Dry Studio’s Black Diamond 75 is a gaming keyboard that actually looks good

October 3, 2023
Whenever I reviewed an Angry Miao keyboard in the past, I always wondered what the company would be able to do if it brought its engineering and design chops to a more affordable segment. The typical Angry Miao keyboard, after all, is excellent but overdesigned to the extreme — with a price tag to match. […]

DoorDash tests a feature that rewards users for dining out, not ordering in

October 3, 2023
DoorDash has made a name for itself as a restaurant delivery service that has in later years expanded to categories like groceries and convenience store items. But the company is now running a test of a surprising new feature: a rewards program that offers consumers credits for dining out at local restaurants. The feature, called […]

Wattpad ditches ‘Paid Stories’ for a freemium model

October 3, 2023
After launching its “Paid Stories” program in 2019, the social storytelling platform Wattpad is now replacing it with a new freemium model called “Wattpad Originals” that gives authors the best of both worlds– monetization and growing their audience of non-paying readers. With the new model, authors can hide certain chapters behind a paywall while also […]

The Download: Big Tech’s big AI bet, and crypto’s day in court

October 3, 2023
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. Why Big Tech’s bet on AI assistants is so risky Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, tech companies have been feverishly trying to come up with the killer app for the…

Science lab automation and robotics startup Automata raises $40M

October 3, 2023
Automata, a company that combines software and hardware to automate science labs around the globe, has raised $40 million in an equity-based round of funding, as the U.K.-based startup looks to double down on recent growth across Europe and the U.S. Founded out of London in 2015, Automata in its original guise targeted myriad industries […]