Google announced today that its Bard chatbot is now powered by the Gemini Pro model globally with support for over 40 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.In December, Google launched its new generative AI models with flagship Gemini Ultra, “lite” Gemini Pro, and Gemini Nano, which is designed to run on devices like the Pixel 8. At the same time, the company updated Bard with Gemini Pro for conversations in English. Go ...

Reliance-backed Viacom18 has reached an agreement to buy 60% of Disney’s India unit, WSJ reported Thursday citing unnamed sources, creating a pathway for the Indian conglomerate to form a $10 billion media giant in the South Asian market.The deal, which WSJ says will close this month, values Disney’s India unit at $3.9 billion, the report said, less than half of what Disney had originally hoped. Earlier this week, Reliance declined to comment on its engagement with Disney.Viacom18 is a joint venture among M ...

Tesla has been sued by 25 California counties alleging the automaker has repeatedly mishandled hazardous waste at facilities throughout the state. The lawsuit was filed after months of settlement talks apparently fell apart.The complaint, filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court, states that Tesla improperly labeled and disposed of materials like “lead acid batteries and other batteries,” paints, brake fluid, aerosols, antifreeze, acetone, diesel fuel, and more at its production and service facilities thr ...

Instagram Threads will adopt another Twitter/X feature: trends, the company has confirmed. In a reply to a user on the app, Instagram head Adam Mosseri noted that work on such a feature was in the works, responding that “we are working on surfacing trends” — a feature that would make the X rival even more competitive offering in terms of providing access to more real-time news and information.Threads, to date, has been criticized by some who felt the app’s “For You” algorithm prioritized creators and posts ...

Commerce platform Shopify is releasing new features for its Winter Editon rollout including an AI-powered media editor to enhance product images, improved semantic search, and a better way for merchants to showcase different variants of a product.Many companies including Meta, Google, and Amazon have allowed advertisers to generate backgrounds using generative AI since last year. Similarly, Shopify wants to help merchants edit their product images’ backgrounds and scenes using this tech. In the Magic Media ...

Google has today said its cloud region in South Africa is operational, coming a year after the tech giant picked Johannesburg as its first site in Africa.Cloud regions allow users to deploy cloud resources from specific geographic locations or closer to customers, and gives them access to several services including cloud storage, compute engine and key management systems.Google says the Johannesburg region will play an important role in providing the resources that businesses “need to scale, innovate and co ...

A Delaware judge ruled Tuesday that Elon Musk’s $56 billion multi-billion pay package is unfair, voiding the largest in compensation deal in corporate history.The decision, issued Tuesday in the Delaware Court of Chancery by Judge Kathaleen McCormick, means that Musk, the world’s richest person, can’t keep the 2018 compensation package. The ruling can be appealed. Chancery Daily, which follows and shares update on the Delaware Chancery Court, first reported the decision on Threads.The ruling doesn’t provide ...

Block, the fintech company whose subsidiaries include Square, Cash App and Afterpay, is laying off staff at a tumultuous time for tech industry workers.That’s according to an internal memo from CEO Jack Dorsey, obtained first by Business Insider, which states that “the growth of [Block] has far outpaced the growth of … business and revenue.”The layoffs were executed this morning and affected staff in the Cash App, foundational and Square arms of Block. Reportedly, around 1,000 people — or 10% of Block’s hea ...

PayPal has begun company-wide layoffs, according to multiple reports, including an article published by The Information.It is not yet clear how many people will be affected by the job cuts but one source told TechCrunch it was expected to be in the “thousands.”TechCrunch has reached out to PayPal and will update this story if and when it responds.Nearly one year ago today, the company had announced plans to lay off 2,000 employees, or about 7% of its workforce.Over the past few months, PayPal has made a num ...

Group 1 - Arrival is being removed from the Nasdaq stock exchange as it approaches dissolution, with trading suspension effective January 30 [1] - The company failed to post financial results on time and did not file a remediation plan with Nasdaq [1] - Arrival had previously secured a $50 million lifeline to explore asset sales but is now in talks with EY for an administration process similar to bankruptcy [1] Group 2 - Arrival aimed to revolutionize electric vehicle production through microfactories, achieving a valuation of $13 billion after going public in 2021 [2] - The company has struggled to operationalize its business model, leading to multiple layoffs and a failed merger attempt with another SPAC [2] - Arrival's current valuation is approximately $20 million, and it has not delivered a fully operational vehicle to customers like UPS or Uber [2]