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“Fisker Incurs Financial Miscalculations: Customer Payments Go Unaccounted For Over Several Months”

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Fisker temporarily lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments as it scaled up deliveries, leading to an internal audit that started in December and took months to complete, TechCrunch has learned. The EV startup was ultimately able to track down a majority of those payments or request new ones from customers whose payment methods had expired. Red flags raisedFisker has warned investors since last year about problems with its internal accounting practices. Fisker’s poor internal procedures have created problems beyond keeping track of payments. Fisker hired contractors in February to help resolve the title and registration problems, but the backlog was immense, according to the people.
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“Streamlining Sound Creation for Children: Playtime Engineering’s Innovative Musical Toy Startup”

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That’s why Sheets decided to develop the $199 Blipbox, an affordable kid-friendly synthesizer designed for ages three and up. With its chunky control knobs, levers and an easy-to-use randomize feature, MyTracks aims to encourage music exploration and simplify beatmaking for kids. According to the company, all Blipbox devices underwent “rigorous” testing to ensure they are BPA-free and comply with toy safety standards. Blipbox has even been used by music teachers, including helping special-needs kids express their creativity in a non-verbal way. “We got a lot of weird looks from parents,” Kate Sheets says, describing how people reacted to the first Blipbox synthesizer in 2018.
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“New Arrival: Robinhood’s Credit Card Takes On Apple & Upcoming Rivals – From TechCrunch Minute”

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Robinhood’s new credit card was revealed Tuesday, and though it’s only available for Robinhood Gold members, the Gold Card does have a feature that’s spurring headlines: the ability to invest cash back bonuses into investments. But what gives with tech companies getting into the consumer credit game? You could argue that Robinhood’s choice to offer a card is just an extension of its already-expanding portfolio of financial products. But Apple also has a card, recall. And the tech giant is getting deeper into the realm of personal finance as time goes along.
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Change Your Fashion Game with Google’s Swipe Right and Swipe Left Options

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Google will let you swipe right or swipe left on clothes to get better fashion recommendationsGoogle is rolling out a new update that makes it easier for users to find personalized shopping results, the company announced on Wednesday. The new feature lets users rate different products in order to get style recommendations when shopping for apparel, shoes and accessories. After you have rated a selection of products, Google will display personalized results for you to parse through. Google will remember your preferences, so if you ever search for men’s polo shirts again, you will see style recommendations based on what you liked in the past. The company says people shop on Google more than a billion times a day and see more than 45 billion products in their results.
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Google Plans to Utilize Generative AI for Crafting Your Next Dream Vacation Itineraries

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First up, Google is rolling out an update to its Search Generative Experience (SGE) that will allow users to build travel itineraries and trip ideas using AI, the company announced on Wednesday. For now, the itineraries are just that: no options to buy and services or experiences on the spot. But it points to how the company is experimenting with how and where it can apply its AI engine. A lot of players in the travel industry may be eyeing up the role that generative AI will play in travel services in the coming years — some excitedly, some warily. Google also announced that it’s making it easier to discover lists of recommendations in Google Maps in select cities in the U.S. and Canada.
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Make Your Retirement Planning Easier with NewRetirement

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So Chen founded NewRetirement, a Mill Valley-based company building software to help people create financial retirement plans. Today, NewRetirement’s direct-to-consumer products power financial planning for 70,000 users managing close to $100 billion in their own financial plans, according to Chen. And while 37% of respondents say that they work with a financial adviser, two-thirds of Americans believe that their financial planning needs improvement, according to Northwestern Mutual’s Planning and Progress Study 2023. Now, you might wonder, what makes NewRetirement different from startups like Retirable, which similarly provides an array of retirement planning tools and access to asset managers? Chen asserts that NewRetirement is one of the few — and perhaps only — financial planning platform that serves consumers as well as advisers and workplaces.
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Farm Equipment Transforms into Data-Collecting AI with Revolutionary Orchard Vision System

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We’ve seen systems that pick apples and berries, kill weeds, plant trees, transport produce and more. A huge piece of any of these products’ value prop is the amount of actionable information their on-board sensors collect. In a sense, Orchard Robotics’ system is cutting out the middle man. The system cameras can capture up to 100 images a second, recording information about every tree its passes. Then the Orchard OS software utilizes AI to build maps with the data collected.
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Data-Driven Solutions for Transportation Infrastructure: The Innovation of Cyvl.ai

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In the summer after his freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an engineering school in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cyvl.ai co-founder and CEO Daniel Pelaez needed a job. And during my time there, I quickly saw firsthand they had no data on anything,” Pelaez told TechCrunch. He saw an opportunity that would eventually become Cyvl.ai, a firm that helps municipalities and civil engineering firms bring a digital layer to tracking the conditions of transportation infrastructure. “Our core vision and why we started the company in the first place is to help the entire world build and maintain better transportation infrastructure,” he said. The $6 million investment was led by Companyon Ventures with participation from Argon Ventures, AeroX Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
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Robinhood Changes the Game with New Credit Card Offering Cash Rewards in Addition to Investment Opportunities

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Robinhood’s new credit card goes after Apple Card with ability to invest cash-back perksEight months after acquiring credit card startup X1 for $95 million, Robinhood announced today the launch of its new Gold Card, with a list of features that could even give Apple Card users envy. Apple, for instance, offers 3% cash back on all purchases made at Apple, and on purchases made at select merchants when using the Apple Card with Apple Pay. In general, purchases made on Apple Card with Apple Pay earn users 2% back. It’s why we started Robinhood…” Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev said in a written statement. “Today’s announcements…bring us one step closer to the goal of giving everyone better access to the financial system.”Robinhood Gold Card, explained:What are the requirements to apply for a Robinhood Gold Card?
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“Snowflake Investment Boosts Observe’s Data Observability Platform with $115M in Funding”

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Observe — not to be confused with Observe.AI — builds observability tools for machine-generated data that aims to break down data silos, useful for developers to understand how apps are working, being used, and potentially failing. The main use case for Observe today is to analyze data to troubleshoot when an application is not working as it should be. It’s very permissive.” The company today works with third-parties to enhance that work but he doesn’t rule out native applications in these and other areas down the line. “We see it as a lever to unlock new customers,” he said of the investment thesis of Snowflake Ventures. [In data,] there is nothing that competes with Observe right now,” Williams added.
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