Monthly Archives: August 2022

$10B crypto developer platform Alchemy buys coding bootcamp in first-ever acquisition

Web3 developer infrastructure startup Alchemy, which last raised a $200 million Series C1 last February, has just made its first acquisition ever — and it’s in the education space. The company purchased education startup ChainShot, which runs coding bootcamps for aspiring web3 developers, Alchemy cofounder and CEO Nikil Viswanathan told TechCrunch exclusively. Alchemy did not disclose…

Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster jazzes up China’s AR startup Nreal with $15M funding

Augmented reality headsets have been around for years, but none of the market players has really expanded beyond the techy demographic and broken into the mainstream. An AR startup hopes to change that by partnering with an eyewear fashion brand. Nreal, the well-funded Chinese AR headset maker that’s been making aggressive global expansion, said Thursday…

Garmin just brought its Race Widget to more watches in time for marathon season

Garmin quietly announced a new update to its Fenix 7, Epix 2, and Instinct 2 watches, revealing that the Race Widget, HRV status, SatiQ, and Garmin’s Stock Tracker are available on the above watches now. Previously, these features were only available on Garmin’s latest Forerunner watches, the Forerunner 955 and 255 series.  The Race Widget…

Microsoft 365 accounts are being targeted by new email scams

Cybersecurity experts are warning of a new, widespread business email compromise (BEC) campaign, which seeks to reroute large money transactions to bank accounts belonging to the attackers.  The idea is simple in theory: the attackers would first compromise a business email account through the use of phishing. Then, they’ll land into the inbox and lurk…

Google changed its Google Flights carbon calculator in a way that has ‘airbrushed’ the real environmental impact of aviation, experts say

Aviation represents approximately 2-3% of global CO2 emissions from human activities annually. Walter Geiersperger / Getty Climate experts say Google has “airbrushed” the true environmental impact of flights. Google updated the carbon calculator within its Google Flights tool in July. The tool now excludes some major drivers of global warming, experts told the BBC. Climate…

Biden is ‘pouring gasoline on the inflationary fire’ with his $10,000 student debt cancellation, a top Obama economist warns

US president Joe Biden implemented a student-loan forgiveness program for federal borrowers Wednesday. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images A top Obama administration economist has warned that student debt cancellation could drive up red-hot inflation. President Joe Biden wheeled out plans to provide eligible borrowers with $10,000 of debt relief Wednesday. “Pouring roughly half a trillion dollars of…

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How to get up to $20,000 in student-debt forgiveness that Biden just announced

Getty Images Biden canceled up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers and Pell Grant recipients. While relief could be automatic for 8 million borrowers, others will have to apply. Here’s what you need to know right now about getting the loan forgiveness. Wednesday was a big day for millions of federal student-loan borrowers…

Tornado Cash was the preferred ‘laundering tool’ for most NFT scammers before it was sanctioned by the US Treasury, says Elliptic

Tornado Cash illustration Vladimir Kazakov/Getty Images Plus Tornado Cash was the “laundering tool of choice” for 52% of NFT scammers, Elliptic Enterprises wrote in a report.  Tornado Cash was the source of $137.6 million of cryptoassets processed by NFT marketplaces.  The Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control sanctioned the platform this month as North Korea…