Technology

Lucid Motors chief engineer leaves after 10 years

Lucid Motors chief engineer leaves after 10 years

πŸ’₯ Check out this must-read post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Transportation,electric vehicles,Exclusive,Lucid Motors,reorg πŸ“Œ Key idea: Lucid Motors chief engineer Eric Bach will leave the company after more than a decade, the company announced. Bach, who also served as senior vice president of product at Lucid Motors, has been with the company since 2015. He joins Lucid after spending three years as director of engineering at Tesla, where he worked alongside former Lucid Motors CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson. Bach spent more than a decade at Volkswagen before Tesla. Lucid's VP of Engineering, James Hawkins, is also no longer…
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Cluely’s Roy Lee hints that viral hype isn’t enough

Cluely’s Roy Lee hints that viral hype isn’t enough

πŸ’₯ Explore this trending post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Startups,a16z,cluely,TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 πŸ’‘ Key idea: While Roy Lee, founder of Cluely, says startups should think more seriously about social media outreach, he also acknowledges that brand awareness alone won't lead to sustainable growth. β€œI can't say if this was a mistake, but maybe we launched too early,” Lee said on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 last week. β€œThe whole idea [was] Let's launch something that barely works, and if we can get enough initial users, they'll discover use cases for us. It came to prominence on the tech scene…
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The report says Apple is close to reaching an agreement to pay Google $1 billion annually to power the new Siri

The report says Apple is close to reaching an agreement to pay Google $1 billion annually to power the new Siri

πŸ’₯ Discover this awesome post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: AI,Apps,Apple,gemini,siri πŸ“Œ Main takeaway: Apple is close to a deal with Google that would see the iPhone maker pay tech giant Apple nearly $1 billion a year for a customized version of Google's Gemini AI model to power its Siri overhaul, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The move is a big one for Apple, which has traditionally relied on its own technology but plans to use Google's model as a stopgap until its own AI becomes powerful enough, including powering a slate of upcoming features for the voice…
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Pinterest CEO touts open source AI: ‘massive performance’ at low costs

Pinterest CEO touts open source AI: ‘massive performance’ at low costs

πŸš€ Check out this trending post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: AI,Social,TC,open source,Pinterest πŸ’‘ Here’s what you’ll learn: On an earnings call Tuesday, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready highlighted the promise of open source AI models in helping the company lower its costs while expanding visual AI use cases. The photo board site, which often serves as consumers' first step on their shopping journey, leverages AI technology to power a variety of features, including its personalized recommendations, a multimedia search experience that combines text and images, ad targeting, and, most recently, product discovery with the launch of Pinterest's AI-powered assistant. However,…
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Millions will get free electricity in 2026 thanks to Australia’s solar boom

Millions will get free electricity in 2026 thanks to Australia’s solar boom

✨ Check out this insightful post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Climate,Australia,renewable energy,solar,Solar Power βœ… Here’s what you’ll learn: For years, Australians have been installing solar panels very quickly. Now this investment is starting to pay off. Electricity customers in three states will receive free electricity for up to three hours a day from July 2026, the Australian government announced this week. Solar energy has boomed in Australia in recent years. Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 per kilowatt of capacity before cuts, about a third of what American households pay. As a result, more than one in three Australian…
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Replika founder raises $20 million in funding for Wabi, the β€œYouTube for apps” project

Replika founder raises $20 million in funding for Wabi, the β€œYouTube for apps” project

✨ Discover this insightful post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: AI,Fundraising,Social,Startups,Eugenia Kyuda,vibe-coding,Wabi βœ… Key idea: Eugenia Koeda saw the future of consumer AI before anyone else. She founded Replika, the first major AI companion startup, in 2017 years before launching ChatGPT. Today it has 35 million users. Now Kuyda is back with a new startup called Wabi, which it describes as the YouTube of Apps β€” a social platform where anyone can use prompts to instantly create mini apps and share them with friends. Wabi, which launched in beta last month, is a harbinger of another shift in consumer AI:…
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The University of Pennsylvania confirms that a hacker stole data during the cyberattack

The University of Pennsylvania confirms that a hacker stole data during the cyberattack

✨ Read this trending post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Security,penn,University of Pennsylvania πŸ“Œ Main takeaway: The University of Pennsylvania confirmed Tuesday that a hacker stole university data as part of a data breach last week, during which alumni and other affiliates received suspicious emails from the university's official email addresses. "We have been hacked," the hackers' message read. β€œWe love violating federal laws like FERPA (all your data will be leaked),” the message added. β€œPlease stop giving us money.” While Penn initially told TechCrunch that the email was "scamming," the university has now confirmed the hacker's claim that data…
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Motion Picture Association hits Meta with a cease and desist over use of the “PG-13” tag.

Motion Picture Association hits Meta with a cease and desist over use of the “PG-13” tag.

πŸš€ Check out this must-read post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Apps,Media & Entertainment,Instagram,Meta,motion picture association,mpa,social media πŸ“Œ Here’s what you’ll learn: The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has sent Meta a cease and desist letter demanding that it stop using the term β€œPG-13,” as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Last month, Meta announced that teens on Instagram will, by default, only see content that adheres to PG-13 movie ratings. Two weeks later, the MPA sent Meta a cease and desist letter, asserting that Meta's claim that content on teen Instagram accounts would follow PG-13 guidelines was "literally false…
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SoftBank and OpenAI launch new joint venture in Japan as AI deals grow more circular than ever

SoftBank and OpenAI launch new joint venture in Japan as AI deals grow more circular than ever

✨ Explore this must-read post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: AI βœ… Key idea: If you look at how AI deals are done these days, AI companies and their investors seem to be imitating the circle of life. Only, it's a circle of profit that ensures the money eventually returns to their own coffers. Case in point: SoftBank, which is investing tens of billions in OpenAI and committing dozens more to building data centers and AI infrastructure, just launched a joint venture with Japan's ChatGPT maker that will localize and sell the AI ​​company's enterprise technology to companies in the…
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Armis raises $435M pre-IPO round at $6.1B valuation after rejecting M&A bids

Armis raises $435M pre-IPO round at $6.1B valuation after rejecting M&A bids

πŸ’₯ Explore this awesome post from TechCrunch πŸ“– πŸ“‚ Category: Security,Armis,Goldman Sachs,IPO πŸ’‘ Key idea: Cybersecurity is a huge sector, but startups in this category are more likely to be acquired than go public. Even Wiz, which for a time held the title of fastest-growing startup, abandoned its IPO ambitions when it agreed to sell to Google earlier this year. In the past few years, there have been quite a few significant listings in the cybersecurity space: SentinelOne went public in 2021, Rubrik did so last year, and Netscope went public in September. Armis, a nine-year-old cybersecurity startup based in…
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