People Often Ask Me This One Question About Franchising. Here’s What I Tell Them.
Franchising can be an incredible journey, but you must look closely at these three areas before you buy.
The Download: extracting lithium, and what we still don’t know about Sora
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. This company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake On a bright afternoon in August, the shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake looks like something out of…
August 2025
North Korean spies posing as remote workers have infiltrated hundreds of companies, says CrowdStrike
North Korean IT workers are increasingly using generative AI to draft resumes and “deepfake” their appearances to make money for North Korea’s sanctioned nuclear weapons program.
OpenMind wants to be the Android operating system of humanoid robots
OpenMind is building humanoid robot operating software designed for robots that interact with people and other robots.
Character.AI is adding a social feed to its app
The social feed lets users share images, videos as well as their chatbots with other users. Users can also share snippets of their chats with characters, post AI-generated images based on their chats with a character, or even have their characters debate topics on a live stream.
The Download: fixing ‘evil’ AI, and the White House’s war on science
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. Forcing LLMs to be evil during training can make them nicer in the long run Large language models have recently acquired a reputation for behaving badly. In April, ChatGPT suddenly became an aggressive…
Joby Aviation to buy Blade Air Mobility’s ride-share business
Joby is buying the Blade brand and the company’s passenger business, which includes operations in the United States and Europe, for as much as $125 million.
Tesla asks shareholders to approve $29B comp package for Elon Musk amid ‘AI talent war’
The plan would be voided if the Delaware Supreme Court overturns the decision to spike Musk’s $56B comp plan from 2018. A judge ruled in 2024 that plan was unfairly negotiated.
He Turned a Personal Health Crisis Into a Company Earning $100 Million a Year — ‘I Knew There Had To Be a Better Way.’
Max Clarke fixed a chronic condition through experimentation. Now he wants to take the guesswork out of the equation for others.
Apple might be building its own AI ‘answer engine’
Apple is reportedly working to create a lightweight competitor to ChatGPT.
Mastercard denies pressuring game platforms, Valve tells a different story
Mastercard seemingly denied playing a role in a recent marketplace crackdown on games with adult content, while Valve says the pressure was indirect.