β¨ Discover this insightful post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: AI,agentic ai,benchmarks,Exclusive,Mercor β
**What Youβll Learn**: Last month I wrote about the new Merkur standard for measuring the capabilities of AI agents in professional tasks such as law and corporate analysis. At the time, the results were very poor, with every major lab scoring below 25%, so we concluded that lawyers were safe from being displaced by AI, at least for now. But AI capabilities can change a lot in a couple of weeks. This week's release of Opus 4.6 has shaken up the leaderboards, with the new Anthropic model…
π Discover this must-read post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: Social,Startups,Venture,M&A,Reddit π‘ **What Youβll Learn**: Reddit is gearing up for more mergers and acquisitions, the company told analysts on its fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday. The online forum site is looking for companies that can either leverage Reddit's scale β meaning their products become more impactful when spread across Reddit's massive user base β or help grow the company's user base, said Andrew Vollero, Reddit's chief financial officer. "[Weβre] βWe are looking forward to purchasing capabilities, technologies and companies,β he said during his opening remarks. Clearly, investors wanted to know…
π Discover this trending post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: Apps,Gaming,Social,age assurance,age verification,games,kids,Roblox β
**What Youβll Learn**: A month after introducing mandatory face verification to access chats on its platform, Roblox says 45% of its daily active users have undergone age checks as of January 31. Roblox's launch of age verification came on the heels of a wave of lawsuits over child safety, including suits from attorneys general in Texas, Kentucky, and Louisiana. The lawsuits were filed in response to reports that Roblox was exposing young users to serious risks, such as grooming and explicit content. To complete the age…
π₯ Check out this trending post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: AI,Gadgets,Hardware,TC,e-ink reader,Kindle,kindle scribe,kindle scribe coloroft,review,tablet π‘ **What Youβll Learn**: If you primarily want a tablet to mark up, highlight, and annotate your eBooks and documents, and maybe occasionally jot down some notes, Amazon's new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft might be worth the hefty investment. For everyone else, it would probably be difficult to justify the $630+ cost of an 11-inch e-ink tablet with a writable color display. However, if you're already leaning toward the $549.99 11-inch Kindle Scribe β which also has a paper-like screen but no color β you…
π₯ Explore this insightful post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: Apps,Social,dark patterns,european commission,Social media addiction,TikTok β
**What Youβll Learn**: The European Commission on Friday accused TikTok of deliberately designing its app as βaddictive,β calling out features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and instant notifications, as well as its recommendation engine. In the preliminary findings of an investigation that sought to determine TikTok's compliance with the EU's far-reaching digital services law, the Commission said the short video platform had not "adequately assessed" how its design decisions could harm the well-being of its users, especially minors and vulnerable adults. The EU's enforcement…
π₯ Discover this awesome post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: Apps,Media & Entertainment,Spotify π **What Youβll Learn**: Spotify on Friday announced the launch of a new βAbout Songβ feature that allows users to explore the stories behind the music they listen to. The feature displays short story cards that users can scroll through and rate with a thumbs up or down. The company says these short, scrollable stories are summarized from external sources to highlight interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments. Through this new feature, Spotify gives its users access to a feature that is not available on competing platforms such…
π₯ Check out this awesome post from TechCrunch π π **Category**: AI,ChatGPT,Exclusive,OpenAI π‘ **What Youβll Learn**: OpenAI announced last week that it will retire some older ChatGPT models by February 13. This includes GPT-4o, the model notorious for its excessive praise and user assertiveness. For the thousands of users protesting the decision online, 4o's retirement is like losing a friend, romantic partner or spiritual mentor. "It wasn't just software. It was part of my routine, my peace, and my emotional balance," one user wrote on Reddit as an open letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. "Now you're closing it. And…
π Check out this must-read post from WIRED π π **Category**: Gear,Gear / Reviews,Gear / Products / Online Services,Product Review β
**What Youβll Learn**: Once I registered, I had to fill out several online forms. This includes information that may identify me personally, such as my Social Security number, phone numbers, email addresses, credit/debit cards, etc. It took about 20 minutes to fill out the information. It's not easy, but NordProtect's interface is clean and intuitive. It puts the information you want to see at the top, often alongside brief but informative details, with the option to go deeper. Notifications…
π Read this insightful post from WIRED π π **Category**: Gear,Gear / Gear News and Events,DC Cab β
**What Youβll Learn**: Waymo, Alphabet The subsidiary, which is developing autonomous vehicle technology, has picked up speed. The company now operates robotaxis in six cities, and has announced plans to launch them in a dozen more cities this year. It just raised $16 billion in a new round of funding and says it has provided more than 20 million rides since the company launched its services in 2020, 14 million of them in 2025 alone.But Waymo's mostly smooth operations have hit a…
π Read this insightful post from WIRED π π **Category**: Gear,Gear / Gear News and Events,2026 Winter Olympics π **What Youβll Learn**: That's a lot of impressive shortcuts, but what do combinations like this actually do? Is it effective?Watch detectivesFor as long as legal sports gambling platforms have been around, people have tried to exploit them. This requires integrity agencies, which have existed in some form for decades.Bjorn says these agencies evolved into their modern form in the early to mid-2000s as a response to widespread match-fixing scandals in professional tennis. These events led to the formation of the Tennis…
