Spotify begins offering Car Thing refunds as it faces lawsuit over bricking the streaming device

Spotify is facing continued backlash over its decision to discontinue support for Car Thing, its in-car streaming device, announced earlier in May. The device will no longer work starting on Dec. 9, 2024, the company said. On TikTok, Gen Z users are posting videos to express their discontent with Spotify’s …...Read More

Misinformation works, and a handful of social 'supersharers' sent 80% of it in 2020

A pair of studies published Thursday in the journal Science offers evidence not only that misinformation on social media changes minds, but that a small group of committed “supersharers,” predominately older Republican women, were responsible for the vast majority of the “fake news” in the period looked at. The studies, …...Read More

Tesla shareholder sweepstakes and EV layoffs hit Lucid and Fisker

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Okay, okay — remember last week when I suggested Tesla was being a bit extra in its bid to convince shareholders to …...Read More

Paul Graham claims Sam Altman wasn't fired from Y Combinator

In a series of posts on X on Thursday, Paul Graham, the co-founder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, brushed off claims that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was pressured to resign as president of Y Combinator in 2019 due to potential conflicts of interest. “People have been claiming [Y Combinator] fired …...Read More

AI manufacturing startup funding is on a tear as Switzerland's EthonAI raises $16.5M

As factories and manufacturing facilities have gotten “smarter” through sensors, robotics and other connected technologies, this has created a potential treasure trove of data that can be mined for insights on bottlenecks and other areas for improvement. Or maybe even to just expedite processes that would otherwise require significant manual …...Read More

Ticktock! 48 hours left to nab your early-bird tickets for Disrupt 2024

Don’t miss out: TechCrunch Disrupt early-bird pricing ends in 48 hours! The countdown is on! With only 48 hours left, the early-bird pricing for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 will end on May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT. This is your final call to secure your tickets and get up to $800 …...Read More

Valar Labs debuts AI-powered cancer care prediction tool and secures $22M

Putting AI to work in the healthcare industry is a tricky business; it’s even more so in oncology, where the stakes are especially high. Biotech startup Valar Labs is aiming high but starting small with a tool that accurately predicts certain treatment outcomes, potentially saving precious time for patients. It …...Read More

Basalt plans to hack a defunct satellite to install its space-specific OS

Space startup Basalt Technologies started in a shed behind a Los Angeles dentist’s office, but things have escalated quickly: soon it will try to hack a derelict satellite and install its space-specific OS. The startup’s cofounder, Alex Choi, found himself living in said shed after suddenly getting kicked out of …...Read More

Former teen model co-created app Frich to help Gen Z be more realistic about finances

As a teen model, Katrin Kaurov became financially independent at a young age. Aleksandra Medina, whom she met at NYU Abu Dhabi, also learned to manage money early on. The pair bonded as students over what they viewed as a lack of a space for open conversations for people their …...Read More

Autobiographer's app uses AI to help you tell your life story

Can an AI help you tell your story? That’s the idea behind a startup called Autobiographer which leverages AI technology to engage users in meaningful conversations about the events in their lives and how they felt about them, and then turns those into prose, effectively creating your own autobiography. The …...Read More