Category: News and Views

IXI raises $36.5M from Amazon and others to bring autofocus to prescription glasses | TechCrunch

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Blink and you’ll miss it: A startup out of Finland is taking a new look at the market for prescription eyewear. Tapping into innovations in eye-tracking and liquid crystal lens technology, IXI is building low-power glasses that will invisibly and automatically adjust to account for a wearer’s presbyopia (far-sightedness).

Four years into its life, Helsinki-based IXI emerged from stealth on Tuesday, announcing that it’s raised a total of $36.5 million from a list of investors that include the Amazon Alexa fund, to work towards its first commercial product.

London-based VC firm Plural is leading the latest tranche of Series A funding, with participation from Tesi, byFounders, Heartcore, Eurazeo, FOV Ventures, Tiny Supercomputer, and existing investors. The startup’s previous investors, in addition to the Amazon Alexa Fund, include Maki.vc, First Fellow, First Minute Capital, John Lindfors, Illusian (a family office of European founders similar to ICONIQ in the U.S.), and the Bragiel Brothers.

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Government hackers are leading the use of attributed zero-days, Google says | TechCrunch

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Hackers working for governments were responsible for the majority of attributed zero-day exploits used in real-world cyberattacks last year, per new research from Google.

Google’s report said that the number of zero-day exploits — referring to security flaws that were unknown to the software makers at the time hackers abused them — had dropped from 98 exploits in 2023 to 75 exploits in 2024. But the report noted that of the proportion of zero-days that Google could attribute — meaning identifying the hackers who were responsible for exploiting them — at least 23 zero-day exploits were linked to government-backed hackers.

Among those 23 exploits, 10 zero-days were attributed to hackers working directly for governments, including five exploits linked to China and another five to North Korea.

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Roommates’ Side Hustle Makes $1M a Month: ‘No Regrets’ | Entrepreneur

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When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it? Whiteside: When Ben and I became best friends during our junior year at CU Boulder, one of the things that brought us close was our shared aspiration of building our own thing, not walking a 9-5 path working on someone else’s dream. This shared passion wouldn’t manifest until much later, though.

When I first started dreaming of a hair product company that went beyond styling one’s hair with toxic sh*t, I was working at an ecommerce startup in a marketing and operations role. We were a small team, and the company was struggling hard to establish itself. I learned a ton about problem-solving through the early stages of business, but I had one foot out the door, pulling me toward my calling of being my own entrepreneur.

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AI was used to write the California bar exam. The law community is outraged. | Mashable

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You’ve heard of AI models taking the bar exam, but this time, AI also helped write the questions.

The State Bar of California revealed on Monday that it used AI to develop a portion of its exam questions, according to the LA Times. The AI-generated exam questions were created by an independent psychometrician called ACS Ventures hired by the State Bar. The questions were “developed with the assistance of AI and subsequently reviewed by content validation panels and a subject matter expert in advance of the exam,” announced the State Bar in a statement addressing technical glitches and question errors that test takers had previously complained about.

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iPhone 17 Air video leak reveals incredibly thin design | Mashable

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A new video purports to show off what the iPhone 17 Air will look like in your hands. Spoiler alert: You’re going to want to see this.

The rumored super-thin model of the upcoming iPhone 17 appeared in dummy model form in a new video from Unbox Therapy on YouTube, via 9to5Mac. In the video, host Lewis George Hilsenteger takes a look at dummy models allegedly from manufacturers in China of various new iPhones, but the iPhone 17 Air is the one you really ought to see. If the leak proves to be legitimate, then the Air could be even thinner than expected.

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Google faces $6.6 billion lawsuit in Britain for alleged abuse of dominance in online search | CNN Business

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Google is being sued in Britain for potential damages of up to £5 billion ($6.6 billion) in a class action alleging the company abused its dominant market position in online search. The class action, filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal Tuesday, argues that Google’s actions enabled it to charge higher prices for the advertisements that appear in search inquiries than it otherwise could in a competitive market. It said the US company, owned by Alphabet (GOOGL), contracted phone makers to pre-install Google Search and the Chrome browser on Android devices and paid Apple to make it the default search engine on iPhones, with the intention of shutting out competition.

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How tariffs could change the way Americans buy video games | Fast Company

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In a time where tariff price hikes are invading seemingly every element of life, diving into a video game could offer a welcome reprieve, both spiritually and fiscally. Digital video games do not require materials, shipping, or manufacturing costs, allowing them to cross borders without incurring extra fees. And the video game industry has been shifting to digital long before Trump’s so-called Liberation Day.

“In terms of software, PC gaming is now overwhelmingly digital, and physical versions are largely obsolete,” says Manu Rosier, market intelligence director at Newzoo. “We do not expect tariffs to significantly impact the price of video game software.”

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Prada buying rival fashion brand Versace in $1.36bn deal | BBC News

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Prada has agreed to buy its smaller rival Versace in a billion-dollar deal to unite two of the biggest designer fashion labels.

The deal to unite the two Italian brands has an estimated value of $1.36bn (£1.06bn), the Prada Group said on Thursday.

“We aim to continue Versace’s legacy, celebrating and re-interpreting its bold and timeless aesthetic,” said Prada chairman Patrizio Bertelli.

The Prada Group already owns several other designer labels, including Miu Miu and luxury footwear brand Church’s.

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Two American Airlines jets clipped wings on the ground at Reagan airport | BBC News

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Two American Airlines jets have had a minor collision on the ground at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport – just three months after a deadly crash near there.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the wingtip of one aircraft struck another on the taxiway on Thursday afternoon. Six members of Congress were aboard one of the jets.

Nick LaLota, a New York Republican, said no-one was hurt when the wing of their stationary plane was “bumped” by another jet.

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