How iRobot lost its way home
iRobot survived three decades of competition, but couldn’t survive European regulators killing its Amazon buyout. Now it’s being taken over by its own supplier in bankruptcy court.
Tech News
WhatsApp’s biggest market is becoming its toughest test
Meta has three months to comply with Indian government directions that could affect how WhatsApp operates in the country.
You need to listen to Sudan Archives’ violin opus for the club
My introduction to Sudan Archives was the song “Nont for Sale” from her first EP Sink in 2018. I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since. With each album, she finds new ways to sculpt the sound of her violin, contorting it in defiance of expectations. Athena found her in conversation with it, leaving its timbre […]
Mesa shuts down credit card that rewarded cardholders for paying their mortgages
Fintech startup Mesa has shut down its Homeowners Card, which awarded points to cardholders for paying their mortgages.
Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting
Grok’s track record is spotty at best. But even by the very low standards of xAI, its failure in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia is shocking. The AI chatbot has repeatedly misidentified 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who heroically disarmed one of the shooters, and claimed the […]
Entertainment, Music, News, Tech, Tech News
Absynth is back and weirder than ever after 16 years
Absynth is something of a cult classic in the soft synth world. It was originally released in 2000, and quickly found an audience among the growing cadre of people making music on computers. But its last major update, Absynth 5, was released in 2009, and Native Instruments officially discontinued the instrument in 2022, citing a […]
Making sense of the risky Netflix-Warner Bros. deal
Netflix’s $82.6 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. encapsulates a fraught moment for Hollywood, as the entertainment business is increasingly overshadowed by tech giants.
TechCrunch Mobility: Rivian’s survival plan involves more than cars
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
Inside the high drama of the iPhone 4
By 2010, the iPhone era was in full swing. Smartphones were still a new and unfinished idea – the iPhone had only just gotten copy and paste! – but it was clear that these big slabs of glass were going to change the way we did pretty much everything. Apple was also already on an […]