Apple developer failed to report zero-day Chrome exploit after hacking contest, Google says

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Today’s top story involved a bug, the coding kind. Google says an Apple employee found a zero-day while participating in a hacking competition but did not report it. This turned into a big thing. Meanwhile, the cybersecurity team was busy today:

Next, by the end of the year, all that will separate you from your Whole Foods purchase will be a wave. Amazon’s palm-scanning payment technology is coming to all 500 of its Whole Foods locations. Find out how it works.

Lightspeed led a $2 million round of funding into Gushwork.ai to outsource business tasks to workforces trained in AI. Read more.

Meanwhile, we’re always looking for ways to save on our household bills, and this might be one application of AI to get behind. Learn what happened when Nous.co hooked up generative AI to its users’ household bills. No hints.

And while I don’t think AI is going to replace me, it does give me pause to know that Google is reportedly testing an AI tool that can write news articles. Ultimately, I don’t think AI will have my flair, or my keen fashion sense.

Image Credits: enot-poloskun / Getty Images

More top reads

As Amanda Silberling writes, “Reddit’s r/place is one of the most oddly inspiring events on the internet, as diverse communities from across the platform come together to paint together on the same massive digital canvas.” However, this year’s r/place is being used to address Reddit’s API controversy.

Catching some Zs the Pokémon way: Pokémon’s Sleep app is now available in the U.S.

Not your average library: Can dltHub solve the Python library problem for AI? Dig Ventures thinks so.

Okay, everyone is creating a library: TikTok finally launched an ads transparency library.

Electronic billing for all: Collectly wants to make paying healthcare bills easier so medical providers don’t lose $200 billion.

Bienvenido a Miami: inDrive brings its “bid-based” ride-hail app to the U.S.

Have a spare $2?: The YouTube Premium individual plan now costs $2 more in the U.S.

Cookies crumbled: Google started a gradual rollout of its Privacy Sandbox APIs to all Chrome users.

Over and over: OpenAI launched a customized set of instructions for ChatGPT so prompts don’t have to be repeated.

Kick it: Netflix CEO confirms the streaming giant’s first live sporting event is coming in November.

When Oddity Tech went public: Tech-ish companies’ killer IPOs are making startups look silly as hell. (TC+)

Who has the monopoly on digital goods?: Whop, an online marketplace for digital goods, raised $17 million and is staking its claim.

But wait, here’s more:

Michael Moritz moves on, book-ending a long chapter at Sequoia Capital

Startups with all-women founding teams raised just $1.4B in H1 (TC+)

Walmart+ Assist halves the price of its Prime competitor for those on government assistance

Early-stage SaaS startups grow the same with or without VC dollars (TC+)

Electric utilities are driving customers into the hands of startups (TC+)

Image Credits: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

We tried using OpenAI to generate marketing strategies — and it worked

When it comes to startup marketing, generative AI isn’t magic — it’s more like a time machine.

In a detailed TC+ post, Nick Zamanov, director of business development at Cyber Switching, explains how his team used OpenAI to boost the company’s traffic, domain rating and backlinks within a few months.

He included several prompts they developed, along with suggestions for where to find content that trains AI tools to produce material in your own voice.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel, so use content you’ve already worked on to help generate better keywords, recommendations, and ultimately, your marketing strategy,” he advises.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription.