Amazon’s outgoing Echo head is Blue Origin’s new CEO

September 25, 2023
Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith is retiring at the end of the year and his replacement is coming from Jeff Bezos’ other company. Dave Limp, an Amazon veteran who had planned to step down from his role as head of the company;s consumer devices division, is taking over the CEO spot. Limp, who was the […]

Ford halts work on $3.5B EV battery factory with China’s CATL

September 25, 2023
Ford confirmed Monday it has immediately stopped work at a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan that was supposed to make cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries using tech from China’s CATL. “We’re pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant,” Ford spokesperson […]

Signal’s Meredith Whittaker: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

September 25, 2023
Why is it that so many companies that rely on monetizing the data of their users seem to be extremely hot on AI? If you ask Signal president Meredith Whittaker (and I did), she’ll tell you it’s simply because “AI is a surveillance technology.” On stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, Whittaker explained  her perspective that […]

Max Q: Things got disrupted

September 25, 2023
Hello and welcome back to Max Q! I’m home after attending TechCrunch Disrupt, our flagship event in SF. We had some incredible programming and startups onstage for our Battlefield competition.

Apple executives break down AirPods’ new features

September 25, 2023
AirPods only got a passive mention during the keynote at Apple’s event. It’s understandable — the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 (and Ultra 2) were center stage. Besides, the headphones didn’t get the same manner of hardware updates. As a press release issued after the event confirmed, the biggest physical change to the […]