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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7 AI Tools That Help You Build a One-Person Business — and Make Money While You Sleep | Entrepreneur

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Most entrepreneurs are still using AI like a sidekick, just scratching the surface with basic tools that save a few minutes here and there. But what if AI could run your business for you while you sleep? This isn’t about chatbots or rewriting blog posts. This is about building a lean, one-person business powered by automation, speed, and strategy.

Inside this video, I’m revealing seven powerful AI tools from the “Black Book”— hand-picked for solo entrepreneurs who want to scale without a team and unlock true freedom.

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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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Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs | CNN Business

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Electronics imported to the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday.

Smartphones, computer monitors and various electronic parts are among the exempted products. The exemption applies to products entering the United States or removed from warehouses as early as April 5, according to the notice. The exemption, which comes after the Trump administration on Wednesday imposed a minimum tariff rate of 145% on Chinese goods imported to the United States, does not include the 20% tariff on Chinese goods for the country’s role in the fentanyl trade. The tariff exemption would have a major impact on tech giants like Apple, which make iPhones and other products in China.

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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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Career Risks Worth Taking | businessnewsdaily.com

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Taking a leap of faith is risky, especially with something as important as your career. But some risks are worth taking. If you play your cards right, you could achieve more than you ever thought possible. Although a career risk may not be easy, here are four that are often worth taking.

4 career risks worth taking

If you’re thinking about making any one of these big career moves, it could be well worth the risk.

1. Choosing a job based on culture rather than salary

When choosing between two jobs, you might be tempted to take the one accompanied by the higher salary. Although you want a job that pays enough to cover your expenses, money isn’t always the most important aspect of a job, and you shouldn’t accept a role based on salary alone. A higher salary often comes with higher demands, and that doesn’t always equate to a good working experience.

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Should You Send a Late Account to Collections? | Business News Daily

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The decision to send someone to collections is one that should be given serious consideration. Federal law governs how you and the collection agencies you hire can and cannot attempt to collect a debt.

In this guide, we explain the rules you should follow to keep your business out of hot water when pursuing unpaid debts, and we walk you through how to send someone to collections while complying with the law.

What does it mean to send someone to collections?

To send someone to collections means to hire a collection agency to recover the person’s unpaid debt to you. If you’re trying to reach a nonpaying client or customer yourself through your usual communication channels, or you’ve sent a client several letters stating their account is past due, doesn’t mean that’s sending them to collections.

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