TechCrunch Industry News

When it comes to the world of cybersecurity, identity is often thought of as a “perimeter” around an organization. So many breaches begin through techniques like password theft, phishing, and credential stuffing; ergo, securing the identities of not only users, but also applications and machines, is the key to securing the whole system.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Martin Fengler knows a lot about the weather. Fengler got his Ph.D. in mathematics, focused on numerical weather prediction, before working for Meteomedia AG, a network of weather stations in Switzerland and Germany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI dev platform Hugging Face has partnered with third-party cloud vendors including SambaNova to launch Inference Providers, a feature designed to make it easier for devs on Hugging Face to run AI models using the infrastructure of their choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Audio streaming company Spotify said Tuesday that it paid $10 billion to the music industry last year. The company added that it has given nearly $60 billion in industry payouts since its inception. This is another effort from Spotify to dispel reports that the company doesn’t reward artists properly for their work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Replacing inexpensive fossil fuels is a tall hurdle, but Lydian thinks it has cracked the problem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since Chinese AI company DeepSeek released an open version of its reasoning model R1 at the beginning of this week, many in the tech industry have been making grand pronouncements about what the company achieved, and what it means for the state of AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LG Electronics is betting on robotics as its next big growth driver. The South Korean electronics company said on Friday that it has agreed to acquire an additional 30% stake in Bear Robotics, a California-based startup it previously backed that is building AI-powered server robots for restaurants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new social commerce app allows shoppers to become creators, sharing reviews and earning money based on engagement. The platform has launched a creator fund with grants of up to $100,000, aimed at boosting content creation. This initiative seeks to solidify the app's standing in the competitive social commerce landscape, especially against TikTok Shop. It's an exciting move for content creators looking to monetize their influence.

Plex is evolving beyond personal media to become a hub for discovering and sharing content. The platform has introduced new social features, such as user profiles and reviews, aiming to enhance community interaction. Updates also include a redesigned interface that improves the overall user experience, especially for Plex Pass subscribers. This shift makes Plex not just a streaming service, but a vibrant social space for movie and TV enthusiasts.

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching so-called “strategic market status” (SMS) investigations into the mobile ecosystems of Apple and Google. The investigations constitute part of the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) which passed last year and came into effect in January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices