Teen founders raise $6M to reinvent pesticides using AI — and convince Paul Graham to join in
Bindwell applies AI drug discovery techniques to invent new pesticide molecules.
The Download: plastic’s problem with fuel prices, and SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO
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. Fuel prices are soaring. Plastic could be next. As the war in Iran continues, one of the most visible global economic ripple effects has been fossil-fuel prices. But looking ahead, further consequences could…
TopTechTrends
EU launches antitrust probe into how Google’s anti-spam policy affects publishers’ search rankings
The Commission said on Thursday that it had identified that Google is using its spam policy to push news media and other publishers’ websites and content lower in search rankings when they include content from third parties.
Harbinger raises $160M, will build trucks for FedEx
The Los Angeles-based startup will build more than 50 electric truck chassis for the delivery giant by the end of this year.
Spotify introduces a Premium Platinum plan with lossless access in five markets
Spotify is debuting a new tiered premium plans in five markets with the costliest tier gaining access to lossless streaming.
The Simple Way You Can Transform Your Social Bio into a Branded, Data-Driven Business Hub
Get lifetime access to Bio.ly Pro $40 and unlock smarter ‘link in bio’ analytics.
Google augments AI shopping with conversational search, agentic checkout and an AI that calls stores for you
Google is expanding AI shopping with conversational search, agentic checkout and an AI that calls stores for you about local inventory.
Coding assistant Cursor raises $2.3bn five months after its previous round
Cursor plans to use the capital to continue developing Composer, the AI model the vibe coding startup released in October.
The Download: AI to measure pain, and how to deal with conspiracy theorists
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. AI is changing how we quantify pain Researchers around the world are racing to turn pain—medicine’s most subjective vital sign—into something a camera or sensor can score as reliably as blood pressure. The…
Spotify adds a new, less repetitive shuffle, plus audiobook recaps
Spotify’s new default shuffle option will queue up fewer songs from your recent listening history
Microsoft’s plan to fix its chip problem is, partly, to let OpenAI do the heavy lifting
Microsoft is taking a page from OpenAI’s playbook, literally.