Andrew Zimmern’s ‘Bizarre’ Strategy — Which Started With an Exorcism — Helped Him Break Into TV and Build a Food Empire
How a witch doctor in Ecuador and one very weird TV segment turned his show into a global brand.
The Download: seafloor science and military chatbots
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. Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining Last week, two oblong neon submersibles started to descend nearly 6,000 meters into the Pacific Ocean. Throughout the rest of May, they will…
Chicken or the Egg? Why We Need to Rethink Data and Funding in Startups
Raising capital while still building the data needed to validate an idea is often one of the biggest hurdles for start-ups.
‘There Were a Lot of Naysayers’: Half of T-Mobile’s Customer Calls Are Now AI — And That’s Just the Beginning
When T-Mobile first launched its AI chatbot, it disabled screenshots to avoid users posting negative critiques on Reddit.
This One Federal Standard Is the ‘Lynchpin’ of Franchising — And Congress Could Make It Permanent
IFA President Matt Haller writes that the American Franchise Act has bipartisan support and could protect 9 million jobs from disappearing.
These Major Brands Are Going All In On America’s 250th Birthday — From Birthday Cake Cheerios to ‘American Dew’
As America’s 250th birthday approaches, brands like Coca-Cola and Steak ‘n Shake are rolling out red, white and blue products.
Pennsylvania sues Character.AI after a chatbot allegedly posed as a doctor
According to Pennsylvania’s filing, a Character AI chatbot presented itself as a licensed psychiatrist during a state investigation, and also fabricated a serial number for its state medical license.
OpenAI releases GPT-5.5 Instant, a new default model for ChatGPT
The new GPT-5.5 Instant model will replace GPT-3.5 Instant as the default model for ChatGPT
PayPal says it’s ‘becoming a technology company again.’ That means AI.
PayPal is pitching an AI-led turnaround, tying automation and restructuring to $1.5B in savings as it cuts jobs and works to modernize its tech stack.
Etsy launches its app within ChatGPT as it continues its AI push
Etsy’s new native app within ChatGPT aims to be a conversational shopping experience for users.
Kaspersky suspects Chinese hackers planted a backdoor into Daemon Tools in ‘widespread’ attack
The cybersecurity company says it’s seen thousands of infection attempts, and at least a dozen successful hacks after users installed malicious versions of the popular Windows software.