Meta didn’t buy Moltbook for bots, they bought Agent Web
Some may have scratched their heads Tuesday morning when news broke that Meta had acquired Maltbook, a social network for AI agents. What on earth does Meta, an ad-supported company, want from a social network whose users are bots? After all, bots are not the target users of brand marketers and advertisers. Meta doesn’t say […]
Amazon expands program that lets customers shop from other retailers’ sites
Amazon is expanding access to a program called Shop Direct that allows U.S. customers to discover and buy products not sold in its online store. The retail giant announced Wednesday that it will support third-party product feeds that merchants use to provide information about inventory, pricing, and catalogs to other partners. Using this information, Amazon […]
Former Apple engineer raises $5 million for memo pendant that records only audio
With advances in voice-to-text technology powered by AI models, transcription and note-taking has emerged as one of the primary use cases for wearable gadgets. Startups like Plaud and Pocket are also becoming more differentiated by specializing in products that can record and summarize meetings. Companies like Friend, Omi, and Amazon-owned Bee are exploring form factors […]
Google completes $32 billion acquisition of cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz
Google has officially acquired Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz for $32 billion in cash, a year after the companies announced the deal. This is Google’s largest acquisition in its history. Wiz provides a security platform that protects major cloud environments by preventing and responding to cybersecurity threats. The company said it will join Google Cloud but […]
Zoox plans to bring robotaxis to the Uber app in Las Vegas this year
Amazon’s Zoox plans to make robotaxis hailable through the Uber app in Las Vegas later this year, the companies announced Wednesday. But first, Zoox needs federal approval before it can commercially deploy its robotaxis, which have no steering wheel or pedals. That would require a waiver from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). The […]
Google and Tesla think we’re managing the power grid all wrong
Google, Tesla, data center developer Verrus and others say the power grid is underutilized and want everyone, especially politicians, to know that. The companies, along with HVAC giant Carrier, virtual power plant company Renew Home, distributed energy resource developer Sparkfund, and smart electrical panel startup Span, have formed a new group called Utilize to get […]
DOGE employee stole Social Security data and stored it on thumb drive, report says
A former employee of Elon Musk’s Office of Government Efficiency reportedly stole Americans’ personal data from the U.S. Social Security Administration and stored it on thumb drives, according to a whistleblower report reported by the Washington Post. The former DOGE software engineer told colleagues at his new job that he had “two highly restricted databases […]
“Pokémon Pokopia” is a game about repairing a broken world – I love it
On Friday night, my boyfriend and I sat on the couch and had a refreshing evening doing nothing together. We tuned in to a baseball game, he grabbed my guitar, and I eagerly fired up Pokémon Pokopia. This is a new cozy life simulator game in the 30-year-old series. This is different from previous Pokemon. […]
YouTube will surpass Disney, Paramount, and WBD in ad revenue in 2025
YouTube hit some impressive numbers in 2025. The platform brings in a whopping $40.4 billion in ad revenue, more than the combined $37.8 billion in ad revenue from Disney, NBC, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), according to new estimates from research firm Moffett Nathanson reported by The Hollywood Reporter. This shift is a clear […]
New report finds AI-powered apps struggle with long-term storage
With the top app stores flooded with AI apps, developers may think their best bet to increase profits is to integrate artificial intelligence technology into their products. But a new study focusing on the subscription app ecosystem across iOS, Android, and the web calls that assumption into question. RevenueCat, a company with subscription management tools […]