TechCrunch Top 3

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1. Marissa Mayer's new app targets older users: With a focus on using AI for everyday tasks, Mayer's company, Sunshine, launched a new app, Shine, that is focused on photo sharing tied to events. After Sunshine released apps focused on contacts and birthdays, some folks were confused as to who the company's target audience is. Well, older internet users appear to be the answer, and given that the market segment is growing, it could be a lucrative gambit...Read More

2. X to open Grok to all paid users: If you have wanted to tinker with or simply use xAI's Grok chatbot but are not a paid member of X's most expensive tier, good news: So long as you are any sort of X subscriber you'll get access to Grok this week...Read More

3. PayPal co-leads Qoala's $47 million round: PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Ventures are co-leading a Series C for Indonesian startup Qoala, which operates in the insurtech space. TechCrunch reports that Qoala's platform "works with top local insurers and e-commerce firms to offer customers personalized and affordable" insurance products...Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

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Synctera cuts staff: Banking-as-a-service startup Synctera has cut staff, reportedly bringing its total personnel to under 100. TechCrunch's Mary Ann Azevedo writes that the company's service connects fintech companies and sponsor banks. That's no small task, but in a fintech market replete with more limited capital inflows, seeing some financial technology companies tighten their belts is not a shock...Read More

Meta snooped users' Snapchat traffic: Back in 2016, Facebook worked to "intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat's app and its servers" to better figure out how to compete with the smaller social network. Sure, that's a long time ago, but it's also a reminder that Meta didn't reach its present perch by playing kindly in its core market of social networking...Read More

Rabbit teams up with ElevenLabs: The Rabbit R1 hardware device that took the internet by storm earlier this year and is expected to start shipping next month is teaming up with ElevenLabs for voice command support on its handset...Read More

Wastewater sludge could be gold: That's the pitch that Wase is making to companies that produce wastewater, such as breweries and food-processing plants. Using electro-active microbes, the startup's tech can harvest methane from organic waste to make power from a smaller unit that can also yank more methane from inputs...Read More

Databricks spent $10M on its new AI model: Called DBRX, the new generative AI model competes with the GPT line from OpenAI and Google's own Gemini models. Given the open-source roots of Databricks, it's no surprise that the model is "on GitHub and the AI dev platform Hugging Face for research as well as for commercial use," Kyle reports...Read More

Vibrant Planet wants to use AI to help fight fires: There's lots of talk about how AI will replace white-collar workers, or make the creative process a bit more open than it has historically been. Then there are the startups that want to use AI for something more physical, like Vibrant Planet. Sure, it's a software company that digitizes land mapping and uses AI so that its customers can better manage land in their care and prepare for "climate incidents like wildfires," but you have to admit that it's a very cool pitch...Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: NASA JPL/Cal-tech

Snake robot! NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working on using snake robots to search for life on Saturn's moon, Enceladus, which is cold and covered in ice. But with water underneath the ice, there could be life present, as well. So, we might send the snake robot to, well, find out the truth for us. I love watching what sounds like a sci-fi plot device become a potentially viable technology... Read More