TechCrunch Top 3

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1. CES 2025: The TC gang is on the ground in Las Vegas, reporting on all the weird and wonderful tech news that's fit to print — from earbuds with real-time translation and super smart life-saving rings to a tiny robot cat that blows on your coffee to cool it off. Oh, and of course, updates from Nvidia, Samsung, Sony, Toyota, and more. Read More

2. Humble brag: Sam Altman says OpenAI is losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan because people are using it more than the company expected. While this problem demonstrates the product's popularity, it's not clear how OpenAI is meant to turn a profit, much less operate its costly business sustainably. Read More

3. Less is more: Accel apparently had ample opportunity to raise billions of dollars for its eighth India fund, but instead chose to leave it at $650 million even as other venture firms raise huge pools of capital. The reason? ROIs are harder to come by when funds grow past $650 million. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images

🤔 Oh, goodie: Sam Altman wants a glorious future for OpenAI. He says OpenAI is turning its attention towards "superintelligence," which the company defines roughly as systems that "outperform humans at most economically valuable work." Read More

🧑‍⚖️ Sleeping leach: MegaLag, a lawyer who posts videos on his LegalEagle YouTube channel, is suing PayPal. He claims that the company's browser extension Honey is a "scam" that diverts commissions from influencers, "undermining the affiliate marketing system." Read More

🤖 Bring on the AI slop ads: Peak XV and Tiger Global-backed Avataar have come out with a new tool that can create videos of products based on a link. The company is going against Amazon and Google, which are also experimenting with AI-powered video tools for ads. Normally I like rooting for the little guy, but I'm really not excited about AI ads. Read More

🍔 Now I'm hungry: Samsung is bringing some interesting AI-powered features to its TVs. A feature called Samsung Food can identify the food on your screen and find a recipe for it (courtesy of Samsung's acquisition of the Whisk app in 2019), and a new Live Translate feature can translate live broadcasts in real time. Read More

🥔 Is it time for a comeback? Intel is coming off the back of the worst year of its life on the public markets, announcing a slew of new chips at CES 2025 that it hopes will turn its fortunes around. Read More

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Around the web

😵‍💫 Fighting the good fight: FTC Chair Lina Khan is almost out, but her legacy of going after anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices will be remembered. In an interview on the Better Offline podcast, Khan explains how the FTC has fought against Amazon 'enshittifying' platforms, hidden 'junk fees,' and more. Listen Now

📺 Remember TiVo? TiVo was one of those technologies that completely changed the game for a hot minute, and then quickly became somewhat irrelevant as streaming took hold. But it's making a comeback with a TV operating system that will rival the likes of Roku, Google TV, and Amazon's Fire TV, reports The Verge. Read More

🔥 When a fire starts to burn, it starts to spread, and Californians are struggling with the crushing anxiety of that reality. Enter Watch Duty, a popular app that alerts users of wildfire risk and provides information about blazes as they unfold, reports The Guardian. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Soliddd

👓 We love useful tech: Soliddd is one of a growing number of startups attempting to deliver smart glasses for accessibility purposes. The company's SolidddVision glasses target people with macular degeneration, which affects roughly 13% of U.S. residents aged 40 and up. Read More