Author: GT

At its inaugural LlamaCon AI developer conference on Tuesday, Meta announced an API for its Llama series of AI models: the Llama API. Available in limited preview, the Llama API lets developers explore and experiment with products powered by different Llama models, per Meta. Paired with Meta’s SDKs, it allows developers to build Llama-driven services, tools, and applications. Meta didn’t immediately share the API’s pricing with TechCrunch. The rollout of the API comes as Meta looks to maintain a lead in the fiercely competitive open model space. While Llama models have racked up more than a billion downloads to date,…

There’s a new pour from Starbucks: Its first 3D printed store in the U.S.The Seattle-based coffee giant with more than 17,000 locations nationwide has never had a store quite like the one opening this week in the Texas city of Brownsville, along the U.S.-Mexico border, where a computer-controlled robotic arm did much of the work by pouring one layer of concrete atop another.The location — which is drive-thru only — is set to open Friday and makes Starbucks one of the nation’s few big retailers that have tinkered with 3D printing for commercial construction. Builders have mostly used the technology…

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 at Conrad Washington in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2025.Kayla Bartkowski | Getty ImagesSnap reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue Tuesday but declined to provide guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainties that could weigh on advertising demand.Shares dropped 13% in after-hours trading.Here is how the company did compared with Wall Street’s expectations:Earnings per share: Loss of 8 cents. That figure is not comparable to analysts’ estimates.Revenue: $1.36 billion vs. $1.35 billion expected, according to LSEG Global daily active users: 460 million vs. 459 million expected, according to StreetAccountGlobal average revenue per user: $2.96 vs.…

The first 27 satellites in Amazon’s effort to create a space-based internet network have finally made it to orbit, paving the way for the company to attempt to compete with Elon Musk’s well-established Starlink service. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket lifted off late Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, delivering the satellites into orbit around the Earth. They are the first batch of what is expected to be a total of 3,226 Kuiper satellites in the network. Even that would pale in comparison to Musk’s network. Starlink already consists of more than 8,000…

Congress has overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to enact stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery, sometimes called “revenge porn.” Known as the Take It Down Act, the bill is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. The measure was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and later gained the support of First Lady Melania Trump. Critics of the bill, which addresses both real and artificial intelligence-generated imagery, say the language is too broad and could lead to censorship and First Amendment issues.What is the…

On April 14, someone put in a sell order for 2,500 bitcoin, worth roughly $212 million, on the Binance order book at $85,600, around 2-3% above the spot prices trading at the time. Seeing such a large order, the bitcoin price started to gravitate to this level at around 17:00 UTC. Suddenly, the order was gone, as seen using Coin Glass data, which caused a brief moment of market apathy as bulls and bears tussled to fill a void in liquidity. The bitcoin price at the time, however, was already on shaky ground due to geopolitical concerns. Subsequently, it went…

Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments, at the New York Stock Exchange on June 3, 2021.Source: NYSEFintech stocks were in focus Tuesday as fresh earnings reports and analyst notes drove sharp reactions across the sector.Shift4 Payments and Upstart Holdings surged following upbeat news, while PayPal shares were slightly higher despite delivering a strong earnings beat.Shift4 shares rose more than 10% after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results and raised its full-year guidance.Shift4 reported adjusted earnings of $1.07 per share, above the LSEG expectation of 71 cents per share. Sales in the first quarter of $848 million were below the consensus…

CaaStle, the embattled fashion startup whose board of directors accused its founder, Christine Hunsicke, of financial misconduct, is starting to face lawsuits from a partner and a supplier over missed payments and more allegations of fraud. As first reported by Axios and by suits seen by TechCrunch, CaaStle is being sued by P180, a vehicle it launched to invest in companies that used CaaStle technology, and by EXP Topco, an apparel company that says the company never paid it after reaching a settlement for copyright infringement.  A representative CaaStle did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.  The P180…

The U.K. government released consultation papers on draft legislation for the crypto industry that will provide a regulatory environment for activities such as cryptoasset trading exchanges and stablecoin issuance as well as covering market abuse, admissions and disclosures regimes. The proposed rules build on the Financial Services and Markets Act that passed into law in 2023 and gave the Treasury power to create new rules for the crypto sector. The U.K. is lagging behind the European Union, whose industry-specific Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation kicked in last year. It’s also following the U.S., where President Donald Trump’s administration has…

In a warming world with increasingly extreme weather events, homeowners are turning to backup batteries for relief and peace of mind. But the backup only lasts only so long, and there’s a bigger problem at play: aging power grids.Enter the virtual power plant, managed through a cloud-based system. It’s a fertile market for a number of companies as consumers look for more reliability, especially in areas prone to extreme temperatures and storms.Base Power, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a virtual power plant and hardware company that provides battery backup to homeowners. The startup manages the batteries, and virtually controls the…