UK antitrust body probes Google’s ties with AI rival Anthropic

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has revealed an early-stage probe into Google’s ties with Anthropic, after the Alphabet subsidiary invested in its U.S. AI rival over several rounds. While it’s not at an official investigation stage yet, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is inviting stakeholders and other “interested parties” to comment ahead of a final […]
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IPVanish vs NordVPN (2024): Which VPN Is Better?

NordVPN’s useful security features, fast speeds and larger server network gives it a significant advantage over IPVanish’s decent VPN experience.

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Packing travel insurance products into an app helped FAYE to a $31M Series B

We’ve been covering US-based Insurtech startup FAYE way back since 2022 with its Seed round, and the Series A round in 2023, and it seems they continue to be on a roll, today announcing a $31 million in Series B funding. What is keeping this online insurance company on the rise?  Well, it would appear […]
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Boost Your Productivity With the Affpilot AI Writing Tool for Just $49.99

Save yourself some time for other important tasks when you streamline content creation with the Affpilot tool — automate writing, scheduling and more.

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Sennder buys CH Robinson’s European business

Sennder is acquiring the European ground transportation assets of logistics giant C.H. Robinson.
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Egypt’s Cartona raises $8.1M even as investors pull back from B2B e-commerce in Africa

When Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform Cartona last raised money in 2022, global and local investors were eager to invest in African startups solving the supply chain and operational challenges for retailers and suppliers in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Two years on, investors aren’t as enthused anymore as the business models of such startups, […]
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Sixteen-year-old beat-em-up Castle Crashers actually has new DLC coming

Castle Crashers, the side-scrolling multiplayer beat-em-up that launched in 2008, is getting premium DLC. This is significant because, in addition to launching in 2008, it hasn’t gotten a DLC update since 2012, but it obviously still has enough of an audience to rate an update worthy of a live-service game.
As explained by developer The Behemoth over the weekend, the DLC will let players customize skins for their characters, play with a new character, and enjoy new weapon artwork.

The trailer is somewhat lore-specific, so try to follow along. But the idea is “Painter Boss, Jr.” is a new playable character, as well as the spokesperson for the new DLC. Bottom line, fans can go back in, draw up new characters, and see them fully animated within minutes, no extra work needed.
This of course means players can go zany with who they make, but The Behemoth is careful to ask folks to keep things within Steam community guidelines — aka, please don’t rip off other people’s IP. These creations are still shareable, so … anything goes, somewhat like create-a-wrestler in the WWE 2K series. But unofficially, you can still customize to your heart’s content.
What else is The Behemoth updating?
BattleBlock Theater, also developed by The Behemoth (and launched in 2013) is getting what’s billed as a big quality-of-life update. That doesn’t mean new features or expansions per se, but the studio promises better frame rates, resolution, support for more controller types, and the obligatory bug fixes and enhancements (PC version).
In all it’s just a sign that people who have made very good games, even if that was more than a decade ago, are still around to support it. And fans who remember them should consider coming back. There is no release date yet for this DLC or Battleblock’s update, unfortunately, but it looks like a lot of fun.
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Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip aims to bring 5G to sub-$100 devices

Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip to 5G smartphones in the sub-$100 price segment in India and other emerging markets.
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Zoe, a microbiome-focused nutrition company, raises $15 million to expand in the U.S.

Zoe sends customers at-home testing materials to collect blood or feces to test blood fat, blood sugar, and gut microbiome health. Following those results, the company scores every food (on a scale from 0 to 100), so people can make better choices of what to eat.
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Self-driving tech company WeRide accelerates global expansion as transportation industry adopts AI

WeRide said it is the only company which has driverless permits from the U.S., China, UAE and Singapore, and plans to enter more markets.

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