Privateer Space is launching a new module for satellite operators called Pono, which the company says will help make space data available at scale and at a far lower cost than it is today. The first Pono prototype will launch on a D-Orbit space tug in late 2023. Based on the data it receives from this first prototype in orbit, the company will launch a second, iteratively designed Pono module in … [Read more...]

In February 2020, Samsung planted its flag in the sand. Screen issues aside, the original Galaxy Fold was met with a mixed response. “Innovation for innovation’s sake” was a common refrain. The wildly expensive device arrived at just a hair under $2,000. People questioned whether anyone really needed to carry a tablet in their pocket. The device was big and bulky. And then there was the crease. I … [Read more...]

Satellite imagery company Planet announced on Tuesday that it is laying off 117 employees, or around 10% of the workforce, as it looks to focus on driving revenue amid an ongoing downturn in the public markets. In a note posted on the company’s blog, CEO Will Marshall said the decision to cut staff came about after “a deep assessment of our business and spending.” “Our business has scaled rapidly … [Read more...]

YouTube mega-success MrBeast is suing Virtual Dining Concepts, the company behind his ghost kitchen food chain, MrBeast Burger, for damaging the MrBeast brand. According to the lawsuit, thousands of fans have sent in negative reviews of MrBeast Burger, many of whom shared photos of burgers and chicken sandwiches with uncooked, inedible meat. MrBeast’s team also claims that Virtual Dining Concepts … [Read more...]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating 280,000 Tesla vehicles over reports of loss of steering control and power steering. The malfunctioning has frequently been accompanied by driver-facing messages indicating that power steering assist is reduced or disabled, according to the report. The preliminary evaluation into 2023 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles comes … [Read more...]

Hackers stole around $62 million from Curve Finance on Sunday, causing a ripple effect throughout the crypto sector and raising questions about the strength of the decentralized finance ecosystem. Curve is one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEX) in the crypto market today, with about $1.67 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to data on DeFi TVL aggregator DeFiLlama. A handful … [Read more...]

Allo, a new financial app that can be described as Headspace for personal finance, is aiming to help users meaningfully engage with their finances without becoming overwhelmed with numbers and spending. The idea behind Allo is to help users create a mindful money practice that allows them to approach their earnings, spending, saving, investing and giving with a sense of fulfillment. Founded in … [Read more...]

“Building a plane in midair” is one of my favorite startup clichés. It’s something Silicon Valley visionaries love to say, but it has little to do with the iterative work of developing software. Well-designed SaaS architecture makes every company more maneuverable when it comes to pricing, scaling, and onboarding new customers, according to Ratnesh Singh Parihar of Talentica Software. Full … [Read more...]

Meta is gearing up to roll out AI-powered chatbots with different personas as early as next month, according to a new report from the Financial Times. The chatbots are designed to have humanlike conversations with users on Meta’s social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The report indicates that these chatbots will take on different personas, including one that advises users on … [Read more...]

As competition with TikTok and Instagram Reels heats up, YouTube today announced an expanded suite of creation tools for its own short-form video platform, YouTube Shorts. Among the new features are tools for remixing, adding effects, stickers, going live, and others aimed at encouraging inspiration. The company is also starting a test of a new mobile-first vertical live experience that will help … [Read more...]

As generative AI enters the mainstream, crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has struggled to formulate a policy that satisfies parties on all sides of the debate. Most of the generative AI tools used to create art and text today, including Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT, were trained on publicly available images and text from the web. But in many cases, the artists, photographers and writers whose … [Read more...]

Mozilla’s Pocket, a popular read-it-later app that lets you save online articles to read when you have more time, announced today it’s retiring its Mac app, Pocket for Mac. The app will be replaced with the Pocket iOS app for Apple Silicon Macs instead — meaning those models introduced in late 2020 and later. The changes will go into effect on Tuesday, August 15th. After that date, the Mac app … [Read more...]

If you look at the market’s reaction to Uber’s quarterly results out this morning, you might think the company performed poorly. The stock is down about 6%, most likely because the company missed the market’s expectations for quarterly revenue by about $100 million. However, despite the expectations gap, it was a good quarter for the ride-hailing company, which finally posted a GAAP operating … [Read more...]

Ford said it will triple production capacity of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck following a six-week shutdown to expand and retool its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. With the factory facelift complete, Ford said it’s scheduled to build more than 70,000 F-150 Lightning trucks in 2023 with production for U.S. customers expected to ramp in the fall. Ultimately, the increase in … [Read more...]

Reed Jobs, the 31-year-old son of Steve Jobs and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, has spent his career behind the scenes. But he’s “stepping into the spotlight,” with a new venture capital firm to invest in new cancer treatments, DealBook reported earlier this morning. Called Yosemite — after the national park where his parents were wed — the firm has already closed its debut fund with $200 … [Read more...]

We’re out-of-this-world excited to announce that we’ve added a dedicated Space Stage to TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. It joins six other brand-new industry-focused stages — all under one big roof. Plus, we’ve joined forces with the Aerospace Corporation to host the Space Domain Awareness Challenge Pitch-off for startups using AI to analyze satellite data streams. Learn more and apply here. The Space … [Read more...]

YouTube is running a new test to auto-generate video summaries with the use of AI. As noted on the support page, the summaries have begun appearing on the watch and search pages, however are only available for a limited number of English-language videos and viewers. The video platform explains that the AI auto-generated summaries provide a quick overview of a video, letting the user decide if it’s … [Read more...]

A little-known cloud company provided web hosting and internet services to more than two dozen different state-sponsored hacking groups and commercial spyware operators, according to researchers at cybersecurity company Halcyon. In a report released on Tuesday, Halcyon said it had identified that the U.S.-registered company Cloudzy was “knowingly or unwittingly” acting as a command-and-control … [Read more...]

Meta is bowing to legal inevitability in the European Union: It’s just announced it will finally comply with regional privacy regulations by giving users a free choice to deny its behavioral advertising. The tech giant is subject to an ongoing regulatory procedure over the legal basis it claims to run microtargeted ads which had been expected to conclude around the middle of this month. But in an … [Read more...]

As tools for building AI systems, particularly large language models  (LLMs), get easier and cheaper, some are using them for unsavory purposes, like generating malicious code or phishing campaigns. But the threat of AI-accelerated hackers isn’t quite as dire as some headlines would suggest. The dark web creators of LLMs like “WormGPT” and “FraudGPT” advertise their creations as being able to … [Read more...]