Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we have all the details on the newly refreshed Amazon Alexa+; we have multiple new, great podcast episodes with VCs; and we learn that today is a very important anniversary when it comes to viral posts on the internet. Let's do it.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch

🗣️ Another Alexa: Amazon unveiled a new version of Alexa, called Alexa+, that Amazon's Panos Panay called a "complete re-architecture" of the AI assistant. The new version is being pitched as more of a serious productivity tool than just a general-purpose assistant. Read more

🎙️ Podcast prowess: YouTube is quickly becoming a top destination for podcast listeners. The company announced today that it has surpassed 1 billion monthly active podcast listeners. Perhaps this shows that podcast listeners want to watch something while they listen. Read more

✅ Done and dusted: Microsoft has completed its multi-year project, called the EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud, which allowed its Europe-based customers using its cloud services to store and process data in the EU. EU regulators have spent years noting concerns about how Microsoft processes this data. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Joseph Nair/Bloomberg / Getty Images

🔑 Alexa access: Amazon will begin rolling out access to its new and improved Alexa beginning next month in the U.S. The service can be accessed from a variety of Echo Show devices and will be free for Amazon Prime users. Read more

🤑 Bybit bounty: Crypto exchange Bybit is asking for help in locating the $1.4 billion of Ethereum cryptocurrency that was stolen from its platform last week. The company is offering a $140 million bounty to anyone who can help trace these funds. That's such a nice sum, I might start investigating, too. Read more

🧗 Scaling AI startups: Today's episode of Equity features a conversation with Eylul Kayin, a partner at Gradiant Ventures. Kayin spoke about what makes an AI startup successful, the importance of having quality products, and more. Listen here

🧩 Security puzzles: Anagram is building a new approach to employee cybersecurity training that includes TikTok-inspired bite-sized videos in addition to puzzles and activities. This seems a lot better than watching a lengthy training video and taking a quiz. Read more

🔥 Signals from SignalFire: Chris Farmer, the founder of SignalFire, joined the StrictlyVC Download podcast this week to talk about how he doesn't think the venture industry will ever be the same. Ominous! Listen here

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Around the web

💃 A historic day: Today marks 10 years since the image of the dress went viral online. That's when people debated whether the dress was white and gold or if it was black and blue. Slate breaks down why we were seeing starkly different colors. Read more

💪 Watch out, Nvidia: Nvidia has been a dominant player in the chip market for years. But Rene Haas, the CEO of Arm Holdings, thinks that it's only a matter of time before someone else starts to chip away at Nvidia's market share. Read more