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Apple bans home services from its upcoming Maps ads

Apple has published the policies governing its upcoming Maps advertising business, revealing a strategy that differs from Google’s. The new rules prohibit home services businesses like plumbers, electricians, locksmiths, and roofers from advertising on Apple Maps, along with several other sensitive categories, suggesting Apple is taking a more curated approach to these ads.

Inside Ode with Anthropic, the startup betting AI services are the future of enterprise

Can a handful of engineers really do the work of an army of consultants?Β That’sΒ the bet behind Ode with Anthropic β€”Β the joint venture dedicated to embedding forward-deployed engineers in enterprise firms, backed byΒ Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, GoldmanΒ SachsΒ and others.Β Β  On this episode of TechCrunch’sΒ EquityΒ podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Ode’s leadersΒ Chris TaylorΒ andΒ Eddie Siegel,Β who founded Fractional AI, […]

Whatnot acquires Shaped to power real-time live shopping recommendations

Livestream shopping platform Whatnot has acquired AI startup Shaped, a machine learning company focused on real-time recommendations and search. The deal will bolster Whatnot’s personalization and discovery features as it expands into new product categories.

Uber’s product chief on hotels, robotaxis, and why the company doesn’t want to be β€˜everything for everyone’

Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal walks TechCrunch through the company's financial services ambitions, its increasingly complicated relationship with Waymo, its new AV Labs data operation, and how AI is starting to show up in ways riders and drivers will actually notice.

Reed Jobs would rather talk about curing cancer than his last name

When we last sat down with Jobs at TechCrunch Disrupt nearly three years ago, his firm Yosemite was brand new and biotech was still reeling from its post-pandemic crash. Now, the venture outfit has a team of 17; a cluster of blockbuster drugs are all losing patent protection in roughly the same window, creating all kinds of new opportunities; and AI has gone from a curiosity to, in Jobs' words, a huge part of what Yosemite does. "I didn't expect Yosemite to be moving this fast," he said.

Phia accused of β€˜cookie stuffing,’ taking affiliate credit on purchases it didn’t earn

Phia, the shopping startup founded by Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe, and her friend Sophia Kianni is under fire for a practice known as β€œcookie stuffing,” which helped the product receive commissions and credit for sales it did not actually generate, per a Bloomberg investigation.Β 
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