African Development Bank Appoints New Deputy Director General
Moono Mupotola is appointed as Deputy Director General of the Southern Africa Regional Development, Integration, and Business Delivery Office by the African Development Bank Group, effective October 16, 2024. Mupotola, a Zambian national, brings over 25 years of development experience from Africa to her new position. Her experience includes infrastructure
Read moreZepto eyes $100M from Indian offices in third funding in 6 months
Zepto is in advanced stages of talks to raise $100 million in new investment, its third in the last six months, as the leading Indian quick commerce startup looks to rope in more domestic investors, sources familiar with the talks told TechCrunch. The Mumbai-headquartered startup, which allows customers in multiple
Read moreWeb3 Gaming Platform Partners TapNation for Mobile Innovation
PLAY, the platform integrating Web3 technologies into gaming, has partnered with TapNation to bring mobile games to the forefront of the Web3 movement. This partnership will expand the PLAY ecosystem by integrating blockchain features into TapNation’s well-known mobile games, beginning with the fan favorite, Rock Crawling: Racing Games 3D. TapNation,
Read moreAccel eyes stake in India’s Truemeds at $330 million valuation
According to half a dozen sources, Accel, the global venture firm, is in advanced discussions to lead a funding round of $30 million to $40 million in Truemeds, an Indian online pharmacy that’s focused on providing customers with more affordable generic alternatives to costly branded medications. The talks are currently
Read moreMeta’s AI chief says world models are key to ‘human-level AI’ — but it might be 10 years out
Are today’s AI models truly remembering, thinking, planning, and reasoning, just like a human brain would? Some AI labs would have you believe they are, but according to Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, the answer is no. He thinks we could get there in a decade or so, however,
Read moreMeta lays off employees across multiple teams
Multiple teams at Meta were hit by layoffs on Wednesday, the company confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch, noting these changes were made to reallocate resources within the company. The layoffs appear to have hit employees working on Threads, recruiting, legal operations, and design, among other teams, according to social
Read moreODD taps $27M for diamond chips to clear radioactive debris at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Back in 2011, the world held its breath after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan suffered a failure of its cooling systems, in the wake of the country getting hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. The worry was not unfounded: the resulting meltdown — which spread highly
Read moreRNG, PRNG, CSPRNG
Most random number generators are pseudorandom number generators (PRNGs). The distinction may be pedantic or crucial, depending on context. In the context of cryptography, it’s critical. For this post, RNG will mean a physical, true random number generator. A PRNG may be suitable for many uses—Monte Carlo simulation, numerical integration,
Read moreApple reportedly worked with a Chinese automaker to develop a battery for its now-canceled car
Apple worked with a Chinese automaker for years to design a battery system for its now-canceled car project. That’s according to Bloomberg, which reports that Apple was collaborating with BYD Co., a Shenzhen-based car company, to develop batteries using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. Apple contributed engineering expertise, specifically in
Read moreThe Analogue 3D drags the fondly remembered N64 into the 21st century
Who among us (and by “us” I mean elder millennials) does not remember the glory days of Goldeneye deathmatches after school? It’s one experience that has been difficult to reproduce despite the march of technology — but retro gaming hardware outfit Analogue’s latest, a ground-up recreation of the N64 called
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