Technology
Waymo plans to grow its robotaxi fleet fivefold to 20,000 by 2027
Waymo plans to grow its fleet from about 4,000 robotaxis today to 8,000 by the end of 2026 and 20,000 by the end of 2027, Semafor reported. The push follows a $5B loan this month.…
Chrome will now show a warning before you visit ‘suspicious’ sites
Google is launching a new browser safety feature for Chrome that aims to keep you better informed about how malicious a website might be before you open it. The new suspicious sit…
Don't put your phone in the TSA bin — do this instead
Let's be honest, TSA bins are just gross.
Homebase’s new AI assistant fills shifts for small business owners
Homebase, which makes scheduling and payroll software for hourly teams, has launched Homebase Assistant. The AI tool finds and contacts staff to cover missed shifts, builds schedu…
Blackwall quadruples its valuation to $2.2bn as bots take over the web
“Blackwall has built something rare: a security company that grows with the internet itself,” said Warda Shaheen, a general partner at AVP. “It is already the layer in front of mi…
AMD is bringing FSR 4.1 to Xbox consoles and handhelds
AMD has just revealed that it's bringing its latest upscaling technology, FSR 4.1, to the Xbox Series S and X consoles, as well as laptops, 6000-series GPUs, and handhelds like th…
Ex-Nvidia-turned-VC Amulya Vishwanath: ‘Physical AI is in it’s LEGO era’
It’s the moment everyone is waiting for — the ChatGPT moment for robotics, Amulya Vishwanath explained to TechCrunch’s Equity.
Asymptote Labs raises $5.5M to track and control what AI agents do
New York startup Asymptote Labs has raised a $5.5M seed round led by Tower Research Ventures. It makes Beacon, a free open-source tool that records what AI agents do, and sells a …
You can build your own mechanical keyboard, but is it worth the price?
If you have both the time and money, building a keyboard can be a fun hobby.
Spotify pulls 50M AI slop and spam tracks from its recommendations
Spotify says it has taken more than 50 million AI-generated “slop” and spam tracks out of its recommendations this year, on top of 75 million spam tracks it has deleted. It found …
Streaming guide JustWatch becomes a streamer itself
JustWatch, the popular streaming search guide used by 50 million people, is launching its own streaming service, offering free, ad-supported movies and shows alongside a $3.99-per…
Plants can speak using electricity, so this startup built an AI model to decipher their language
Electric Plant has built an AI-powered translator to help humans listen to what plants are saying with the subtle electricity coursing through their stems.
Arturia’s MiniFreak 49 makes its Freak synths more professional
Arturia is adding to its Freak line of proudly weird digital synths with the MiniFreak 49. Under the hood, it's almost identical to the current MiniFreak, but it adds a number of …
5 ways to make your old iPhone feel faster
Your iPhone will slow down over time, but some changes can help it run at its best for longer.
The Gospel according to Peter (Thiel)
It's a time of apocalyptic worldviews in Silicon Valley. The latest AI doom cycle is driven by effective altruism, a philosophy that has lurked around the fringes for years but re…
Perplexity makes it easier to run AI workflows entirely on your own Mac
A Mac with at least 36GB of RAM can now run Perplexity AI workflows locally.
Inception says its Mercury 3 model beats GPT-6 Luna and runs far faster
Inception, the Redwood City AI lab, released Mercury 3 on Monday. It is the newest version of what the company calls a diffusion LLM, a design that differs from the systems behind…
Critical FortiSIEM Flaw Gets Public Exploit PoC for Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
Cybersecurity researchers have released a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for a recently patched critical security flaw impacting Fortinet FortiSIEM that could result in arbitrary …
Qilin and INC Ransomware Groups Exploit Palo Alto Networks Flaw to Bypass MFA
Palo Alto Networks has disclosed that it's continuing to observe exploitation of a now-patched security flaw impacting PAN-OS and Prisma Access by ransomware actors. The activity…
Amazon will hire 300,000 for the holidays as other retailers hold back
Amazon plans to hire more than 300,000 US workers for the holiday season, up 20% from last year, with seasonal staff paid an average of $20 an hour. It is adding health cover for …
MIT’s AI agent society result holds up on consumer hardware
In August, researchers at MIT dropped a society of AI agents into a shared world with no instructions. They showed it could invent, build and maintain technology better than the s…
5 CarPlay navigation apps you should be using instead of Apple Maps
Alternative GPS apps for CarPlay can provide better routing, real-time alerts, weather condition info and much more.
OpenAI pulls back from China chip controls, Politico reports
OpenAI has stopped pushing for strict US limits on selling advanced chips to China, according to Politico. For much of last year the company openly called for such limits. Capitol…
TikTok staff raised child safety concerns, but executives reportedly failed to act
Court documents show TikTok employees were frustrated with how executives responded to their concerns about risks to children.