TechCrunch Top 3

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1. Gavin Newsom pulls a Gandalf: Over the weekend, the California governor vetoed AI bill SB 1047, which would have regulated the development of AI, saying it focused too narrowly on large AI systems that could "give the public a false sense of security." It's a win for opponents of the bill like OpenAI and Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun. Read More

2. Bouncing back to your roots: Elastic threw a curveball last month when it said it would go from proprietary licensing back to open source. "And to be honest, it's for a very selfish reason — I love open source," Shay Banon, co-founder and CTO, told TechCrunch. Read More

3. M&A or IPO? How do you know when it's time to take an acquisition offer or hold on and try to go public? Kevin Ryan, a tech investor and entrepreneur who helped build DoubleClick, the adtech platform that Google bought, lays down some key insights. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

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🎙️ How Hyperfixed's Alex Goldman podcasts: Everybody seems to be starting a podcast these days. Goldman, who co-founded the Reply All podcast, walked us through his 8'x8' "torture closet" in the basement of his apartment. Read More

📉 X's value down 79% since Musk's $44B purchase: Fidelity is now valuing its stake in X at about $4.19 million, down from its initial investment of about $19.66 million. The mark-down implies Fidelity values the social media company at about $9.4 billion overall. Read More

📷 CameraPi: Raspberry Pi, the maker of tiny, cheap, single-board computers, is releasing an AI camera add-on for $70 that comes with on-board AI processing. In other words, the startup just opened itself up to a world of new AI clients. Read More

🐼 Hungry for cash: HungryPanda, the food-delivery app that serves the Asian diaspora, has snagged $55 million to double down on its core product and expand into groceries. Read More

👯 Acquiring a safe space: Lex, the social and dating app for LGBTQ+ people, has been acquired by app conglomerate 9count. The conglomerate is led by Alex Hoffman, former CEO of Musical.ly (TikTok before ByteDance bought it), who wants to create "vertical social networks that empower communities." Read More

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Around the Web

🎮 Epic is not done filing lawsuits: This time, the video game publisher is accusing Google and Samsung of conspiring to protect Google's Play Store from competition, reports Reuters. This comes after an earlier face-off with Google and Apple over their 30% app store commission charges. Read More

🔮 Out of the clink and ready for action: Crypto billionaire and Binance founder Changpeng Chao has been released from U.S. custody, and he says he will continue investing in the blockchain sector, as well as AI and biotech, according to Bloomberg. Read More

💰 Changing sides isn't always easy: OpenAI wants to turn into a for-profit company, but how that sausage gets made will be enormously complex, according to a Wall Street Journal report. OpenAI only has two years to do it. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Brian Heater

📱 Going back to the Fold: Foldable smartphones are making a comeback, if TC's Brian Heater is to be believed. Google's new Pixel 9 Pro Fold is bigger and better than ever if you find yourself in need of more screen real estate frequently: "When unfolded, this thing is ultimately a tablet." Read More