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In BriefPosted:12:23 PM PST January 7, 2025Image Credits:MustafaU / Getty ImagesChinese VCs are hounding failed founders to claw back their investmentsIn the US, its accepted that most startups fail and when that happens, VCs (generally) accept their losses and move on. But thats not the case in China, where VCs are trying to claw back their investments in failed startups by pursuing the personal assets of their founders in court, The Financial Times reports.As Chinas economy stalls, the countrys VCs are enforcing redemption clauses written into funding terms that were previously rarely enforced, according to the FT. This is resulting in some Chinese founders owing millions of dollars to their investors and ending up on debtor blacklists, blocking them from booking hotels, taking planes, or leaving China.The trend is raising concerns about Chinas startup ecosystem being irreparably harmed, since this strongly discourages founders from raising capital in the first place. Chinas startups are already struggling amid a government tech crackdown and tense U.S.-China relations, TechCrunch has reported.Topics

Instagram Threads is developing new features that would bring its user experience more in line with that of X (formerly Twitter) and the social network Bluesky. The Meta-owned company is internally prototyping the ability to set a display name and add a cover image to profiles.A spokesperson for the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Tuesday that the two features are not currently available to the public. The new additions were first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who often finds unreleased features while theyre still under development.Since Threads is integrated with Instagram, users arent able to change their display names, as the social network automatically pulls them from Instagram. If Meta gives users the ability to modify their Threads display name, it would give users more freedom over their identity on the platform.If someone leaves X for Threads, they may want to have the same username on Threads so their X followers can easily find them on Metas app. Today, users dont have a way of doing that and would have to change their name on Instagram to do so on Threads, which is less than ideal.This situation depicts one of the downsides of Threads link to Instagram. However, it seems that Meta may now be ready to allow Threads to operate a bit more independently. This would make sense for the platform, especially since it has found its footing with more than 100 million daily active users and 300 million monthly active users.According to screenshots posted on X by Paluzzi, a users display name would be shown on their Threads profile and posts. Plus, users would have the option to change their display name twice within 14 days. In terms of the ability to add cover photos to profiles, this functionality would give users a new way to personalize their profiles on the platform like they would on X or Bluesky. The option would allow you to add more character to your account and grab the attention of viewers. As with any other internal prototype, its unknown if or when Meta plans to roll out these features.Topics

In BriefPosted:11:57 AM PST January 7, 2025Image Credits:Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei speaking at Viva Technology in Paris / Getty ImagesAnthropic reportedly in talks to raise $2B at $60B valuation, led by LightspeedOpenAI rival Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in new capital in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The round, which The Journal reports would value Anthropic at $60 billion, would bring Anthropics total raised to $15.7 billion, going by Crunchbases data. It would also make the company the fifth-most valuable U.S. startup after SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks.AI companies have been forced to raise enormous sums of money to fund the development and scaling of their technologies, which tend to be incredibly compute-intensive. OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in a funding round last October, and Elon Musks AI startup, xAI, raised $6 billion in November. Anthropics new round, should it close successfully, would add to the $4 billion the company raised from Amazon in November 2024. As part of that deal, Anthropic agreed to make Amazon Web Services, Amazons cloud computing division, its primary AI model training partner and help optimize Amazons AI accelerator chips.Topics

Movie & Games TrailersThe Last of Us Season 2By Vincent Frei - 07/01/2025 Prepare for heartbreak, survival, and unforgettable moments. The Last of Us returns this April with Season 2 on HBO. Watch the gripping new trailer now!The Production VFX Supervisor is Alex Wang.The Production VFX Producer is Fiona Campbell Westgate.Release Date: April 2025 (HBO)WATCH IT ON Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024

TYLin Silman Structural Solutions, a global engineering and advisory firm, is now TYLin. Management said this pivot will help the company embrace the breadth, depth, and reach of TYLins Buildings Market. TYLins Buildings Market provides a range of building and engineering servicesfrom renovation work to code consulting and construction management. Combining the strengths of our firms under one brand positions us to deliver innovative, elegant, and effective designs that meet the evolving needs of our clients, Matt Cummings, TYLins CEO, said in a statement. This change honors the remarkable contributions of our founders and sets a clear path for future growth and collaboration.Previously, engineers at TYLin worked with PAU to design Domino Sugar Refinery, among other feats. Our long history of collaboration with passionate designers, thoughtful owners, and incredible builders in all manner of building structures will contribute significantly to the communities we work in, whether supporting the growing need for transformative adaptive reuse and iconic new construction, throughout North America, added Nat Oppenheimer, TYLins senior vice president.TYLin noted that, during this moment of transition, the integration process will be seamless and there will be no disruption to Silman and TYLins valued clients.The announcement comes not long after Sam Schwartz, the world-renowned transportation planning office, was also acquired by TYLin, which was made public in October 2024.Greeley and Hansenan engineering firm that specializes in water, wastewater, and solid waste infrastructureis also now part of TYLin.

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Updated Tuesday, Jan. 7 with further details of iOS 18.2.1 and whats coming next. Apples latest iPhone software is now live, and ready to install. Its a small update that is light on new features and doesnt even have a security element, it seems. In the last few hours, in a support document, Apple has confirmed that This update has no published CVE entries, which clarifies that security isnt the paramount issue here.Apple iPhone 15.Getty ImagesWhat is also possible is that the bug fixes in iOS 18.2.1 have taken precedence over the last few weeks, as there was a gap of three weeks between the first developer beta of iOS 18.3 and the second beta, which debuted on Tuesday, Jan. 7. More on that below.In the meantime, iOS 18.2.1 follows the significant last update, iOS 18.2, which upgraded the Apple Intelligence experience and brought it to more users around the world.And while the iOS 18.2 release didnt bring catastrophic problems, there were some minor issues which users felt needed to be fixed. These varied from unexpected battery drain which went on a bit longer than youd expect after a software update to Face ID failing and wifi dropping.MORE FOR YOUNow, iOS 18.2.1 is here, and happily has landed on the day Id predicted it might. Heres all we know about the release so far.Which iPhones Can Run iOS 18.2.1?Like other versions of iOS 18, any iPhone that can run the software from 2023, iOS 17 is compatible with iOS 18.2. That boils down to the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and iPhone Xr from 2018 and all iPhones after that, including the iPhone SE both second- and third-generation models.How To Get ItIts straightforward enough. Click on the Settings app, choose General, then Software Update. After that, click Download and Install, and let the software work its magic. This is a smallish update, 511MB on my iPhone 16 Pro Max, so it should be with you quickly.Apple iOS 18.2.1 has landed.AppleWhats In The ReleaseBecause this is a small update, new features werent expected. All Apple says is, This update provides important bug fixes and is recommended for all users.Note the absence of the words security fixes, so we know that its not about cybersecurity, but entirely about putting right things that werent working quite right. Apple is tight-lipped about exactly what these might be, but the absence of security elements means those who dont want to upgrade can feel more relaxed about not doing it, assuming theyre not experiencing problems with the iPhone.Note that Apple also stresses that its recommended for all users which suggests the fixes are not solely about Apple Intelligence as that only applies to users of iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max and the four new iPhone 16 handsets.Ill be exploring whether you should upgrade to iOS 18.2.1 on Tuesday, Jan. 7, in response to how users react to it.Whats Coming NextThe second developer beta of iOS 18.3 released on Tuesday, Jan. 7 shows that the main thrust of iOS 18 is back on the front foot, with the general release expected towards the end of this month. A public beta is expected in the coming hours or days. So far there are modest updates included, such as a tweak to Calculator to let you perform repeat calculations, something the app has lacked recently. There are also fixes for issues in the Writing Tools API, and a new icon for Image Playground. More is expected, so please check back.