Google announces global rollout for AI-driven 'multisearch' on mobile devices

Hello, you crunchy delights,

Dunno ’bout you, but we’re getting a little excited about our TC Early Stage event in Boston on April 20, and Darrell just announced the first group of speakers for the event. It’s gonna be a good one!

Our Black History Month feature of the day is this one-hour documentary on YouTube — KQED’s mobile film unit following author and activist James Baldwin in the spring of 1963, as he’s driven around San Francisco to meet with members of the local African American community. As a Bay Area resident, Haje found it interesting on a couple of different levels: Local history is rad, and seeing SF in the 1960s is a special treat.

— Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

Startups and VC

Kyle reports that a founder grew frustrated using standard document apps like Acrobat and Microsoft Office to print out and mark up documents. He wondered why there wasn’t a way to read and write on a PC that felt as fluid as paper, which led him to experiment with PDF processing software. By 2020, those experiments had grown into a fully fledged, custom PDF editor. Using AI, the editor — called Macro — pulls out key terms, sections and equations to make documents interactive and hyperlinked. Macro raised $9.3 million to continue its journey.

Almost exactly a year ago, dbt Labs shined a spotlight on the opportunities in the world of developer tools for data analytics when the startup closed a Series D of $222 million at a $4.2 billion valuation. Today, dbt Labs announced it acquired Transform, adding semantic tools to its data analytics platform, Ingrid reports.

Moar? U want moar? Yer in luck, m’droogs:

Dear Sophie: Will published articles better my odds of getting an O-1A or H-1B visa?

Dear Sophie,

I’m the founder and CEO of a startup in Istanbul, and I’ve heard that articles in publications about an entrepreneur or a startup can be a big plus when applying for an O-1A or H-1B visa.

Is that true? Which publications are valid? Should they be tier-1 or in English? Thank you for your help!

— Tenacious in Turkey

Three more from the TC+ team:

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

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Big Tech Inc.

Psst, some Russian hackers are believed to be behind the “WhisperGate” data-stealing malware being used to target Ukraine, Carly reports. She writes that “the info-stealing malware uses file names designed to masquerade as legitimate Microsoft Office files and is similar to other TA471 tools, such as GraphSteel and GrimPlant, which were previously used as part of a spear-phishing campaign specifically targeting Ukrainian state bodies.” However, this new malware is even more of a pain. Read her story to find out why.

As promised, it’s Google mania today. The company has some new features to show off: Rebecca reports on electric vehicles with Maps built in, while Ivan writes about better contextual translation features. The company is also sunsetting the feature that put playable podcasts directly in search results, Sarah reports. Oh, and if you have some skin in the big game on Sunday (also Christine’s birthday), Brian writes that Giannis, Doja Cat and Amy Schumer will be peddling Google’s Pixel during the Super Bowl.

Now here’s four more that don’t talk about Google:

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