February 6, 2025

The Download: AI companion dangers, and supersonic planes

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. An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it For the past five months, Al Nowatzki has been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on…

Technology

Astropad’s latest is a combo iPad screen protector/Apple Pencil Tip

August 24, 2023
One thing you can definitely say about Astropad: they didn’t let a good old fashioned Sherlocking keep them down. Over the years, new Apple features have scorched the earth of many a startup, and while the introduction of Sidecar for macOS certainly knocked the company for a loop, they learned an important lesson about diversifying. […]

Starbucks is experimenting with ‘scanless checkout’ for drive-through users

August 24, 2023
Starbucks is testing a new way for customers to pay for their favorite beverages — without even having to pull out their phone. The company confirmed an internal test of “scanless pay,” a new contactless checkout method that would leverage a Starbucks app’s user’s current geolocation to identify them in the drive-through lane so they […]

Sony is buying gaming headphone maker, Audeze

August 24, 2023
Sony Interactive Entertainment (basically the PlayStation wing) today announced plans to acquire Audeze. The Orange Country, CA-based firm is best known for its high-end headphones, targeted at gamers and audio producers. Sony has confirmed the deal with TechCrunch. In a release announcing the news, the companies are quick to note that operating under the Sony […]

X tries to lure back advertisers with new $250 ad credit

August 24, 2023
X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has a new initiative aimed at luring smaller businesses to advertise on its platform. The company announced on Wednesday it would offer a one-time ad credit of $250 to select businesses when they spend $1,000 or more on new ad campaigns over the next 30 days. In its […]

How Google Cloud learned to embrace its partner ecosystem

August 24, 2023
Google Cloud’s annual Next event is happening in San Francisco next week (and we’ll be on the ground to cover all of the announcements), but ahead of the event, Google Cloud today put a spotlight on its partner ecosystem. It’s no secret that in its early days, Google’s cloud efforts were somewhat hindered by its […]

Modular secures $100M to build tools to optimize and create AI models

August 24, 2023
Modular, a startup creating a platform for developing and optimizing AI systems, has raised $100 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst with participation from GV (Google Ventures), SV Angel, Greylock and Factory. Bringing Modular’s total raised to $130 million, the proceeds will be put toward product expansion, hardware support and the expansion […]

Better.com’s stock tanks after SPAC combination brings it to the public markets

August 24, 2023
Shares of Better.com are getting hammered into the ground Thursday morning after the digital mortgage company completed its long-delayed SPAC merger and began to trade as a public company for the first time. When Better first announced plans to go public in 2021 at a $7.7 billion valuation, it was a different time. Mortgage interest […]