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Tag: apple

  • Users turn to chatbots for spiritual guidance

    Users turn to chatbots for spiritual guidance

    AI-powered chatbots play a growing role in spiritual life, according to a New York Times story that examines the popularity of religious chatbots and apps.

    The Times notes that an app called Bible Chat has been downloaded more than 30 million times, while another app, Hallow, reached the number one spot in Apple’s App Store last year.

    For the most part, these apps are supposed to point people to religious doctrine and scripture to answer their questions, although at least one website purports to allow users to chat with God. Rabbi Jonathan Roman suggested chatbots could be a “way into faith” for “a whole generation of people who have never been to a church or synagogue.”

    However, these chatbots are built on top of AI models that are designed to validate users’ opinions, to the point that they can reinforce delusional or conspiratorial thinking. Heidi Campbell, a Texas A&M professor who studies the intersection of digital culture and religion, warned that chatbots “tell us what we want to hear.”

    “It’s not using spiritual discernment, it is using data and patterns,” Campbell said.

  • AI to Hydrogen Planes: My Wildest Prediction Season Two Wrap‑Up

    My Wildest Prediction Season 2 Wrap‑Up

    Round two of Tom Goodwin’s innovation saga has finally wrapped, and we’re buzzing with the fresh insights that spilled out from the show’s electric booth. Grab your coffee and let’s dive into the most eye‑popping takeaways.

    1. “Think Bigger, But Stay Grounded”

    • Tom reminds us that breakthrough ideas need a solid boot camp of problem‑solving.
    • He bucks the hype of unlimited vision—grounding it in data prevents the dream‑weaving from turning into a costly nightmare.

    2. “Failure is Just a Pre‑Recipe for Success”

    • Episodes were packed with real‑world failures turned into stepping‑stones.
    • Listeners realized that the most memorable breakthroughs are often born from a handful of flops.

    3. “Build Your Own Network Toolkit”

    • Goodwin’s panel stressed that networking isn’t a one‑time event; it’s a continuous, mutually beneficial pipeline.
    • Tips ranged from sharpening your elevator pitch to curating a niche audience that genuinely cares.

    4. “Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast”

    • When company culture and mission misalign, even the smartest strategies crumble.
    • Tom urged leaders to keep culture and strategy dancing together—otherwise you’re just chasing a mirage.

    5. “Future‑Proof Your Ideas with Agility”

    • Flexible frameworks let you pivot while keeping the core vision intact.
    • Real‑time data and iterative testing became the tools for staying ahead of the curve.

    So, if you’re itching to fuel your next big leap, remember: keep your vision lofty, your approach grounded, embrace failure, network smartly, align culture with strategy, and stay agile. Tom Goodwin’s second season already served up a handful of golden nuggets—now it’s your turn to sprinkle them into the real world.

    Season 2 of My Wildest Prediction – Curtain Call!

    After a whirlwind eight months, the grand finale of Season 2 has dropped its curtain. We journeyed across the global business stage, pulling stories straight from the mouths of entrepreneurs, researchers, futurists, and a cheerleader‑squad of experts.

    What We Unearthed

    • Entrepreneurial Sparks: Real‑world hustle stories that turned ideas into gold.
    • Scientific Insights: Researchers decoding the next wave of tech and trends.
    • Futurist Forecasts: Eye‑popping visions of who owns tomorrow’s economy.
    • Practical Wisdom: Experts breaking down today’s challenges for next‑gen leaders.

    Our mission? To peel back the curtain on the economy and society’s hurdles and see how they shape our daily lives—and the ones ahead.

    Why It Matters

    Every discussion was a snapshot of the fast‑moving world we live in. From the instant rise of blockchain to the slow march of renewable energy adoption, we catalogued the things that wobble the global pot. And we’re not just spilling the tea— we’re mapping how it’ll ripple outward, upshot edict the future of work, community, and personal ambitions.

    Feel the Pulse

    Grab a cup of coffee, press play, and let your curiosity feel the buzz. The show is over, but the conversation doesn’t stop.

    Wildest Predictions: Because the Future Needs a Little Wildness

    Ever wondered if your office chair might turn into a drone halfway through your daily grind? Tune in to My Wildest Prediction, the podcast that doesn’t just talk about tomorrow— it imagines it. Euronews Business brought together some of the brightest minds in business and tech to riff on the future of work, cities, the planet, and yes, AI.

    Work: The Roller‑Coaster of Doom & Delight

    • Bruce Daisley the best‑selling author feels like we’re heading into a “work slump” before it turns golden. He’d rather see the grind die than evolve into something sane.
    • In stark contrast, Dom Price, the futurist with more ideas than a Google Docs doc, has a mega‑radical take: we’ll break the constant‑work‑=success myth. Think “take a breather, then roll back up.”
    • All our guests, though, agree one thing: the office is leaking its sides. Karoli Hindriks (spin‑off entrepreneur) drunks the world stating that “passports are becoming antiques.” Rory Sutherland, the marketing wizard, just added that society may roll out of its home and roam like nomads. Because why stay glued to one desk, right?

    Cities & the Environment: We’re Settling in the Skies

    • Urbanist Greg Clark thinks by 2080 the planet will house gleeful 10 billion beings, with 90% of them inside city walls. That’s less “urban sprawl” and more “domestic Airbnb!”
    • Then there’s Bertrand Piccard, the explorer who’s practically strapped a hydrogen tank to his chest. He’s predicting that commercial flying with hydrogen will finally hit the big leagues in 2035. Expect “blue‑sky flights” and less carbon fumes.

    AI: The Great Debater of the Decade

    • Patty McCord thinks that “AI isn’t the monstrous beast we fear.” She’s like, “Hey, let’s be friends, AI.”
    • Meanwhile, Professor Scott Galloway warns that AI could awaken a new wave of US domestic terrorism. He draws a very dramatic boardroom illustration. Yikes!

    Those are just the highlights. If you’re craving the full spectrum of predictions—from the wildest to the whittled‑down—watch the episode wrap‑up and dive into all the fun on YouTube or your favorite audio platforms.

  • Hank Green's Focus Friend app is climbing the App Store charts — and it's extremely cute

    Hank Green's Focus Friend app is climbing the App Store charts — and it's extremely cute

    You must stay focused. You cannot open TikTok, or Instagram, or whatever little phone games you like to play. If you fail, you will make an anthropomorphic bean very sad, because its knitting project depends on your ability to stay focused.

    This is the premise of Focus Friend, a productivity app created by Honey B Games and Hank Green, the longtime online creator/entrepreneur/educator/sock salesman. Though the app was soft launched last month, Focus Friend is only now gaining momentum on the App Store charts — likely because Green and his brother, author John Green, are posting about it more — reaching No. 4 among all free apps and No. 2 among productivity apps.

    @hankgreen1 Your Deserve a Focus Friend ♬ original sound – Hank Green

    Focus Friend, which is available on iOS and Android, has the bones of a typical productivity app. It invites you to set a timer on your phone, which will temporarily prevent you from opening certain apps (on iOS, the “Deep Focus Mode” setting connects to your own screen time settings, where you can designate which apps to block).

    But what makes Focus Friend different is that it assigns you a new friend — a little bean — which you can give a cute name, like Garbanzo, or Susan Bean Anthony, or Eda (it’s short for Edamame).

    Your bean needs help focusing on its knitting. And it can only focus if you refrain from opening the apps that distract you from your work. If you successfully complete your focus session, your bean will give you in-game points (socks), which you can use to buy decorations for its room — because the only thing more motivating than helping a bean knit is to buy it a cute poster for its wall.

    Focus Friend has a lot in common with Finch, a popular self-care app that incentivizes users to maintain healthy habits by giving them a virtual bird companion. Your bird grows when you complete certain tasks that you set for yourself, like drinking water, brushing your teeth, or cleaning your room. Like the Tamagotchis of yore, these apps exploit our desire to protect a cute bundle of pixels by doing stuff that’s good for us.

    Focus Friend is functional as a free app, but you can pay to give your bean different skins — you can make your bean look like a cat (a “Kitt-ney Bean”) or a jelly bean, for example. There’s also a subscription that allows your bean to knit scarves, which can be exchanged for premium decorations. Green posted on Bluesky that Focus Friend is “very much trying to be an ad-free experience because the mobile ad ecosystem kinda blows.” But the app still has to make money to compensate the employees who brought our beans to life.

    Techcrunch event

    Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

    Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise.

    Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

    Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise.

    San Francisco
    |
    October 27-29, 2025

    REGISTER NOW

    We’re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out this survey to let us know how we’re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!

  • Apple might opt for a curved glass design for 20th anniversary iPhone

    Apple might opt for a curved glass design for 20th anniversary iPhone

    Apple made a big splash in 2017 by introducing an all-screen iPhone with a notch and no physical home button for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. The company is now preparing to introduce another major overhaul for the iPhone’s 20th anniversary, featuring a new curved glass design, according to a Bloomberg report.

    The iPhone 20, set to be launched in 2027, will have curved glass edges all around, likely to suit the new “Liquid Glass” design philosophy of iOS, according to Bloomberg.

    The publication’s report also noted that before the 20th anniversary iPhone’s release, Apple will launch its first foldable phone in 2026. It said that Apple is in the process of switching screen technology for its upcoming foldable, which might result in a display that hides the crease well.

  • US spy chief says UK has dropped its Apple backdoor demand

    US spy chief says UK has dropped its Apple backdoor demand

    The U.K has dropped its demand for special access to Apple’s cloud systems, or a “backdoor,” following negotiations with the Trump administration, according to U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard. 

    “As a result, the U.K. has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties,” Gabbard wrote in a post on X. She also claimed that she worked along President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the negotiations.

    Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside @POTUS and @VP, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected. As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for…— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) August 19, 2025

    This is the latest (and unexpected) development in a months-long saga that saw the British government secretly demanding Apple grant its authorities access — essentially asking for a backdoor — to the encrypted data of iCloud users, effectively anywhere in the world, particularly those who turn on Advanced Data Protection (or ADP), an opt-in security feature. ADP turns on end-to-end encryption for iCloud, meaning only the user can access their files stored on Apple’s cloud servers. 

    The existence of the legal demand was first reported by The Washington Post in February, which was made under the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, also known as the Snoopers’ Charter. The request sparked outrage and condemnation from privacy and security experts worldwide, who argued that if the U.K. government obtained what it wanted, it would weaken privacy for the whole world, and also open the door for more governments to make similar demands, even in other companies’ technologies. 

    Apple initially responded by removing ADP from the U.K., meaning new users couldn’t turn it on. The company also said it would give guidance to existing users who “will eventually need to disable this security feature.”

    In the meantime, Apple also reportedly challenged the backdoor mandate in court, a case that was initially secret but was then ruled to be held in public. 

    Apple and the U.K. Home Office, which initiated the demand on behalf of the British government, did not respond to requests for comment. 

    Techcrunch event

    Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

    Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise.

    Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

    Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise.

    San Francisco
    |
    October 27-29, 2025

    REGISTER NOW

    Olivia Coleman, the press secretary of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, referred to a February letter to Sen. Wyden and Rep. Biggs. 

    Apple previously told TechCrunch that the company has “never built a backdoor or master key” to any of its products or services and it “never will.”

    We’re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out this survey to let us know how we’re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!