Author: GT

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Dick Tracy got an atom-powered two-way wrist radio in 1946. Marty Cooper never forgot it.The Chicago boy became a star engineer who ran Motorola’s research and development arm when the hometown telecommunications titan was locked in a 1970s corporate battle to invent the portable phone. Cooper rejected AT&T’s wager on the car phone, betting that America wanted to feel like Dick Tracy, armed with “a device that was an extension of you, that made you reachable everywhere.”Fifty-two years ago, Cooper declared victory in a call from a Manhattan sidewalk to the head of AT&T’s rival…

Elon Musk’s X has appointed serial entrepreneur and growth hacker Nikita Bier as its new head of product. “I’ve officially posted my way to the top,” Bier wrote on X, alluding to his large presence on the app. Bier is best known as the founder of apps like Gas, which was acquired by Discord, and TBH, which was acquired by Facebook. Both Gas and TBH were apps geared toward teens, who were encouraged to leave one another compliments. More recently, Bier has been working as a venture partner at Lightspeed and as an adviser to the Solana Foundation. “While I…

After 13 years of deploying robots into its warehouses, Amazon reached a new milestone. The tech behemoth now has 1 million robots in its warehouses, the company announced Monday. This one millionth robot was recently delivered to an Amazon fulfillment facility in Japan. That figure puts Amazon on track to reach another landmark: Its vast network of warehouses may soon have the same number of robots working as people, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ also reported that 75% of Amazon’s global deliveries are now assisted in some way by a robot. TechCrunch reached out to…

Growth-stage fundraising is picking up speed again, but it’s not the same game it used to be. At TechCrunch All Stage 2025 on July 15 in Boston, we’re bringing in someone who knows how the rules have changed and how to win in today’s market: Cathy Gao, partner at Sapphire Ventures. Gao has backed breakout startups like Culture Amp, Gem, Sword Health, and EliseAI. She’s sat on both sides of the table as an investor and operator. At Gusto, she helped scale post-Series B. Now she’s helping founders cut through the noise and land deals in an increasingly competitive environment.…

Apple’s iPads come with built-in productivity tools like Notes, Calendar, and Reminders, but if you’d like to explore new ways to maximize productivity and organize your life, there are many apps out there to help you. Although the iPad started off as a device that could be used to stream content or browse the web on the go, Apple has essentially turned its iPads into computers that can handle a variety of different tasks for personal, work, and school use. As a result, there are numerous apps to help you do things like create a single place to organize your…

Nothing on Tuesday launched its newest flagship phone after a two-year gap. At an event in London, the company unveiled the Phone (3), which starts at $799 and aims to take on bigwigs like Samsung and Apple with its differentiated design and features targeting tech enthusiasts.  Since releasing Phone (1) in 2022, the GV-backed startup has relied on a transparent design to make its phone stand out from others. The Phone (3) follows that same design language, but it introduces a stranger camera arrangement that forgoes the typical square or circular alignment found on other smartphone devices. (If you are…

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos leaves Aman Venice hotel, on the second day of the wedding festivities of Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, June 27, 2025. Yara Nardi | ReutersAmazon founder Jeff Bezos unloaded more than 3.3 million shares of his company in a sale valued at roughly $736.7 million, according to a financial filing on Tuesday.The stock sale is part of a previously arranged trading plan adopted by Bezos in March. Under that arrangement, Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares of Amazon over a period ending May 29, 2026.Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s…

General Motors sold 4,508 electric Hummer trucks and SUVs in the second quarter in the U.S., putting it close to Ford’s F-150 Lightning despite a price gap in the tens of thousands of dollars. The Hummer sales were part of a banner quarter for GM’s electric vehicles, making it one of the only automakers that saw a genuine year-over-year uptick in U.S. EV sales, according to data released Tuesday. The company sold 17,420 electric Equinox SUVs, 3,056 electric Silverado pickups, 6,549 Blazer EVs, 1,810 Escalade IQ EVs, and 1,524 electric GMC Sierra trucks. GM even got a boost from its…

London-based smartphone maker Nothing has launched its first over-the-ear headphones, the Headphone (1). The new device follows Nothing’s first step into audio hardware with last year’s debut of the Ear 2 open-ear headphones. The new Headphone (1) headphones were designed in collaboration with British audio brand KEF and feature the sleek, transparent design that Nothing has become known for. The device itself is a bit bulky, even for an over-the-ear headphone, but it provides adequate adaptive noise cancelling and transparent modes. This model also offers adaptive bass enhancement, which came across when listening to a variety of music genres.  In…

Google CEO Sundar Pichai addresses the crowd during Google’s annual I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California on May 20, 2025. Camille Cohen | AFP | Getty ImagesThe Google Doodle is Alphabet’s most valuable piece of real estate, and on Tuesday, the company used that space to promote “AI Mode,” its latest AI search product.Google’s Chrome browser landing pages and Google’s home page featured an animated image that, when clicked, leads users to AI Mode, the company’s latest search product. The doodle image also includes a share button.The promotion of AI Mode on the Google Doodle comes as the tech…