Trending Stories from venturebeat.com
Researchers from Salesforce and Univ. of Virginia propose a new way to mitigate gender bias in word embeddings, the word representations used to train AI models
Elementary Robotics, which develops tools to automate industrial tasks, announces $12.7M Series A funding to deploy its automation products at scale
Microsoft unveils initiatives to upskill workers amid the "COVID-19 economy" including cash grants, affordable skill certificates, and a learning app in Teams
Cynet raises $18M Series B+ to expand its AI-powered cyber safeguards to more markets and says it has hundreds of customers
Slack launches Connect, letting up to 20 organizations communicate in a single Slack channel, currently available to paying customers
DoNotPay, which creates bots to automate mundane tasks and save users money, raises $12M Series A led by Coatue Management at a valuation of $80M
Third Wave Automation, a startup adding automation tech to forklifts that hopes to augment, instead of replace, humans, emerges from stealth with $15M
Nylas, which provides email, calendar, and contact APIs for app developers, has raised $25M Series B co-led by 8VC and Round13
Apple debuts ARKit 4 with new depth capabilities and Location Anchors to place AR experiences throughout cities, and expands face tracking to more devices
Apple announces new HomeKit features, including person identification, suggested automations, and more
Apple debuts macOS Big Sur with all-new design, introducing Control Center, redesigned Notification Center with widgets, updated Messages, and more
NYC passes POST Act, requiring police department to reveal surveillance tech
Boston-based Botkeeper, which automates bookkeeping workflows using AI, raises $25M Series B led by Point72 Ventures, bringing its total raised to $47.5M
Kaia Health, which makes apps that help manage chronic pain using AI and motion-tracking tech, raises $26M Series B, bringing its total raised to nearly $50M
Helsinki-based Swappie, an iPhone-only refurb marketplace with its own refurbishment factory, has raised $40M to expand across Europe
Boston Dynamics starts selling its Spot robot — for $74,500
Smart calendar startup Clockwise raises $18M Series B as it looks to expand its tool to Microsoft Office 365 and other services
Microsoft Teams plans support for up to 49 video call participants, matching Zoom, slated for fall, and Teams for Education gets several new features
Google details upcoming improvements to Android Studio, like ML model importing, and refreshes Google Play Console; 70%+ of the top 1,000 Play apps use Kotlin
Concourse Labs, which provides an automated cloud governance service, emerges from stealth with $15.2M Series A led by ForgePoint Capital
Deep dive on how Google Meet's AI-powered noise cancellation works as it begins rolling out to customers
NYU report criticizes Facebook for outsourcing content moderation, arguing it is a "grossly inadequate" way of dealing with a core task of social platforms
Despite Twitter’s Trump stance, it’s still just as toxic as Facebook
Maryland-based Inky, which develops AI-powered anti-phishing technology, raises $20M Series B led by Insight Partners, bringing its total raised to $31.6M
Google details how it is using a variety of AI techniques to improve the translation quality for languages that don't have a copious amount of written text
Signal launches face-blurring tool as U.S. protesters embrace encrypted messaging
The BBC releases first beta of Beeb, its English language voice assistant, to UK Window Insider members, with an ability to understand a range of UK accents
Locus Robotics, which makes autonomous warehouse robots, raises $40M Series D led by Zebra Technologies, bringing its total raised to $105M+
OpenAI researchers debut GPT-3 language model trained with 175B parameters, far more than GPT-2's biggest version with 1.5B parameters
Google pushes an update for its Pixel line, with improved Adaptive Battery, Google Assistant integration with Recorder, a new bedtime tab in the clock app, more
Google's concept of federated analytics shows users' privacy can be protected by analyzing a device's data locally and collecting only aggregated results
Amazon confirms Echo Look devices will stop working from July after pulling the Alexa-powered camera in Dec. 2019, offers discounts on Echo Show for Look users
Techmeme · 1 month ago
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz is stepping down as CEO, says the company has raised "significant" funding and pivoted to spatial computing for enterprise
Vesta, which wants to fight payment fraud using AI, raises $125M led by Goldfinch Partners, bringing its total raised to over $145M
SmartRent, which provides smart home automation for property owners, developers, and residents, raises $60M Series C led by Spark Capital
Microsoft adds a standalone app for its Cortana virtual assistant to Windows 10, launching without support for Alexa queries
Techmeme · 1 month ago
Interview with CTO of Pentagon's Joint AI Center Nand Mulchandani about the center's work and its new Silicon Valley-like organizational structure and workflows
Run The World, which helps clients organize and host virtual conferences and events, raises $10.8M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund
Startup Genome study finds global VC funding fell 20% since the onset of COVID-19 in December 2019
An overview of how governments around the world are using smartphone data, apps, drones, facial recognition, and AI to track COVID-19 and surveil citizens
Clara Analytics raises $25M Series B led by Aspen Capital Group for its AI-powered tools that expedite worker compensation claims
Take-Two Interactive beats expectations with Q4 net revenue of $760.5M, up 41% YoY, and record fiscal year net bookings of $2.99B, up from $2.93B in fiscal 2019
Apple releases iOS 13.5, which includes improved Face ID recognition for users wearing masks, iPadOS 13.5, and tvOS 13.4.5, to the general public
Shopify unveils a business debit card called Shopify Balance, Shop Pay Installments for merchants, and opens its AI-powered fulfillment network to merchants
Techmeme · 1 month ago