Opera has previewed a new AI agent feature that promises to complete online tasks on your behalf, based on simple, written prompts.  Want to book a flight but don’t want to spend ages comparing prices? Tell the bot your preferred flight times, seats, and budget and it’ll get to work in the background, letting you carry on with whatever it was you were doing. Once it’s done, it’ll add the item to your cart and you can proceed to pay.  Unlike existing tools like Google AI assistant or ChatGPT, which help you find information by summarising search results, answering questions,…

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British autonomous driving startup Wayve is set to establish a testing and development hub in Germany as it prepares to deploy self-driving vehicles in Europe’s largest automotive market.  Wayve’s new hub will be built near Stuttgart, home to big name car brands including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Audi. Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, called it the “perfect place” for the company to accelerate the development and testing of AI-powered driving technology.   “2025 is a year of global expansion for Wayve, and we are incredibly excited to establish operations in Germany,” said Kendall. Wayve is already testing its technology in…

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Germany’s armed forces have commissioned Bremen-based startup Polaris to develop a two-stage, fully reusable hypersonic space plane — and given the team just three years to build it.  Dubbed Aurora, the 28-metre-long aircraft will be part rocket, part plane — designed to take off and land on a runway but also blast through the atmosphere and place payloads up to 1-ton in low-Earth orbit.  Under the contract, the startup will design, build, and flight test the spaceplane. The aircraft will serve as a testbed for hypersonic flight and defence research. It could be used as a small satellite carrier if…

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For decades, European tech insiders have looked across the Atlantic with a mix of admiration and frustration. Casting envious eyes on the deep-pocketed VCs, an enormous consumer market, and a pipeline of elite talent, they often view the US as a promised land for business growth. The sentiment fuels calls for Europe to replicate Silicon Valley’s model. But Vidya Peters, CEO of Dutch unicorn DataSnipper, argues this approach is flawed. Rather than merely mimicking US tech, she urges startups and scaleups to embrace Europe’s strengths. A key one is sustainable, long-term growth. “Five years ago, it wasn’t very fashionable to be…

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Gene-edited pig livers, synthetic embryos, and 3D-printed tissue implants… the world of organ transplantation is becoming increasingly bizarre as scientists explore high-tech ways to keep people alive.  These experiments are birthing new business opportunities. One company cashing in is University of Oxford spinout OrganOx, which this week secured $142mn in funding to fuel its expansion in the US as it mulls a potential IPO.     OrganOx’s Metra machine pumps oxygenated blood and nutrients through the liver, mimicking natural conditions during a transplant. This helps the organ stay healthier for up to 12 hours longer than traditional methods — giving doctors more…

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