Softening

TechCrunch Mobility is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free. Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and I covered a lot of ground in a wide-ranging interview covering the company’s previously disclosed targets on EV, the threat that Chinese automakers pose, its deal with…

Various chipmakers in their latest quarterly earnings have signaled the beginning of a supply glut in the auto sector, that is likely to weigh on demand for companies such as Tower Semiconductor.Israel-based contract chipmaker Tower Semiconductor posted a decline in its fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday, hurt by uncertainty in demand from the automotive sector.The company said the Israel-Hamas war was not impacting its operations or its supply chain.Its Nasdaq-listed…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain "Why isn't it a beautiful thing?" a puzzled Sharath Keshava Narayana asked of his AI device masking accents. Produced by his company, Sanas, this recent technology seeks to "soften" the accents of call center workers in real-time to allegedly shield them from bias and discrimination. It has sparked widespread…

China approved 105 domestic games on Monday, the latest indication that Beijing is softening its stance…

Polestar showcased this week its vision for the future: new tech and next-generation vehicles that the Swedish EV company owned by China’s Geely Holdings hopes will spark sales and spur an era of growth. The inaugural Polestar Day event in Los Angeles — designed to sell investors and journalists on its potential for a profitable future — stood in stark contrast to its present. Just a day prior, the company revised its outlook, cut delivery targets for 2023, announced a fresh investment from Volvo and Geely, and told…

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures Actress Tessa Thompson recently shared why she was adamant about changing her Creed character’s arc in the film’s third installment.  In 2015, at the franchise’s start, fans were introduced to Thompson’s character Bianca Taylor. Taylor is a singer with a hearing impairment who ultimately falls in love with boxer Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan). As the franchise progressed, Thompson and Jordan’s characters‘ lives gradually transitioned as they married and became parents.  During a…

<!----> New Zealand’s Motor Industry Association said January 2023 registrations of 12,481 new vehicles were 7.4% down year on year “on the back of a softening economy”. Registrations of 9,274 passenger vehicles and SUVs were up 3.9% but registrations of 3,207 commercial vehicles…

Slower cloud spending by inflation-hit businesses is expected to stall the sales momentum at Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp and add to the troubles of the sector that laid off thousands this month. After years of blistering growth, most recently fuelled by remote working and studying during the pandemic, cloud demand has cooled in the past nine months and sales growth may slow further, analysts said. End-user cloud spending for services including those from the world's largest providers - Amazon Web Services (AWS) and…

For nearly two years, car dealers have been focused on getting more cars onto their lots amid a severe inventory crunch. Now, some are worried about how quickly they will be able to move them off. But as new-vehicle stocks are slowly replenished, some dealers say there are signs that an uncertain economic outlook and higher interest rates are starting to dampen demand. “There is pent-up demand from people who’ve been in the market for six or nine months and haven’t been able to find a car,” said Peter…

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX spent tens of millions of dollars over the past couple of years on slick marketing efforts, including sports-sponsorship deals and celebrity-laden TV ads featuring Tom Brady and Larry David.Then, last week, FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the midst of a liquidity crisis, sending shock waves throughout the crypto world and putting in question an important revenue stream for advertising, sports-sponsorship and media businesses already coping with a softening ad market. On national…