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Travel & Accommodation

Airbnb Introduces 'Reserve Now, Pay Later' for U.S. Bookings

Airbnb has launched a new 'Reserve Now, Pay Later' feature in the U.S., allowing users to book properties without upfront payment.

This feature applies to listings with 'flexible' or 'moderate' cancellation policies, offering cancellations up to 24 hours or five days before check-in, respectively.

Users must pay the full amount before the free cancellation period ends, with Airbnb sending reminders before the deadline.

This move follows Airbnb's previous experiments with flexible payment options, including partial payments and a partnership with Klarna for installment payments.

A survey indicated that 55% of users prefer flexible payment options, and 42% have missed out on properties due to payment logistics.

Artificial Intelligence

Cohere Appoints Joelle Pineau as Chief AI Officer to Boost AI Innovation

Cohere, backed by $1 billion in funding, has hired Joelle Pineau, Meta's former VP of AI research, as its Chief AI Officer.

Pineau will lead AI strategy across research, product, and policy teams, focusing on practical AI applications for enterprises and government agencies, emphasizing privacy and security.

Cohere's focus is on real-world, enterprise applications, differentiating it from competitors focused on AGI.

Pineau aims to gear more research around Cohere’s AI agent platform, North, and explore AI agent interactions in secure settings.

One challenge for Pineau is replacing Cohere’s VP of AI Research, Sara Hooker, amidst high demand for AI talent, emphasizing the importance of team dynamics over individual superstars.

Travel Technology

Google Launches AI-Powered 'Flight Deals' Amidst Antitrust Concerns and Growing Competition

Google has introduced 'Flight Deals,' an AI-driven search tool within Google Flights designed to assist travelers in finding cheaper fares using natural language queries. This launch comes as regulators, particularly the European Commission, scrutinize Google for potentially favoring its own search products, including Google Flights, in ways that may stifle competition.

The AI tool, currently in beta, is set to roll out in the U.S., Canada, and India, aiming to gather feedback on how AI can enhance travel planning. While competitors like Booking.com, Expedia, and MakeMyTrip have already integrated AI into their platforms, Google's entry signifies a broader effort to compete with major AI players.

Despite the introduction of 'Flight Deals,' the original Google Flights interface will remain, receiving an update to exclude basic economy fares for trips within the U.S. and Canada.

Business & Technology

Rapido Enters Food Delivery Market in India to Compete with Swiggy and Zomato

Rapido, an Indian ride-hailing platform, has initiated beta testing of its food delivery service in Bengaluru under the subsidiary Ownly, challenging Swiggy and Zomato.

Ownly offers food at around 15% lower prices by charging restaurants a fixed fee per order instead of commissions.

Swiggy is reevaluating its 12% stake in Rapido due to potential conflicts of interest. Rapido has a fleet of 10 million vehicles and will leverage data from its Swiggy partnership to optimize its food delivery service.

The Indian online food delivery market is projected to reach $23 billion by 2030, with Zomato currently leading with a 58% market share and Swiggy holding 42%.

Artificial Intelligence

Anthropic Strengthens Enterprise AI Strategy with Humanloop Team Acquisition

Anthropic has acquired the co-founders and team from Humanloop, a platform specializing in prompt management and AI evaluation, to enhance its enterprise AI capabilities. This move reflects the increasing competition for AI talent in the tech industry.
The Humanloop team, including CEO Raza Habib, CTO Peter Hayes, and CPO Jordan Burgess, will join Anthropic. While the acquisition excludes Humanloop's assets and IP, the team's expertise in developing AI tools for enterprises is invaluable.
Anthropic aims to solidify its leadership in AI by improving its tooling ecosystem. Humanloop, founded in 2020, has a strong reputation for assisting enterprise clients like Duolingo and Vanta in developing and evaluating AI applications.
This acquisition aligns with Anthropic's commitment to AI safety and its focus on providing features like longer context windows to enterprise clients.

Wearable Technology

Pebble Time 2: Design Reveal and Feature Upgrades

Eric Migicovsky, the original creator of the Pebble smartwatch, has unveiled the new designs for the Pebble Time 2.

The company was able to regain the Pebble trademark, renaming the watches from Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2 to Pebble 2 Duo and Pebble Time 2.

The industrial design has been updated with new features, including a multicolor RGB LED backlight, a second microphone, a compass sensor, and a screw-mounted back cover.

The watch will be stainless steel on the front and back, featuring stainless steel buttons similar to the older Pebble Time Steel.

Other specs remain the same, including a 1.5-inch 64 color e-paper display, touch screen, quick-release 22 mm watch strap, and 30-day battery life.

The Pebble Time 2 is available for preorder and will pair with a smartphone via Bluetooth, allowing it to display notifications and control music.

Artificial Intelligence in Content Creation

Pocket FM Empowers Writers with AI CoPilot for Enhanced Audio Series Creation

Pocket FM is providing its writers with an AI-powered tool, CoPilot, to accelerate the creation and adaptation of audio series. CoPilot assists in transforming narratives, suggesting engaging endings, and tailoring content to different markets.

Key features of CoPilot include:

  • Transforming narrative-based writing into dialog-based writing.
  • Performing beat analysis to enhance audience engagement.
  • Generating character bios and plot summaries.
  • Reviewing plot points and grammar.

Pocket FM has also launched adaptation tools to translate and localize content for various regions, significantly reducing the time required to enter new markets. The company is developing its own large language model (LLM) to further enhance its AI capabilities.

The adoption of AI has enabled Pocket FM to scale content production, launching approximately 1,000 pilots per month and exploring formats like comic strips and micro dramas. However, it has also led to layoffs and concerns about potential over-reliance on AI and the quality of content.

Security & Privacy

TeaOnHer App Exposes User Data: A Security Flaw Discovery

An investigation revealed significant security vulnerabilities in the TeaOnHer app, designed for men to share information about women they are dating. The app exposed sensitive user data, including driver's licenses and other identity documents, due to easily discoverable flaws in its public-facing API.
Researchers were able to access user data within minutes of downloading the app, highlighting the risk of requiring users to submit sensitive information. The app's developer did not initially respond to the reported security lapses.
The API allowed unauthenticated access to user data, making it possible to retrieve information without any credentials. Since the report, the API landing page has been taken down, and access to user identity documents has been restricted.

Technology

Apple Refutes Musk's Allegations of App Store Bias Towards OpenAI

Apple has refuted Elon Musk's accusations that its App Store favors OpenAI, stating that app rankings are based on objective criteria. This response follows Musk's threat to sue Apple, claiming unfair treatment of other AI companies. Despite Apple's partnership with OpenAI, there's no clear evidence of preferential treatment, with other AI apps like Perplexity and DeekSeek having topped the charts. This comes as Apple faces increasing regulatory scrutiny over its app distribution practices.

Music Streaming & Tech Ethics

Breaking Up with Spotify: A User's Decade-Long Journey and Ethical Concerns

The author details their decision to leave Spotify after a decade, citing concerns over algorithmic recommendations, poor artist payouts compared to competitors like Amazon Music and Apple Music, and controversies such as platforming Joe Rogan's podcast and CEO Daniel Ek's investment in AI-enabled military weapons. The overwhelming nature of Spotify's interface and its impact on personal music choices also played a significant role. Despite ethical concerns with Apple, the author switched to Apple Music, citing a free trial and the availability of lossless audio. Tools like Soundiiz can help you to transfer playlist between platforms.