December 24, 2025

Four bright spots in climate news in 2025

Climate news hasn’t been great in 2025. Global greenhouse-gas emissions hit record highs (again). This year is set to be either the second or third warmest on record. Climate-fueled disasters like wildfires in California and flooding in Indonesia and Pakistan devastated communities and caused billions in damage. In addition to these worrying indicators of our…

With $20M in new funding, Hydrosat preps climate-monitoring satellites for launch

April 25, 2023

Data is becoming as precious as water in precision agriculture, and Hydrosat aims to help provide both with a new set of Earth observation satellites. The company has raised a $20M A round, including $5 million in non-dilutive funding, which should put the first two thermal infrared satellites into orbit. The company’s mission is to […]

With $20M in new funding, Hydrosat preps climate-monitoring satellites for launch by Stefanie Waldek originally published on TechCrunch

Watch ispace attempt to land on the moon for the first time

April 25, 2023

After five long months journeying through space, ispace’s Hakuto-R lander is ready to greet the lunar surface. The Japanese company is expecting to land Hakuto-R at 12:40 PM EST today. If successful, this first mission will no doubt be a huge boon for ispace’s ambitious plans to send two subsequent landers to the moon in […]

Watch ispace attempt to land on the moon for the first time by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

Spotify now has more than 500M users

April 25, 2023

Spotify now has 515 million monthly active users (MAUs), representing a 5% increase on the previous quarter and 22% increase on the corresponding period last year. This is the first time Spotify has claimed a user base in excess of half-a-billion users, with 210 million premium subscribers and 317 million on the ad-supported plan, representing […]

Spotify now has more than 500M users by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

Twitter will now show labels on tweets with reduced visiblity

April 25, 2023

Twitter said today that it will add labels to tweets that have been flagged by the company to reduce their visibility. Elon Musk & Co. touted this as a “freedom of speech, not reach” move. 🚫Censorship 🚫Shadowbanning✅Freedom of speech, not reach. Our new labels are now live. https://t.co/a0nTyPSZWY — Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) April 24, 2023 […]

Twitter will now show labels on tweets with reduced visiblity by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

India warns e-commerce giants, urges adoption of open network

April 25, 2023

India will use the “full force of the government” to promote the adoption of its open e-commerce network, cautioning e-commerce giants failing to join the initiative within the stipulated time frame may result in withdrawal of the offer. The commerce minister of India Piyush Goyal reiterated his appeal to the e-commerce giants to join the […]

India warns e-commerce giants, urges adoption of open network by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Klarna’s latest update introduces a personal shopping assistant and new creator tools

April 25, 2023

Klarna, the payments and shopping platform, announced today new features and updates that aim to give users a more personalized shopping experience. This includes “Ask Klarna,” a personal shopping assistant where users can speak to real fashion experts; “Creator Shops,” a customized storefront for content creators; an AI-powered discovery shopping feed; and a resell functionality, […]

Klarna’s latest update introduces a personal shopping assistant and new creator tools by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

April 25, 2023
Joshua Bergen is a very productive person.   His secret is the workspace app Notion. Bergen, a product manager living in Vancouver, uses it to plan trips abroad in meticulous detail, with notes and timelines. He uses it to curate lists of the movies and TV shows he’s watched, and records what he thought of them.…

The first babies conceived with a sperm-injecting robot have been born

April 25, 2023
Last spring, engineers in Barcelona packed up the sperm-injecting robot they’d designed and sent it by DHL to New York City. They followed it to a clinic there, called New Hope, where they put the instrument back together, assembling a microscope, a mechanized needle, a tiny petri dish, and a laptop.  Then one of the…

The inside story of New York City’s 34-year-old social network, ECHO

April 25, 2023
One January afternoon last year, a bouquet of balloons arrived at Karen Rose’s residence in Delray Beach, Florida. She wasn’t expecting a delivery, since it wasn’t her birthday or wedding anniversary, and she thought someone had made a mistake until she noticed the words “AND NOW?” printed on each balloon. “AND NOW?” is the prompt…