Author: GT

The Equity crew was live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha took over the Builders Stage on Monday morning to kick off the event with the question everyone’s asking: are we in an AI bubble?  Between valuations that have tripled in months, $300M seed rounds, and $100B commitments flying around, the money is moving fast — maybe too fast. The Equity team broke down what peak bubble looks like, where the actual business models are (spoiler: a lot of companies are betting on AI data centers), and why some founders are betting against the…

The acquisition of a legacy platform like AOL by Bending Spoons shows the latent value of long-standing digital ecosystems. AOL’s 30 million monthly active users represent an enduring brand and a data-rich resource that can be used in AI-driven services. That statement is true only if the data is properly governed and integrated. Such deals may blend nostalgia with business advantage, but present new compliance and cybersecurity risks that enterprises need to address.By acquiring AOL from Yahoo, Bending Spoons moves to consolidate high-retention consumer technologies in its expanding digital portfolio. As companies turn increasingly to synthetic data to feed their…

For all the progress in artificial intelligence, most video security systems still fail at recognising context in real-world conditions. The majority of cameras can capture real-time footage, but struggle to interpret it. This is a problem turning into a growing concern for smart city designers, manufacturers and schools, each of which may depend on AI to keep people and property safe.Lumana, an AI video surveillance company, believes the fault in these systems lies deep in the foundations of how they are built. “Traditional video platforms were created decades ago to record footage, not interpret it,” said Jordan Shou, Lumana’s Vice…

Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer Exxon Mobil Corp., speaks during a panel discussion at the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, on July 15, 2025. Brian Kaiser | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesExxon Mobil is holding advanced talks with power providers and technology companies to cut the emissions of AI data centers that rely on natural gas by deploying carbon capture technology, CEO Darren Woods said on Friday.”I’m hopeful that many of these hyperscalers are sincere when they talk about the desire to have low emission facilities, because certainly in the…

YouTube TV viewers can no longer see Disney channels including ABC and ESPN after the two sides failed to agree on a new content distribution deal. Other channels that vanished from Google’s pay TV platform include the Disney Channel, FX and Nat Geo. Google’s pay TV platform said in a blog post late Thursday that Disney had followed through on a threat to suspend its content amid the negotiations. The breakdown could impact coverage of some college football games on Saturday, as well as NBA, NFL and NHL games.YouTube is the largest internet TV provider in the U.S. with more…

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTech’s internet giants have made it through earnings season, and they offered a consistent message to Wall Street: Artificial intelligence investments are only getting bigger.Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon each lifted their guidance for capital expenditures and now collectively expect that number to reach more than $380 billion this year.Microsoft’s forecast was for fiscal 2026, which ends in June.The companies are racing to build out infrastructure for what they…

Threads, Meta’s X rival, continues to ship new features at a rapid pace. Shortly after the launch of communities and disappearing “ghost posts,” the social networking app on Thursday introduced new tools that will give users more control over their conversations on the platform. One new feature, reply approvals, will allow you to decide which replies from other users will appear on your posts — before anyone else can see them. While Threads, like other social networks, already offers tools that let you limit replies to people you follow, your followers, or people you mention, the new feature allows you…

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2025. Brendan Mcdermid | ReutersAmazon shares soared 12% on Friday after the company reported an across-the-board beat for the third quarter and boosted its forecast for spending due to demand for artificial intelligence services.Cloud was a major driver of revenue and profit growth, with sales at Amazon Web Services climbing 20% from a year earlier to $33 billion, topping expectations.The unit generated operating income of $11.4 billion, accounting for roughly two-thirds of Amazon’s total operating profit.Revenue in the digital advertising business, another growth engine,…

Most people tracking their health today end up with scattered clues. Their smartwatch shows sleep duration. A fitness app logs steps. A nutrition app counts calories. Yet few tools help people understand how all of this fits together. Bevel, a New York–based startup, believes that’s the missing piece in the shift toward proactive health. The company has raised a $10 million Series A from General Catalyst to scale its AI health companion, which unifies data from wearables and daily habits across sleep, fitness, and nutrition into personalized insights. The investment follows a breakout year for the two-year-old health tech company.…

KENT, Conn. (AP) — For most Americans, there’s less reason than ever to worry about finding chargers to fuel up an electric vehicle. But charging worries remain a top hesitation for potential buyers, second only to sticker shock.Those concerns linger even as fast chargers multiply. More than 12,000 have been added within a mile of U.S. highways and interstates just this year, an Associated Press analysis of data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows. That’s about a fifth of quick-charging ports now in operation. Yet a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the…