Block scales back TIDAL investment and shutters TBD in favor of Bitcoin mining

Jack Dorsey’s Block is scaling back its investment in TIDAL, the music streaming platform once owned by Jay-Z, according to a shareholder letter on Thursday. Block is also shutting down TBD, a Bitcoin-focused arm of the business that previously set out to build a…Read More

Block scales back TIDAL investment and shutters TBD in favor of Bitcoin mining

Jack Dorsey’s Block is scaling back its investment in TIDAL, the music streaming platform once owned by Jay-Z, according to a shareholder letter on Thursday. Block is also shutting down TBD, a Bitcoin-focused arm of the business that previously set out to build a…Read More

Crypto CEO kidnapped in Toronto, released after paying $1M ransom

The CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency firm WonderFi was kidnapped and held for ransom on Wednesday, according to CBC. Dean Skurka was reportedly shoved into a vehicle in downtown Toronto during rush hour, only to be released uninjured after electronically sending $1 million…Read More

AI-powered parenting is here and a16z is ready to back it 

AI wants to help us drive better, write better and diagnose diseases faster. Now imagine AI helping you be a better parent. 
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Canoo’s latest loss, tales from Waymo riders, and what a Trump win means for Elon (and his companies) 

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! We’re just two days past the election, and there is already a ton of speculat…Read More

Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) review: A powerful desktop replacement

On Monday, Bloomberg reported on Apple’s plans to fully overhaul its laptop line. That’s exactly the kind of rumor you don’t want to drop in the week between the announcement and launch of a new MacBook Pro. A deeper dive reveals that the planned revamp is coming at some…Read More

Anthropic teams up with Palantir and AWS to sell AI to defense customers

Anthropic on Thursday announced that it’s teaming up with Palantir, the data-mining firm, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide U.S. intelligence and defense agencies access to Anthropic’s Claude family of AI models. The news comes as a growing number of AI vendors, for…Read More

Glint Solar grabs $8M to help accelerate solar energy adoption across Europe

Solar energy is booming, which is good news for Glint Solar. The Norwegian software-as-a-service startup has built a platform that’s helping energy giants and large solar developers such as E.ON, Recurrent Energy, and Statkraft cut the time it takes to plan and…Read More

Truecaller founders step down as spam-blocker regains momentum

The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping back from day-to-day operations, marking the end of an era for one of Sweden’s most successful consumer technology companies as it pushes toward a goal of 1 billion users. Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam,…Read More

Australia looks to ban social media for kids under age 16

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced plans in the country to ban social media for children under 16, saying that “social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it.” The proposed legislation will enter parliament this year, taking effect a y…Read More

Australia looks to ban social media for kids under age 16

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced plans in the country to ban social media for children under 16, saying that “social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it.” The proposed legislation will enter parliament this year, taking effect a y…Read More

SpaceX to launch Starship for the sixth time this month

SpaceX will conduct the sixth flight test of Starship, the largest rocket ever built, as soon as November 18 following the smooth success of the previous mission less than a month ago.  The high flight cadence is thanks, in part, to that success, which included the first-ever return of the…Read More

OpenAI acquired Chat.com

OpenAI bought Chat.com, adding to its collection of high-profile domain names. As of this morning, Chat.com now redirects to OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the acquisition via email. Chat.com is one of the older domains on the web, having been registered in September 1996. Last…Read More

AI coding assistants can help startups develop products, seed VCs believe

By now, there’s hardly a coder in the world who isn’t using an AI copilot in some way. But using GitHub Copilot or Cursor.AI to ask technical questions and get debugging help could be just the beginning. AI coding may one day involve agents that can write the programs the…Read More

Faber launches third VC fund with $34M first close, aims for $64M

The startup ecosystem in the Iberian Peninsula — the region encompassing Spain and Portugal — has been on a roll the last couple of years. The value of Spanish startups surpassed €100 billion in 2023, according to Dealroom data, with venture investment of €2.2 billion across s…Read More