SpaceX said farewell to its V2 on Monday night as it sent Starship’s current configuration on one last test flight, in a mission that the company says hit all its key goals, moving the program into its next phase. ecurity researchers have discovered that as many as half of all geostationary satellites in Earth’s orbit are carrying unencrypted sensi…

Flint raised a $5 million seed round led by Accel, with participation from Sheryl Sandberg’s fund, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, and prior investor Neo. Also, Coco Robotics is working toward automating its fleet of delivery robots using its millions of miles of collected data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic…

Plus - Grindr’s owners may take it private after a financial squeeze; Apple says goodbye to the Clips app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

An Indian drone startup called Airbound raised nearly $9 million in seed funding as it begins a drone-delivery pilot with a private hospital and works toward one-cent delivery using its ultra-light, blended-wing-body aircraft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Oura's chief commercial officer doesn't seem particularly worried about capturing every demographic. Instead, she's focused on keeping Oura’s core users happy while organically attracting new segments. And young women are becoming part of that core market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a landmark bill on Monday that regulates AI companion chatbots, making it the first state in the nation to require AI chatbot operators to implement safety protocols for AI companions The law is designed to protect children and vulnerable users from some of the harms associated with AI companion chatbot use. …

On Friday, the technology giant announced a new feature that will automatically disable browser notifications for the websites you haven’t interacted with recently, disrupting their ability to pop up alerts and updates that you may no longer be interested in. the President declared Friday that he will impose a 100% tariff on all imports from China,…

Kalshi, a prediction market that allows people to bet on future events, announced that it raised over three hundred million dollars at a 5 billion dollar valuation. The company’s value has increased two and a half times since its last fundraise just three months ago, when it was valued at two billion dollars. Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup l…

Plus: Spyware maker NSO Group confirms acquisition by US investors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Political shifts might have set back the energy transition, but large investors are betting that renewables are at the future of energy. In other news, the CMA has designated Google as having "strategic market status" in the search and search advertising markets, which means the company has such "a substantial and entrenched" position that it requi…

Plus - YouTubers who were kicked off the platform for rule violations can now request a ‘second chance’; Netflix is letting users play games on their TV screens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella offered a glimpse of the "first of many" massive Nvidia AI systems it is rolling out, starting now. a16z’s Anish Acharya calls India office reports “entirely fake news!” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Reflection, once focused on autonomous coding agents, has raised $2B at an $8B valuation to expand into both an opensource alternative to closed frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, and a Western equivalent to Chinese AI firms like DeepSeek. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…

Novoloop has signed a deal with a contract manufacturer to produce its Lifecycled TPU material. Also, Knapsack creates a unified workspace that integrates design and coding tools to ensure design and engineering teams are on the same page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…

-The U.S.' top auto safety agency said it had identified more than 50 reports of FSD running red lights, crossing yellow lines, or making illegal turns. -Apple speaks out about how the Texas age assurance law was written, saying it affects the privacy of users. -SoundCloud is evolving into a more social platform with new features like playlists bas…

Plus - OpenAI’s Nick Turley on transforming ChatGPT into an operating system; Sora’s downloads in its first week was nearly as big as ChatGPT’s launch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Base Power's Series C will help the company expand beyond Texas, its beachhead market, and build batteries in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

From phone spyware and facial recognition to phone unlocking technology and databases and more, this tech powers Trump's deportation machine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Japanese investing conglomerate SoftBank Group is buying a robotics company as the financial behemoth says physical AI is its next frontier. SoftBank announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Zurich, Switzerland-based ABB Group’s robotics business unit for more than five billion dollars. The deal is subject to regulatory approval; SoftBank predic…

Trump's Department of Energy wants to cancel billions more in awards that were granted by the Biden administration, and startups are in the crosshairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

Plus - Facebook updates its algorithm to give users more control over which videos they see; California bans loud commercials on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

By coating regular rebar with a thin layer of stainless steel, Allium Engineering could reduce the amount of concrete needed to build a bridge while also prolonging its life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesبقلم TechCrunch

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement paid eight hundred twenty five thousand dollars earlier this year to a company that manufactures vehicles equipped with various technologies for law enforcement, including fake cellphone towers known as “cell-site simulators,” which can be used to spy on nearby phones. Also, hackers working for the North Kor…