Google launches Lyria 3 Pro music generation model
Google announced Wednesday that it will release Lyria 3 Pro, a music generation model, one month after the release of Lyria 3. The Lyria 3 model offered tracks that were 30 seconds long, but the new model allows you to create tracks that are up to 3 minutes long. The company said the Lyria 3 […]
Granola raises $125M, expands from meeting note-taking tool to enterprise AI app, reaches $1.5B valuation
Users may not like a bot visibly taking notes during a meeting, but many people don’t care if an app on someone’s computer is doing the transcription. This is the core reason behind granola’s popularity, and helped it secure $125 million in Series C funding led by Index Ventures’ Danny Reimer with participation from Kleiner […]
ReelShort made $1.2 billion with its werewolf romance. Watch Club wants to improve that.
Over the past few years, a new category of mobile apps has quietly exploded into a multibillion-dollar business. These are called “microdramas,” which are short, mobile-first scripted shows designed to be viewed vertically on mobile phones. Think of it as soap opera meets TikTok. Packed with a billionaire’s secret romance, a werewolf stepmother’s disapproval, and […]
Arbor Energy has secured a $1 billion order to bring rocket turbine technology to the power grid.
Energy startup Arbor Energy said Wednesday it has sold up to 5 gigawatts worth of modular turbines to GridMarket, a company that helps arrange power projects for data centers and industrial users. “Everyone wants more power, and they wanted it yesterday,” Arbor co-founder and CEO Brad Hartwig told TechCrunch. “The time frames are compressing and […]
Meta uses AI to make shopping on Instagram and Facebook easier
Meta aims to leverage AI’s ability to inform and potentially influence shoppers to increase sales on its social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. At this week’s Shoptalk 2026 conference, the tech giant announced it would begin testing a new experience that would allow consumers to see more product information and an overview of […]
Two former SpaceX engineers use Sift to bring the software that helped launch rockets to the factory floor
A cry of “Atoms, not bits!” It’s a phrase that describes Silicon Valley’s growing obsession with physical manufacturing over digital products, culminating last week with Jeff Bezos saying he was raising $100 billion to ramp up and automate factories. But factory automation is not purely a hardware issue. Increasing reliance on sophisticated software and AI […]
Lucid Bots raises $20 million to meet demand for window cleaning drones
Andrew Ashur, founder and CEO of window cleaning robot startup Lucid Bots, likes to joke that his company is the antithesis of today’s robotics industry. While many companies are building humanoids or promoting demonstrations of robots dancing and somersaulting, Lucid Bots’ drones are out in the field doing traditionally unsexy and dangerous tasks like cleaning […]
Former Thiel researcher’s startup launches drone to replace police helicopters
When I spoke with Blake Resnick, he was walking around his drone startup’s state-of-the-art office space in Seattle. The cavernous 50,000-square-foot facility, Resnick says, won’t be fully ready until later this year, possibly in November. Still, this large (and so far mostly empty) building holds potential for a fast-growing company looking to conquer a specific […]
New Mexico just handed Meta its first loss in child safety court, and the rest of the country is taking notice.
A Santa Fe jury on Tuesday found that Meta misled consumers about the safety of its platform and the risks to children, and ordered it to pay $375 million in civil penalties. In a press release issued shortly after the ruling, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres’ office called the ruling “a watershed moment for […]
OpenAI’s Sora was the creepiest app on your phone, but it’s now dead
OpenAI announced Tuesday that it is shutting down Sora, a TikTok-like social app that was released six months ago. OpenAI did not provide a reason for the closure or share information on when it would be officially retired. When Sora first opened as an invite-only social network, it seemed like everyone wanted an invite. But […]