Airbuds hopes music social networks Apple and Spotify have built them
The new social network is quietly exploding after Gen Z, not from the meta. San Francisco-based Airbuds offers mobile social apps that allow people to express themselves through their music. Users can share streaming with friends using smartphone widgets that run on a variety of streaming services. On Wednesday, Airbuds announced $5 million in funding […]
Discover Google Revamps Page and view content from the creator
On Wednesday, Google announced that it could update its discovery page for its flagship search apps to follow certain publishers and creators to express more content from people they like. The update follows a feature deployed by Google last month, allowing users to choose a news site or blog selection in the Top Stories section […]
Amazon launches AI agents to help sellers complete tasks and manage their business
Amazon announced Wednesday that it will always introduce AI agents to help platform sellers run their businesses. The company updates Seller Assistant, an AI tool for third-party sellers, to help handle tasks on behalf of the seller. “Our Agent AI capabilities are designed to work seamlessly throughout the sales experience. This means that sellers can […]
Insight Partners at VC Company say thousands of staff and limited partners have stolen personal data in ransomware attacks
Venture Capital Firm Insight Partners has notified thousands of people, including the company’s Limited Partners, that their personal information has been stolen by hackers in a previous data breaches. In a statement on September 4th, the VC giant said it completed its review in early August following the data breaches. The venture company said in […]
Terra Oleo Oil-Producing Microorganisms Could Replace Destructive Palm Oil Plantations
When most kids rebel against their families, they may become ski butts, join a band, or go to art school. Shen Min Lee decided to start a company. “I grew up in the traditional palm oil industry,” Lee told TechCrunch. “My family’s business is one of the top producers in the palm oil field. And […]
Lyft and Waymo are partnering to bring Robotaxis to Nashville
Waymo signed a contract with passenger company Lyft in 2026 to launch the Robotaxi service in Nashville. The company said Wednesday it will begin testing a fleet of all electrical and autonomous Jaguar I-Pace cars in the Nashville area and will open services to the public next year. The partnership agreement announced Wednesday was announced […]
Icarus raises $6.1 million to take on “warehouse work” of space with embodied robots
Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer, co-founders of Icarus Robotics, interviewed astronauts about what they were working in space when they came to the idea of a startup. Their big point: the job was more cargo logistics than cutting-edge science. “We are a PhD warehouse worker at Amazon,” said one astronaut. If the experiment takes two […]
Sonair has built a 3D ultrasonic sensor with robot safety in mind
As robots become more and more into human spaces, robot companies need to think about safety in a different way than when the robots were mostly silent from their human counterparts. Sonair believes that sensors will help robotic companies achieve their safety goals. Norway-based Oslo has built ADAR (acoustic detection and range) sensors for robots […]
Google Ventures doubles developer tools startup blacksmith just four months after seed round
Once Speed became the decisive currency in the AI-driven software world, Blackmith raised another round (just four months after the seed) led by Google Ventures to accelerate how the code was shipped. The $10 million Series A was shut down in just 14 days, and Google Ventures doubled after backing the first Blacksmith $3.5 million […]
Al Gore on China’s rising climate: “I’d never seen this come.”
Twenty-five years ago, Algore was on the final stretch of his US presidential election, just weeks away from the election that eventually slipped through his fingers despite winning the popularity poll. His platform includes ambitious climate action, positioning America as a natural leader in global environmental transition. The irony of what has happened since then […]