Uber Caps AI Coding Tools At $1,500 Per Employee Per Month After Burning Annual Budget In Four Months
Uber has instituted internal usage caps on AI coding tools to moderate rising costs. The company now places a monthly $1,500 cap per employee and per agentic coding tool, including…
Microsoft’s ASSERT Framework Turns Plain Language Into Automated AI Tests For Application-Specific Behavior
Microsoft introduced ASSERT (Adaptive Spec-driven Scoring for Evaluation and Regression Testing) on Tuesday. The open-source framework simplifies testing for application-specific AI behavior. ASSERT uses AI to turn high-level, natural-language descriptions…
Layup Parts Raises $42 Million Series A After Anduril Alumni Workshopped Pitch
Layup Parts raised $42 million in a Series A round led by dual-use fund Marlinspike, the Huntington Beach, California, composites startup announced Tuesday. The company, founded in 2024 by former…
Amazon’s Ring Sued Over Familiar Faces Facial Recognition Feature
Amazon was sued on Monday in Seattle over allegations that Ring’s Familiar Faces feature stores images of passersby without their consent, a class action filed by Virginia resident Charles Sigwalt…
OpenAI Launches Six Job-Specific Codex Plug-ins, Sites, And Annotations To Push Enterprise Adoption And Now Has 5M+ Weekly Codex Users
OpenAI released six new plug-ins for Codex aimed at specific enterprise roles—data analytics, creative production, sales, product design, equity investing, and investment banking—plus a Sites feature to output work as hosted interactive…
Focused Energy Raises Oversubscribed $240 Million Series A, One Of The Largest Early-Stage Rounds For A Fusion Power Startup
Focused Energy recently raised an oversubscribed $240 million Series A round, one of the largest early-stage rounds for a fusion power startup, announced last week. The new round brings the…
Dashlane Hackers Brute-Forced 2FA To Steal At Least A Dozen Encrypted Password Vaults From About 20 Accounts
Dashlane confirmed that hackers brute-forced its two-factor authentication (2FA) system over a weekend, gaining access to about 20 customer accounts and stealing at least a dozen encrypted password vaults. The…
Apple’s MacBook Neo Ships 1.1 Million Units In Debut Quarter, Exceeding Expectations And Attracting First-Time Mac Buyers
Apple shipped 1.1 million MacBook Neo units in the quarter ended March, according to IDC data shared with TechCrunch, making it an early success despite being available for only about…
Amazon Moves Prime Day To June 23-26 With Focus On Groceries And Essentials Amid Economic Slump
Amazon announced its annual Prime Day will take place June 23–26, holding the deals event earlier than usual since Prime Day is typically in July. The company said members can…
Blue Origin Plans To Return New Glenn Rocket To Flight In 2026 Despite Massive Launchpad Explosion
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the company will fly its New Glenn rocket again before the end of 2026 despite last week’s massive explosion during testing at Cape Canaveral,…
ZeroDrift Raises $10 Million Seed To Provide AI Compliance Service That Flags And Rewrites Rogue Messages
ZeroDrift, a new AI compliance service, raised $10 million in seed funding from a16z Speedrun, Reign Ventures, Pitchdrive, and U&I Ventures to flag and replace AI messages that present compliance…
Impulse Space Raises $500 Million Series D To Expand Maneuverable Spacecraft And Hire 200 Employees
Impulse Space, a startup founded by SpaceX engine guru Tom Mueller to build highly maneuverable spacecraft, announced a $500 million Series D led by 137 Ventures and BANNER VC, with…
Alphabet Plans $80 Billion Stock Raise To Fund AI Infrastructure Buildout
Alphabet said it will raise $80 billion by selling stock to fund AI infrastructure and global compute capacity, citing strong enterprise and consumer demand for its AI solutions that exceeds…
Mach Industries Raises $300 Million Series C At $1.8 Billion Valuation For Autonomous Weapons
Mach Industries, a three-year-old defense tech startup led by 22-year-old CEO Ethan Thornton, raised $300 million in Series C funding at a $1.8 billion valuation, nearly quadrupling its value from…
Instagram Fixes AI Chatbot Exploit That Let Hackers Hijack Accounts Including White House And Space Force
Instagram resolved a security vulnerability that allowed attackers to hack accounts by tricking Meta’s AI-powered support chatbot into granting access. The exploit involved spoofing the victim’s location with a VPN,…
Waste Companies Propose Up To £5 Deposit On Vapes To Boost Proper Disposal And Cut Fires
Waste companies are calling for a refundable deposit of up to £5 on vapes to incentivize proper disposal and reduce lithium battery fires in bin lorries and waste facilities. The…
82 Killed In China’s Worst Coal Mining Disaster In Over 15 Years As Safety Violations Linger
A blast at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi on May 22 killed 82 people and injured more than 120, marking China’s worst coal mining disaster in over 15 years…
UK Proposes National Blacklist To Ban Abusive Air Passengers From All Airlines
The UK government is proposing a national blacklist that would prevent abusive air passengers from flying with any airline by allowing carriers to share information on disruptive travelers. The scheme…
Caribbean Scotch Bonnet Pepper Shortage Threatens Hot Sauce Supply Amid Climate And Hurricane Impacts
A shortage of Scotch bonnet peppers—the core ingredient in Caribbean hot pepper sauce—is threatening supply and driving costs soaring for producers, as extreme weather, disease, and pests make the temperamental…