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Showing posts from December, 2025

‘College dropout’ has become the most coveted startup founder credential

AI founders are increasingly using their "dropout" status as a credential during YC pitches.

The 10 top government, legal startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield

Here is the full list of the government and legal Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.

The dumbest things that happened in tech this year

From Sam Altman's olive oil "scandal" to Soham Parekh's viral moment, a lot of silly stuff has gone down in tech this year.

The phone is dead. Long live . . . what exactly?

"We're not going to be using iPhones in 10 years," Callaghan says flatly. "I kind of don't think we'll be using them in five years."

How to make your startup stand out in a crowded market, according to investors

Investors on what they really want to hear in a founder's pitch.

Social media follower counts have never mattered less, creator economy execs say

“I think that 2025 was the year where the algorithm completely took over, so followings stopped mattering entirely,” LTK CEO Amber Venz Box said.

Plaud Note Pro is an excellent AI-powered recorder that I carry everywhere

Plaud Note Pro is a $179 notetaker, which is an excellent recording device first

Sauron, the high-end home security startup for “super premium” customers, plucks a new CEO out of Sonos

Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.

You may soon be able to change your Gmail address

Good news for anyone tired of or embarrassed by their current Gmail address.

A guide to choosing the right Apple Watch

The gap between Apple's standard and budget smart watches has never felt smaller. 

India startup funding hits $11B in 2025 as investors grow more selective

Startup funding rounds in India fell sharply in 2025 as investors concentrated capital into fewer companies.

Trump administration seeks to deport hate speech researcher previously sued by X

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of State from arresting or deporting Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Investors share what to remember while raising a Series A

Investors share what founders should remember if looking to raise a Series A.

NY Governor Hochul signs bill requiring warning labels on ‘addictive’ social media

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill requiring social media platforms to show warning labels to younger users before they’re exposed to features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling.

The 7 top space and defense tech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield 

Here is the full list of the space and defense tech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.

How reality crushed Ÿnsect, the French startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming

French insect farming company Ÿnsect was recently placed into judicial liquidation for insolvency, despite raising over $600 million.

As people look for ways to make new friends, here are the apps promising to help

We've compiled a list of friendship apps, from friend discovery platforms like BFF to event-focused ones like Timeleft.

Naware’s chemical-free weed killer tech could change how we treat lawns

A classic hardware startup, Naware's founders set out with a problem -- kill weeds without chemicals -- and relentlessly tinkered until they found a solution.

Treat yourself: The best smart glasses to buy with your holiday gift money

Whether you’re looking to get a pair yourself or just want to explore what’s available on the market today, we’ve compiled a list of the most compelling pairs available.

These are the cybersecurity stories we were jealous of in 2025

The very best reporting and investigative journalism from our friends at other publications.

How a Spanish virus brought Google to Málaga

Spanish entrepreneur Bernardo Quintero, whose company is at the root of Google's Málaga cybersecurity hub, identified the author of the computer virus that influenced his career.

The best distraction blockers to jumpstart your focus in the new year

Whether you need to limit social media scrolling or block off time to be productive, there are different tools that can help you stay on task

Nvidia to license AI chip challenger Groq’s tech and hire its CEO

With Groq on its side, Nvidia is poised to become even more dominant in chip manufacturing.

The year data centers went from backend to center stage

Data centers are no longer the boring tech issue they once were.

ServiceNow to acquire cybersecurity startup Armis for $7.75B

The deal is expected to yield significant returns for Armis investors, including Sequoia, CapitalG, and Insight Partners.

Hackers stole over $2.7B in crypto in 2025, data shows

This was another banner year for crypto hacks and heists — 2025 was the third year in a row that a new crypto theft record was set.

Paramount renews bid for Warner Bros, ensuring $40B Larry Ellison backing

It's the latest attempt by one major Hollywood superpower to acquire another.

CEO of SpaceX rival United Launch Alliance resigns

Tory Bruno's abrupt departure comes after 12 years in the role. The company, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture, has had to fight to keep pace with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot

A timeline of ChatGPT product updates and releases, starting with the latest, which we’ve been updating throughout the year.

TikTok Shop launches digital gift cards to challenge Amazon and eBay

TikTok Shop has rolled out a new feature that allows users to purchase digital gift cards, making it easier to help friends and family buy from the millions of products on the app.

A rough week for hardware companies

iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power Bikes were very different companies, but they faced some similar challenges.

‘It felt so wrong’: Colin Angle on iRobot, the FTC, and the Amazon deal that never was

The iRobot founder opens up about the 18-month regulatory process that he says doomed the Roomba maker -- and what it means for American innovation.

OpenAI allows users to directly adjust ChatGPT’s enthusiasm level

ChatGPT users can now tweak the chatbot’s warmth, enthusiasm, and emoji use.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs RAISE Act to regulate AI safety

The bill will require large AI developers to publish information about their safety protocols and report safety incidents to the state within 72 hours.

Anonymous messaging app NGL was acquired by ‘EarnPhone’ startup Mode Mobile

Given NGL's track record of dubious growth hacking, this partnership with Mode Mobile seems like a good match.

From Roombas to e-bikes, why are hardware startups going bankrupt? 

The hardware world had a brutal week, with iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power Bikes all filing for bankruptcy.  Each company faces its own mix of tariff pressures, supply chain issues, and shifting markets, but together they tell a larger story about the challenges of building physical products in an era of global trade tensions and cheap overseas competition. From […]

ChatGPT’s mobile app hits new milestone of $3B in consumer spending

ChatGPT has reached $3B in lifetime mobile consumer spending in just 31 months, faster than TikTok and major streaming apps.

These 21-year-old dropouts raised $2M to build Givefront, a fintech for nonprofits

YC-backed Givefront is building a fintech designed specifically for nonprofits, including food banks, churches, and homeowner associations.

Meta is pausing its dream of sharing Quest’s Horizon OS with third-party headset makers

The company said that it would revisit opportunities for third-party partnerships in the future.

Cisco says Chinese hackers are exploiting its customers with a new zero-day

Cisco said it discovered a Chinese hacking campaign targeting its customers by exploiting a zero-day in some of the company's most popular products.

Slate crosses 150,000 reservations despite waning EV truck enthusiasm

It took Slate Auto about seven months to grow its customer list by 50%, but new reservations appear to be outpacing any cancelations.

OpenAI continues on its ‘code red’ warpath with new image generation model

OpenAI rolls out GPT Image 1.5 for ChatGPT, promising 4x faster generation, better instruction-following, and precise edits. The launch escalates its rivalry with Google Gemini.

Google’s ‘dark web report’ feature will no longer be available starting in February

Google has revealed that its “dark web report” feature will be discontinued starting February 16, 2026. Launched initially about a year and a half ago, this tool aimed to help users monitor their personal information on the dark web For some users, the dark web report seemed like a valuable tool, scanning various data breach […]

Lidar-maker Luminar files for bankruptcy

The filing marks the end of a tumultuous year full of layoffs, executive departures, and piling debts.

How iRobot lost its way home

iRobot survived three decades of competition, but couldn't survive European regulators killing its Amazon buyout. Now it's being taken over by its own supplier in bankruptcy court.

WhatsApp’s biggest market is becoming its toughest test

Meta has three months to comply with Indian government directions that could affect how WhatsApp operates in the country.

Grok gets the facts wrong about Bondi Beach shooting

Grok, the chatbot built by Elon Musk’s xAI and popularized on his social media platform X, appears to have repeatedly spread misinformation about today’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia.

Mesa shuts down credit card that rewarded cardholders for paying their mortgages

Fintech startup Mesa has shut down its Homeowners Card, which awarded points to cardholders for paying their mortgages.

TechCrunch Mobility: Rivian’s survival plan involves more than cars

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

India’s Spinny lines up $160M funding to acquire GoMechanic, sources say

Spinny is set to be valued at about $1.8 billion post-money in its latest funding round.

DoorDash driver faces felony charges after allegedly spraying customers’ food

A woman is facing felony charges in Evansville, Indiana over a DoorDash delivery in which she allegedly sprayed the food with a substance that made the customers vomit.

AI data center boom could be bad news for other infrastructure projects

Improvements to roads, bridges, and other infrastructure could take a hit as data center construction accelerates.

Google and Apple roll out emergency security updates after zero-day attacks

Apple released patches for all of its flagship devices to fix security flaws under attack. Google also updated Chrome to remediate one vulnerability exploited in the attacks.

OK, what’s going on with LinkedIn’s algo?

Women ran an experiment to see if LinkedIn's new algo was being sexist and thought they proved it. But there's more complexity involved, experts say.

Netflix is showing Hollywood what happens when a startup grows up 

A baby was born in a Waymo this week, and it wasn’t even the first one.  What started as a novelty story quickly became a reminder of how autonomous vehicles have quietly become part of everyday life, complete with all the messiness that entails. The real coming-of-age story this week, however, wasn’t happening in San Francisco’s robotaxis. It was playing out in […]

1X struck a deal to send its ‘home’ humanoids to factories and warehouses

Despite launching as a humanoid robot designed to help consumers around the house, 1X's NEO robots are heading to industrial use cases.

Epic Games’ Fortnite is back in US Google Play Store, as court partially reverses restrictions it won on iOS

The game is back on the Google Play Store, but another court decision is rolling back some of the developer-friendly changes on iOS.

Disney hits Google with cease-and-desist claiming ‘massive’ copyright infringement

Disney is accusing the tech giant of unauthorized distribution of its copyrighted characters without permission via Gemini AI.

Reddit is testing verification badges

Verified users will actually be notable figures, not just people who paid for the checkmark.

Boom Supersonic raises $300M to build natural gas turbines for Crusoe data centers

Crusoe will pay Boom $1.25 billion for more than a gigawatt of generating capacity with deliveries of the turbines starting in 2027.

Truecaller now lets users protect households from scam calls

Truecaller's Family Protection will be rolled out widely in the first quarter of 2026. The new feature lets up to five people join a family group overseen by one member who acts as the administrator and manages scam-blocking settings for the others.

Lucid Motors’ former chief engineer sues for wrongful termination and discrimination

Eric Bach, who was fired in November, claims a top HR executive at the automaker called him a "German Nazi."

Claude Code is coming to Slack, and that’s a bigger deal than it sounds

Anthropic launches Claude Code in Slack, letting developers delegate coding tasks from chat threads. It's part of a shift toward AI-embedded collaboration that could reshape software workflows.

Hinge’s new AI feature helps daters move beyond boring small talk

Hinge launched “Convo Starters,” a feature powered by AI that provides personalized tips for initiating meaningful conversations. 

OpenAI boasts enterprise win days after internal ‘code red’ on Google threat

ChatGPT Enterprise usage grew 8x year-over-year as workers report saving an hour daily, but OpenAI faces competitive pressure from Anthropic and questions about cost sustainability.

Netflix co-CEO reportedly discussed Warner Bros. deal with Trump

Will Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. get approval from federal regulators? While Paramount was assumed to be the frontrunner to acquire the storied movie studio thanks to CEO David Ellison’s connections to the Trump administration, new reporting in Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met with President […]

X deactivates European Commission’s ad account after the company was fined €120M

X has seemingly penalized the European Commission's account after the commission fined the company over blue checkmarks and ad transparency.

Pat Gelsinger wants to save Moore’s Law, with a little help from the Feds

The company is aiming to produce its first silicon wafers by 2028 and have its first commercial system online by 2029.

Meta reportedly delays mixed reality glasses until 2027

aMeta lready sells VR headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses, but these new glasses sound a bit different. Their format factor would reportedly be similar to the Apple Vision Pro, with a puck-like power source.

How would the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal reshape Hollywood?

It’s only been a day since Netflix announced an $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros., and the acquisition has already been described as sending Hollywood into “full-blown panic mode,” “possibly a death blow to theatrical filmmaking,” and maybe even “the end of Hollywood” itself.

Meta acquires AI device startup Limitless

Limitless said it shares Meta's vision of bringing personal superintelligence to everyone.

ChatGPT’s user growth has slowed, report finds

ChatGPT's global monthly active users only grew by around 5% from August to November, while Gemini's users grew by about 30%.

Anthropic CEO weighs in on AI bubble talk and risk-taking among competitors

Anthropic's CEO shared his thoughts on the economics of AI and the risk-taking of competitors, saying some were "YOLO-ing" with regard to spending.

Musk says new Tesla software allows texting and driving, which is illegal in most states

Texting while driving is banned in nearly every state, even with the use of advanced driver assistance systems like Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software.

Legal AI startup Harvey confirms $8B valuation

Harvey confirms a third enormous round of funding in 2025 that has skyrocketed its valuation. Again.

Company backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s firm nabs $620M government contract

Vulcan Elements, a rare earths startup has secured a $620 million contract from the U.S .defense department.

Anthropic hires lawyers as it preps for IPO

Anthropic is reportedly prepping for an IPO that could come as early as 2026.

AWS launches new Nova AI models and a service that gives customers more control

Amazon Web Services announced four new AI models within its Nova model family and a frontier model service.

Festivitas lets you decorate your Apple devices with holiday lights and snow

This year, the whimsical holiday app comes to iPhone and adds a snow effect for Mac users.