmakers agreed to transparency measures for recommender systems, along with a requirement that large platforms (so-called VLOPs) must provide at least one content feed that is not based on profiling. But in a letter, lawmakers are calling for a complete dedefault on the technology. “Interaction-based recommender systems, especially hyper-personalized systems, pose a serious threat to the public and society as a whole, as they prioritize emotional and extreme content and target individuals who are particularly likely to be provoked. ” they wrote. “This insidious cycle exposes users to sensational and dangerous content, prolonging their engagement with the platform in order to maximize ad revenue.”

Amnesty International’s experiment on TikTok showed that the algorithm were exposed to videos glorifying suicide within just an hour. Additionally, Meta’s internal research found that 64% of joins to extremist groups were due to recommended tools, and that extremists It has become clear that we are exacerbating the spread of ideology.” The phone is: Draft online safety guidelines for video sharing platforms, was announced earlier this month by the Irish Media Commission (Coimisiún na Meán). The committee will be responsible for overseeing the DSA when regulations become enforceable for covered services next February. Coimisiún na Meán is currently consulting on guidance proposing that video sharing platforms “take steps to ensure that profiling-based recommendation algorithms are turned off by default.” The publication of the guidance occurred after the following episodes. violent civil unrest in Dublin The country’s police authorities suggested the attack was fabricated by far-right “hooligans” with false information spread on social media and messaging apps. And earlier this week, Irish Civil Liberties and Human Rights Council ICCL, which has been campaigning on digital rights issues for many years, also called on the European Commission to support the Koimisiun na Mean proposal and to make it public. my report They say social media algorithms are tearing society apart and are calling for personalized feeds to be turned off by default.

In their letter, MEPs said they also accepted proposals from Ireland’s media regulator, which similarly tend to promote “emotional and extremist content” that they say could undermine civic cohesion. It suggests that it “effectively” addresses issues related to recommender systems. The letter also references recently adopted regulations. Report by the European Parliament On the addictive design of online services and consumer protection, they highlight the negative impact of recommender systems on online services, which involve the profiling of individuals, especially minors. , which aims to keep users on the platform for as long as possible, thus manipulating them.” Artificial amplification of hatred, suicide, self-harm, and disinformation. ” “We call on the European Commission to follow Ireland’s lead and not only approve this measure under TRIS, but also take decisive action.” [Technical Regulations Information System] In addition to following the steps, you can also recommend this measure as a mitigation measure for large online platforms to take. [VLOPs] 35(1)(c) of the Digital Services Act, to give citizens meaningful control over their data and online environment,” the MEPs wrote, adding: “The protection of our citizens, especially young people, is of paramount importance” We believe that the European Commission has an important role to play in ensuring a safe digital environment for everyone. We look forward to your prompt and decisive action on this issue. ”

Under TRIS, EU member states must submit proposals before they are adopted into national law so that the EU can carry out a legal review to ensure that they are consistent with the bloc’s rules, in this case the DSA. draft technical regulations must be notified to the European Commission. . This system means that domestic laws that seek to “golden” EU regulations are unlikely to pass scrutiny. As such, the Irish Media Commission’s proposal to turn off video platforms’ recommender systems by default appears to go further than the text of the relevant legislation and may not survive the TRIS process. be. However, no company has gone that far yet. And clearly not the kind of step that ad-funded, engagement-driven platforms would choose as their commercial default.

When we asked, the European Commission declined public comment on the MEP’s letter (or the ICCL report). Instead, the spokesperson pointed to the “clear” obligations regarding her VLOP’s recommendation system set out in Article 38 of the DSA. This mandate requires platforms to provide at least one non-profiling-based option for each of these systems. However, we were able to discuss the profiling feed debate with EU officials who provided background to speak more freely. They agreed that platforms could choose to turn off profiling-based recommender systems by default as part of DSA systemic risk mitigation compliance, but they still do not have initiatives that stray too far from their own policies. I have confirmed that the platform you are using does not exist. So far, we have only seen examples where non-profiling feeds are optionally provided to users, such as on TikTok and Instagram, in order to meet the aforementioned (Article 38) DSA requirement to provide users with the option of circumvention. not. Personalization of this type of content. However, this requires active opt-out by the user. On the other hand, setting a feed to non-profiling by default is clearly a stronger type of content regulation, as it requires no user action to enable. EU officials we spoke to said that the European Commission, in its capacity as enforcer of the DSA on VLOPs, is considering a recommender system, including the formal process initiated in relation to X earlier this week. admitted that. The recommendation system has also been the focus of some of the formal requests for information the commission has sent to his VLOP, including one to Instagram that focuses on child safety risks. they spoke. And they agreed that the EU could use its enforcer role, or law-abiding power, to force large platforms to stop personalized feeds by default. However, they indicated that the commission would only take such action if it determined it would be effective in mitigating a particular risk. The official noted that multiple types of profiling-based content feeds are in place, even on a platform-by-platform basis, and emphasized that each must be considered in context.

More generally, they appealed for “nuance” in the debate over the risks of recommendation systems. They suggested that the Commission’s approach here would be to conduct a case-by-case assessment of concerns and advocate for data-driven policy interventions on VLOPs rather than blanket measures. did. After all, it’s a collection of platforms as diverse as video-sharing and social media giants, as well as retail and information services and (most recently) porn sites. The risk that an enforcement decision will not be selected by legal challenge in the absence of solid evidence to support the decision is clearly a concern for the Commission. The official also wants to collect more information before making a decision on whether to recommend.

Source: techcrunch.com

Avoid These Tech Gifts for Family and Friends This Holiday Season

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It’s the season Going a little overboard with gift-giving. But this year, give yourself the gift of great security (and privacy) and avoid technologies that may introduce unwanted risks or consequences. We are not talking about things that explode in the night or suddenly break, but rather gifts that can have irrevocable or lasting consequences in the future. This year has seen several major hacks involving healthcare and genetic data, and consumer surveillance technology is becoming more commonplace to spy on unsuspecting people. everyone, an ongoing unscrupulous data operation that sells personal information to those who want to buy it. The best solution to this problem is to not get involved in the first place. We have many gift ideas for you to consider.

Things to avoid…

  • Genetic testing kits like 23andMe can have permanent and unexpected results
  • Video door phone to see and hear all
  • VPNs do not maintain your anonymity but may expose your web data
  • Tracking your kids with dangerous location tracking apps is a terrible idea
  • Cheap knock-off Android tablets can hide malware
  • For practical safety, avoid sex toys connected to the internet

Genetic testing is forever. Once you spit it into the tube and send it on its way, there’s no way to get it back. And it’s not just genes that are being digitized. You will also be sharing your genes with your immediate family and relatives. What could go wrong? This year, the profiles and genetic information of millions of 23andMe customers were removed from the company’s systems in what is believed to be the largest genetic data breach in recent years. But 23andMe is not the first victim of a data breach, nor will it be the last. Even if security isn’t a concern, the fact that these companies store large amounts of highly sensitive information to begin with makes them attractive targets for law enforcement trying to solve crimes. It becomes. And while companies like 23andMe and Ancestry have – in the past emphatically – resisted law enforcement efforts to access DNA data pursuant to transparency reports, other companies have Principle of laissez faire Approaches to accessing genetic data held by police. Jason Koebler of 404 Media I couldn’t have said it any better.: “Doing 23andMe is an irreversible act that can have unintended consequences not only for yourself, but also for your family and future descendants.”

Video door phone to see and hear all

While there may be some benefit to seeing who’s at your front door before they get there, the long-term effects of installing a video camera on your front door open up a world of surveillance to your neighborhood. You or your neighbors may be watching. Not comfortable. doorbell video recording all They use cameras and microphones to see and listen, and send the recorded footage to the cloud for later viewing. However, as a result, that footage is often also available to law enforcement and can be highly intrusive, especially if: Police obtained footage from inside the home without the owner’s permission. End-to-end encrypted (E2EE) cameras offer maximum privacy (assuming that’s the company you bought the camera from). Not lying about encryption claims) to ensure that no one other than the owner (including the company itself) can access their footage. This is a good thing, especially since companies like Ring have been fined in the past for letting their employees snoop on customers’ unencrypted videos. After resolving the charges with federal regulators, Ring now says: Staff will only access customer footage in “very limited circumstances.” Of course, Ring hasn’t said what those situations will be.

VPNs do not maintain your anonymity but may expose your web data

If you think a VPN (Virtual Private Network) will keep you anonymous on the Internet, think again. Consumer-grade VPNs hide your IP address (a series of numbers that identify you to other devices on the Internet) and make it appear as if you’re in the area, typically You can claim to allow access to blocked streaming shows. In reality, VPN providers have a negative impact on your privacy and should be avoided like the plague. A VPN allows you to divert all your internet traffic away from your internet provider and instead route it through a VPN provider that ostensibly hides your privacy. Internet traffic may include information about which websites you visit and when, and may include highly sensitive information such as passwords and other credentials. However, some VPN providers don’t even encrypt the user’s data flowing over their network, despite claiming to do so. VPN providers need to make money just like any other provider. Free her VPN providers are by far the worst offenders, as they make money by selling or sharing your internet traffic to advertisers (or other unscrupulous buyers). Even for premium or paid services, anonymity cannot be guaranteed if you are paying with a traceable method such as a credit card. If you want anonymity online, you may want to use the Tor browser. It’s slower than the typical public internet and not ideal for streaming video, but it’s a compromise you have to make to ensure maximum privacy. Otherwise, you run the risk of your VPN selling or exfiltrating your sensitive internet traffic. Also, if a VPN is right for your use case, at least consider setting up a VPN to run yourself.

Tracking your kids with dangerous location tracking apps is a terrible idea

We can all understand the stress and fear of having children in an age of stranger danger and online harm. No wonder many parents want to track the location of their children’s phones. But child tracking apps are a thorny security and privacy issue, and the data they collect rarely remains on the device. Location data is some of the most sensitive data belonging to individuals. Location information can determine where someone was at a particular time, which can be highly revealing and invasive. But for years, we’ve reported on leaked location-sharing apps that expose people’s real-time location data, as well as nefarious and buggy “stalkerware” apps that leak information to everyone on the internet. Even one of his well-known family tracking apps, Life360, was busted Sell ​​your precise location data to a data broker. There’s no reason not to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of tracking children. and your children. The key is trust, not stealth tracking. If your child consents to sharing their location, consider using the Family app or parental control apps built into most modern cell phones. Google also has Family Link, which allows Apple devices to share their end-to-end encrypted location with other Apple users, making it inaccessible to others.

Cheap knock-off Android tablets can hide malware

Cheaper isn’t always better, and Android devices are no exception. Case in point: earlier this year, EFF’s girlfriend Alexis Hancock discovered that her low-cost Android tablet given to her daughter had been shipped preloaded with software that appeared to be malware. This tablet also ran her Android software, which was released five years ago, but the app store designed for kids was also outdated. Hancock contacted the tablet manufacturer, but received no response. It’s tempting to buy a cheap device, but it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to include software for financial rebates to offset the price of the device itself. In some cases, preloaded software can send back data about the device or its user, or worse, have security bugs that can put the device’s data at risk. You may be able to recover your counterfeit tablet before you throw it away. Hancock has A great guide on how to protect your child’s Android device.

For practical safety, avoid sex toys connected to the internet

Last but certainly not least. There is a general belief in cybersecurity that any device or gadget that adds an internet connection is significantly more likely to be hacked, compromised, or tampered with remotely. One device that should not be connected to the internet is one inside your body. We’ve seen our fair share of horror stories about internet-connected sex toys. In 2020, we reported on smart chastity locks with security bugs that risked permanent lock-in. And this year, another smart sex toy maker exposed its customers’ user and location data due to a leaked server, but the company has yet to fix the issue. If your sex toy includes a phone app, there’s a good chance that the toy (or the app itself) could leak personal data, either by mistake or by sharing data with advertisers. It’s okay to be a pervert, no criticism here! However, if you absolutely must use a remote-controlled sex toy, consider a device that only has a

Source: techcrunch.com

Founders’ Guide to Navigating Economic Uncertainty: A Step-by-Step Blueprint

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Russ Heddleston
Contributor

Russ Heddleston is the co-founder and former CEO of DocSend at Dropbox.

More posts by this contributor
  • Early-stage founders still have currency: Funding in an era of increased VC scrutiny
  • Going solo or bringing on a co-founder? 4 factors to consider

Company formation Achieving superior performance amid economic uncertainty requires more than just hungry founders with good ideas. A strong foundation is needed to withstand the market. Companies founded today need to focus on being profitable while growing, which can be a priority for companies with active VC funding. Profitability may be top of mind during the pre-monetization phase, but maintaining operational efficiency and focus is essential to maximizing monetization potential.

According to Investors, investors are becoming less interested in pitch materials from founders. DocSend data — Investor activity decreased by less than 2% year-on-year (y/y) from 2022 and 4% from 2021. However, investors are still considering pitch materials at a higher level than in 2020, proving that there is a market for early-stage deals.However Funding decreased by 27% Year-on-year comparison for the third quarter.

Every market has opportunities and challenges. Just a few years ago, the founders’ market caused a situation in which “zombie” companies raised funds at unrealistic valuations with the mindset of “growing at all costs,” and the market was extremely founder-friendly. has also proven to have its pitfalls.

Now that investors have returned to par, founders need to prove that their companies are built to survive with long-term profitability and scalability in mind. Historically, this has followed the example of Big Tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Adobe, all of which were profitable or close to profitable when they went public.

In 2023, some founders will fail, but others will succeed in leading companies that define a generation.

As the economy and investor market tightens, it becomes even more important to instill solid building blocks in your company’s foundations. Some of the world’s most innovative companies were founded in economically difficult circumstances, and those companies were built to withstand the markets they entered.

The next generation of market-defining companies will operate with the same integrity. A strong foundation will help you raise early-stage funding and, if necessary, help you scale your company and reach further stages of its lifecycle. In the era of growth at all costs, making profits and paying attention to unit economics were often ignored or looked down upon. That has clearly changed now. For founders, perfecting their pitch, developing an efficient sales strategy, and quickly narrowing down their product scope will create a strong foundation for success in attracting investors.

Give investors what they want

Source: techcrunch.com

Spill Enters Open Beta on iOS and Android Platforms

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It’s been more than a year since Elon Musk bought Twitter, but the effects of that deal are still felt on other social platforms, including new ones that have emerged since then. His Spill, a platform founded by a former Twitter employee, concludes his first year on the market by opening a beta version to all users, whether on iOS or Android.

Spill is like the antithesis of X, a platform that continues to alienate users with platform policies that actively reduce the inclusivity of its apps. Spill’s founders realized they were the only two Black people on the workforce, and although they met while working at Twitter, they wanted to build a platform that valued diversity from the beginning. Masu.

“On other platforms, people who promote culture, whether it’s black and brown people, marginalized people, gay people, etc., have had to go to some length to make space,” Spill’s Kenya Parham, vice president of community and partnerships, said in a past conversation with TechCrunch. “We’re starting with them at the forefront, and we think that’s going to create a really healthy ecosystem.”

Image credits: spill

The app is like a combination of Twitter and Tumblr, a microblogging platform for following users and scrolling through feeds, but more multimedia-driven. At his AfroTech last month, Spill announced a “Tea Party” feature that allows users to have live conversations via audio or video. The first tea party was hosted by actress Kerry Washington, where she opened up about her new memoir.

A year after he was fired from Twitter, Spill CEO Alphonzo Terrell told TechCrunch that the app had about 200,000 users. Spill has raised a total of $5 million in pre-seed funding to date, including a recent $2 million extension led by Collide Capital.

Spill may not be growing as quickly as other Twitter competitors like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, but Terrell isn’t worried.

“People are looking for something new,” Terrell told TechCrunch last month. “I think the ones with really clear and unique value propositions will win in the long run. It might not be a one-winner-take-all kind of thing.”

Source: techcrunch.com

Claim, the Social Network with Rewards, Secures $4 Million in Funding

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Claim, a platform that doubles as a rewards app and social network, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital. The startup is on a mission to make shopping fun, rewarding, and social. The app was released as an invitation-only beta version in January, and is currently being used primarily by college students in Boston.

Claim also allows users and their friends to earn cash back, exchange rewards, and redeem together. The platform is a social network that aims to focus on real-world value and communal experiences, rather than manufactured content and reposts.

The startup was founded in November 2021 by CEO Sam Obretz and CTO Tap Stevenson. The two met when they were roommates at Yale University and came up with the idea for Claim when they met again at Harvard Business School. Obretz and Stevenson originally started by thinking about what it means to own something digital.

“We started Claim because we were really interested in what it meant to own something online,” Stevenson said in an interview with TechCrunch. “We saw this with web3 and the sport is also emerging as a collector’s item. There has always been a place online where you can own something, but there has never been a generalized format. So I We started thinking about what it meant to actually remove all the friction of owning something online, and that led to complaints over time.”

The two started by envisioning a platform that could be used in the real world and where you could earn rewards linked to your credit card. We then decided that we needed to allow users to use and exchange rewards with their friends. When they came up with these ideas, Obretz and Stevenson realized they were tapping into a social mechanism that doesn’t widely exist today.

Claims are similar to the idea of ​​trading cards, but create a new kind of value-based experience for brands for consumers. The company says it has turned consumer rewards into a multiplayer game by allowing users to save money and create new experiences together.

Image credits: Claim/Claim Co-Founders Sam Obletz and Tap Stephenson

If it’s a brand you love and your friend hasn’t checked it out yet, you can give them a special treat like a free acai bowl from their favorite coffee
shop or a t-shirt from their favorite streetwear brand. You can exchange rewards, try new places together, and earn status from spending with brands. Once a week, Claim also does “drops” where users open new offers at the same time. Users can decide whether to redeem, gift, or exchange rewards with friends.

While Claim aims to be beneficial to consumers, the startup also aims to help marketers and brands reach new customers without being bombarded with ads on Google, Instagram, and TikTok. We also place emphasis on On Claim, consumers discover brands through rewards from friends. The startup believes that when reaching new customers, being able to try out a product is more beneficial than advertising.

“We make it super easy for marketers,” Obretz says. “We can find customers based on where they shop and where their friends shop. For users who have never done it before, we offer rewards for trying your brand for the first time. This is very important because it brings in genuine new customers. It also allows you to show how effective that reward was based on their spend. That’s why we created It’s this very simple marketing tool.”

The startup currently works with merchants ranging from Fortune 500 companies like PepsiCo to local restaurants like Boston’s Life Alive.

Claim’s early results are promising, with one partner on the platform achieving 97% of new customer goals in half the time expected, and another partner acquiring customers within 30 days with a 35% return rate. says.

Claim is currently focused on Gen Z as its overall user base. This is because people in this group are interested in authenticity and think they are tired of advertising, especially since it seems like every post on social media these days is sponsored. The startup hopes to continue testing in Boston, where it currently has more than 10,000 users, before eventually expanding nationwide.

As for the new funding, the company plans to use it to hire new talent and grow its team of eight people over the next year. Claim will also use the funding to focus on testing and learning from an engineering perspective before expanding into new markets.

The startup’s seed round follows an unannounced $2 million pre-seed round led by Susa Ventures and Box Group. Claim’s funding round included participation from 6th Man Venture, Reflexive Capital, A* Capital, GSW Ventures, The Kraft Group, and others.

Source: techcrunch.com

OurCrowd’s Israel Resilience Fund makes first 8 investments

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Israeli investment platform our crowd today announced $13 million in capital commitments for $50 million. Israel Resilience Funda fund launched by the organization shortly after the Israel-Hamas war, began supporting startups affected by the war or developing solutions to Israel’s immediate needs.

The fund has already provided funding to eight companies.This includes food tech startups. blue tree and carrais a startup building thermal management solutions for EVs, and both recently had to relocate their facilities.The fund is partnering with aerial imagery specialist Edgybees. Beloboticsis a robotics startup currently focused on cleaning and inspecting the facades of high-rise buildings.

Jeff Kupietzky, Jon Medved, Alon Tal, Maya Zachodin Koren – Israel Resilience Fund team members

OurCrowd plans to raise a total of $50 million for the fund, which charges no management fees or interest. The fund will invest in around 50 startups in total.

“Many Israeli venture-backed companies, already struggling due to the global venture downturn and now facing even more serious obstacles from the Gaza war, urgently need intensive investment. “It’s happening,” he explained. our crowd Founder and CEO John Medved. “The Israel Resilience Fund aims to take advantage of the current undervalued market valuations and generate significant returns for investors, while helping many Israeli companies overcome the crisis and thrive in the long term. Masu.”

Similarly, Resilience Fund managing partner Jeff Kupietzky recently sold his startup Jeeng to OpenWeb. for $100 millionsaid that in addition to financial issues, the fund is also aimed at supporting start-ups currently facing operational problems due to the war. “Startups do not know when international investors will resume investing in Israeli startups as they wait for the conflict to subside. In addition, companies are forced to hire key personnel called into reserve. While facing operational challenges, evacuations and rocket launches have created challenges to day-to-day business operations.While businesses are resilient and continue to operate, many are “We need funding to overcome this and extend the runway and support our ultimate success,” he said.

Source: techcrunch.com

EU Identifies Three Porn Sites Subject to Stricter Online Content Regulations

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Age verification technology could be heading to adult content sites after these three sites were added to the list of platforms subject to the most stringent level of regulation under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

Back in April, the EU announced an initial list of 17 so-called Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and two Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) designated under the DSA. The initial list did not include adult content sites. The addition of the three platforms specified today changes that.

According to Wikipedia — which, ironically, was already named VLOP in the first wave or commission designation — XVideos and Pornhub are the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 most-visited adult content sites. Stripchat, on the other hand, is an adult webcam platform that live streams nude performers.

None of the three services currently require visitors to undergo a strict age check (i.e. age verification rather than self-declaration) before accessing their content, but all three services As a result, this area is subject to change.

As the EU points out in its report, pan-EU regulations require designated (large) platforms with an average monthly user base of more than 45 million people in the region to have a number of restrictions, including obligations to protect minors. It imposes additional obligations. press release Today — writing [emphasis ours]: “VLOPs must design services, including interfaces, recommendation systems, and terms of use, to address and prevent risks to child welfare. Relax measures to protect children’s rights and prevent minors from accessing pornographic content online (such as age verification tools)”

The European Commission, which is responsible for overseeing VLOPs’ compliance with the DSA, today reiterated that creating a safer online environment for children is an enforcement priority.

Other DSA obligations for VLOPs include:They are required to produce a risk assessment report on the “specific systemic risks” that their services may pose in relation to the dissemination of illegal content and content that threatens fundamental rights. It must first be shared with the committee and then published.

and to address the risks associated with the online dissemination of illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and content that affects fundamental rights, such as human dignity and the right to private life in the absence of consent. , mitigation measures must also be applied. Sharing intimate content or deepfake pornography online.

“These measures may include, among other things, adaptations to terms of use, interfaces, moderation processes, algorithms, etc.,” the Commission notes.

The three adult platforms designated as VLOPs have four months to bring their services into compliance with additional DSA requirements. That means we need time until late April to make the necessary changes, such as rolling out age verification technology.

“The European Commission’s services will closely monitor compliance with the DSA obligations by these platforms, in particular with regard to measures to protect minors from harmful content and to combat the spread of illegal content,” the EU said. , further added: Please work closely with your newly designated platforms to ensure these are addressed appropriately. ”

The DSA also contains a set of more broadly applicable general obligations that apply not only to small-scale digital services but also to VLOPs. For example, ensuring that systems are designed to ensure high levels of privacy, safety and child protection. Promptly notify law enforcement authorities if they become aware of information that gives rise to suspicion of a criminal offense involving a threat to the life or safety of a person, including in cases of child sexual abuse, and compliance with these requirements; Notice deadline will start slightly earlier on February 17, 2024.

The DSA applies across the EU and EEA (European Economic Area), but post-Brexit this region will not include the UK. However, this autumn the UK government passed its own Online Safety Act (OSA), establishing communications regulator Ofcom as the country’s internet content watchdog and introducing a system of harsher penalties for breaches than the EU’s (OSA fines). (can amount to up to 10%) of global annual sales versus up to 6% based on the EU DSA).

UK law also focuses on child protection. And recent Ofcom guidance for porn sites, aimed at helping them comply with new legal obligations to prevent minors from encountering adult content online, says they are “highly effective”. It states that age checks must be conducted, and further specifies that such checks cannot include age gates that simply ask users to self-declarate that they are 18 years of age or older. .

Ofcom’s list of age verification technologies approved in the UK includes provisions such as asking porn site users to upload a copy of their passport to verify their age. Show your face to the webcam to receive an AI age assessment. Alternatively, there are methods that regulators deem acceptable, such as signing into Open Banking and proving that you are not a minor.

Source: techcrunch.com

Rite Aid Prohibits Use of Facial Recognition Software for Shoplifting Impersonation

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Rite aid It has been Banned US drugstore giant’s use of facial recognition software comes after Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finds ‘reckless use of facial surveillance system’ humiliates customers and ‘compromises confidential information’ was banned for five years.

F.T.C. orderU.S. Bankruptcy Court approval required after Rite Aid Filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code In October, it directed Rite Aid to delete images collected as part of its facial recognition system rollout and products built from those images. Companies must also implement robust data security programs to protect the personal data they collect.

Reuters 2020 report Details of how the drugstore chain secretly installed facial recognition systems in about 200 U.S. stores over an eight-year period starting in 2012, using “primarily low-income, non-white neighborhoods” as testbeds for the technology. Stated.

With the increase in FTC Focus on the abuse of biometric surveillance, Rite Aid was firmly targeted by government agencies. Among the allegations: Rite Aid partnered with two contracting companies to create a “watch list database” containing images of customers it said had engaged in criminal activity at one of its stores. Includes what you did. These images are often of low quality and are taken from CCTV or an employee’s mobile phone camera.

When a customer enters a store that appears to match an existing image in the database, employees receive an automated alert instructing them to take action, which in most cases involves “walking closer and identifying”; That means verifying the customer’s identity and asking them to leave. According to the FTC, these “matches” were often false positives, causing employees to falsely accuse customers of wrongdoing and causing “embarrassment, harassment, and other harm.”

“Following false positive alerts, employees may follow consumers in the store, search them, order them to leave, call the police, confront or remove consumers, and sometimes shoplift in front of their friends and family. and other misconduct,” the suit says.

Additionally, the FTC said Rite Aid did not notify customers that facial recognition technology was being used and specifically instructed employees to: do not have Reveal this information to your customers.

face off

Facial recognition software has emerged as one of the most controversial aspects of the AI-powered surveillance era. In recent years, cities have issued broad bans on the technology while politicians have fought to regulate how police use it. Meanwhile, companies like Clearview AI have been hit with lawsuits and fines around the world for massive data privacy violations involving facial recognition technology.

The FTC’s latest findings regarding Rite Aid also shed light on the biases inherent in AI systems. For example, the FTC says Rite Aid failed to reduce risks to certain consumers due to race. The technology is “more likely to generate false positives in stores located in predominantly Black and Asian communities than in predominantly white communities.” Observation notes.

Additionally, the FTC said Rite Aid failed to test or measure the accuracy of its facial recognition system before or after its implementation.

in press releaseRite Aid said it was “pleased to reach an agreement with the FTC” but disagreed with the core of the allegations.

“The allegations relate to a pilot program for facial recognition technology that we implemented in a limited number of stores,” Rite Aid said in a statement. “Rite Aid stopped using the technology at this small group of stores more than three years ago, before the FTC’s investigation into the company’s use of the technology began.”

Source: techcrunch.com

African-Owned Al Mada Ventures Raises $110 Million Fund for the African Market

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Al Mada Holding

The Group is one of Africa’s largest private investment funds. The privately held company, headquartered in Casablanca, operates in a variety of sectors, including banking, telecommunications, renewable energy, and the food industry. For many years, Al Mada’s approach has focused on acquiring majority stakes in Morocco’s largest private companies, with its portfolio spread across 27 markets, 25 of which are in Africa.

As part of its strategy and to remain relevant, the company is expanding its influence in these businesses, driving innovation within its portfolio, and increasing market share across the various sectors in which it operates while staying at the forefront of disruptive technologies that may emerge in the near future.

Last March, Al Mada launched a venture capital firm, aligning these observations with its objectives. Al Mada Ventures (AMV) was spun out. With a capital pool of $110 million (approximately AED 1.1 billion), Al Mada’s overarching plan was to create an Africa-focused company to address the gap in growth-stage investments. However, rather than relying on capital from DFIs or foreign institutional investors, the company uses capital raised exclusively from Africa. Apart from the anchor, Evergreen Fund’s limited partners include top-tier corporates and institutional investors based on the continent.

Mr. Laaresi co-founded the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) before being selected to lead the Moroccan venture. The fund is a $100 million pan-African VC fund created through a partnership between private equity firm AfricInvest Group and Europe-based venture capital firm Cathay Innovation.


Source: techcrunch.com

Bird, an electric scooter company, declares bankruptcy

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bird Submitted Under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Codecapping off a turbulent year for the electric scooter company.

in press release Bird confirmed today that it has entered a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet” and that the company is continuing business as usual in pursuit of “long-term, sustainable growth.” Announced.

Founded in 2017 by former Lyft and Uber executive Travis VanderZanden, Bird is one of many startups deploying dockless micromobility platforms around the world, helping city dwellers take short-term access to electric scooters and e-bikes. You will be able to pay for access. The company went public in late 2021 through a SPAC merger, but its stock price plummeted permanently in a crowded market built on questionable economics, and its market capitalization was $2 billion at its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) debut. It has fallen since then. Just up to $70 million 12 months later. The decline prompted the New York Stock Exchange to issue a warning that Bird’s stock price was too low.

Things didn’t improve, the stock price continued to fall, and CEO VanderZanden eventually stepped down in June. Delisted from NYSE During September.

Separately, Bird also announced a series of layoffs shortly after acquiring rival Spin for $19 million.

Bird lands on New York Stock Exchange

Bird lands on New York Stock Exchange image credits:Spencer Pratt/Getty Images

Chapter 11

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow Byrd to restructure its finances without disrupting its day-to-day operations, with existing lenders MidCap Financial, a division of Apollo Global Management, providing $25 million in financing through the bankruptcy process. will be provided.

The ultimate goal is to sell Byrd’s assets, and so-called “horse racing” agreements begin a bidding process aimed at extracting as much value as possible from Byrd, with Byrd’s lenders being Set a baseline bid before starting a deal with a potential suitor. over the next four months.

Interim CEO Michael Wasinusi will continue in his role both before and after the reorganization, the statement said.

“This announcement represents an important milestone in Bird’s transformation, which began with the appointment of new leadership earlier this year,” Washinushi said. “We are making progress towards improving profitability and aim to accelerate that progress by right-sizing our capital structure through this restructuring. We remain focused on our mission to make cities more livable by reducing volume, traffic and carbon emissions.”

It’s also worth noting that Bird’s Canadian and European operations are not included in the bankruptcy filing, and the company says it will “continue to operate as usual.”

This latest news comes just one day after rival MicroMobility.com was delisted from the Nasdaq due to low stock prices, and three years after the company also went public through a SPAC merger. And in Europe, dockless scooter startup Tia recently laid off 22% of its workforce following bankruptcy proceedings for Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof.

Overall, it hasn’t been a great year for the micromobility space.

Source: techcrunch.com

Affordable Electric Vehicles Struggle in 2023

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This year, the rise in popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) has been substantial. This is not good news for anyone. Even if you prefer a sturdy Cybertruck over a smaller vehicle, it is still not an ideal solution. In general, cars are not a sustainable mode of transportation, such as using trains or bicycles. However, due to budget and environmental factors, many people find themselves needing a larger, tank-like truck or SUV. Unfortunately, larger electric vehicles also require more materials and energy, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions during and after production. Despite these drawbacks, automakers continue to build large vehicles because they are popular among buyers. Several vehicles from newer companies and traditional automakers have tried to challenge the concept of “bigger is better” with more compact designs and lower prices. However, they have not been successful. Some examples include the ElectraMeccanica Solo, Sono Sion, and Mazda MX-30, all of which have failed to gain traction in the North American market. Here, we will discuss the struggles of small, affordable EVs in the current market.

Electra Mechanica Solo
The ElectraMeccanica Solo was marketed as a small EV that was legally categorized as a motorcycle. It featured a single seat, a range of 160 miles, and a price tag of $18,500. However, the company recalled all Solos in April due to power outage issues and later decided to focus on four-wheelers. The company is now planning to merge with electric truck maker Tevva and has discontinued production of the Solo.

Honda e
The Honda e debuted in Europe and Japan with a range of 160 miles and a price range of $36,000 to $43,000. Despite its appeal to critics, it failed to attract buyers due to its high price. Honda eventually announced that it would stop producing the small vehicle in January 2024.

Sono Sion
German automaker Sono introduced the Sion, a five-seater hatchback with solar panels. Priced at $25,000, the production was initially planned for 2023. However, the company pivoted to selling to third-party automakers and laid off employees as it shifted its focus to integrating solar technology into other vehicles.

GM, Honda’s affordable EV
General Motors and Honda initially announced plans to jointly develop small, affordable EVs. They aimed to release a sub-$30,000 vehicle for North America by 2027 but later called off the partnership, citing “extensive research and analysis.”

Mazda MX-30 (USA)
The Mazda MX-30, while smaller than the Cybertruck, struggled to gain traction in the United States due to its limited range and availability. Ultimately, Mazda announced that it would discontinue EV sales in the US but continue sales in Japan and the EU.

Revel Moped
Revel, a moped sharing company, faced a decline in users due to fatal accidents, leading them to transition to electric cars instead.

VanMoof
Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof experienced rapid growth but struggled to sustain it, leading to difficulties in fund-raising. It eventually suspended sales and declared bankruptcy.

Lavoie
Electric scooter maker Lavoie acquired VanMoof’s remaining assets after it emerged from bankruptcy.

Despite the struggles of some small EVs, there are still positive developments in the electric vehicle space. Urban bike share programs are on the rise, and electrification is gaining momentum. Companies like Arcimoto and Telo Trucks are making strides in the development of rare three-wheeled EVs and light trucks, respectively. Additionally, the Fiat 500e will be introduced in North America in limited quantities, and GM has decided to continue producing the Bolt EUV.


Source: techcrunch.com

Automating Kubernetes configuration with ScaleOps for Reduced Cloud Costs

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One of the benefits of using Kubernetes to handle container orchestration is that containers are ephemeral, lasting as long as needed and then disappearing. This was supposed to help solve the resource allocation problem, since containers only need to run long enough to process jobs. However, as Kubernetes environments become increasingly complex, another problem arises as engineering teams must manually modify Kubernetes configurations to accommodate changing needs.

Additionally, workloads are often over-allocated to ensure they continue to run regardless of usage spikes, which can result in unnecessarily high cloud charges. scale ops, an early-stage startup, wants to solve this problem. Rather than guessing and constantly adjusting static allocations, we built a system that dynamically sets configurations based on your requirements at any time. Today, the company announced a $21.5 million Series A.

Yodar Shafrir, co-founder and CEO of ScaleOps, said he often saw this overallocation problem when working at his previous company. As a result, a lot of engineering time was spent configuring resources, often resulting in high cloud charges.

“The companies we work with today are seeing 70% to 80% wasted on over-provisioned containers,” Shafrir told TechCrunch. “So we realized that the only way to free our engineers from this repetitive configuration and free them to focus on what really matters is to fully automate the resource allocation process.”

The company has created a dashboard that shows businesses what workloads are currently available and how much they can save by letting ScaleOps autoconfigure them. He said customers typically start small with a single workload to see how it works. Then, once you see your results, toggle automation to save even more.

ScaleOps resource allocation dashboard.

Image credits: scale ops

He sees an opportunity for growth as companies look to save on cloud fees. The company was founded in 2022 and has dozens of paying customers since launching its product earlier this year, managing thousands of his Kubernetes clusters using its ScaleOps product. Customers include Wiz, Coralogix, and Outbrain. ScaleOps currently has 30 employees, and he plans to double that number by the end of next year.

The company’s $21.5 million Series A was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, and Glilot Capital Partners.

Source: techcrunch.com

ShareChat experiences significant decrease in valuation following new funding round

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ShareChat is in the final stages of discussions to secure about $50 million in new funding that would bring the startup’s valuation below $1.5 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Existing backers including Temasek and Tencent are among the investors in advanced stages of talks to invest in the new round, the sources said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Stated. ShareChat has been in talks with several potential new investors this year, and one of the potential investors the startup has engaged says that ShareChat is expected to receive a high valuation compared to its current low revenue. Many investors are hesitant to take this opportunity because of the current situation.

The terms of the negotiations are still ongoing and could change slightly, according to people familiar with the matter, but ShareChat’s current valuation is less than $1.5 billion, which is the same as when ShareChat raised funding early last year. This is a significant drop from its valuation of $4.9 billion.

The round could be completed as early as the end of the year. ShareChat did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning. Temasek declined to comment, citing its own policies.

The loss-making Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which operates a social network and counts X, Snap and Tiger Global among its backers, has raised more than $1.4 billion so far, according to venture intelligence platform Tracxn.

Amid the TikTok ban, ShareChat’s failed bet in India’s short video space forced it to raise capital and prompted a price cut. (TechCrunch exclusively reported earlier that in late 2020 and early 2021, X considered acquiring ShareChat in a $2 billion deal.)

sharechat metric

Sensor Tower estimates daily active users of Google’s Android platform in India (shared with TC by industry executives). In an official statement, ShareChat claims to have over 300 million monthly active users.

ShareChat, which launched short video app Moj in mid-2020, doubled its position in the category by acquiring MXTakaTak, a video app in the Times Internet portfolio, for more than $600 million. But industry analysts say YouTube and Instagram have filled TikTok’s void as creators migrate to these much larger platforms.

Eight-year-old ShareChat is scrambling to find ways to grow revenue and cut expenses after its two co-founders left earlier this year to start a new startup. It has tried a series of initiatives, including a fantasy sports app and a live voice chat service. However, sales were still lower at the end of the fiscal year ending in March. $65 million. The company plans to cut another 15% to 20% of its workforce in the coming weeks, another person said.

Many investors around the world are devaluing their holdings in startups, as the prolonged economic slowdown has also reduced the valuations of nearly all publicly traded technology companies. Prosus recently lowered Byju’s valuation to less than $3 billion from $22 billion in early 2022. Byju’s has raised more than $5 billion through equity and debt.

Source: techcrunch.com

New EU initiative to provide increased support for AI startups using supercomputers for model training

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The European Union plans to support its own AI startups by providing access to processing power for model training on the region’s supercomputers, announced and launched in September. According to the latest information from the EU, France’s Mistral AI is participating in an early pilot phase. But one early learning is that the program needs to include dedicated support to train AI startups on how to make the most of the ‘s high-performance computing. “One of the things we’ve seen is that we don’t just provide access; facility — In particular, the skills, knowledge and experience we have at our hosting centers — to not only facilitate this access, but also to develop training algorithms that take full advantage of the architecture and computing power currently available at each supercomputing center. however, an EU official said at a press conference today. The plan is to establish a “center of excellence” to support the development of specialized AI algorithms that can run on EU supercomputers. Rather than relying on the processing power provided by supercomputers as a training resource, AI startups may be accustomed to training their models using specialized computing hardware provided by US hyperscalers. Access to high-performance computing for AI training programs is therefore being enhanced with support wrappers, said EU officials speaking in the background ahead of the formal ribbon-cutting, mare nostrum 5a pre-exascale supercomputer, which goes live on Thursday at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain. “We are developing a facility to help small and medium-sized enterprises understand how best to use supercomputers, how to access supercomputers, how to parallelize algorithms so that they can develop models in the case of AI,” said a European Commission official. “In 2024, we expect to see a lot more of this kind of approach than we do today.” “AI is now considered a strategic priority for the , they added. “Next to the AI ​​Act, as AI becomes a strategic priority, we are providing innovation capabilities or enabling small businesses and startups to make the most of our machines and this public infrastructure. “We want to provide a major window of innovation.” ” Another EU official confirmed that an “AI support center” was in the works, including a “special . “What we need to realize is that the AI community hasn’t used supercomputers in the past decade,” they noted. “They’re not new users of GPUs, but they’re new to how to interact with supercomputers, so we need to help them. “A lot of times the AI community comes from a huge amount of knowledge about how many GPUs you can put in a box. And they’ve been very good at it. What you have is a bunch of boxes with GPUs, and you need additional skillsets and extra help to scale out the supercomputer and exploit its full potential.” The bloc has significantly increased its investment in supercomputers over the past five years, expanding its hardware to regionally located clusters of eight machines, interconnected via a Terabit network. We also plan to create federated supercomputing resources. Accessed in the cloud, it is available to users across Europe. The EU‘s first exascale supercomputers are also expected to come online in the next few years, with one in Germany (likely next year) and a second in France (expected in 2025). The European Commission also plans to invest in quantum computing, providing hybrid resources co-located with supercomputers and combining both types of hardware, so that quantum computers can act as “accelerators”. There are plans to acquire a quantum simulator that will As the committee states, it is a classic supercomputer. Applications being developed on the EU‘s high-performance computing hardware include projects that simulate Earth’s ecosystems to better model climate change and weather systems. destination earth and one more thing needs to be devised Digital twin of the human body This is expected to contribute to the advancement of medicine by supporting drug development and making personalized medicine possible. Leveraging his resources in supercomputing to launch his AI startup has recently been announced, especially after the EU president announced this fall that his AI model would have computing access to his training program. It is emerging as a strategic priority. The bloc also announced what it called the “Large-Scale AI Grand Challenge.” This is a competition for European AI startups “with experience in large-scale AI models” and aims to select up to four promising domestic startups for a total of four. Access to millions of hours of supercomputing to support foundational model development. According to the European Commission, there will be a prize of 1 million euros to be distributed to the winners, who will be able to release their developed model or publish their research results under a non-commercial open source license. It is expected. The EU already had a program that provided industry users with access to core hours of supercomputing resources through a project recruitment process. However, the bloc is increasing its focus on commercial AI with dedicated programs and resources, and there is an opportunity to incorporate the growing supercomputing network into a strategic power source for expanding ‘Made in Europe’ general purpose AI. They are intently aiming for this. Thus, France’s Mistral, an AI startup that aims to compete with US infrastructure model giants like OpenAI and claims to offer “open assets” (if not fully open source), is an early adopter of It seems no coincidence that the beneficiaries of the Commission‘s Supercomputer Access Program. (That said, the technology company, which just raised €385 million in Series A funding that includes US investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and Salesforce, is at the front of the line for computing giveaways.) That may raise some eyebrows, but hey, it’s another sign of the high-level strategic bets being made on “big AI.”) The ‘s “Supercomputing for AI” program is still in its infancy, so it’s still unclear whether there will be enough benefits in model training to warrant reporting from dedicated access. (We reached out to Mistral for comment, but he did not respond as of press time.) But the committee’s at least hope is that by focusing support on AI startups, they will be able to move into high-performance computing. It is about being able to leverage investments. The construction of supercomputer hardware is increasingly being procured and configured with AI model training in mind, and this is due to the fact that local, hyperscalar-like US AI giants are starting at a disadvantage. This will be a competitive advantage for the AI ​​ecosystem. “We don’t have the massive hyperscalers that the Americans have when it comes to training this kind of basic model, so we’re using supercomputers and a new generation that is increasingly compliant with AI. “We intend to develop a supercomputer,” a committee official said. “The objective in 2024, not just with the supercomputers that we have now, is to move in this direction so that even more small and medium-sized businesses can use supercomputers to develop these basic models. It is to do.” The plan includes acquiring “more dedicated AI supercomputing machines based on accelerators rather than standard CPUs,” they added. Will the ‘s AI support strategy align with or diverge from certain member states’ ambitions to develop national AI champions? We heard a lot about this during the recent difficult negotiations to develop the ‘s AI rulebook, in which France took the lead in pushing forward the AI rulebook. Regulatory carve-outs to the underlying model It drew criticism from small and medium-sized businesses. – As seen. But Mistral’s early presence in the ‘s supercomputing access program may suggest a consensus.

Source: techcrunch.com

Okta Purchases Security Firm Spera for Over $100 Million

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Identity and access management company Okta acquires security company Spera.

According to Okta, the Spera acquisition is expected to close during the fiscal first quarter, beginning in early February, and will build on Okta’s existing identity threat detection and response (ITDR) capabilities and provide customers with the system management and technology to improve the identification of personal information, detect and remediate risks.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Calcalist report Okta is paying Spera approximately $100 million to $130 million, depending on milestones.

“As a leading identity partner, we remain committed to providing our customers with the tools and knowledge they need in an increasingly challenging environment, and we look forward to seeing how Spera Security enhances our ITDR efforts to help our customers. We’re excited to deliver safer outcomes.” Post published this morning on Okta blog To read.

Spera, which my colleague Frederic has covered previously, was co-founded several years ago by entrepreneurs Dole Fredel and Ariel Kadicevic. Based in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, the platform provides tools to identify silos across Software-as-a-Service and infrastructure apps, discover vulnerabilities across user populations, and address regulatory, attack vector, and industry challenges. Helps prioritize security issues based on best practices.

As Frederick said in the interview, services like Spera also serve a purpose beyond security, helping businesses reduce licensing costs by helping them find dormant accounts that can be turned off.

Spera, which has about 25 employees, had raised $10 million before acquiring Okta. Investors included YL Ventures and angel investors from tech giants like Google, Palo Alto Networks, Akamai, and Zendesk.

Okta believes Spera will enable customers to better assess the identity infrastructure and security posture of their apps and services, helping to attract new customers to the Okta platform.company quote Gartner research suggests that by 2026, 90% of organizations will have some kind of embedded ITDR strategy, compared to the current rate of 5% to 20%.

“With Spera Security, we provide our customers with richer insights and technology to better manage their identity security posture and quickly identify, detect, and remediate risks,” the blog post continues. “They can take advantage of specific suggestions from Spera Security, such as identifying SSO. [single sign-on] or M.F.A. [multifactor authentication] Improve your security posture and remediate potential threat vectors before they become critical by excluding privileged and service accounts. ”

Okta’s acquisition of Spera comes after Okta acquired the a16z-backed password manager Uno and after a rosy fiscal quarter for Okta. 6 billion dollar company beat Wall Street’s expectations for the fourth quarter suggest that publicly traded companies are on the right track, at least in the eyes of shareholders.

Source: techcrunch.com

New Shepard’s triumphant return: Blue Origin’s latest success

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blue originNew Shepard has officially resumed operations, with the company today successfully launching a suborbital rocket for the first time in more than 15 months.

The rocket lifted off from the Blue Origin launch site in west Texas at around 10:42 a.m. local time. The mission, named NS-24 to commemorate its 24th launch, carried 33 payloads for a wide range of customers, including NASA, Honeybee Robotics, and the nonprofit research and engineering company Draper. The mission was successfully completed in her 10 minutes, and the capsule returned safely to Earth after a short suborbital flight.

The company had originally targeted a Monday launch, but canceled the launch due to “ground system issues.” Blue Origin did not elaborate further on the specific issue.

This will be Blue Origin’s first New Shepard launch since September 2022, when an anomaly caused an automatic abort mid-flight. The capsule, which had no people on board at the time, was ejected from its booster and landed on Earth via parachute, but the booster was destroyed. The company discovered an issue with the engine nozzle that caused higher than normal operating temperatures.

Blue flew New Shepard four times in 2022, including a failed launch. Phil Joyce, Blue’s senior vice president for the New Shepard program, said in a statement after the launch that the company will fly the rocket more frequently next year. In 2024, the flight rhythm will improve,” he said.

Erica Wagner, Blue Origin’s senior director, said on the launch livestream that the company looks forward to flying its next crewed flight “soon.” There is no doubt that prospects breathed a sigh of relief when they saw another successful flight recorded on the blue belt.

Watch the launch again here:

Source: techcrunch.com

Astrobotic readies for early January launch of Peregrine lunar module

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astrobotic‘s first lunar module is ready for launch.

The company announced Tuesday that the lander, called Peregrine, has completed final inspection and refueling after mating with United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket last month. All that remains is the January 8th launch — and then, of course, the historic moon landing.

“If you’ve followed the lunar industry, you know that landing on the moon is incredibly difficult,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement. . “That being said, our team has continually exceeded expectations and demonstrated incredible ingenuity during flight reviews, spacecraft testing, and major hardware integration.”

“We are ready for launch and landing.”

The Peregrine lander, which is approximately 2 meters tall, will carry 20 payloads for government and commercial customers. The lander has a payload of 90 kg and will operate for approximately 192 hours after landing on the moon. During that time, it provides power and communications to the payload. According to Astrobotic’s payload user guide on his website, the company charges about $1.2 million per kilogram of mass delivered to the lunar surface.

Astrobotic is performing this mission as part of a $79.5 million contract from NASA under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The company also won her second CLPS contract for the larger Griffin lander. The mission is scheduled to launch at the end of 2024.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is one of the few commercial companies betting on the growing market for lunar payload delivery services. Other companies include Intuitive Machines, which aims to launch its first lander on January 12, days after Peregrine, Firefly Aerospace, and the Japanese company whose moon launch attempt failed earlier this year. Includes ispace etc.

After Peregrine lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the spacecraft will perform a series of burns to position it for landing on the moon’s surface on February 23.

Astrobotic isn’t the only company with a lot at stake in the January 8 launch. This mission also marks the first flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. The rocket was hit by delays that postponed its debut for years. . ULA aims to launch several Vulcan flights next year and will ultimately need to sign a multibillion-dollar 38-vehicle launch deal with Amazon for its Project Kuiper satellite broadband constellation.

Astrobotic and ULA originally targeted a Dec. 24 launch date, but it was later postponed to give ULA time to complete a wet dress rehearsal. According to ULA, the wet dress was finally completed on December 14th.

Source: techcrunch.com

Tesla requests a break in federal racial discrimination lawsuit to focus on finalizing other legal matters

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Tesla wants to suspend a federal lawsuit against it for racial bias against black workers at its Fremont assembly plant.

The electric car maker said in a filing Monday in San Francisco federal court that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against Tesla in September as part of “harmful interagency competition” with the California civil rights agency. accused of rushing. The company sued the automaker last year on similar grounds.

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleges that Tesla violated federal law by condoning widespread and ongoing racial harassment of Black employees and retaliating against some employees who opposed the harassment. EEOC filings state that Black workers were accused of using slurs and epithets such as the N-word, variations such as “monkey,” “boy,” and “black bitch,” as well as racist graffiti that called for violence against Black people. There are detailed reports that it has withstood casual use. Other forms of abuse.

The California Civil Rights Division’s complaint against Tesla also includes similar examples of harassment from black workers.

Both lawsuits are pending in state court and allege that Tesla violated California anti-discrimination laws. The EEOC’s lawsuit also includes allegations that Tesla violated federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

Tesla also faces a proposed class action lawsuit filed by workers in 2017 alleging racial harassment.

The EEOC did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Tesla’s Monday filing says a federal court should refuse to file a third lawsuit until the existing lawsuit is resolved. Lawyers for the automakers argued that prosecuting the three cases simultaneously would involve a “substantial duplication of effort,” risk “inconsistent court decisions,” and waste judicial resources.

Tesla is calling for something called the Colorado River Abstention Principle here. This is a legal principle that allows a federal court to recuse itself from hearing a case if there is a parallel case in a state court dealing with the same issue. The goal behind this principle is to avoid duplicative litigation and promote more efficient justice.

The turf battle Tesla refers to in its filing is between the EEOC and the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The filing argues that historically the EEOC and CRD have worked together to protect entities from being subject to the same lawsuits from both agencies.

“That historic coordination and cooperation has disintegrated as agencies have become increasingly eager to file headline-grabbing complaints and report multi-million dollar settlements,” the filing said. It is stated in

Tesla has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in multiple racial discrimination incidents. Monday’s filing called the allegations “false” and accused the EEOC of “hastily covering them up.”[ping] Launching a bogus pre-litigation investigation. ”

The company is also appealing a $3.2 million award in a separate racial bias lawsuit to a black former contractor at the Fremont plant.

Source: techcrunch.com

Nasdaq has delisted MicroMobility.com

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Micromobility.com (formerly Helbiz) was delisted from Nasdaq on Monday after the company violated the exchange’s listing rules, according to a regulatory filing.

Competitor Bird, the only shared micromobility company to venture into the public markets, was also delisted from the stock exchange in September.

The company’s common stock and warrants were suspended from trading at the start of business Wednesday.

MicroMobility.com was kicked off the stock market for failing to maintain a stock price of at least $1 and failing to comply with Nasdaq’s minimum equity requirements to remain listed.

The company’s stock has struggled to remain compliant since going public through a special purpose acquisition merger in 2021. The company conducted a reverse stock split in March to bring prices back into compliance, but the gains didn’t last long. MicroMobility.com also recently announced that it intends to seek approval for a further reverse stock split at a special general meeting scheduled for January 2024. Its shareholder meeting was postponed, and further reverse stock split moves were also postponed.

MicroMobility.com said in a filing that it plans to apply for over-the-counter trading of its common stock and warrants. After Bird was delisted in September, the company opted to move its shares to the over-the-counter market as well. Bird recently announced layoffs, and its third-quarter results indicate the company may be nearing bankruptcy filing.

MicroMobility.com said the move to the OTC market “will have no impact on its business or operations.” The startup’s rebrand was meant to encapsulate its push into retail. MicroMobility.com opened its first brick-and-mortar store in New York City’s Soho in September. e-commerce site We carry electric scooters, electric bicycles, helmets, water bottles, and more.

Start-up income A company had revenue of $1.5 million in the third quarter and a net loss of $9.5 million. The balance sheet also shows that MicroMobility.com’s debt of $61.7 million significantly exceeds its assets of $9.4 million.

The company’s stock closed Monday at $0.44.

MicroMobility.com’s delisting comes amid turmoil in the shared micromobility industry. Superpedestrian closed last week and is considering selling its European operations. Tier Mobility announced its third layoff of the year in November after selling Spin to Bird a few months ago.

Source: techcrunch.com