After Getting a Black Eye in Retirement, He Started a Business to Make His Hobby Safer. Now He’s 66 With Millions in Annual Revenue.
Brad Robins’ pickleball injury inspired an exciting second act.
The Download: investigating deaths at the US border’s “virtual wall”
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. The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die? When José Morales Bernal crossed the border into the US in April 2024, the day before…
Jersey Mike’s IPO illustrates how bad the AI hype has become
Just for kicks, I took a look at Jersey Mike’s IPO documents. Surely a sandwich shop would have no need to mention AI. But low-and-behold.
A warning sign about AI’s real cost, courtesy of Google and Amazon
AI has made it a lot harder for tech companies like Amazon and Google to deliver on their net-zero pledges.
Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket
Meta has quietly launched Pocket, an experimental AI app that lets users generate and share interactive mini games using text prompts.
Travel app Hopper to pay $35M in FTC settlement over ‘unfairly’ charging hidden fees
Hopper will pay $35 million to settle FTC allegations that it used deceptive “dark patterns” to hide fees and mislead travelers about the cost and benefits of services.
Anthropic is discussing a new custom chip with Samsung
The news comes about a week after OpenAI announced its own custom AI chip in a partnership with Broadcom.
Boeing-owned Wisk Aero accused of firing manager who raised safety concerns
A former software manager claims Wisk rushed software testing ahead of a crucial 2025 flight test.
Achieving operational excellence with AI
Frameworks like Lean Six Sigma and business process management (BPM) first gained traction because they promised clarity in the chaos—a structured way to bring order to messy, sprawling operations. Lean Six Sigma emphasized statistical rigor and quality control; BPM created end-to-end maps of how work should flow across departments. Both offered a repeatable way to…
Melinda Gates’ venture firm backs Magnify Ventures’ $46.6M Fund II
Early-stage firm Magnify Ventures has raised a $46.6 million Fund II from LPs including Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures
OpenAI proposed donating 5% of its equity to a US sovereign wealth fund
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly proposed giving 5% of the company’s equity to a U.S. sovereign wealth fund, reviving discussions about letting the public share in the financial gains from the AI boom.