AI voice startup Vapi hits $500M valuation after winning Amazon Ring over 40 rivals
Vapi says its enterprise business has grown 10-fold since early 2025 as companies shift customer support and sales calls to AI agents.
The Download: failed social media bans, and extending pets’ lives
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. Kids are outsmarting social media bans. That’s not a problem we need to solve. —Michal Luria, Aliya Bhatia, and Danah Boyd Social media bans are stacking up. In July, France joined…
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Amazon launches 30-minute delivery across the U.S.
Amazon says its new ultra-fast delivery option brings groceries, household essentials, and other items to customers’ doors in 30 minutes.
The One Trait That Quietly Determines Whether Founders Win or Fade Out
The biggest predictor of success in venture isn’t talent or timing — it’s what people do when momentum disappears.
Thinking Machines wants to build an AI that actually listens while it talks
Right now, every AI model you’ve ever used works the same way. You talk, it listens. It responds, you listen. Thinking Machines is trying to change that by building a model that processes your input and generates a response at the same time, so it’s more like a phone call than a text chain.
Why a Well-Designed Website Is No Longer Enough — and What Actually Turns Visitors Into Buyers
For years, entrepreneurs were told to refresh, redesign and optimize. The result was better-looking websites that often changed very little.
Everything Small Business Owners Need to Know to Get Started With SEO
SEO isn’t optional if you’re serious about growth. Here’s where to start.
This Summer Is the Perfect Time to Start a Consulting Side Hustle. Here’s Your Game Plan.
As the days get longer, use the extra time and energy to start your consulting business on the side.
Riding an AI rally, Robinhood preps second retail venture IPO
Robinhood files confidentially for its second venture fund, this time targeting growth as well as early-stage startups.
GM just laid off hundreds of IT workers to hire those with stronger AI skills
Some of the positions focus on AI-native development, data engineering and analytics, cloud-based engineering, and agent and model development as well as prompt engineering and new AI workflows.
Finally, texts between Android and iPhone users can be end-to-end encrypted
Google had urged Apple for years to support RCS texting to make communication between each company’s devices more seamless.