Government spyware is another reason to use an ad blockerAd blockers might seem like an unlikely defense in the fight against spyware, but new reporting casts fresh light on how spyware makers are weaponizing online ads to allow governments to conduct surveillance.
Spyware makers are reportedly capable of locating and stealthily infecting specific targets with spyware using banner ads.
One of the startups that worked on an ad-based spyware infection system is Intellexa, a European company that develops the Predator spyware.
Ad blockers don’t just hide the ads, but rather block the underlying website from loading the ads to begin with.
In 2022, the FBI said in a public service announcement to use an ad blocker as an online safety precaution.
For years, the solar energy sector has grappled with interseasonal energy storage.
The claim is this tech does the storage more cost-effectively than any battery or liquid hydrogen solution on the market.
It enables hydrogen storage at densities approximately 50% greater than liquid hydrogen, presenting a significant advancement in hydrogen storage solutions.
A robust, reusable energy storage solution could bridge these timings, ensuring a stable energy supply when these renewable sources encounter unavoidable intermittent periods.
The firm certainly has investors’ attention: Photoncycle just raised $5.3 million (€5 million) to build its first few power storage devices in Denmark, which Photoncycle has chosen as its test market.
Two weeks ago, TechCrunch broke the news that LinkedIn was getting into games, helping users “deepen relationships” through puzzle-based interactions.
And on Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that the Microsoft-owned social network was experimenting with short-form videos.
It’s as if LinkedIn is targeting a whole new “type” of user — one caught in limbo somewhere between two other well-known social networks.
And LinkedIn shouldn’t try to be Twitter or TikTok — it’s aimed at an entirely different audience.
And now with games and short-form videos in the mix, LinkedIn wants even more of the action.
Climate-tech VC Satgana has reached a final close of its first fund, which targets to back up to 30 early-stage startups in Africa and Europe.
“I ran it for like five years, and about six years ago I started to really have the awakening to the extent of climate change.
“We are entering the continent to pursue green growth objectives; so deploying renewable energy, low carbon buildings, mobility solutions and so on.
Satgana is among the new funds that are dedicated to the African climate tech sector.
These funds include Africa People + Planet Fund by Novastar Ventures, Equator’s fund and the Catalyst Fund.
Plenty of major corporations have announced net-zero emissions targets.
Those are the companies Greenly has targeted.
It takes that information and, coupled with its own data and algorithms, calculates carbon emissions by category and scope for customers.
It came into the round with an advantage: it’s applying SaaS to climate tech, and SaaS a business model that’s well understood.
But it does suggest that venture investors are warming to climate tech more broadly, proving that there’s a market for businesses focused on sustainability.
During Target’s investor event on Tuesday, the retail giant announced it is launching a paid membership program, Target Circle 360, on April 7 to compete with rivals Amazon and Walmart.
Target Circle 360 acts as the paid version of its free loyalty program Target Circle, which has existed since 2019.
Additionally, it’s renaming Target RedCard credit and debit cards to Target Circle, which will now give customers an extra 5% off purchases.
However, if you have a Target Circle credit card, it will still cost $49.
Walmart also sees success from its paid membership, Walmart+, which debuted in 2020 for $98/year.
Despite record growth in the solar industry last year, software startup Aurora Solar has laid off 20% of its staff of about 500 people, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
The company, which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales, project design and installation process, has missed its growth targets for the past year, a source said.
It’s possible that Aurora Solar hit stiffer headwinds than expected in California, where changes in net metering led to homeowners getting paid about 75% less for power sold back to utilities.
With net metering rates slashed, the state has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installations that include batteries.
While Aurora Solar says its software is used by 90% of the top 100 solar installers, it also has more than 7,000 customers, many of which likely fall in the long tail of the distribution, those that say they’re under the most pressure.
Despite record growth in the solar industry last year, software startup Aurora Solar has laid off 20% of its staff of about 1,000 people, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
The company, which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales, project design and installation process, has missed its growth targets for the past year, a source said.
It’s possible that Aurora Solar hit stiffer headwinds than expected in California, where changes in net metering led to homeowners getting paid about 75% less for power sold back to utilities.
With net metering rates slashed, the state has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installations that include batteries.
While Aurora Solar says its software is used by 90% of the top 100 solar installers, it also has more than 7,000 customers, many of which likely fall in the long tail of the distribution, those that say they’re under the most pressure.
CES 2024 or bust, Superpedestrian e-scooters hit the auction block and Fisker struggles to meet sales goalsThe Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation.
I appreciated a bit of rest and recovery, just in time for CES 2024.
The Big Three U.S. automakers (Ford, GM and Stellantis) won’t have big splashy displays and announcements as in past years.
However, there will be plenty of automotive, and more broadly, transportation companies and startups in attendance.
Shell Ventures, InMotion Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Revo Capital also participated.
Beeper Cloud users were also impacted, the company’s post said, referring to its original messaging app aggregator, but said those users could contact Beeper Help for a fix as well.
Apple appears to be deliberately blocking iMessages from being delivered to ~5% of Beeper Mini users.
Uninstalling and reinstalling Beeper Mini fixes the issue.
But although Beeper believed Apple would not be able to shut its service down, as Beeper Mini users communicated directly with Apple’s servers, just as iPhones do, Apple quickly reacted on Friday to put an end to Beeper Mini’s operation.
As a result of Apple’s meddling, leading to Beeper Mini’s instability, the startup made its new app free for Android users for the time being.
