Bloomberg:
Some publishers say they can’t block the Googlebot crawler that covers AI Overviews, as the crawler also covers Search, which would hamper their discoverability — Publishers say blocking the company’s AI bot could also prevent their sites from showing up in search
NYC-based Chaos Labs, which offers automated, on-chain risk management for DeFi protocols, raised a $55M Series A led by Haun Ventures (Sam Kessler/CoinDesk)
Sam Kessler / CoinDesk:
NYC-based Chaos Labs, which offers automated, on-chain risk management for DeFi protocols, raised a $55M Series A led by Haun Ventures — The influx of capital comes as Chaos Labs, founded in 2021, looks to expand its platform, designed to address the growing need for automated risk management in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Google says it will remove Showcase.apk from Pixel devices “out of an abundance of precaution”, after iVerify said hackers could use the dormant app to spy (Joseph Menn/Washington Post)
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Google says it will remove Showcase.apk from Pixel devices “out of an abundance of precaution”, after iVerify said hackers could use the dormant app to spy — Discovery prompted one intelligence contractor to stop issuing Android phones to employees.
Israeli stock research service TipRanks says investment firm Prytek bought 40% of the startup for $80M, giving Prytek an 80% stake; TipRanks has raised $102M (CTech)
CTech:
Israeli stock research service TipRanks says investment firm Prytek bought 40% of the startup for $80M, giving Prytek an 80% stake; TipRanks has raised $102M — The investment firm, which had already owned 40% of the Israeli fintech startup, is taking its stake to 80% with an $80 million investment.
Q&A with Google SVP Rick Osterloh on the new Pixel devices, Android, the history of the smartphone, integration, AI smartphones, Pixel trade-offs, and more (Ben Thompson/Stratechery)
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Q&A with Google SVP Rick Osterloh on the new Pixel devices, Android, the history of the smartphone, integration, AI smartphones, Pixel trade-offs, and more — An interview with Google SVP Rick Osterloh about the Made with Google event, and understanding the company’s approach to Android …
Analysis: Kamala Harris has spent $57M on Google and Meta ads since Biden dropped out on July 21, compared to Trump’s $5.6M; Biden-Harris spent $139M in 2024 (Financial Times)
Financial Times:
Analysis: Kamala Harris has spent $57M on Google and Meta ads since Biden dropped out on July 21, compared to Trump’s $5.6M; Biden-Harris spent $139M in 2024 — Former president’s lacklustre output points to significant tactical change from four years ago — Kamala Harris has spent 10 times …
Google expands AI Overviews in Search to Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the UK in local languages, and adds hyperlinks to the feature (Kenrick Cai/Reuters)
Kenrick Cai / Reuters:
Google expands AI Overviews in Search to Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the UK in local languages, and adds hyperlinks to the feature — Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) said on Thursday it was expanding its AI-generated summaries for search queries to six new countries …
Grab reports Q2 revenue up 17% YoY to $664M, below $676.9M est., and a $53M net loss, down from $135M in Q2 2023, as competition with GoTo weighs on its growth (Olivia Poh/Bloomberg)
Olivia Poh / Bloomberg:
Grab reports Q2 revenue up 17% YoY to $664M, below $676.9M est., and a $53M net loss, down from $135M in Q2 2023, as competition with GoTo weighs on its growth — – Revenue miss underscores intense rivalry in Southeast Asia — Ride-hailing firm is trying to reach sustained profitability
JD.com reports Q2 net revenue up 1.2% YoY to ~$40.7B, vs. ~$40.9B est., and a ~$1.7B net income, boosted by aggressive price cuts and the 618 shopping event (Harshita Mary Varghese/Reuters)
Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
JD.com reports Q2 net revenue up 1.2% YoY to ~$40.7B, vs. ~$40.9B est., and a ~$1.7B net income, boosted by aggressive price cuts and the 618 shopping event — Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (9618.HK) beat estimates for quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by a mid-year sales festival …
Quantum Circuits, which aims to make error correction more efficient in quantum computers to help commercialization, raised $60M from the US’ In-Q-Tel and more (Jane Lanhee Lee/Bloomberg)
Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:
Quantum Circuits, which aims to make error correction more efficient in quantum computers to help commercialization, raised $60M from the US’ In-Q-Tel and more — – Sequoia’s sole quantum computing bet raised over $60 million — Policymakers fear security impact of falling behind in quantum
