Apple Raises Its Eyes Beyond Google

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3 Tools to Automate

1. Diarly: A stunning refresh to help you write more, think clearer

2. Bocca: A push-to-talk tool that transforms your audio into text

3. Virallyst: AI Agent for vibe marketing like Cursor for marketing

🦄 Startup Spotlight
Meet your new coworker

Relevance AI, a San Francisco and Sydney-based startup, just raised $24 million in Series B funding to help companies build smart, adaptive AI agents that work like human teams. With 40,000 agents registered in January 2025 alone, the company is rapidly growing and already counts clients like Activision and Qualified. Their no-code platform lets even non-tech users create specialized agents using simple prompts. As the AI agent race heats up with competition from Microsoft and others, Relevance is aiming to lead by making intelligent digital coworkers as essential as your Monday meeting.

Funding Roundup

Agree.com blends e-signatures, invoicing, and payments into one AI-driven platform—making e-signatures free and monetizing transactions instead. A. $7.2M seed round led by Pelion Venture Partners, with backing from Better Tomorrow Ventures and others to fuel growth and expansion. With 25K+ users, Agree’s fintech-first model is aiming to make signing and paying seamless in one smooth click.

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TODAY IN AI
Hugging Face launches free AI agent tool

Think of it as your clumsy but well-meaning digital intern: Hugging Face has just launched Open Computer Agent, a free, cloud-based AI tool that mimics human computer usage—opening browsers, clicking around, even running Firefox on a virtual Linux machine. It's like OpenAI's Operator, but open-source and a little rough around the edges.

The tool, while capable of simple tasks like finding a location on Google Maps, stumbles on complex challenges (booking flights? Not so much) and freezes at CAPTCHAs like a deer in the headlights. Users may also face wait times to access the service.

But flaws aside, the bigger story is what this signals: open-source models are inching closer to practical “agentic AI” — autonomous tools that navigate software like a human. It's early, but the momentum is real; with major companies betting big on AI agents, this demo shows what’s possible — even if it’s not quite polished... yet.

SYNC FAST

Reddit is introducing new user verification steps to prevent AI bots from impersonating humans on the platform. CEO Steve Huffman assures users that while verification is coming, their anonymity will remain protected.

Amazon Web Services is building "Kiro," an AI tool for generating code in real-time, creating technical documents, and optimizing code. Kiro’s multimodal features and integration with third-party AI agents set it apart in the growing AI coding tool market.

TECH SYNC
Apple’s tactics to protect $20B Google Search deal

Apple’s Eddy Cue took the stand in an antitrust trial, suggesting that its $20B annual deal with Google could eventually become obsolete, as AI-driven alternatives to traditional search engines gain traction. With AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Perplexity gaining popularity, Apple plans to shift Safari’s focus to these new tools. Despite this, Cue stressed the importance of keeping Google as the default search engine on Apple devices, as it continues to generate significant revenue for Apple’s services division. While the partnership is under threat, Apple is eyeing new opportunities in AI search, which could eventually allow it to take a slice from multiple providers, much like it does with the App Store.

MORE TO KNOW

Arm Holdings' shares dropped 11% after forecasting lower sales for Q1 and withholding full-year guidance due to global trade uncertainties. The chipmaker cited delays in a major licensing deal, though its royalty revenue continues to grow from high-end smartphone chips.

Snap Map has hit 400M monthly active users, marking a major milestone for Snapchat's key feature. Launched in 2017, it’s evolved from location tracking to real-time social discovery, giving Snapchat an edge over rivals like Instagram and TikTok. With new features like "Footsteps" and "Promoted Places," Snap Map continues to grow its influence.