All new Tesla Model 3 vehicles will now qualify for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit, according to a change in Tesla’s website. The EV tax credits were mandated by Congress last August as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, with the goal of ending U.S. reliance on China for batteries. The full $7,500 tax credit is broken into two parts. EVs can qualify for half, or $3,750, if 50% of the … [Read more...]

Last summer, Blackbird, one of Australia’s largest venture operations, marked down the value of one of its most prized stakes, in the Sydney-based design platform Canva. Valued at $40 billion by investors in a $200 million round in the fall of 2021, Blackbird adjusted its own valuation of the company 36% to $25.6 billion. Now, T. Rowe Price — the mutual fund Goliath that began investing … [Read more...]

Henry Hauser Contributor Henry Hauser is counsel in Perkins Coie’s antitrust and litigation practice groups and has significant experience working on matters related to antitrust investigations and litigation under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act. Antitrust is the engine of free enterprise: it shapes countless lines of commerce, … [Read more...]

A Kenyan court has ruled that Meta is the primary employer of content moderators suing the social media giant and its content review partner in Africa, Sama, for unlawful dismissal. The 184 moderators, in the suit filed in March this year, also alleged that Meta’s new content review partner on the continent, Majorel, had blacklisted them on instruction by Meta. Justice Byram Ongaya of Kenya’s … [Read more...]

AI researchers have built a Minecraft bot that can explore and expand its capabilities in the game’s open world — but unlike other bots, this one basically wrote its own code through trial and error and lots of GPT-4 queries. Called Voyager, this experimental system is an example of an “embodied agent,” an AI that can move and act freely and purposefully in a simulated or real environment. … [Read more...]

On Monday, Apple is more than likely going to reveal its long-awaited augmented or mixed reality ‘Reality Pro’ headset during the keynote of its annual WWDC developer conference in California. It’s an announcement that has been tipped or teased for years now, and reporting on the topic has suggested that at various times, the project has been subject to delays, internal skepticism and debate, … [Read more...]

Champ Suthipongchai Contributor Champ Suthipongchai is co-founder and GP at Creative Ventures, a deep tech firm that invests in early-stage companies. More posts by this contributor 3 ways to hire well for your startup The world we used to live in — the one that revolved around using cheap money to pump up ARR — is gone. It came to a screeching … [Read more...]

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank left a small but noticeable hole in the venture debt market that private lenders don’t find attractive enough to fill. When SVB went under in March, the startup ecosystem was primarily concerned about what would happen to startup and venture capital firm bank accounts. The second worry was what would happen to the venture debt market and the existing loans SVB … [Read more...]

Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i drew both appreciative and skeptical stares at CES earlier this year when it made its official debut: With two 13-inch OLED screens attached with a central hinge, it’s one of the most unusual laptop designs to ever make it into actual production. The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i ($2,099) is building on a long tradition of dual-screen notebook and portable device concepts (along with … [Read more...]

Snapchat now has an AI bot that you can send snaps to, and if you’re a premium subscriber, it can even send you pictures back. So, what happens if you send Snapchat’s My AI bot nudes? This is the obvious question that comes to mind, because on the internet, people will immediately try to test the limits of new technology, especially if it is even tangentially related to sex. When Snapchat’s … [Read more...]

In an era when no one worried too much about IT spending, startups leaned into the bottom-up sales approach and driving product-led growth. But that was then, and this is now. “It’s too soon to pronounce bottoms-up dead, but it’s looking pretty moribund,” according to Battery Ventures’ State of Cloud Software Spending Report, which surveyed 100 CIOs, CTOs and “other large tech buyers” who … [Read more...]

It’s been a wild few weeks for some of the biggest names in 3D printing. Last week, Stratasys announced plans to merge with Desktop Metal, and now another industry bigwig is getting in on the action. 3D Systems marked the occasion by announcing its own unsolicited bid to purchase Stratasys. “The combination of 3D Systems and Stratasys is simply the best outcome for the shareholders of both … [Read more...]

Scammers have published various advertisements for hacking services on the official websites of multiple U.S. state, county, and local governments, a federal agency, as well as numerous universities. The advertisements were contained in PDF files uploaded to official .gov websites belonging to the state governments of California, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming; the … [Read more...]

Many of the leading voices in AI have co-signed yet another ominous open letter warning that we should be “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI.” However, the voices shouting for regulation the loudest have us wondering how much of the AI fear-mongering is warranted, and how much is self-serving theater. This week, I’m joined by Devin Coldewey to talk about  why AI doomerism is … [Read more...]

Volkswagen is betting big on the upcoming ID.Buzz electric van. With availability of the vehicle still a year out, the automaker is counting on years of pent-up anticipation to not only sell the bus shrouded in nostalgia, but to have it act as a halo product to bring customers to the brand’s entire EV lineup. With the vehicle already out in Europe, it’s now — almost — time for the United States to … [Read more...]

Dumme, a startup putting AI to practical use in video editing, is already generating demand before opening up to the public. The Y Combinator-backed company has hundreds of video creators testing its product, which leverages AI to create short-form videos from YouTube content, and a waitlist of over 20,000 pre-launch, it says. Using a combination of both proprietary and existing AI models, Dumme’s … [Read more...]

YouTube TV added seven new channels to its lineup on Thursday, which includes the Tennis Channel, Magnolia Network, T2, CHARGE!, TBD, Tr3s Channel and Hogar de HGTV Channel. In particular, many subscribers will be happy about the addition of the Tennis Channel since it was removed from the streaming service in 2020. The news comes as the French Open concludes this weekend. The Tennis Channel is … [Read more...]

There’s something phoenix-like about the crypto world. No matter how high the highs, or how low the ensuing lows, blockchain enthusiasts, founders and investors remain confident that their favored sector will rise again. You have to give it to them: it always has bounded back. We saw this happen in the wake of the initial coin offering (ICO) boom, for example, when NFTs and DeFi took off, helping … [Read more...]

Gaming startup Proxima emerged from stealth earlier this week, announcing its funding round as well as its inaugural game, Lumari, a social sandbox adventure game that appears to be a cross between Animal Crossing, Pokémon and Minecraft. The game studio raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding led by London Venture Partners, with participation from Konvoy Ventures, Progression Fund, Valhalla … [Read more...]

Here’s a new and, dare we say, awesome opportunity for your company to join forces with TechCrunch at Disrupt 2023. Yes, we dare! Announcing After Hours events! Host an After Hours event at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 What’s an After Hours event? It’s a chance to grow your brand by hosting, in affiliation with TechCrunch, an in-person, tech community–focused event in San Francisco from September 18–21 … [Read more...]