TechCrunch

I’m watching ‘AI upscaled’ Star Trek and it isn’t terrible

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 18:02:26 +0200

For years, dedicated Star Trek fans have been using AI in an attempt to make a version of the acclaimed series Deep Space 9 that looks decent on modern TVs. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but I was surprised to find that it’s actually quite good — certainly good enough that media companies ought to […]

Robotics Q&A with Meta’s Dhruv Batra

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 18:01:25 +0200

For the next few weeks, TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter Actuator will be running Q&As with some of the top minds in robotics. Subscribe here for future updates. Part 1: CMU’s Matthew Johnson-Roberson Part 2: Toyota Research Institute’s Max Bajracharya and Russ Tedrake This time it’s Dhruv Batra, research director, FAIR (The Fundamental AI Research) at Meta. […]

It’s time for a heat check on the subscription economy and its proposed value to customers

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 16:35:44 +0200

Companies employing subscription licensing have grown between three and four times faster than the S&P 500 over the past 12 years.

23andMe says hackers accessed ‘significant number’ of files about users’ ancestry

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:43:04 +0200

Genetic testing company 23andMe announced on Friday that hackers accessed around 14,000 customer accounts in the company’s recent data breach. In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published Friday, the company said that, based on its investigation into the incident, it had determined that hackers had accessed 0.1% of its customer […]

Ev startup Fisker cut its 2023 production target for the fourth time

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:25:05 +0200

Fisker, the California-based EV startup, cut its annual production guidance in an effort to free up $300 million in working capital, the company said in a business update Friday. Fisker said it expects to produce about 10,000 vehicles this year. The decision comes less than a month since Fisker cut its production target to between […]

OpenAI’s GPT Store delayed to 2024 following leadership chaos

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:08:57 +0200

OpenAI’s app store for AI, the GPT Store, will not launch this year as previously announced, but rather on an unspecified date in early 2024, the company said. The delay is almost certainly due to the leadership shakeup that occurred in November, just after the initial announcement. The news was first reported by Axios, which […]

AWS re:Invent: Everything Amazon’s announced, from new AI tools to LLM updates and more

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 23:30:07 +0200

We will deliver quick hits of the biggest news from AWS re:Invent as they are announced.

What’s up with Tesla’s Cybertruck? Everything to know about the much-hyped electric pickup

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 22:10:46 +0200

After four years, the long-awaited launch of the Tesla Cybertruck electric pickup has come and gone. The boxy vehicle is Tesla’s first new model since 2020, when it started delivering the Model Y. Yet, Cybertruck’s initial debut predates that moment; Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off an early version of the pickup at a memorable […]

When Uncle Sam puts his thumb on your brake pedal

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 22:05:55 +0200

Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Hello, you scrumptious specimen of a human being. Have you looked yourself in the mirror and given yourself a high five today? No? Well, here’s your chance! I’ve had a productive couple of weeks on the site. I got pissy […]

Amazon signs 3-launch deal with SpaceX for Project Kuiper satellite internet constellation

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:53:56 +0200

Amazon has purchased three Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX to support deployment of its Project Kuiper mega-constellation, the company said Friday. The new deal comes scarcely two months after it was revealed that Amazon was facing a lawsuit over its decision not to consider SpaceX — the most reliable rocket company on the planet — […]

Tesla Cybertruck delivery event: Everything Elon revealed about the EV pickup

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:50:35 +0200

With dubstep as the soundtrack and neon lighting as the backdrop, Elon Musk handed the first Cybertrucks over to a select group of customers that included Reddit co-founder and VC fund Seven Seven Six founder Alexis Ohanian and Trousdale Ventures founder and CEO Phillip Sarofim. The livestreamed portion of the Tesla Cybertruck delivery event was […]

Good old-fashioned AI remains viable in spite of the rise of LLMs

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:24:45 +0200

Remember a year ago, all the way back to last November before we knew about ChatGPT, when machine learning was all about building models to solve for a single task like loan approvals or fraud protection? That approach seemed to go out the window with the rise of generalized LLMs, but the fact is generalized […]

TC+ Roundup: Forestry tech is at an inflection point

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:05:59 +0200

Gathering data to monitor forests that are conserved or restored is tedious, leaving the door wide open for startups in the space.

Bluesky rolls out automated moderation tools, plus user and moderation lists

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:00:40 +0200

Bluesky, the startup aiming to build a decentralized social network to take on Twitter/X, says it has begun deploying new safety tooling to help moderate content on the network through automation. Although still in private beta, the company has already made headlines for issues around content moderation in recent months after it initially didn’t ban […]

Pitch Deck Teardown: Scalestack’s $1M AI sales tech seed deck

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:30:10 +0200

We're going to put the deck Scalestack used to raise its $1M seed round under the microscope to see what it got right, and where it could have done better.

X says it will chase SMB ad dollars after Musk’s ‘go f*** yourself’ comments to fleeing advertisers

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:03:29 +0200

A new report by the Financial Times says X will now turn to small and medium-sized advertisers to shore up revenue after the company’s owner Elon Musk alienated big brands fleeing X over antisemitic content by telling them they could go fuck themselves during an interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit earlier this […]

Why Rover’s $2.3B sale price makes good sense

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:30:56 +0200

The Rover deal is expensive, but it has some notable caveats that tell us quite a lot about the state of the market for tech, and tech-enabled, companies.

Revenue-based financing heats-up in the Middle East as Flow48 attracts $25M in funding

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:30:45 +0200

We’ve seen how non-dilutive, revenue-based financing has risen up the priority ranks for companies as the era of ZIRP — as the Zero Interest Rate Period is now lovingly and somewhat longingly known — recedes into the distance, and securing venture capital funds becomes harder. An example of this is how US companies in this […]

Microsoft is in talks with partners about launching an Xbox mobile store

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:10:02 +0200

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Microsoft is talking to partners about launching an Xbox mobile store, as first reported by Bloomberg. Spencer made the comment during an interview at the CCXP comics and entertainment convention in Brazil on Thursday. The mobile store would take on Apple and Google, and could launch sooner than later, […]

Amazon finds itself in the unusual position of playing catch-up in AI

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:00:42 +0200

"This might be the first time where people looked and said that Amazon isn't in the pole position to capitalize on this massive opportunity."