Automattic acquires relationship manager Clay to add an identity layer to online tools
WordPress.com owner Automattic has added another communication-focused startup to its lineup: relationship-management app Clay.
Building tech in the world’s secret R&D hub
Apple. Anthropic. Disney Research. Google. Meta. Microsoft. NVIDIA. OpenAI. Few places outside Silicon Valley can claim R&D hubs from all of these companies. Fewer still are concentrated in a city of just over 400,000 people—roughly half the size of San Francisco. Over the past two decades, however, many of the world’s most influential technology companies…
How Warp is introducing robots to automate its network of warehouses
Warp can’t automate long-haul trucking or short-range delivery, so it’s working on what it can potentially change: the workflows inside its warehouses.
Legal tech platform Definely raises $30M Series B to make contract reviewing more efficient
The company, based in the U.K., offers a productivity suite to streamline the legal drafting and review process.
How AI sales startup Landbase nabbed Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures to lead its $30M Series A
A concept Landbase’s CEO calls “digital trust” led nearly 130 VCs to pursue the “vibe GTM” startup.
The Download: AI agents’ autonomy, and sodium-based batteries
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. Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys? In recent months, a new class of agents has arrived on the scene: ones built using large language models. Any action that can be…
Researchers confirm two journalists were hacked with Paragon spyware
The confirmation of two hacked victims further deepens an ongoing spyware scandal that, for now, appears largely focused on the Italian government.
Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft — and people are paying anyway
A new analysis done by ride-hailing aggregator Obi shows Waymos cost more especially on shorter trips. They also have longer wait times.
Meta sues AI ‘nudify’ app Crush AI for advertising on its platforms
Meta has sued the maker of a popular AI “nudify” app, Crush AI, that reportedly ran thousands of ads across its platforms.
Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys?
On May 6, 2010, at 2:32 p.m. Eastern time, nearly a trillion dollars evaporated from the US stock market within 20 minutes—at the time, the fastest decline in history. Then, almost as suddenly, the market rebounded. After months of investigation, regulators attributed much of the responsibility for this “flash crash” to high-frequency trading algorithms, which…
These new batteries are finding a niche
Lithium-ion batteries have some emerging competition: Sodium-based alternatives are starting to make inroads. Sodium is more abundant on Earth than lithium, and batteries that use the material could be cheaper in the future. Building a new battery chemistry is difficult, mostly because lithium is so entrenched. But, as I’ve noted before, this new technology has…