Spotify ventures into physical book sales, adds new audiobook features
Spotify users in the U.S. and the UK will soon be able to buy physical books in the app. There’s also a new tool that syncs physical books to audiobooks.
Europe is pushing back on Washington’s chip war
As ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet told TechCrunch in May, what China can currently buy are older-generation deep ultraviolet tools — gear first shipped about a decade ago — the same machines the MATCH Act would now put off limits.
Others
Sam Altman got exceptionally testy over Claude Super Bowl ads
He posted a novella-sized rant that devolved into to calling his rival “dishonest” and “authoritarian.”
As it preps Specs for the masses, Snap’s Q4 shows revenue growth but fewer daily users
The company is engaged in a strategy to diversify its revenue sources as it heads into the new year.
Mundi Ventures closes on €750M for Kembara, its largest deep tech and climate fund
Spain-based deeptech and climate megafund Kembara has just completed a €750 million first close toward its €1 billion target.
Stripe alumni raise €30M Series A for Duna, backed by Stripe and Adyen execs
Having raised a €30 million Series A round led by CapitalG, business identity verification startup Duna is now among the most well-capitalized European startups founded by Stripe alumni.
Alphabet won’t talk about the Google-Apple AI deal, even to investors
Alphabet CEO skipped an analyst’s question about Apple on the company’s earnings call.
Google’s Gemini app has surpassed 750M monthly active users
Google revealed a significant milestone for it’s Gemini app, announcing over 750 million monthly active users as it competes with ChatGPT and Meta AI.
The Wayback Machine debuts a new plugin designed to fix the internet’s broken links problem
WordPress is helping the non-profit fight the scourge of “link rot.”
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company town is getting a police department
The new department will have up to eight police officers and could be up and running in a few months.
Meet Gizmo: a TikTok for interactive, vibe-coded mini apps
Gizmo’s app is like a TikTok for vibe-coded mini apps…and it’s a lot of fun.