Indian states consider Australian-style ban on social media for children
India could become the next major test case for age-based social media bans, as states consider Australian-style restrictions on children’s access to platforms amid a growing global regulatory movement. The initiative has begun at the state level, with the western state of Goa becoming the latest state to consider whether to ban children under 16 […]
Amazon closes Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores
Rest in peace, Amazon’s convenience store is gone and will probably soon be forgotten. Amazon announced Tuesday that it will close its brick-and-mortar Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores and instead expand its same-day grocery delivery capabilities and Whole Foods Market locations. These stores were used to grow Amazon’s cashierless Just Walk Out technology, which […]
Risotto raises $10M seed to leverage AI to make ticketing systems easier to use
Help desk automation is a billion-dollar industry and one of the industries most likely to be disrupted by technology built on AI. Big players like Zendesk, ServiceNow, and Freshworks currently dominate the space, but a number of smaller startups are betting that reorganizing workflows will give them a chance to break in. Risotto is one […]
Phoebe Gates and Sofia Chiani’s Fia raises $35 million to ‘make shopping fun again’
Fear’s team is literally trapped. The startup is focused on building an AI shopping agent, but Phia founders Phoebe Gates and Sofia Chianni are unable to leave their apartments after a snowstorm hits New York City. So when I chat with my former Stanford roommate and best friend, it’s unusual for them not to be […]
Airtable enters the AI agent game with Superagent
It may sound crazy to launch an entirely new product line when your core business is reducing the value of paper by two-thirds. But Airtable founder and CEO Howie Liu suggests it’s the smartest move he can make. The company, valued by investors at $11.7 billion during the zero interest rate frenzy of 2021, is […]
Meta for testing premium subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp
Meta plans to test a new subscription that gives people access to exclusive features in IT apps, the company told TechCrunch on Monday. The tech giant said the new subscription will further boost productivity and creativity, along with expanded AI capabilities. In the coming months, Meta said it will offer a premium experience on Instagram, […]
Some international participants will be absent from the 2026 GDC due to safety concerns and increased ICE presence
If comments on social media platforms like LinkedIn are any indication, the 2026 Game Developers Conference could be a little less international this year. Many members of the international gaming industry have announced they will be absent from the event, primarily due to concerns about safety, stricter U.S. immigration rules, and the increased presence of […]
Vinod Khosla publicly denies Keith Lavoie’s comments on ICE shootings
Look no further than Keith Lavoie, a partner at Khosla Ventures, to understand the position of unwavering Trump supporters in the wake of last weekend’s fatal shooting of an American by a federal Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis that shocked the nation. Mr. Lavoie’s public support for the Border Patrol’s actions in the murder of […]
YouTubers and others sue Snap for copyright infringement in training AI models
A group of YouTubers suing the tech giant for scraping their videos without permission to train AI models has now added Snap to its list of defendants. The plaintiffs, Internet content creators who operate three YouTube channels with a total of about 6.2 million subscribers, allege that Snap trained its AI system on video content […]
Here’s the tech powering ICE’s deportation crackdown
President Donald Trump said he would make countering immigration one of his flagship policies during his second term in the White House, promising an unprecedented number of deportations. A year in, data shows that deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection have surpassed at least 350,000 people. ICE has taken […]