The Download: fish-safe hydropower, and fixing space debris

June 20, 2025

Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab closes on $2B at $10B valuation

Thinking Machines Lab, the secretive AI startup founded by OpenAI’s former chief technology officer Mira Murati, has closed a $2 billion seed round at a $10 billion valuation.

July 1, 2024

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. How fish-safe hydropower technology could keep more renewables on the grid Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower…

Vaire Computing raises $4.5M for ‘reversible computing’ moonshot which could drastically reduce energy needs

July 1, 2024

Vaire Computing, based in London and Seattle, is betting that chips that can do reversible computing are going to be the way forward for the world.

Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model fails EU competition rules, Commission finds

July 1, 2024

Preliminary findings by the European Commission investigating a controversial binary choice Meta has forced on regional users of its social neworks, Facebook and Instagram, since last fall does not comply with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Failure to abide by the ex ante market contestability regulation, which has applied on Meta and other so […]

Japan’s SmartHR raises $140M Series E as strong demand for HR tech boosts its ARR to $100M

July 1, 2024

The round was led by KKR and Teachers’ Ventures Growth, an investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

How fish-safe hydropower technology could keep more renewables on the grid

July 1, 2024

Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower is helping clean up our electrical grid, it’s not always a positive force for fish. Dams that create reservoirs on rivers can change habitats. And for some species, especially those that migrate long…

MIT’s soft robotic system is designed to pack groceries

June 30, 2024

RoboGrocery combines computer vision with a soft robotic gripper to bag a wide range of different items.

AI-powered scams and what you can do about them

June 30, 2024

This is by no means a complete list, just a few of the most obvious tricks that AI can supercharge.

Identity.vc is bringing capital and community to Europe’s LGBTQ+ venture ecosystem

June 30, 2024

Identity.vc writes checks that range from €250,000 to €1.5 million into companies from the pre-seed to Series A stages.

Robot cats, dogs and birds are being deployed amid an ‘epidemic of loneliness’

June 30, 2024

In the early 1990s, a researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology began work on what would become Paro. More than 30 years after its development, the doe-eyed seal pup remains the best-known example of a therapeutic robot for older adults. In 2011, the robot reached the zenith of pop cultural […]

Apple reportedly working to bring AI to the Vision Pro

June 30, 2024

Apple’s AI plans go beyond the previously announced Apple Intelligence launches on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is also working to bring these features to its Vision Pro headsets. It’s not the most surprising move — if Apple Intelligence (a whole suite of features including an improved Siri, […]

Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab closes on $2B at $10B valuation