The Financial Times (full disclosure — the owners of The Next Web) have inked a deal with OpenAI. The American firm will use the British publisher’s content to train its generative AI models. The deal is the latest in a string of new partnerships between OpenAI and global news publishers like Axel Springer, Associated Press, and Le Monde. The company did not disclose the financial terms of any of the contracts. In 2023 alone, hundreds of pages of litigation and countless articles accused tech...
Under the UK’s new cybersecurity law, consumer smart devices can no longer allow the use of weak, easy-to-guess passwords, such as “admin” or “12345.” This is part of a set of minimum-security standards the UK is requiring to protect consumers from hacking and cyberattacks. The law covers every smart device that comes with internet or network connectivity, ranging from TVs and phones to game consoles, connected fridges, and smart doorbells. Manufacturers of such products will also have...
Polestar has successfully charged its upcoming EV model in just 10 minutes. The Swedish car maker achieved the feat using a “silicon-dominant” battery built by Israeli startup StoreDot. Polestar installed the battery in a fully drivable prototype of its Polestar 5 model, set to go on sale next year. It managed to charge the EV from 10% to 80% under the 10-minute time cap. StoreDot’s batteries use silicon anodes instead of graphite. Silicon anodes can store 10 times the amount of...
Our understanding of the challenges women face in the startup ecosystem is limited. Past research has focused on overt negative sexist attitudes that question women’s competence and suitability for entrepreneurship. This view overlooks the existence of more subtle, yet pervasive and socially acceptable, sexist attitudes that often go unnoticed. Given the sheer number of people interested or working in startups today, from investors to suppliers to job applicants, the effects of these...
Hallo, Netherlands! Welcome to TNW's first weekly round-up of tech news from our glorious home country. As we count down to TNW conference in Amsterdam on June 20 and 21, we’re ramping up our coverage of the Dutch IT sector. We'd also love to hear your thoughts on the local ecosystem. Drop us a line if you want to showcase your startup, share a digital tip, or just tell us your deepest, darkest secrets. In the meantime, let’s get to the news. What we're writing Chip giant ASML...
In 2022, over 20,000 Lithuanians returned to their country of birth from abroad. A high quality of life coupled with a booming entrepreneurial ecosystem and a collaborative mentality has contributed to what investors are calling a “reverse brain drain.” Many of their minds reemerge in the country's startup scene. It was on a visit to Lisbon that I first heard someone refer to Lithuania as “a hidden gem” of Europe’s startup ecosystem. A recent trip to Vilnius convinced me they were right. ...
DeepL, which has been rivalling machine translation giants such as Google Translate and Microsoft Translator, has launched an AI writing assistant tailored for businesses. Dubbed DeepL Write Pro, the product acts as a creative assistant for use during the drafting process. It provides suggestions on word choice, phrasing, style, and tone, aiming to improve the text, while preserving the writer’s own voice. Currently available in English and German, the tool comes with customisation options...
British cybersecurity flag bearer Darktrace is set to leave London’s stock market after agreeing a £4.3bn sale to US private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Shareholders will have to approve the takeover before it's rubber-stamped. The chair of Darktrace, Gordon Hurst, said the deal represents "an attractive premium and an opportunity for shareholders." "The proposed acquisition will provide Darktrace access to a strong financial partner in Thoma Bravo, with deep software sector expertise, who...
Time and again, leading scientists, technologists, and philosophers have made spectacularly terrible guesses about the direction of innovation. Even Einstein was not immune, claiming, “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable,” just ten years before Enrico Fermi completed construction of the first fission reactor in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, the consensus switched to fears of an imminent nuclear holocaust. Similarly, today’s experts warn that an...
Cyber attackers battered Poland after the country's change of government late last year. DDoS attacks at the end of 2023 were nearly quadruple the country’s average, according to cybersecurity firm NetScout's observations. The surge began when the Law and Justice party (PiS) lost its majority in last year's Polish general election. PiS had ruled the country since 2015. It was replaced by a coalition government, which reaffirmed support for Ukraine's defence against Russia's invasion. ...
Demand for industrial robots is rising in Europe, especially driven by the benefits of automation. However, there are ongoing challenges in ensuring seamless collaboration with humans while maintaining safety. To address this issue, a consortium of European universities, technology accelerators, and private research labs is launching the RoboSAPIENs project. The aim is to build the necessary safety mechanisms with a particular focus on adaptive industrial robots — a category of autonomous...
A British startup today unveiled new AI humans that blur the line between the virtual and the real. Synthesia calls the digital beings "Expressive Avatars." They promise the most realistic emotional expressions on the market. Generated by an AI model that's trained on footage of real actors, the avatars are built for video creation. Users simply enter a text prompt and the synthetic humans read them out on a screen. The photorealistic renders are certainly impressive. But what makes them...