AI founders are increasingly using their "dropout" status as a credential during YC pitches.
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Wednesday, December 31, 2025
These are the best gadgets for your pet right now
From AI smart cameras that describe your pet's actions to a smart door that knows when they want to go outside, these are the best pet gadgets of 2025.
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The 10 top government, legal startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the government and legal Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M
Fusion startups have raised $7.1 billion to date, with the majority of it going to a handful of companies.
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The dumbest things that happened in tech this year
From Sam Altman's olive oil "scandal" to Soham Parekh's viral moment, a lot of silly stuff has gone down in tech this year.
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Tuesday, December 30, 2025
The phone is dead. Long live . . . what exactly?
"We're not going to be using iPhones in 10 years," Callaghan says flatly. "I kind of don't think we'll be using them in five years."
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Almost 80 European deep tech university spinouts reached $1B valuations or $100M in revenue in 2025
According to Dealroom’s European Spinout Report 2025, 76 European deep tech and life sciences spinouts have either reached $1 billion valuations, $100 million in revenue, or both.
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12 investors dish on what 2026 will bring for climate tech
After a tumultuous year, venture investors are still optimistic about climate tech's long term prospects, especially as data centers continue to drive demand for electricity, manufacturing, and materials.
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Here’s what you should know about the US TikTok deal
A number of investors are competing for the opportunity to purchase the app, and if a deal were to go through, the platform's U.S. business could have its valuation soar to upward of $60 billion.
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Monday, December 29, 2025
Meta just bought Manus, an AI startup everyone has been talking about
Meta says it'll keep Manus running independently while weaving its agents into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, where Meta's own chatbot, Meta AI, is already available to users.
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How to make your startup stand out in a crowded market, according to investors
Investors on what they really want to hear in a founder's pitch.
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Social media follower counts have never mattered less, creator economy execs say
“I think that 2025 was the year where the algorithm completely took over, so followings stopped mattering entirely,” LTK CEO Amber Venz Box said.
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2025 was the year AI got a vibe check
AI’s early-2025 spending spree featured massive raises and trillion-dollar infrastructure promises. By year’s end, hype gave way to a vibe check, with growing scrutiny over sustainability, safety, and business models.
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Plaud Note Pro is an excellent AI-powered recorder that I carry everywhere
Plaud Note Pro is a $179 notetaker, which is an excellent recording device first
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Why the electrical grid needs more software
The electrical grid is facing unprecedented stress from the addition of new data centers. Software could offer a cost-effective way to boost reliability and capacity.
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VCs predict strong enterprise AI adoption next year — again
More than 20 venture capitalists share their thoughts on AI agents, enterprise AI budgets and more for 2026.
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You’ve been targeted by government spyware. Now what?
Tech companies are increasingly warning their customers that they have been targeted by governments with advanced government spyware, such as NSO's Pegasus or Paragon's Graphite. What happens after receiving a threat notification?
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Sunday, December 28, 2025
Sauron, the high-end home security startup for “super premium” customers, plucks a new CEO out of Sonos
Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.
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Police charge driver who allegedly killed a pedestrian while livestreaming on TikTok
Local police said they have charged an Illinois driver who struck and killed a pedestrian while she was livestreaming on TikTok.
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You may soon be able to change your Gmail address
Good news for anyone tired of or embarrassed by their current Gmail address.
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A guide to choosing the right Apple Watch
The gap between Apple's standard and budget smart watches has never felt smaller.
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Why WeTransfer co-founder is building another file transfer service
WeTransfer co-founder Nalden has a new file transfer service that users can use without logging in.
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The 14 fintech, real estate, proptech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the fintech, real estate, and proptech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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Saturday, December 27, 2025
Best Apple Watch apps for boosting your productivity
Although the Apple Watch comes with simple built-in productivity apps like Reminders and Calendar, it’s worth exploring some third-party apps that are designed to boost productivity by offering additional functionality.
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India startup funding hits $11B in 2025 as investors grow more selective
Startup funding rounds in India fell sharply in 2025 as investors concentrated capital into fewer companies.
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FaZe Clan’s future is uncertain after influencers depart
Six influencers recently announced that they are leaving esports group FaZe Clan following unsuccessful contract negotiations with new management.
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Trump administration seeks to deport hate speech researcher previously sued by X
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of State from arresting or deporting Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
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Investors share what to remember while raising a Series A
Investors share what founders should remember if looking to raise a Series A.
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Meet the team that investigates when journalists and activists get hacked with government spyware
For years, Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline has been aiding journalists and dissidents who have been targeted with government spyware. This is how they operate.
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NY Governor Hochul signs bill requiring warning labels on ‘addictive’ social media
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill requiring social media platforms to show warning labels to younger users before they’re exposed to features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling.
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The 22 top clean tech and energy startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the clean tech and energy Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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The 7 top space and defense tech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the space and defense tech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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Friday, December 26, 2025
How reality crushed Ÿnsect, the French startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming
French insect farming company Ÿnsect was recently placed into judicial liquidation for insolvency, despite raising over $600 million.
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As people look for ways to make new friends, here are the apps promising to help
We've compiled a list of friendship apps, from friend discovery platforms like BFF to event-focused ones like Timeleft.
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What’s ahead for startups and VCs in 2026? Investors weigh in
VCs share their thoughts on what next year could bring to the market.
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Naware’s chemical-free weed killer tech could change how we treat lawns
A classic hardware startup, Naware's founders set out with a problem -- kill weeds without chemicals -- and relentlessly tinkered until they found a solution.
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Treat yourself: The best smart glasses to buy with your holiday gift money
Whether you’re looking to get a pair yourself or just want to explore what’s available on the market today, we’ve compiled a list of the most compelling pairs available.
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The 9 top cybersecurity startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the cybersecurity Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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These are the cybersecurity stories we were jealous of in 2025
The very best reporting and investigative journalism from our friends at other publications.
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Thursday, December 25, 2025
How a Spanish virus brought Google to Málaga
Spanish entrepreneur Bernardo Quintero, whose company is at the root of Google's Málaga cybersecurity hub, identified the author of the computer virus that influenced his career.
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The best distraction blockers to jumpstart your focus in the new year
Whether you need to limit social media scrolling or block off time to be productive, there are different tools that can help you stay on task
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Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Waymo explains why its robotaxis got stuck during the SF blackout
The company also said its robotaxis navigated more than 7,000 dark stoplights successfully on Saturday.
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The 9 top biotech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the biotech and pharma Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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How Mill closed the deal with Amazon and Whole Foods
Matt Rogers's food waste startup will soon deploy its commercial food waste bins in grocery stores throughout the U.S. Here's how Rogers thinks about preparing a startup for success.
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Apple pauses app store changes in Texas after court blocks age assurance law
Apple said it will pause its plans for compliance with the new law in Texas but notes other age assurance tech remains available to developers.
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The 14 top agtech, food tech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Here is the full list of the agtech and food tech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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Italy tells Meta to suspend its policy that bans rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp
Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans companies from using WhatsApp's business tools to offer their own AI chatbots on the popular chat app.
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How to track Santa Claus this Christmas Eve using AI
If you’re a parent with young children, then you’ll probably hear this a lot on Christmas Eve: “Where’s Santa right now?” With tracking tools like the NORAD Santa Tracker and Google’s Santa Tracker, everyone can know when Father Christmas will arrive. Plus, there are now some new AI tools to bring the holiday magic. Here’s […]
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Tuesday, December 23, 2025
This founder just landed funding for a second go at the same problem: affordable custom home design
Drafted is now nearly five months old, and it's everything Atmos wasn't.
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Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa+ now works with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp
The new integrations join other services like Yelp, Uber, OpenTable and others.
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Lemon Slice nabs $10.5M from YC and Matrix to build out its digital avatar tech
Digital avatar generation company Lemon Slice is working to add a video layer to AI chatbots with a new diffusion model that can create digital avatars from a single image.
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France’s postal and banking services disrupted by suspected DDoS attack
France's postal service, La Poste, said it was hit by a disruptive cyberattack that knocked its services offline.
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Inside Uzbekistan’s nationwide license plate surveillance system
The Uzbek government's national license plate scanning system was discovered exposed to the internet for anyone to access without a password.
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Pirate group Anna’s Archive says it has scraped 86 million songs from Spotify
Spotify says it has identified and disabled the user accounts involved in the scraping.
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The tooth fairy just got reimagined for the tech-savvy generation
Move over, Santa. Now there’s another magical character for kids to track: the Tooth Fairy. After making a personalized Tooth Fairy video for his nephew, Oliver Finel noticed a gap. While there are plenty of Santa trackers, nothing similar existed for the Tooth Fairy. Recognizing that Generation Alpha is growing up with interactive online experiences […]
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Monday, December 22, 2025
Elevate your home bar with these mixology gadgets
From robotic bartenders to smart coasters that ensure the perfect pour, here are some cool gadgets to elevate your home bar.
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Splat’s app uses AI to turn your photos into coloring pages for kids
The app turns your own photos into pages for your kids to color, via AI.
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Uber and Lyft to test Baidu robotaxis in London next year, joining Waymo
The geographic expansions continue for the ride-hailing companies' robotaxi plans.
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A comprehensive list of 2025 tech layoffs
A complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2025.
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ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot
A timeline of ChatGPT product updates and releases, starting with the latest, which we’ve been updating throughout the year.
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TikTok Shop launches digital gift cards to challenge Amazon and eBay
TikTok Shop has rolled out a new feature that allows users to purchase digital gift cards, making it easier to help friends and family buy from the millions of products on the app.
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Sunday, December 21, 2025
Waymo resumes service in San Francisco after robotaxis stall during blackout
Waymo suspended its SF robotaxi service on Saturday evening after a massive blackout appeared to leave many of its vehicles stalled on city streets.
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A rough week for hardware companies
iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power Bikes were very different companies, but they faced some similar challenges.
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TechCrunch Mobility: Bankruptcy takes out two
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.”
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Waymo suspends service in San Francisco as robotaxis stall during blackout
Waymo suspended its SF robotaxi service on Saturday evening after a massive blackout appeared to leave many of its vehicles stalled on city streets.
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As EU waters down 2035 EV goals, electric startups express concern
The future may be electric, but that future is being postponed. The European Commission, citing the need for flexibility, has softened its ambitious plan to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. Instead of requiring 100% of new cars to be zero-emission vehicles by that date, the revised plan would allow 10% of new […]
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Israel’s famed VC Jon Medved, diagnosed with ALS, backed the tech that will improve his life
In perhaps the last public interview of one Israel's most famous VCs, Jon Medved tells TechCrunch how tech will enhance his life.
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Saturday, December 20, 2025
Google and Apple reportedly warn employees on visas to avoid international travel
Law firms representing Google and Apple have reportedly warned that employees who need a visa stamp to re-enter the United States should avoid leaving the country due to longer-than-usual visa processing times.
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‘It felt so wrong’: Colin Angle on iRobot, the FTC, and the Amazon deal that never was
The iRobot founder opens up about the 18-month regulatory process that he says doomed the Roomba maker -- and what it means for American innovation.
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OpenAI allows users to directly adjust ChatGPT’s enthusiasm level
ChatGPT users can now tweak the chatbot’s warmth, enthusiasm, and emoji use.
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Friday, December 19, 2025
Sequoia partner spreads debunked Brown shooting theory, testing new leadership
The newest episode raises questions about whether Sequoia's new leadership -- managing partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who took over last month -- can or will rein in Maguire's social media activity.
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Ex-Splunk execs’ startup Resolve AI hits $1 billion valuation with Series A
The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to people familiar with the deal.
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Former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario resigns from Rivian’s board
Marcario joined the board in 2021, and will maintain her position as chair overseeing the Rivian Foundation, which made its first grants last year.
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Elon Musk’s $56B Tesla pay package restored by Delaware Supreme Court
The decision brings to a close a years-long court battle that irked Musk so much he moved Tesla's incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
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Cursor continues acquisition Spree with Graphite deal
Graphite is an AI code review assistant that was last valued at $290 million.
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Where are investors placing their bets next year? AI, AI, AI.
Investors at TechCrunch Disrupt explained their focus on artificial intelligence and offered advice to founders on how to stand out in a crowded AI field.
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Hundreds of Cisco customers are vulnerable to new Chinese hacking campaign, researchers say
Cisco warned that Chinese government hackers are exploiting a zero-day in some of its products. Researchers now say there are hundreds of vulnerable Cisco customers.
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Anonymous messaging app NGL was acquired by ‘earnphone’ startup Mode Mobile
Given NGL's track record of dubious growth hacking, this partnership with Mode Mobile like a good match.
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Yann LeCun confirms his new ‘world model’ startup, reportedly seeks $5B+ valuation
Renowned AI scientist Yann LeCun confirmed on Thursday the worst-kept secret in the tech world: that he had indeed launched a new startup. Although he did say he will not be running the new company as its CEO.
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OpenAI is reportedly trying to raise $100B at an $830B valuation
The ChatGPT maker is aiming to raise the funding by the end of the first quarter in 2026, and the company may ask sovereign wealth funds to invest in the round.
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Thursday, December 18, 2025
TikTok agrees to deal to cede control of US business to American investor group
The deal closes a long-running drama in which U.S. authorities have sought to compel ByteDance to divest.
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Apple becomes a debt collector with its new developer agreement
Apple says it can now collect any money a developer owes the tech giant at any time.
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Instacart to pay $60M to settle FTC claims it deceived consumers
The federal agency alleged Instacart misled consumers with unlawful tactics, causing them to pay higher fees while also denying refunds.
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ChatGPT launches an app store, lets developers know it’s open for business
OpenAI is looking to populate its flagship chatbot with a host of new user experiences.
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ChatGPT’s mobile app hits new milestone of $3B in consumer spending
ChatGPT has reached $3B in lifetime mobile consumer spending in just 31 months, faster than TikTok and major streaming apps.
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Pickle Robot adds Tesla veteran as first CFO
Jeff Evanson recently joined Pickle Robot as the company's first CFO as the startup has allegedly expanded its partnership with UPS.
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Why British politicians are flocking to American tech giants
Former British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has joined OpenAI as managing director and head of OpenAI for Countries. He will run also Coinbase's internal advisory council.
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Amazon’s new Alexa+ feature adds conversational AI to Ring doorbells
Amazon said that the feature uses the Ring doorbell's video descriptions to determine who the person in front the camera is based on their uniform, actions, and what they are holding.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Instacart’s AI-driven pricing tool attracted attention — now the FTC has questions
In an economy where everyone's feeling squeezed, AI-driven price testing of kitchen essentials was bound to attract attention.
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Adobe hit with proposed class-action, accused of misusing authors’ work in AI training
The lawsuit is just the latest in a string of copyright-related legal complaints aimed at the AI industry.
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Jared Isaacman confirmed as next head of NASA
Isaacman will run the space agency at a time when Trump is trying to both downsize it and task it with returning astronauts to the Moon.
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YouTube to pull music data from Billboard’s charts because it doesn’t like its ranking formula
YouTube takes its ball and goes home by pulling Billboard's access to its music data.
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YouTube will stream the Oscars — exclusively — beginning in 2029
The news highlights YouTube's growing dominance in the television space and a major shift as streaming takes on more live events.
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Meta is pausing its dream of sharing Quest’s Horizon OS with third-party headset makers
The company said that it would revisit opportunities for third-party partnerships in the future.
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Google deepens consumer credit push in India with UPI-linked card
Google has entered India's growing co-branded credit card market by partnering with Axis Bank.
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Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Weeks after raising $100M, investors pump another $180M into hot Indian startup MoEngage
The deal valued MoEngage at "well over" $900 million post-money.
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Monzo board reportedly pushed out CEO Anil over IPO timing
A key issue, reportedly, was IPO timing.
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Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing for Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, judge rules
The judge ruled Tesla should have to suspend manufacturing and sales in California for 30 days, but the DMV stayed those rulings for 90 days to allow Tesla to comply.
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How Luminar’s doomed Volvo deal helped drag the company into bankruptcy
Luminar says trouble with Volvo started as early as 2022, and that the Swedish automaker made -- but then backed away from -- large orders of its lidar sensors.
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WikiFlix shows us what Netflix would have been like 100 years ago
On WikiFlix, a Netflix-inspired archive of public domain films, you can watch movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Noseferatu" for free.
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X updates its terms, files countersuit to lay claim to the ‘Twitter’ trademark after newcomer’s challenge
X's new terms of service say that no one can use the Twitter name, trademarks, logos and more without written consent.
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Study shows Instacart may be charging some shoppers 20% more for the same product
The delivery app has claimed that price testing is part of a longstanding practice in retail sales.
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Slate crosses 150,000 reservations despite waning EV truck enthusiasm
It took Slate Auto about seven months to grow its customer list by 50%, but new reservations appear to be outpacing any cancelations.
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Monday, December 15, 2025
VCs discuss why most consumer AI startups still lack staying power
The next consumer tech revolution may require an introduction of a new personal device.
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OpenAI-backed biotech firm Chai Discovery raises $130M Series B at $1.3B valuation
Chai is building foundation models for drug discovery, specifically to predict interactions between molecules so they could be reprogramed for cures.
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Nvidia bulks up open source offerings with an acquisition and new open AI models
Nvidia acquired SchedMD, the lead developer of Slurm, and launched the Nemotron 3 family of open source AI models.
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Ford is starting a battery storage business to power data centers and the grid
Ford will invest about $2 billion into the new business over the next two years.
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Creative Commons announces tentative support for AI ‘pay-to-crawl’ systems
The organization offered support for this idea of an AI marketplace, and suggested several guiding principles.
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Ford’s next F-150 Lightning will have a gas generator as it pivots away from large EVs
The company is abandoning plans for a brand new all-electric pickup truck codenamed "T3" and ending production of the battery-only Lightning.
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Lightspeed raises record $9B in fresh capital
The massive fund haul will allow the Silicon Valley firm to continue to invest in cash hungry AI startups.
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Merriam-Webster names ‘slop’ the word of the year
AI-generated content has dominated the internet over the past year, and America's dictionary took note.
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Google’s ‘dark web report’ feature will no longer be available starting in February
Google has revealed that its “dark web report” feature will be discontinued starting February 16, 2026. Launched initially about a year and a half ago, this tool aimed to help users monitor their personal information on the dark web For some users, the dark web report seemed like a valuable tool, scanning various data breach […]
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First Voyage raises $2.5M for its AI companion helps you build habits
First Voyage has raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round from a16z speed run, SignalFire, True Global, and other investors.
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Nvidia reportedly weighs ramping up H200 production to meet surging demand in China
After successfully lobbying the Trump administration to approve the sales of its H200 chips to China, Nvidia is now thinking of adding capacity to produce more of the chips.
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Thea Energy previews Helios, its pixel-inspired fusion power plant
Thea Energy says that its planar-coil fusion power plant could be cheaper and easier to build thanks to AI-powered control software.
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Mirelo raises $41M from Index and a16z to solve AI video’s silent problem
Mirelo, a German startup that is building AI to add synced sound effects to videos, has raised a $41 million seed round led by Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
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Sunday, December 14, 2025
How iRobot lost its way home
iRobot survived three decades of competition, but couldn't survive European regulators killing its Amazon buyout. Now it's being taken over by its own supplier in bankruptcy court.
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WhatsApp’s biggest market is becoming its toughest test
Meta has three months to comply with Indian government directions that could affect how WhatsApp operates in the country.
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Grok got crucial facts wrong about Bondi Beach shooting
Grok, the chatbot built by Elon Musk’s xAI and popularized on his social media platform X, appears to have repeatedly spread misinformation about today’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia.
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Mesa shuts down credit card that rewarded cardholders for paying their mortgages
Fintech startup Mesa has shut down its Homeowners Card, which awarded points to cardholders for paying their mortgages.
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Making sense of the risky Netflix-Warner Bros. deal
Netflix's $82.6 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. encapsulates a fraught moment for Hollywood, as the entertainment business is increasingly overshadowed by tech giants.
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TechCrunch Mobility: Rivian’s survival plan involves more than cars
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
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Saturday, December 13, 2025
India’s Spinny lines up $160M funding to acquire GoMechanic, sources say
Spinny is set to be valued at about $1.8 billion post-money in its latest funding round.
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DoorDash driver faces felony charges after allegedly spraying customers’ food
A woman is facing felony charges in Evansville, Indiana over a DoorDash delivery in which she allegedly sprayed the food with a substance that made the customers vomit.
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AI data center boom could be bad news for other infrastructure projects
Improvements to roads, bridges, and other infrastructure could take a hit as data center construction accelerates.
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Friday, December 12, 2025
A comprehensive list of 2025 tech layoffs
A complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2025.
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OK, what’s going on with LinkedIn’s algo?
Women ran an experiment to see if LinkedIn's new algo was being sexist and thought they proved it. But there's more complexity involved, experts say.
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Microsoft buys 3.6M metric tons of carbon removal from bioenergy plant
Microsoft's data center ambitions have imperiled its 2030 pledge to remove more carbon than it generates, making carbon removal credits all but necessary.
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Data breach at credit check giant 700Credit affects at least 5.6 million
700Credit, a company that runs credit checks and identity verification services for auto dealerships across the U.S., had a data breach that allowed a hacker to steal names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.
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Trump’s AI executive order promises ‘one rulebook.’ Startups may get legal limbo instead.
Trump signed an AI executive order targeting state laws and promising one national rulebook. Critics warn it could trigger court battles and prolong uncertainty for startups while Congress debates federal rules.
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Retro, a photo sharing app for friends, lets you ‘time-travel’ through your Camera Roll
Retro's new feature, Rewind, let you look back at your photo memories and scroll through them with a dial.
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Home Depot exposed access to internal systems for a year, says researcher
A security researcher tried to alert Home Depot to the security lapse exposing its back-end GitHub source code repos and other internal cloud systems, but was ignored.
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Google Translate now lets you hear real-time translations in your headphones
The real-time headphone translations experience keeps each speaker’s tone, emphasis, and cadence intact, so it’s easier to follow the conversation and tell who’s saying what.
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Flaw in photo booth maker’s website exposes customers’ pictures
Hama Film makes photo booths that upload pictures and videos online. But their backend systems have a simple flaw that allows anyone to download customer pictures.
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Zevo wants to add robotaxis to its car-share fleet, starting with newcomer Tensor
As robotaxi adoption continues, wild ideas like personal ownership and renting them out are starting to pop up again.
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Thursday, December 11, 2025
World launches its ‘super app,’ including crypto pay and encrypted chat features
Tools for Humanity, the company behind the app, is seeking to expand its "real human network."
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Stanford’s star reporter takes on Silicon Valley’s ‘money-soaked’ startup culture
His reporting on a Stanford University president put Theo Baker on the map, but his upcoming book may cement his reputation as the rare young journalist willing to challenge Silicon Valley's startup machine.
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Google launched its deepest AI research agent yet — on the same day OpenAI dropped GPT-5.2
For the first time, developers can embed Google's Deep Research tool, based on Gemini 3 Pro, into their own apps.
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OpenAI fires back at Google with GPT-5.2 after ‘code red’ memo
OpenAI just launched GPT-5.2, a frontier model aimed at developers and professionals, pushing reasoning and coding benchmarks as it races Google’s Gemini 3 while grappling with compute costs and no generator.
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Rivian’s AI assistant is coming to its EVs in early 2026
And when it does, the AI assistant will roll out to every existing EV in its lineup, not just the next-generation versions of its R1T truck and R1S SUV.
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Google debuts ‘Disco,’ a Gemini-powered tool for making web apps from browser tabs
Google Labs is testing a product that will work with your browser tabs to make web apps for you.
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Rivian goes big on autonomy, with custom silicon, lidar, and a hint at robotaxis
CEO RJ Scaringe laid out his plan for how Rivian's vehicles will increasingly drive themselves, in a bid to match or exceed the capabilities of rival automakers and AV companies.
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Runway releases its first world model, adds native audio to latest video model
Runway debuts a physics-aware world model that simulates reality to train agents and power video, robotics and avatar applications.
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Ford and SK On are ending their U.S. battery joint venture
The factories live on; the joint venture will not.
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Disney signs deal with OpenAI to allow Sora to generate AI videos featuring its characters
Disney says that alongside the agreement, it will "become a major customer of OpenAI," as it will use its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+.
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On Me raises $6M to shake up the gift card industry
On Me raises $6 million for its digital gift card platform that lets users purchase cards categorized by interests rather than being restricted to specific retailers.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Baby delivered in Waymo continues proud tradition of not making it to the hospital
Some traditions, it seems, are immune to disruption.
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Google’s answer to the AI arms race — promote the guy behind its data center tech
Amin Vahdat has been promoted to chief technologist for AI infrastructure, a newly created position reporting directly to CEO Sundar Pichai.
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State attorneys general warn Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and other AI giants to fix ‘delusional’ outputs
The letter demanded companies institute new safeguards to keep users safe from harmful psychological impacts.
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YouTube TV to launch genre-based subscription plans in 2026
The new packages will give consumers more flexibility over the content that they want to pay for.
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Reddit is testing verification badges
Verified users will actually be notable figures, not just people who paid for the checkmark.
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Google is testing AI-powered article overviews on select publications’ Google News pages
Google is testing AI-powered article overviews on participating publications’ Google News pages as part of a new pilot program, the search giant announced on Wednesday. News publishers participating in the pilot program include Der Spiegel, El País, Folha, Infobae, Kompas, The Guardian, The Times of India, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Post, among others. […]
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Amazon changes how copyright protection is applied to Kindle Direct’s self-published ebooks
Amazon says its Kindle Direct DRM-free titles will be available as PDFs and EPUB files going forward.
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Amazon now offers same-day delivery of perishable groceries in 2,300 US cities
The e-commerce giant says it will expand the service to additional cities in 2026.
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ChatGPT is Apple’s most downloaded app of 2025 in the US
This is ChatGPT's first year as the No. 1 app on the U.S. App Store by downloads.
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Google launches managed MCP servers that let AI agents simply plug into its tools
Google is rolling out managed MCP servers to make its services “agent-ready by design,” starting with Maps and BigQuery, aiming to simplify messy integrations and help AI agents use real tools.
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Oboe raises $16 million from a16z for its AI-powered course generation platform
Oboe has raised $16 million in funding for its learning app. The company now lets users generate unlimited courses for free.
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Meesho’s $606M IPO pops as enthusiasm for India’s e-commerce startups rises
Meesho had a good first day as a public company, with its shares climbing as much as 46% from its issue price as investors jumped to grab a piece of the company built around small merchants and value-conscious consumers.
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Google invests in Fervo’s $462M round to unlock even more geothermal energy
Fervo Energy's Series E round will help the company build additional phases of its Cape Station power plant while beginning development on new sites.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Coreweave CEO defends AI circular deals as ‘working together’
The CEO of the AI data center provider, which has Nvidia as an investor and a supplier, described the environment as a "violent change" in demand.
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Unconventional AI confirms its massive $475M seed round
Led by Naveen Rao, the former head of AI at Databricks, the new hardware startup is valued at $4.5 billion.
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Hinge CEO steps down to launch Overtone, an AI dating app
Overtone is described as "an early-stage dating service focused on using AI and voice tools to help people connect in a more thoughtful and personal way."
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Fairphone refreshes its good-looking, repairable headphones
Fairphone updates its repair over-the-ear headphones with new drivers.
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Amazon adds delivery tracking, last-minute adds, gift ideas to Alexa+
Amazon upgrades Alexa+ with new shopping tools, turning Echo screens into hubs for orders, deals, and gift buying.
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Facebook redesign focuses on friends, photos, Marketplace and more
Meta's Facebook redesign elevates Marketplace, refreshes profiles, and aims to win back Gen Z users.
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India proposes charging OpenAI, Google for training AI on copyrighted content
India has given OpenAI, Google, and other AI firms 30 days to respond to its proposed royalty system for training on copyrighted content.
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EU launches antitrust probe into Google’s AI search tools
The European Commission is investigating Google over its AI summaries.
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Google’s first AI glasses expected next year
Google will compete with Meta with its own line of AI-powered smart glasses.
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Microsoft to invest $17.5B in India by 2029 as AI race accelerates
The latest is Microsoft's largest investment in Asia.
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VSCO lays off 24 staff as its consumer business suffers
In an internal memo seen by TechCrunch, VSCO's CEO Eric Wittman said the company's consumer business had declined more than expected, and some of its new growth initiatives didn't yield the expected results.
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Spotify launches music videos in the U.S. and Canada for Premium subscribers
Spotify will let you switch between music videos and audio at any time.
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Mistral AI surfs vibe coding tailwinds with new coding models
French AI startup Mistral today launched Devstral 2, a new generation of its AI model designed for coding, as the company seeks to catch up to bigger AI labs like Anthropic and other coding-focused LLMs.
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Anthropic and Accenture sign multi-year AI strategic partnership
The two companies are launching the Accenture Anthropic Business Group to bring Anthropic's AI to Accenture's employees.
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Pebble’s founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes with a press of a button
After rebooting the Pebble smartwatch, founder Eric Migicovsky is expanding his company's device lineup with a new smart wearable: an AI-powered smart ring known as Index 01. Named for the finger where the ring is meant to be worn, the new $75 ring is not meant to be a competitor to the always-on, always-listening AI devices, like the AI pendant Friend, but instead offers a way to record quick notes and reminders with a press of a button on the ring's side. AI only comes into play via the open source, speech-to-text, and AI models that run locally on your smartphone, via the open source Pebble mobile app. That is, if the Ring's button is not being pressed, it's not recording. (And this is a press-and-hold gesture, too, which means you can't start the ring's recording and then let go to surreptitiously record a conversation.) You can wear the stainless steel ring while in the shower, washing hands, doing dishes, or in the rain, but you would have to take it off for other water-related activities, like swimming. At launch, it's water-resistant to 1 meter. The ring is also not a fitness tracker or sleep monitor. It doesn't record details about your heart rate or health. And it's not there to be your AI friend. "I'm not trying to build some AI assistant thing," Migicovsky told TechCrunch in an interview. "I build things that solve one main problem, and they solve it really well," he explains. "I think of [the ring] as external memory for my brain...that's what this is. It's always with you." Plus, the ring has been designed to be highly reliable and privacy-preserving, he says, as all your thoughts are stored on your phone, not in the cloud. There is no subscription. Migicovsky has been wearing the ring for three months now and says he cannot imagine going back to a world where he doesn't always have a memory device with him. "The problem is that, during the day, I get ideas or I remember something, and if I don't write it down that second, I forget it," he says. The ring solves this problem, he adds, without becoming another device you need to charge. "The battery lasts for years," Migicovsky claims. Technically, the ring is said to support roughly 12 to 14 hours of recording. On average, the founder says he uses it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. At that rate, he'll get about two years of usage. When the ring's battery dies, you can ship it back to the company for recycling. When using Index, you can record up to five minutes of audio, which can be saved to the ring and synced to your phone later. This makes sense for recording briefer, personal thoughts and notes, even when you don't have your phone handy, but it wouldn't work for recording a longer chat, like a presentation, meeting, or in-person interview of some kind. The ring also supports 99+ languages and has a bit of on-device memory, in case you're not in Bluetooth range of your device, where the recording is ultimately saved and transcribed. (The raw audio is retained, too, in case the speech-to-text is garbled due to loud background noise). If you own a Pebble smartwatch or one from another brand, your recorded thought can even appear on the watch's screen so you can verify it's correct. The ring works with Pebble's mobile app, which offers notes and reminders, but can optionally integrate with your phone's calendaring system, too, or other apps, like Notion. And the ring's software is open source, which makes it hackable by the community, the founder points out. Because of its open nature, the ring's button is already programmable. In addition to the press-and-hold gesture, you can program the ring to do other things with a single or double press, like play or pause your music or control the shutter on your phone's camera. You could use it to send a message through the universal chat app Beeper, which Migicovsky also created, or you could add your own voice actions via MCP. A new approach to hardware Migicovsky acknowledges that hardware can be difficult to get right -- as the previous exit of Pebble to Fitbit showed. (Fitbit, too, was later acquired by Google in 2021). "I didn't earn any money during Pebble -- we exited, but it was not a great exit," Migicovsky admits. This year, however, he decided to reboot the Pebble project after Google open sourced the PebbleOS, which opened up the door to new hardware. With his new company, Core Devices, Migicovsky plans to do things differently. Still, the founder doesn't regret his previous choices, he clarifies. "I wouldn't have gone back and changed anything. I loved what we built. I loved what we did. I love the company that we built, but it's not the only way to build a company," he told TechCrunch. " And, speaking as an ex-YC partner, there are -- there's a time and a place for building a venture-backed startup. Some companies are phenomenal when they raise money and build a big team, and I tried that...I think what I'm doing now is trying an alternative path, which is [to] start from profitability," he says. The new company is a small team of five, self-funded, and focused on sustainability. So far, Core Devices has shipped the Pebble 2 Duo smartwatch with a black-and-white display. Its first run sold out, and the company is now preparing to ship the upgraded version, the Pebble Time 2. The newer device, which has seen 25,000 pre-orders, is a stainless steel watch with a larger, color e-ink screen. As for the Index 01, the ring's pre-order offer ends in March 2026. After that, the price increases to $99. It currently comes in silver, polished gold, and matte black and works with iOS and Android devices. Customers can select from eight ring sizes and three colors.
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Monday, December 8, 2025
You can buy your Instacart groceries without leaving ChatGPT
Shoppers will be able to go from recipe planning to checkout within the ChatGPT window.
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TikTok adds a space for organizing content with others, teases ‘Shared Feeds’
Shared Feeds will surface new content tailored to both users' tastes, such as sports, winter activities, and their favorite creators.
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Heat pump startup Quilt raises $20M Series B to expand sales
Quilt has sold nearly 1,000 units in the U.S. and Canada, and the new funding should help expand sales operations to more states and provinces.
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Petco’s security lapse affected customers’ SSNs, drivers’ licenses and more
Petco said the exposure was due to an error in an application, and that it is notifying victims’ whose data was affected.
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‘ONE RULE’: Trump says he’ll sign an executive order blocking state AI laws despite bipartisan pushback
“I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week,” Trump posted on social media. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something.”
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Paramount goes to war with Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery with hostile $108.4B bid
Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a hostile, $108.4 billion bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, days after Warner Bros. agreed to be acquired by Netflix for $82.7 billion.
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IBM to acquire Confluent for $11B as it seeks to bolster its data offerings
IBM is buying data infrastructure company Confluent for $11 billion in cash in a bid to to bolster its data and automation products as ever more companies move their tech operations to the cloud and deploy AI technology.
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OpenAI boasts enterprise win days after internal ‘code red’ on Google threat
ChatGPT Enterprise usage grew 8x year-over-year as workers report saving an hour daily, but OpenAI faces competitive pressure from Anthropic and questions about cost sustainability.
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Sunday, December 7, 2025
Netflix co-CEO discussed Warner Bros. deal with Trump
Will Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. get approval from federal regulators? While Paramount was assumed to be the frontrunner to acquire the storied movie studio thanks to CEO David Ellison’s connections to the Trump administration, new reporting in Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met with President […]
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Netflix co-CEO reportedly discussed Warner Bros. deal with Trump
Will Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. get approval from federal regulators? While Paramount was assumed to be the frontrunner to acquire the storied movie studio thanks to CEO David Ellison’s connections to the Trump administration, new reporting in Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met with President […]
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X deactivates European Commission’s ad account after the company was fined €120M
X has seemingly penalized the European Commission's account after the commission fined the company over blue checkmarks and ad transparency.
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The accelerator is on the floor for autonomous vehicles
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
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Coinbase starts onboarding users again in India, plans for fiat on-ramp next year
Coinbase is exploring expansion into India with a staggered relaunch and hiring for different roles.
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OpenAI says it’s turned off app suggestions that look like ads
While OpenAI continues to insist that there are currently no ads — or tests for advertising — live in ChatGPT, the company’s chief research officer also acknowledged that the company “fell short” with recent promotional messages.
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Saturday, December 6, 2025
Pat Gelsinger wants to save Moore’s Law, with a little help from the Feds
The company is aiming to produce its first silicon wafers by 2028 and have its first commercial system online by 2029.
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Meta reportedly delays mixed reality glasses until 2027
aMeta lready sells VR headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses, but these new glasses sound a bit different. Their format factor would reportedly be similar to the Apple Vision Pro, with a puck-like power source.
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Is it time to ‘refound’ your startup?
Sometimes, founding a startup just once isn’t enough.
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How would the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal reshape Hollywood?
It’s only been a day since Netflix announced an $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros., and the acquisition has already been described as sending Hollywood into “full-blown panic mode,” “possibly a death blow to theatrical filmmaking,” and maybe even “the end of Hollywood” itself.
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Creator IShowSpeed sued for allegedly punching, choking viral humanoid Rizzbot
Creator IShowSpeed sued after punching, choking viral humanoid Rizzbot.
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Friday, December 5, 2025
Digital artist Beeple put his face on a $100K robot dog next to Elon Musk and Picasso – it sold first
The project marks at least the second time Winkelmann has become the art world's main character.
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Sources: AI synthetic research startup Aaru raised a Series A at a $1B ‘headline’ valuation
The one-year-old startup, which does market research on simulated populations, had a multi-tier valuation round, sources tell TechCrunch.
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Ex-Googler’s Yoodli triples valuation to $300M+ with AI built to assist, not replace, people
Yoodli counts Google, Snowflake, and Databricks among its customers.
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This startup built a Fitbit for your brain to combat chronic stress
Awear won the Battlefield 200 health stage pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
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AWS re:Invent was an all-in pitch for AI. Customers might not be ready.
AWS is releasing a lot of new AI tech but the cloud infrastructure giant's enterprise customers may not be ready for it yet.
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eSIM adoption is on the rise thanks to travel and device compatibility
eSIM as a technology has been around for a decade now. However, global eSIM adoption was around 3% last year and will only cross 5% this year. Despite these figures, analysts, eSIM-providing startups, and investors are bullish about eSIM’s upward trajectory, largely thanks to travel. Device compatibility One of the key factors for that is […]
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New ‘KnoWay’ robotaxis cause chaos in upcoming Grand Theft Auto Online DLC
The inclusion of the Waymo look-a-likes appears to be part of a larger storyline that will encourage players to "stop the development of a mass surveillance network."
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New streaming channel launches to give viewers a peek into city council meetings
Hamlet TV is a way to help keep citizens informed of what's happening inside local governments.
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The New York Times is suing Perplexity for copyright infringement
The New York Times filed a copyright lawsuit against Perplexity, joining other publishers using legal action as leverage to force AI companies into licensing deals that compensate content creators.
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Meta signs commercial AI data agreements with publishers to offer real-time news on Meta AI
Meta is partnering with CNN, Fox News, Fox Sports, Le Monde Group, the People Inc. portfolio of media brands, The Daily Caller, The Washington Examiner, and USA Today.
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In its first DSA penalty, EU fines X €120M for ‘deceptive’ blue check verification system
The EC is taking issue with the fact that X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, has been allowing anyone to buy a "blue checkmark," the platform's long-standing symbol that a user has been verified to be who they are claiming to be.
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Energy storage industry set aggressive goals for 2025 — and already crushed them
The battery storage industry in the U.S. has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years, surpassing its most aggressive targets to become one of the largest new sources of power on the grid.
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Petco confirms security lapse exposed customers’ personal data
The pet company has published almost no details about what happened, who was affected, and what personal data was exposed.
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Thursday, December 4, 2025
Chicago Tribune sues Perplexity
The newspaper is alleging copyright infringement and calling out Perplexity's Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) as a culprit.
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All the biggest news from AWS’ big tech show re:Invent 2025
Amazon Web Services' giant tech conference re:Invent 2025 is happening this week with news ranging from chips to AI services.
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Anthropic CEO weighs in on AI bubble talk and risk-taking among competitors
Anthropic's CEO shared his thoughts on the economics of AI and the risk-taking of competitors, saying some were "YOLO-ing" with regard to spending.
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From the NFL to Startup Battlefield: How Alltroo built a brand that wins
On season one of Build Mode: Product, Meet Market, we explore what it really takes to get your product into the hands of customers. We’ve talked a lot about product-market fit, but this week we take a step back to something just as essential and far less discussed: founder-market fit. Investors love to ask, “What’s your competitive advantage?” Usually they’re talking about moats, […]
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Legal AI startup Harvey confirms $8B valuation
Harvey confirms a third enormous round of funding in 2025 that has skyrocketed its valuation. Again.
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Sanctioned spyware maker Intellexa had direct access to government espionage victims, researchers say
Based on a leaked video, security researchers alleged that Intellexa staffers have remote live access to their customers' surveillance systems, allowing them to see hacking targets’ personal data.
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Amazon’s new Kindle Scribe and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft launch on December 10
The new Kindle Scribe has a larger 11-inch glare-free display, is just 5.4 mm thick, and weighs only 400 g. It’s also 40% faster when writing or turning pages.
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Why Day One Ventures’ Masha Bucher thinks VCs and storytelling go hand-in-hand
Day One Ventures' Masha Bucher doesn't just invest in startups—she tells their stories. Her integrated model aligns incentives and proves conviction matters more than contracts.
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Meta centralizes Facebook and Instagram support, tests AI support assistant
The new support hub will connect users to security tools, account recovery options, and an AI assistant.
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California’s ban on self-driving trucks could soon be over
Revised rules in California would allow self-driving trucks to test on public highways. The rules also close a loophole allowing police to issue tickets for driverless vehicles.
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Amazon reportedly considering dropping USPS and building a competing postal service
Amazon is the USPS' biggest customer, and the e-commerce giant's potential break from the postal agency comes as the two sides are negotiating a new deal.
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TikTok rolls out a ‘Nearby Feed’ to display local content in select countries
While TikTok is already known for its recommendation algorithm, which is able to target users with highly personalized content, the addition of a Nearby Feed gives it the ability to display even more relevant content to its users.
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Meta reportedly plans to slash Metaverse budget by up to 30%
The proposal reflects the overall lack of interest in products like Meta's social virtual reality platform, Horizon Worlds.
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Spotify says Wrapped 2025 is its biggest yet, with 200M+ users in its first day
After last year's flop, Spotify Wrapped engagement is up 19% and shares were up 41%, the company says.
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Gemini was Google’s top trending search term in 2025
Gemini wasn’t the only AI chatbot to make the list, as DeepSeek ranked seventh among the year’s trending searches.
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Wednesday, December 3, 2025
New unicorn Brevo raises $583M to challenge CRM giants
Brevo, a customer relationship management company headquartered in Paris, is now a unicorn.
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All the biggest news from AWS’ big tech show re:Invent 2025
Amazon Web Services giant tech conference is happening this week with news ranging from chips to AI services.
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Amazon hopes to jump start its AI coding tool Kiro by giving it away to startups
Can Kiro win the hearts of startup founders above the many AI coding tools they already have? Amazon hopes a free year will tempt them.
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Meta poaches Apple design exec Alan Dye
Dye led Apple's user interface team for the last decade.
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Tonight, the future of deep tech will be explained to you at StrictlyVC Palo Alto
On Wednesday evening at Playground Global in Palo Alto, some very smart people who are building things you don't understand yet will explain what's coming. This is the final StrictlyVC event of 2025, and truly, the lineup is ridiculous.
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Fintech firm Marquis alerts dozens of US banks and credit unions of a data breach after ransomware attack
Marquis said ransomware hackers stole reams of banking customer data, containing personal information and financial records, as well as Social Security numbers, belonging to hundreds of thousands of people. The number of affected people is expected to rise.
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Energy department hands out $800M in grants for small nuclear reactors
The Tennessee Valley Authority and Holtec were awarded substantial grants to build one reactor in Tennessee and two more in Michigan.
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Anthropic hires lawyers as it preps for IPO
Anthropic is reportedly prepping for an IPO that could come as early as 2026.
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AWS doubles down on custom LLMs with features meant to simplify model creation
AWS is launching more capabilities in both Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker AI to make building custom models easier.
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What is Bending Spoons? Everything to know about Eventbrite’s acquirer
Bending Spoons remains largely unknown, even as its portfolio of products has served more than a billion people.
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Amazon Fire TV’s new AI feature lets you jump to scenes by describing them to Alexa+
Amazon says you can describe the scene to Alexa by mentioning details like the actor or character's name, or a memorable quote.
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Another bid to block state AI regulation has failed…for now
Republicans’ attempt to ban state AI regulations was removed from the defense bill after bipartisan opposition, underscoring tensions between tech-industry demands, consumer protection concerns, and Trump’s push for sweeping federal preemption.
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Google Photos’ 2025 Recap turns to Gemini to find your highlights
The Google Photos Recap will use Gemini's AI to find your memorable moments throughout the year, and adds new metrics, like a 'selfie' count.
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Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Healthify upgrades its AI assistant Ria with real-time conversation capabilities
Healtify is adding live conversation capabilities to its AI assistant, powered by OpenAI's realtime APIs
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All the biggest news from AWS’ big tech show re:Invent 2025
Amazon Web Services giant tech conference is happening this week with news ranging from chips to AI services.
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Amazon challenges competitors with on-premises Nvidia ‘AI Factories’
If the product name sounds familiar, it should. It's a collab with Nvidia that combines AWS tech with the chip maker's tech.
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Discord users can now buy in-game items without leaving the platform
Discord users can now purchase digital game items directly within the platform, create wishlists, and send gifts through DMs.
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A data breach at analytics giant Mixpanel leaves a lot of open questions
We sent over a dozen questions to Mixpanel's CEO about the company's data breach. Here's what we want to know.
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AWS re:Invent 2025: How to watch and follow along live
Amazon Web Services’ big annual event, re:Invent 2025, is getting into full swing in Las Vegas this week, and you can follow the keynotes live right here.
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Amazon starts testing ‘ultra-fast’ 30-minute deliveries
The new "ultra-fast" delivery option will allow Amazon to better compete with services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Instacart.
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YouTube releases its first-ever recap of videos you’ve watched
YouTube Recap features a set of up to 12 different cards that highlight a user's top channels, interests, the evolution of their viewing habits, and which personality type they fall into based on the videos they loved to watch.
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AWS announces new capabilities for its AI agent builder
AWS is introducing new capabilities for its AI agent building platform, including memory and evaluation tools.
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Simular’s AI agent wants to run your Mac, Windows PC for you
Simular, a startup building AI agents for Mac OS and Windows, has solved the AI hallucination problem in an compelling way.
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Amazon releases an impressive new AI chip and teases a Nvidia-friendly roadmap
AWS has been building its own AI chips – and systems – for years now. It just released its third version, known as Trainium3 with some impressive specs.
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Mistral closes in on Big AI rivals with new open-weight frontier and small models
Mistral unveils its Mistral 3 lineup, including a frontier model and efficient small models designed for offline, customizable enterprise use—aiming to prove small, fine-tuned AI can beat closed-source giants.
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Titan OS raises $58 million from Highland Europe for its smart TV OS
Titan OS aims to expand its independent TV operating system in Europe and Latin America.
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Monday, December 1, 2025
What does it mean when Uncle Sam is one of your biggest shareholders? Chip startup xLight is about to find out
You can imagine how this is all going over in Silicon Valley, where the libertarian ethos runs deep.
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Apple just named a new AI chief with Google and Microsoft expertise, as John Giannandrea steps down
The move is being characterized as a shake-up, but was seemingly inevitable in retrospect.
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One of Google’s biggest AI advantages is what it already knows about you
The promise is AI that's uniquely helpful because it knows you. But the risk is AI that feels more like surveillance than service.
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European cops shut down crypto mixing website that helped launder 1.3 billion euros
Europol announced the seizure of Cryptomixer’s official website, as well as 25 million euros and 12 terabytes of data from the mixer's service.
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Festivitas lets you decorate your Apple devices with holiday lights and snow
This year, the whimsical holiday app comes to iPhone and adds a snow effect for Mac users.
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OpenAI’s investment into Thrive Holdings is its latest circular deal
Analysts will be watching to see if Thrive-owned firms actually succeed in building long-term profitable businesses using OpenAI’s tech, or if the result is really just pumped up valuations based on speculative market potential.
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Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus drove sales on Black Friday
On Black Friday, Amazon sessions that resulted in a sale were up 100% in the U.S. when the AI chatbot Rufus was used. They only increased by 20% when Rufus wasn't used.
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Deezer rolls out ‘My Deezer Year 2025,’ its Spotify Wrapped clone
Deezer launched its version of Spotify Wrapped to give listeners an overview of their top tracks and artists.
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Nvidia’s $2B Synopsys bet tightens its grip on the chip-design stack
The $2 billion investment in Synopsys, which makes software and components for designing semiconductor chips, deepens their existing partnership at a time when analysts scrutinize circular AI-industry deals and warn of a potential bubble.
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How AI PR startup Clipbook won Mark Cuban’s investment from a cold email
Adam Joseph was shocked when Mark Cuban replied to his email with an inquisition full of questions.
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Black Forest Labs raises $300M at $3.25B valuation
The round was co-led by Salesforce Ventures and Anjney Midha (AMP), and saw participation from a16z, NVIDIA, Northzone, Creandum, Earlybird VC, BroadLight Capital, General Catalyst, Temasek, Bain Capital Ventures, Air Street Capital, Visionaries Club, Canva and Figma Ventures.
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Korea’s Coupang says data breach exposed nearly 34M customers’ personal information
E-commerce company Coupang has confirmed a massive data breach affecting 33.7 million customer accounts in South Korea.
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Sunday, November 30, 2025
Varda says it has proven space manufacturing works — now it wants to make it boring
CEO Will Bruey says people often get Varda wrong. The company isn't "in the space industry; we're in-space industry," he said. Space is "just another place to ship to."
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‘Avatar’ director James Cameron says generative AI is ‘horrifying’
James Cameron’s movies are often at the cutting edge of visual effects technology, but that doesn't make him a fan of generative AI.
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New report examines how David Sacks might profit from Trump administration role
David Sacks’ role as President Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence and crypto czar could work out very well for his investments, according to a new report. However, Sacks fired back, calling the story a "nothing burger."
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ChatGPT launched three years ago today
It’s no hyperbole to suggest that ChatGPT subsequently transformed the worlds of business and tech.
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Behind the scenes of drone food delivery in Finland
TechCrunch went behind the scenes of a three-party partnership between Irish drone delivery company Manna, Doordash-owned food delivery platform Wolt, and food startup Huuva.
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Saturday, November 29, 2025
Black Friday sets online spending record of $11.8B, Adobe says
American consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which says it tracks more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites.
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Airbus orders software fix to thousands of planes due to solar radiation risk
Flights were delayed and cancelled globally after Airbus ordered fixes to 6,000 of its A320 series planes, according to The Guardian. The company said it’s taking action because “analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.” Citing […]
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New York state law takes aim at personalized pricing
Businesses that use personalized pricing are now required to tell customers, “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data."
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No, you can’t get your AI to ‘admit’ to being sexist, but it probably is
Though LLMs might not use explicitly biased language, they may infer your demographic data and display implicit biases, researchers say.
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Friday, November 28, 2025
VC Kara Nortman bet early on women’s sports, and now she’s creating the market
As women's sports enters what feels like a sustained boom period -- the Golden State Valkyries just played their first WNBA next season, the NWSL is expanding, media rights deals are growing -- Nortman remains cautiously optimistic about whether this moment will prove different from past surges in interest.
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Supabase hit $5B by turning down million-dollar contracts. Here’s why.
Vibe coding has taken the tech industry by storm, and it’s not just the Lovables and Replits of the world that are winning. The startups building the infrastructure behind them are cashing in too. Supabase, the open-source database platform that’s become the backend of choice for the vibe-coding world, raised $100 million at a $5 billion valuation just months after closing $200 million at $2 billion. But co-founder and CEO […]
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SoftBank stays in as Meesho $606M IPO becomes India’s first major e-commerce listing
Meesho heads for India's first big e-commerce IPO next week.
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How OpenAI and Google see AI changing go-to-market strategies
AI is changing how investors and startups bring their products to market. Three experts offered their insights at TechCrunch Disrupt.
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Best iPad apps to boost productivity and make your life easier
There are many iPad apps to help you organize recipes; sync tasks across devices; be more productive; and manage your notes.
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The race to regulate AI has sparked a federal vs state showdown
The fight over AI regulation isn't about the technology -- it's about whether Washington or the states get to set the rules, and what happens to consumers caught in between.
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Thursday, November 27, 2025
Anduril’s autonomous weapons stumble in tests and combat, WSJ reports
Defense tech startup Anduril Industries has faced numerous setbacks during testing of its autonomous weapons systems, according to new reporting by the WSJ. The problems cited include more than a dozen drone boats that failed during a Navy exercise off California in May, with sailors warning of safety violations and potential loss of life; a […]
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This Thanksgiving’s real drama may be Michael Burry versus Nvidia
Is Burry the canary in the coal mine, warning of a collapse that's inevitable? Or could his fame, his track record, his now unrestricted voice, and a fast-growing audience trigger the very implosion he's predicting?
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How Glīd won Startup Battlefield 2025: Mentorship, mission-focus, and meditation
This week in Build Mode, Startup Battlefield editor Isabelle Johannessen is joined by the winner of this year’s competition, Kevin Damoa, the CEO and founder of Glīd, a logistics infrastructure company that aims to streamline the complex container shipment process.
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Best iPad apps for unleashing and exploring your creativity
We’ve compiled a list of some of the best iPad apps for creativity that are available on the App Store.
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Glīd won Startup Battlefield 2025 by building solutions to make logistis simpler, safer, and smarter
We're excited to interview the winner of Startup Battlefield 2025, and Glid co-founder Kevin Damoa, on this week's Build Mode!
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Wednesday, November 26, 2025
The future will be explained to you in Palo Alto
On Wednesday evening at PlayGround Global in Palo Alto, some very smart people who are building things you don’t understand yet will explain what’s coming. This is the final StrictlyVC event of 2025, and truly, the lineup is ridiculous. The series has bounced around the globe under the auspices of TechCrunch. Steve Case rented a […]
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