French spinout Diamfab, founded in 2019, is one example.
They also raised an €8.7 million round of funding from Asterion Ventures, Bpifrance’s French Tech Seed fund, Kreaxi, Better Angle, Hello Tomorrow and Grenoble Alpes Métropole.
But diamond wafers could also be leveraged for nuclear batteries, space tech and quantum computing, too.
While there’s warranted hype around AI in Paris, Grenoble may be the closest to a French Silicon Valley.
Now Diamfab hopes it can play a part, too, and unleash the full potential of diamond in semiconductors.
Google hit with $270M fine in France as authority finds news publishers’ data was used for GeminiIn a never-ending saga between Google and France’s competition authority over copyright protections for news snippets, the Autorité de la Concurrence announced a €250 million fine against the tech giant Wednesday (around $270 million at today’s exchange rate).
The competition authority has found fault with Google for failing to notify news publishers of this GenAI use of their copyrighted content.
But the competition authority quickly stepped in – finding its unilateral action an abuse of a dominant market position that risked harm to publishers.
But in 2021, Google was hit with a $592M fine after the competition authority found major breaches in its negotiations with local publishers and agencies.
Google has signed copyright agreements with hundreds of publishers in France – which fall under the remit of its agreement with the Autorité.
This is particularly true in Europe in the context of GDPR: While many companies are hoping to build AI on top of voice data, in many cases, this requires removing biometric information first.
This is where Nijta hopes to help: by providing AI-powered speech anonymization technology to clients that need to comply with privacy requirements.
The startup also says that Nijta Voice Harbor’s protection is irreversible, unlike some of the voice modifications unwisely used by media outlets hoping to protect victims they interview.
A lack of awareness of privacy issues around voice is one of the challenges Nijta will have to face.
This is also why starting with B2B and Europe seems to make sense: Even if customers aren’t pushing for voice privacy, risking a hefty fine is turning companies into early adopters.
Spotify has revealed plans to increase subscription fees in France, in response to a new tax directed at music-streaming services operating in the country.
While all the impacted companies are opposing the new law, Spotify has been the most vociferous, largely due to the fact it is the biggest player in the country.
The company wrote in a blog post today:“With the creation of this new tax, Spotify would be required to give approximately two-thirds of every euro it generates to music to rights holders and the French government.
What’s perhaps the most telling part of this whole episode is how important France is to Spotify in terms of market traction.
With regards to France, Spotify is conveying as much — if not more — grievance with the new tax as it did with Uruguay, yet it has given no indication that it will exit the country.
Spotify is pulling support for two music festivals in protest against a controversial new tax directed at music-streaming platforms operating in France, and threatened more action will follow in the coming months.
While all the major music-streaming platforms have come together in opposition to the new law, including Apple, Google’s YouTube, and local player Deezer, Spotify has been the most vocal.
In the wake of the announcement last week, Spotify said that the move was a “real blow to innovation,” and that it was evaluating its next moves.
The company later pulled a 180-degree turn when the government gave assurances that music-streaming platforms wouldn’t be expected to cover any extra costs resulting from the law.
“Spotify will have the means to absorb this tax, but Spotify will disinvest in France and will invest in other markets,” Monin said in an interview with FranceInfo last week.
Worldcoin is no longer offering its Orb-verification service in India, Brazil, and France, just months after the crypto startup expanded the helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device to those markets.
The Orb, a five-pound chromatic sphere, scans an individual’s eyeballs and verifies their identity.
“The multi-city tour kicked off in Tokyo in April 2023 and marked the first time people in many locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia were able to experience the Orb.
Individuals can download World App, the startup’s protocol-compatible wallet software, and visit an Orb, the startup’s helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device, to receive their World ID.
More to follow…
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