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How Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni used Gen Z methods to raise $8M for Phia | TechCrunch
There’s a new buzzy fashion startup in town. Meet Phia, the shopping app founded by Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe Gates and her Stanford roommate-slash co-founder, Sophia Kianni. Phia searches the web to help users compare the price of fashion items. It’s a mobile app and browser extension that’s essentially “Google flights for fashion,” as the…
Best Apple Watch apps for boosting your productivity | TechCrunch
The Apple Watch helps people track their health and fitness, but it can also be a great tool to help people stay productive and get work done. This is especially true for people who get easily distracted by their phone. Although the Apple Watch comes with simple built-in productivity apps like Reminders and Calendar, it’s…
Al Gore on China’s climate rise: ‘I would not have seen this coming’ | TechCrunch
Twenty-five years ago, Al Gore was in the final stretch of his U.S. presidential campaign, just weeks away from an election that would ultimately slip through his fingers despite winning the popular vote. His platform included ambitious climate action, with America positioned as the natural leader of a global environmental transition. The irony of what…
Pilot union urges FAA to reject Rainmaker’s drone cloud-seeding plan | TechCrunch
Rainmaker Technology’s bid to deploy cloud-seeding flares on small drones is being met by resistance from the airline pilots union, which has urged the Federal Aviation Administration to consider denying the startup’s request unless it meets stricter safety guidelines. The FAA’s decision will signal how the regulator views weather modification by unmanned aerial systems going…
Here’s the tech powering ICE’s deportation crackdown | TechCrunch
President Donald Trump made countering immigration one of his flagship issues during last year’s presidential campaign, promising an unprecedented number of deportations. In his first eight months in office, that promise turned into around 350,000 deportations, a figure that includes deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (around 200,000), Customs and Border Protection (more than 132,000),…
The growing debate over expanding age verification laws | TechCrunch
Technologists and policymakers are reckoning with a generation-defining problem on the internet: while it can be a revolutionary force for unprecedented education and connection across the globe, it can also pose dangers to children when they have completely unfettered access. There is no simple way, however, to monitor children’s internet access without surveilling adults, paving…
FirstClub bucks India’s speed obsession, quickly triples valuation to $120M with premium approach | TechCrunch
While quick commerce in India has become synonymous with 10-minute deliveries — and the hottest play for startups and investors — FirstClub is taking a slower, more curated route. Yet just three months after launching its app, the 8-month-old startup has tripled its valuation. At a post-money valuation of $120 million, the Bengaluru-based startup has…
The fall of EV startup Fisker: A comprehensive timeline | TechCrunch
Henrik Fisker once envisioned a burgeoning EV empire at the startup he named after himself, which was to be led by the Ocean SUV. But cracks started showing in that vision almost as soon as the Ocean hit the road in 2023. Fisker cut production targets multiple times, failed to meet sales goals and laid…
TechCrunch Mobility: A new speed bump for EV owners and Waymo’s robotaxi fleet surpasses 2,000 | TechCrunch
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Wow, y’all aren’t exactly bullish on EV sales in the U.S. once the federal tax credit expires. For those wondering what…
Honor’s slim Magic V5 foldable is fun to use, minus the huge camera bump | TechCrunch
There is a spec war going on among companies to claim the crown of thinnest foldable. Phone manufacturers are playing with fractions of millimeters to boast about their phone’s thickness. Honor is winning this race on a theoretical basis with its 8.8 mm (when folded) thick Magic V5 foldable. I’m saying theoretical because there is a huge, camera-bump-sized caveat to this. Image Credits:Ivan Mehta The…