Mirror founder Brynn Putnam to unveil her gaming hardware startup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Seven years after unveiling Mirror at TechCrunch Disrupt 2018, Brynn Putnam is returning to the stage where it all began.
The US is set to cancel funding for two major direct-air capture plants
The Department of Energy appears poised to terminate funding for a pair of large carbon sucking factories that were originally set to receive more than $1 billion in government grants, according to a department issued list of projects obtained by MIT Technology Review and circulating among federal agencies. The projects include the South Texas Direct…
August 2025
Terraton wants to be the McDonald’s of biochar
Terraton sees promise in biochar, but the technology has struggled to scale. The startup thinks a franchise model could be what unlocks biochar’s potential.
Google Vids adds AI avatars to its video editor and launches a consumer version
Google is launching a free consumer version of its video editor Vids that will be available without any AI-powered features.
Why Entrepreneurs Shouldn’t Overlook This $13 Windows 11 Pro Deal
An easy and affordable upgrade that helps future-proof your business setup.
Want to Start a Business? This Franchise Will Give You Up to $100,000 to Do It.
Firehouse Subs is cutting startup costs for certain franchisees with a new round of incentives worth up to $100,000 per restaurant.
Hyundai is working with a startup on plant-based leather that smells like the real thing
Uncaged Innovations is working with Hyundai to develop alternatives to leather with a fraction of the environmental impact.
The Download: introducing: the Security issue
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Introducing: the Security issue It would be naïve to think we are going back to a world without AI. We’re not. But it’s only one of many urgent problems we need to address…
India is still working on sewer robots
When Jitender was a child in New Delhi, both his parents worked as manual scavengers—a job that involved clearing the city’s sewers of solid waste by hand. Now, he is among almost 200 contractors involved in the Delhi government’s effort to shift from this manual process to safer mechanical methods. Although it has been outlawed…
AI comes for the job market, security, and prosperity: The Debrief
When I picked up my daughter from summer camp, we settled in for an eight-hour drive through the Appalachian mountains, heading from North Carolina to her grandparents’ home in Kentucky. With little to no cell service for much of the drive, we enjoyed the rare opportunity to have a long, thoughtful conversation, uninterrupted by devices.…
Job titles of the future: Satellite streak astronomer
Earlier this year, the $800 million Vera Rubin Observatory commenced its decade-long quest to create an extremely detailed time-lapse movie of the universe. Rubin is capable of capturing many more stars than any other astronomical observatory ever built; it also sees many more satellites. Up to 40% of images captured by the observatory within its…