Author: GT

Exciting news for tech enthusiasts and innovators! TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 is just around the corner, and we have an incredible opportunity for you to elevate your brand’s visibility. How? By hosting your own Side Event at the most anticipated tech gathering of the year! Why host a Side Event? Imagine being at the helm of your own event, engaging with over 10,000 of the brightest minds in the tech industry. Hosting a Side Event at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 provides unparalleled exposure for your brand. This is your chance to connect with a vast network of attendees, influencers, and potential collaborators.…

ROME (AP) — Spyware from a U.S.-backed Israeli company was used to target the phones of at least three prominent journalists in Europe, two of whom are editors at an investigative news site in Italy, according to digital researchers at Citizen Lab, citing new forensic evidence of the attacks.The findings come amid a growing questions about what role the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni may have played in spying on journalists and civil society activists critical of her leadership, and raised new concerns about the potential for abuse of commercial spyware, even in democratic countries.“Any attempts to illegally…

Let’s be honest: Most events aren’t built for VCs — they’re built around VCs. Panels, keynotes, maybe a few startups worth watching, and a sea of business cards you’ll forget by dinner. TechCrunch All Stage 2025 flips that script, when we fill up Boston’s SoWa Power Station on July 15. This isn’t just a chance to speak onstage and bounce — it’s an opportunity to connect with high-caliber founders, early-stage operators, and other investors who are laser-focused on execution. If you’re looking to expand your deal flow, spot overlooked sectors, and meet the next breakout team before their Series A…

Whole Foods told its employees that the ongoing outages and disruptions at its primary distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI), may take “several days to resolve.” The Amazon-owned retail giant told staff in an internal communication, seen by TechCrunch, that UNFI was experiencing a “nationwide technology system outage,” which UNFI has for its part described as a cybersecurity incident.  Whole Foods said in the communication to staff that the cyberattack is affecting UNFI’s “ability to select and ship products from their warehouses” and that this will “impact our normal delivery schedules and product availability.”  The missive to staff included instructions to…

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Everything ever said on the internet was just the start of teaching artificial intelligence about humanity. Tech companies are now tapping into an older repository of knowledge: the library stacks.Nearly one million books published as early as the 15th century — and in 254 languages — are part of a Harvard University collection being released to AI researchers Thursday. Also coming soon are troves of old newspapers and government documents held by Boston’s public library.Cracking open the vaults to centuries-old tomes could be a data bonanza for tech companies battling lawsuits from living novelists, visual artistsand…

From about the 1960s to the mid-1980s, the United States was a leader in uranium mining. But domestic production of the mineral, which is primarily used as fuel for nuclear reactors, has since fallen off a cliff. “A lot of this was because it was a government priority. And we strategically used government funding and subsidies to support it. However, what kind of started happening during the 90s is we saw a de-prioritization away from uranium,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Several high-profile nuclear accidents, including the…

Oceans may cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, but we have better maps of the moon than we do the seabed. There are good reasons for that: The ocean floor is obscured, and the harsh environment makes it hard to send humans down to get a closer look. But as robots improve, we may finally get a clearer picture of the deep abyss.  There are a number of startups racing to map the ocean in greater detail, but the latest to snag fresh funding is Bedrock Ocean, which recently closed a $25 million Series A-2 round led by…

OpenAI has launched o3-pro, an AI model that the company claims is its most capable yet. O3-pro is a version of OpenAI’s o3, a reasoning model that the startup launched earlier this year. As opposed to conventional AI models, reasoning models work through problems step by step, enabling them to perform more reliably in domains like physics, math, and coding. O3-pro is available for ChatGPT Pro and Team users starting Tuesday, replacing the o1-pro model. Enterprise and Edu users will get access the week after, OpenAI says. O3-pro is also live in OpenAI’s developer API as of this afternoon. O3-pro…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign is joining Coinbase’s global advisory council, which already includes several former U.S. senators and Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager, as the cryptocurrency exchange broadens its political reach.David Plouffe, a top Democratic strategist best known as an architect of Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign, is the latest addition to the council, joining as the cryptocurrency industry plays an increasingly prominent role in shaping fast-moving legislation in Congress.The legislation aims to create a comprehensive framework for the regulation of digital assets and comes amid a shift in Washington. President Trump,…

Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics.Source: Gecko RoboticsGecko Robotics announced on Thursday that it raised $125 million in a Series D funding round, raising the AI and robotics company’s valuation to $1.25 billion.The new round of funding means the Pittsburgh-based company has reached unicorn status, roughly twelve years after it was founded by Jake Loosararian. The company’s previous round of funding, a $173 million Series C in December 2023, valued it at $633 million.To date, the company has raised $347 million from investors including USIT, XN, Founders Fund and Y Combinator. Its latest round was led by new…