Latest and Hotest Technology Updates

Today, some cybercrimes were uncovered, we found out how many of you are curious about the new season of "Black Mirror" and Elon Musk made a visit to China. This is your Daily Crunch for Wednesday. We're halfway through the week!

Let's kick it off with some mobility news. One of the top stories today was about Uber switching up its ride discounts for subscribers. Find out what the new discount includes. We also learned a bit more about Volvo's new small electric SUV and some of the ways the car maker is saving space. Speaking of small, if teeny, tiny cars are your thing, Fiat's new electric Topolino will have you saying, "Awwwwww." See how cute it is.

Meanwhile, many of you were eager to know why the first episode in season six of "Black Mirror" is a subscriber's worst nightmare. We got the scoop.

Now on to the cyber beat, where we saw a few big stories come through today, including a ransomware attack on a U.S. dental insurance giant and hundreds of thousands of additional car owners had their data exposed by Toyota. Read more on that.

More layoffs: Taxfix, a German accounting startup valued at $1 billion, found itself in a funding crunch and had to cut 120 jobs. Read more.

Pack your bags: Hostaway brought in $175 million to expand its vacation rental management platform. Time to plan your next vacation.

AI images explained: In an effort to flag potential fake images, Twitter launches Community Notes. Find out more about how this will work.

Money, money, money, money, money…money!: Out of some aspects of failed fintech Wirecard comes NomuPay, which is taking on cross-border payments with $53.6 million in new funding. Read more.

Process this: NXP unveils its latest processor, the i.MX 91, during Computex. Check it out.

Another breach, what gives?

Sponsored by Atakama

Tired of reading another data breach headline? Atakama has the key to protecting data and privacy in the aftermath of a breach, and the company, with its patented tech is embarking on its next phase of growth. A unique investment opportunity awaits.

Invest Now

Meanwhile, my teenage son was recently enamored by a video showing someone using a paper map in the car. How 1990s of them, amirite? If paper maps aren't your thing, Atly is claiming to be the "next social paradigm for mapping and discovering places to go." It now also has $18 million in new funding. Find out more about this company that wants to be a Reddit for real-world locations.

You can never be too healthy. The team covered some healthcare-related news today, including Strive Health, a company offering kidney care, securing a whopping $166 million. Similarly, Hyro, which has developed a healthcare-focused conversational platform — AI-powered, of course — raised $30 million. Read more.

Everyone needs a digital assistant, and Instacart wants you to have one, too. The company announced a new search experience, powered by ChatGPT, for shoppers to inquire about a host of buying-related questions. What will you ask?

U.K.-based CUR8 thinks it has the answer to helping remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. Read more.

To the moon!: Hubble Network has an ambitious goal to connect a billion devices with a space-based Bluetooth network. Find out how it plans to do that.

The Block Party's over: Twitter's decision to put its API access behind a paywall has another company suspending services. This time it's Block Party, which is putting its anti-harassment tool on hiatus. Read more.

Think on it: Cortex, which began as a way to help developers organize their microservices architectures, is flush with $35 million in Series B funding to take on a new role. Get the scoop.

Always be closing: Vartana inks a $20 million investment to help salespeople close their B2B deals. Learn more about how it plans to scale.

Here are six more must-reads:

Elon Musk's pivotal China visit: diplomacy, supply chain, and beyond

SellerX acquires US e-commerce roll-up rival Elevate Brands in an all-share deal, raises $64M+

Okay, which analyzes engineers' productivity, sells to Stripe

Blink launches Blink Copilot to bring generative AI to security operations

Selva Ventures to invest $34M Fund II in health, wellness-focused brands

Apple touts $1.1 trillion in App Store commerce in 2022, with $104B in digital sales

Ask Sophie: How long until I can travel while waiting for my green card?

Dear Sophie,

I came to the United States from Tunisia to get my master's degree and PhD. I recently finished my PhD, and I'm working for a biotech company on OPT.

I've been trying to get publications and significant awards to qualify for the EB-1A green card and I need to travel internationally frequently for business.

Once I apply, will I be stuck in the U.S.? If so, for how long?

— Tenacious from Tunisia

Two more from the TC+ team:

Neobanks should take heart from Monzo's performance in 2022

Have enterprise buyers finally soured on 'bottoms-up' tech sales?

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.

Read More

Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31. Apply today!

Read More

• CIWRO Research Associate: ACME Software Developer at University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK 73019, USA)
• Security Manager at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA, USA)
• Sales Consultant at Pony Show Creative (Anywhere)
• Sr. Systems Analyst - VMWare/Windows at El Dorado County (Placerville, CA, USA)
• Manager of Application Deployment at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV, USA)

See more jobs on CrunchBoard

Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

Today, some cybercrimes were uncovered, we found out how many of you are curious about the new season of "Black Mirror" and Elon Musk made a visit to China. This is your Daily Crunch for Wednesday. We're halfway through the week!

Let's kick it off with some mobility news. One of the top stories today was about Uber switching up its ride discounts for subscribers. Find out what the new discount includes. We also learned a bit more about Volvo's new small electric SUV and some of the ways the car maker is saving space. Speaking of small, if teeny, tiny cars are your thing, Fiat's new electric Topolino will have you saying, "Awwwwww." See how cute it is.

Meanwhile, many of you were eager to know why the first episode in season six of "Black Mirror" is a subscriber's worst nightmare. We got the scoop.

Now on to the cyber beat, where we saw a few big stories come through today, including a ransomware attack on a U.S. dental insurance giant and hundreds of thousands of additional car owners had their data exposed by Toyota. Read more on that.

More layoffs: Taxfix, a German accounting startup valued at $1 billion, found itself in a funding crunch and had to cut 120 jobs. Read more.

Pack your bags: Hostaway brought in $175 million to expand its vacation rental management platform. Time to plan your next vacation.

AI images explained: In an effort to flag potential fake images, Twitter launches Community Notes. Find out more about how this will work.

Money, money, money, money, money…money!: Out of some aspects of failed fintech Wirecard comes NomuPay, which is taking on cross-border payments with $53.6 million in new funding. Read more.

Process this: NXP unveils its latest processor, the i.MX 91, during Computex. Check it out.

Another breach, what gives?

Sponsored by Atakama

Tired of reading another data breach headline? Atakama has the key to protecting data and privacy in the aftermath of a breach, and the company, with its patented tech is embarking on its next phase of growth. A unique investment opportunity awaits.

Invest Now

Meanwhile, my teenage son was recently enamored by a video showing someone using a paper map in the car. How 1990s of them, amirite? If paper maps aren't your thing, Atly is claiming to be the "next social paradigm for mapping and discovering places to go." It now also has $18 million in new funding. Find out more about this company that wants to be a Reddit for real-world locations.

You can never be too healthy. The team covered some healthcare-related news today, including Strive Health, a company offering kidney care, securing a whopping $166 million. Similarly, Hyro, which has developed a healthcare-focused conversational platform — AI-powered, of course — raised $30 million. Read more.

Everyone needs a digital assistant, and Instacart wants you to have one, too. The company announced a new search experience, powered by ChatGPT, for shoppers to inquire about a host of buying-related questions. What will you ask?

U.K.-based CUR8 thinks it has the answer to helping remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. Read more.

To the moon!: Hubble Network has an ambitious goal to connect a billion devices with a space-based Bluetooth network. Find out how it plans to do that.

The Block Party's over: Twitter's decision to put its API access behind a paywall has another company suspending services. This time it's Block Party, which is putting its anti-harassment tool on hiatus. Read more.

Think on it: Cortex, which began as a way to help developers organize their microservices architectures, is flush with $35 million in Series B funding to take on a new role. Get the scoop.

Always be closing: Vartana inks a $20 million investment to help salespeople close their B2B deals. Learn more about how it plans to scale.

Here are six more must-reads:

Elon Musk's pivotal China visit: diplomacy, supply chain, and beyond

SellerX acquires US e-commerce roll-up rival Elevate Brands in an all-share deal, raises $64M+

Okay, which analyzes engineers' productivity, sells to Stripe

Blink launches Blink Copilot to bring generative AI to security operations

Selva Ventures to invest $34M Fund II in health, wellness-focused brands

Apple touts $1.1 trillion in App Store commerce in 2022, with $104B in digital sales

Ask Sophie: How long until I can travel while waiting for my green card?

Dear Sophie,

I came to the United States from Tunisia to get my master's degree and PhD. I recently finished my PhD, and I'm working for a biotech company on OPT.

I've been trying to get publications and significant awards to qualify for the EB-1A green card and I need to travel internationally frequently for business.

Once I apply, will I be stuck in the U.S.? If so, for how long?

— Tenacious from Tunisia

Two more from the TC+ team:

Neobanks should take heart from Monzo's performance in 2022

Have enterprise buyers finally soured on 'bottoms-up' tech sales?

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.

Read More

Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31. Apply today!

Read More

• CIWRO Research Associate: ACME Software Developer at University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK 73019, USA)
• Security Manager at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA, USA)
• Sales Consultant at Pony Show Creative (Anywhere)
• Sr. Systems Analyst - VMWare/Windows at El Dorado County (Placerville, CA, USA)
• Manager of Application Deployment at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV, USA)

See more jobs on CrunchBoard

Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

Today, a lot of AI enthusiasts are now warning us about too much of a good thing. We also found out what happens when a partnership goes wrong and Alexa finds a new voice. If you were able to take the long weekend, I hope you're ready for all this news because this is your Daily Crunch for Monday.  — Christine

The top story of the day should come as no surprise to you Daily Crunchers — it's about AI. Only this time hundreds of scientists, academics, tech CEOs and public figures, among them OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have added their names to a statement urging global attention on existential AI risk. Remember the open letter signed by Big Tech bigwigs, like Elon Musk, that made the rounds in March? It's kind of like that, but brings up "extinction." You better read more.

As we reported, "first they worked in tandem, now they're in an e-bike patent suit." We're talking about a deal that went sour between eBikeLabs and Cowboy. Get the scoop.

Meanwhile, BlackRock has once again fiddled with Byju's valuation. Find out how far it’s fallen.

Look out below: Serve Robotics has a sweet new deal to deliver food for Uber Eats and will deploy up to 2,000 sidewalk delivery bots to do so. See what these cuties look like.

Read and eat: Amazon is now experimenting with dine-in payments in India. Read more.

I need a hero: "More bang for your buck" is the approach Carrum Health is taking with its value-based cancer care offering. It's now got $45 million to do more. Find out how the company plans to use it.

If your computer's background could talk: Well, maybe it can't talk, but it can show you pretty pictures and sounds of nature. Portal's Mac app helps users do just that. See what delights Portal has in store for us.

A slow leak: A database containing the details of almost half a million RaidForums users leaked online. This comes a year after the U.S. Department of Justice seized the notorious cybercrime forum. Read more.

Sometimes you just can't help but go down a rabbit hole of whatever the internet puts in front of you. Well, if that's the way you roll, Web Roulette has an addictive, "swipeable" web browser for you that incorporates your favorite websites and the ability to shake it up if you want to be surprised. Find out more.

Your favorite code-building platform has a new product: UpCodes took in some new funding to help it launch a new AI-based tool to make navigating the world of building codes even more streamlined. Read more about its catchy name.

The pandemic not only stretched the abilities of healthcare providers, but it also showed us what happens when everyone is trying to buy the same box of rubber gloves and masks. Hoping to not have that pattern repeated, at least for dental practices, companies like Wellplaece have created a marketplace that enables practices to discover products and compare prices. Get the scoop.

Say "what" again: Sorry, folks, Amazon's Alexa will reportedly no longer respond in a celebrity voice. Find out why.

A picture's worth a thousand words: Qflow takes in $9.1 million for a unique way to track construction receipts and de-carbonize projects. Learn more.

What do you meme?: It was only a matter of time before someone incorporated memes into education. Antimatter closed on a $2 million round of funding to help students meme about topics they master. Shitposting at its finest.

Itsy bitsy EV: Arcimoto has had an interesting year so far, but now it's getting down to business with a teeny-tiny EV. See what it looks like.

Game on…in the car?: I'm not sure what to think of Tesla's latest in-dash feature or the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave its blessing. Read more.

Shop till you drop: Instacart's new feature lets you save a shopper as your favorite so they can be the first alerted of future orders. Find out how to do that.

Now here's some more:

HackCapital launches investment platform competitor to Odin, Vauban

Pluton Biosciences takes its carbon-fixing microbes to market with a fresh $16.6M

Taking the pulse on the Northeast seed market with Techstars' Kerty Levy

A popular Android app began secretly spying on its users months after it was listed on Google Play

Harness the potential of generative AI

Sponsored by PwC

Generative AI is transforming business. Explore the capabilities and learn how PwC can help reinvent your business and lead with trust.

Learn More

Three climate technologies every investor should have in their portfolio

Now that we’ll likely blow past the 1.5 degree Celsius target that would have slowed down our worsening climate crisis, investors and entrepreneurs need to focus on scalable solutions.

With that in mind, climate reporter Tim De Chant examined three technologies “that deserve a closer look":

• Enhanced rock weathering
• Fusion
• Grid management software

“Fusion may not pan out, but if it does, the winners could make Exxon look small by comparison,” he writes.

Three more from the TC+ team:

Welcome to the trillion-dollar club, Nvidia

Klarna's Q1 results show that the fintech unicorn's turnaround is in full swing

Solana's co-founder sees potential for its blockchain to be the 'Apple of crypto'

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.

Read More

TechCrunch (virtually) in Atlanta

On June 7, TechCrunch will host City Spotlight: Atlanta. We have a slate of amazing programming planned, including a fireside chat with Ryan Glover, the co-founder of the fintech Greenwood, as well as a panel that examines the venture ecosystem within the Atlanta region and identifies the best ways to raise and meet with local venture capitalists. But that's not all. If you are an early-stage Atlanta-based founder, apply to pitch to our panel of guest investors/judges for our live pitching competition; the winner gets a free booth at TechCrunch Disrupt this year to exhibit their company in our startup alley. Register now!

Read More

• CIWRO Research Associate: ACME Software Developer at University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK 73019, USA)
• Security Manager at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA, USA)
• Sales Consultant at Pony Show Creative (Anywhere)
• Sr. Systems Analyst - VMWare/Windows at El Dorado County (Placerville, CA, USA)
• Manager of Application Deployment at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV, USA)

See more jobs on CrunchBoard

Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.