Ceacer

View File JustFans v8.2.0 - Premium Content Creators SaaS platform - nulled JustFans – Premium Content Creators SaaS is a fully-featured PHP platform that allows you to start your own premium content-based social media platform in no time. The experience is powered by a mobile-first, clean and easy-to-use design, with Dark and Light mode themes, RTL, and localization capabilities. It allows your creators to sell their premium content via monthly subscriptions, offers, bundles, tips, and pay-to-unlock posts. Main Features • Advanced posts creation module Multiple file upload Chunked files uploads Uploaded file previews Post draft save Video conversion via FFmpeg – fallback to mp4 only uploads Video conversion via coconut.co Watermarking for images & videos Posts notifications Posts scheduling (Release&Delete dates) AI-based post descripton suggestions Post polls with multi answer • Advanced feed module Bidirectional feed module with swipeable gallery and full-screen view Media galleries with support for audio, video, and image files Post comments, reactions & comments reactions Profile pinned posts Blurred post previews • Search module (Posts & Users search, Top, Latest, Photo, Video filters) • Multiple payments providers & ways of monetizing content Stripe & Paypal payment processors CCBill payment processor, for adult content payments Coinbase & NowPayments processors for crypto payments Paystack (for deposits, tips, and unlocks only) MercadoPago (for deposits, tips, and unlocks only) Offline Payments Manual payouts and automated ones via Stripe Connect Monthly/Biannual/Annual subscriptions Time limited user subscriptions offers Post & User tips Pay to unlock posts Ad spots Free profiles (Open for registered users) Open profiles (Open for everyone) • Live streaming Multi-driver streaming solution (RTMP or WebRTC) RTMP Ingestion – OBS or alternative required for creators HLS Output with Adaptive Bitrate Private/Public streams Pay per view & Subscription locked streams Live stream chat & Live viewers counter Stream VODs • Multiple storage drivers supported Locally hosted files AWS S3 stored files (CDN & Presigned URLs support) Wasabi stored files DigitalOcean spaces stored files Minio storage PushrCDN storage • User messenger Live messenger and notifications Audio,Video and Photo attachments Paid messages Mass messages Pusher & Soketi websockets drivers • User notifications (Email & on site, live notifications) • User bookmarks (Allow users to save content for later) • User lists (Allow users to store users into custom lists) • Multiple emailing drivers (Log/Mailgun/SMTP) • Ability to enforce the creator’s identity verification • Ability to disable right-clicking on user posts • Printable invoices for each transaction • User settings Profile settings (username, name, bio, birthdate, location, website) Account (Reset password) Wallet settings (Deposit & Withdraw) Payments settings (View transactions data and invoices) Rates settings (General price, bundles, and offers) Subscriptions settings (View and manage subscriptions) Notifications settings Privacy settings (Set your profile to public or private) Verify identiy settings • Fluent, mobile-first design (PWA App included) • Light & Dark Themes • Easy to rebrand via custom themes generator • RTL/LTR & Translatable ready • Advanced admin panel (Over 100 different settings) • Strong SEO practices (Sitemap, schema.org, Social media meta) • GDPR, Cookies policy banner, NSFW content consent dialog • Unique, hand-drawn vector illustrations • Social logins (Facebook, Twitter & Google) • Email-based 2FA logins • GEO-blocking capabilities • Email deliverability check on register • reCAPTCHA integration for public forms • Referral system • OpenAI-based suggestion for new post and profile pages • And so much more.. Submitter ceacer Submitted 05/08/2025 Category Scripts  

View File Doctro v9.2.0 - On-Demand Doctor Appointment Booking SaaS Marketplace Business Model - nulled Rich Dashboard View Appointments Add new Treatments Add new Category Add new Expertise Add new Medicines Add new Hospital Add new Doctor Add new Pharmacy Add new Patients Demo Links URL Email Password Website - - Admin Login [email protected] 123456 Doctor Login [email protected] 123456 Pharmacy Login [email protected] 123456 Pathologist/Lab Login [email protected] 123456 Patient Login [email protected] 123456 Doctro- Super Admin Panel Features Rich Dashboard View Appointments Add new Treatments Add new Category Add new Expertise Add new Medicines Add new Hospital Add new Doctor Add new Pharmacy Add new Patients Add Blog add/edit/delete subscriptions View subscription history Add/remove offers Add new Notification Template Add new roles and permission Add new Languages View user and a doctor report Setting Panel Edit profile Doctro- Doctor Panel (based on commission) Rich Dashboard View appointments Add/delete patients View commission details View reviews Schedule timings Edit profile Submitter ceacer Submitted 05/08/2025 Category Scripts  

View File Cirilla v4.2.4 - Multipurpose Flutter App For Wordpress & Woocommerce Are you looking for a multi-purpose app with rich functions and top code quality where you can design your own template layouts or want to import pre-built demo layout templates directly into your app and can change design anytime you want? An app where you can create many different app types such as: single shop woocommerce app, food app, radio and podcast, Cosmetic shop, grocery shop, beauty app, news & magazine and many other type apps? Then we introduce you with our multi-purpose Cirilla app where you are your own boss. We have spent more than 4000 hours developing, designing and planing so you can configure your app and publish it in very short time. Cirilla is for people with zero coding, developers and agencies who wants to save time and money by providing their clients with top quality apps. Cirilla gives you more power and control over your app and it comes with an App Builder plugin where you design and change your app designs without needing to re-publish to app stores. – Work latest Flutter v3.29.x – Version 4.2.4 – Update 2 May 2025 – Changelog – This is Exclusive Product License from Envato – Full Flutter source code, life time download and update. – Compatible with the latest WooCommerce and WordPress versions. Submitter ceacer Submitted 05/08/2025 Category Scripts  

A game emulator called Delta is taking advantage of the recent court decision around Apple’s App Store to support its business by linking to its Patreon membership page. The update, approved Wednesday for release on the U.S. App Store, allows Delta users to join the Delta team’s Patreon directly from the mobile app, without giving Apple a cut of its subscriptions. The move follows last week’s court ruling that forced Apple to fully open up its U.S. App Store to external purchases, after a years-long fight with Fortnite maker Epic Games. Though Apple largely won that antitrust lawsuit, a judge ruled that the tech giant had not properly followed the court’s orders in one key area: in-app purchases. Apple previously vetted which apps could link out to their websites and added screens to scare users away from making purchases through external payment mechanisms. All the while, it was still charging a commission on those web sales of 27%, down from its usual 30%. After Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple had failed to comply with her original injunction, Apple changed its App Store rules for the U.S. Since then, businesses like Spotify, Amazon Kindle, and Patreon have updated their iOS apps to add links to their websites where consumers can pay directly, without using Apple’s in-app purchases. While this is a win for larger companies that now get to keep more of their profits by skirting Apple’s commission, Delta’s update is an example of how the ruling makes way for new business models for monetizing mobile apps. Image Credits:DeltaThat change could give the App Store the boost it needs at a time when indie app development has been declining and every iOS release “sherlocks” (copies) more third-party apps. Smaller developers often struggle to make a living after paying a 30% commission to Apple, but now have the option to keep more of their profits thanks to the expanded support for web payments. In the updated version of Delta’s game emulator app, users are prompted to “Join our Patreon” from the app’s Settings screen. Here, they can then click a button to subscribe to Delta’s $3 per month Patreon membership, which provides access to exclusive features and other perks. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The web page opens inside the app, allowing users to link their Patreon accounts and choose a membership tier, like monthly or annual. (Before, users could only link a Patreon account in the app, but they couldn’t subscribe directly.) “We can now freely mention our Patreon without giving Apple 27% of donations,” noted Delta creator Riley Testut in a post on social media, adding “Goodbye scare screens” — a reference to the previously required warnings that nudged users away from external purchase links. Image Credits:DeltaDelta still includes a way to pay through Apple’s in-app purchases, as is still required. However, it’s tucked away under an “Alternative Payment Methods” menu in the Settings screen — an option many users will likely never seek out. Hiding pro-consumer options deep within layers of menus is a trick that Apple itself has used to its advantage over the years. For instance, if you want to turn off Apple’s personalized ads (essentially the Apple version of its required “Do Not Track” pop-up authorization for apps), you have to delve into your iOS Settings, go to Privacy & Security, scroll down to the very bottom of the page, tap Apple Advertising, then toggle off Personalized Ads. Or, if you want to clear the app usage data that personalizes your App Store experience, you have to go to Settings, Apps, App Store, scroll to the bottom of that page, tap Personalized Recommendations, then tap Clear App Usage Data on the screen that appears. Apple surely can’t be mad at developers for adopting its own tactics? Given that Delta’s app has now received approval from Apple’s App Review, it seems to follow that we’ll soon see other Patreon-supported apps emerging in the near future.

Fintech giant Stripe announced Wednesday a slew of new product launches at its annual Stripe Sessions user event. The highlights include: a new AI foundation model for payments; stablecoin-powered accounts; a new Orchestration offering, and a recent migration with chip behemoth Nvidia. Stripe’s payments foundation model has been trained on tens of billions of transactions, Emily Glassberg Sands, Stripe’s head of information, said. So it “captures hundreds of subtle signals about each payment” that other models would miss, she said. One use case is improved fraud detection. Stripe’s previous models “gradually” reduced card testing attacks by 80% over two years. Card testing attacks are a type of fraudulent activity in which someone tries to determine whether stolen card information is valid so that they can use it to make purchases. The company claims that its new foundation model increased its detection rate for such attacks on large businesses “by 64% practically overnight.” She added, “Previously, we couldn’t take advantage of our vast data. Now, we can.” Stripe, of course, isn’t the only fintech to have built a model using AI for fraud detection. Just one example is Sardine, which describes itself as an AI risk platform for fraud, compliance, and credit underwriting, in February raised a $70 million Series C funding round led by Activant Capital. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW In an interview, Will Gaybrick, Stripe’s president of product & business, told TechCrunch that Stripe’s generalized model is via self-supervised learning, and thus discovers its own features. “ We have found over and over and over again in machine learning, generalized models outperform,” he said. “A big part of that is agility. It just performs better and adapts better to changes in fraud patterns. Stripe also announced on Wednesday its intent to bring stablecoin-backed, multicurrency cards to businesses by partnering with other startups like Ramp, Squads and Airtm. With such cards, businesses across multiple countries will be able to “operate in the same currency for the first time,” the companies claim. The move comes just three months after Stripe completed its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge. With Orchestration, Stripe said it can better help businesses set up, manage, and optimize performance across multiple payment providers from its dashboard – whether or not they use Stripe as a payment processor. Stripe also used the event to name numerous AI companies that use its billing product, including Windsurf, OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Perplexity, and Eleven Labs. More recently, according to Vivek Sharma, Stripe’s head of revenue automation, Nvidia migrated its “entire subscriber base” to Stripe Billing in six weeks – a process that the fintech claims typically takes many months for a business to complete and marked the “fastest-ever migration to Stripe Billing.” (Nvidia was already a customer of Stripe Payments). Other announcements by Stripe on Wednesday included: Support for 25 new payment methods, including UPI and PIX, bringing its total to over 125 payment methods. Klarna will be available on Stripe’s consumer payments product Link this summer. Stripe Terminal can now be used with third-party hardware, starting with Verifone. Managed Payments, a new merchant-of-record offering that gives businesses everything they need to enter new markets by taking care of global taxes, fraud prevention, dispute management, fulfillment, and more on their behalf. Smart Disputes, which uses AI to automate disputes handling. Stripe Tax is now available in 102 countries, up from 57 last year, and automation of the entire tax lifecycle from monitoring and registering, to collecting and filing. Global Payouts, which allows businesses to pay out to customers, contractors, and other third parties with just an email address.

Tech giants like to boast about trillion-parameter AI models that require massive and expensive GPU clusters. But Fastino is taking a different approach. The Palo Alto-based startup says it’s invented a new kind of AI model architecture that’s intentionally small and task-specific. The models are so small they’re trained with low-end gaming GPUs worth less than $100,000 in total, Fastino says. The method is attracting attention. Fastino has secured $17.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures, famously OpenAI’s first venture investor, Fastino exclusively tells TechCrunch. This brings the startup’s total funding to nearly $25 million. It raised $7 million last November in a pre-seed round led by Microsoft’s VC arm M12 and Insight Partners. “Our models are faster, more accurate, and cost a fraction to train while outperforming flagship models on specific tasks,” says Ash Lewis, Fastino’s CEO and co-founder. Fastino has built a suite of small models that it sells to enterprise customers. Each model focuses on a specific task a company might need, like redacting sensitive data or summarizing corporate documents. Fastino isn’t disclosing early metrics or users yet, but says its performance is wowing early users. For example, because they’re so small, its models can deliver an entire response in a single token, Lewis told TechCrunch, showing off the tech giving a detailed answer at once in milliseconds. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW It’s still a bit early to tell if Fastino’s approach will catch on. The enterprise AI space is crowded, with companies like Cohere and Databricks also touting AI that excels at certain tasks. And the enterprise-focused SATA model makers, including Anthropic and Mistral, also offer small models. It’s also no secret that the future of generative AI for enterprise is likely in smaller, more focused language models. Time may tell, but an early vote of confidence from Khosla certainly doesn’t hurt. For now, Fastino says it’s focused on building a cutting-edge AI team. It’s targeting researchers at top AI labs who aren’t obsessed with building the biggest model or beating the benchmarks. “Our hiring strategy is very much focused on researchers that maybe have a contrarian thought process to how language models are being built right now,” Lewis says.

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone. We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs — and what could be at stake with increased innovation. Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of all the known tech layoffs that have occurred in 2025, which will be updated regularly. If you have a tip on a layoff, contact us here. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact us here. May 2025 April 2025: More than 23,400 employees laid off — see all April 2025 tech layoffs March 2025: 8,834 employees laid off — see all March 2025 tech layoffs February 2025: 16,234 employees laid off — see all February 2025 tech layoffs January 2025: 2,403 employees laid off — see all January 2025 tech layoffs May CrowdStrike Is laying off 5% of its global workforce, or around 500 people. The company said the layoffs were part of a “a strategic plan (the ‘Plan’) to evolve its operations to yield greater efficiencies as the Company continues to scale its business with focus and discipline to meet its goal of $10 billion in ending [Annual Recurring Revenue]” in its 8-K filing. April Expedia Is laying off around 3% of its employees as part of its restructuring. The job cuts will mainly affect midlevel positions in the product and technology teams. The latest round of layoffs comes after the company let go of hundreds of employees from its marketing team globally in early March. Cars24 Has reduced its workforce by about 200 employees in its product and technology divisions as part of a restructuring measure. The India-based e-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles provides a range of services like buying and selling pre-owned cars, financing, insurance, driver-on-demand, and more. In 2023, the SoftBank-backed startup raised $450 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Meta Is letting go of over 100 employees in its Reality Labs division, which manages virtual reality and wearable technology, according to The Verge. The job cuts affect employees developing VR experiences for Meta’s Quest headsets and staff working on hardware operations to streamline similar work between the two teams. Intel Announced its plan to lay off more than 21,000 employees, or roughly 20% of its workforce, in April. The move comes ahead of Intel’s Q1 earnings call helmed by recently appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over from longtime chief Pat Gelsinger last year. GM Is laying off 200 people at its Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck facility in Michigan, which produces GM’s electric vehicles. The cuts come amid the EV slowdown and is not caused by tariffs, according to a report. Zopper Has reportedly let go of around 100 employees since the start of 2025. Earlier this week, about 50 employees from the tech and product teams were let go in the latest round of job cuts. The India-based insurtech startup has raised a total of $125 million to date. Turo Will reduce its workforce by 150 positions following its decision not to proceed with its IPO, per Bloomberg. The San Francisco-based car rental startup, which had about 1,000 staff in 2024, said the layoffs will bolster its long-term growth plans during economic uncertainty. GupShup Laid off roughly 200 employees to improve efficiency and profitability. It’s the startup’s second round of layoffs in five months, following the job cuts of around 300 employees in December. The conversational AI company, backed by Tiger Global and Fidelity, was last valued at $1.4 billion in 2021. The startup is based in San Francisco and operates in India. Forto Has reportedly eliminated 200 jobs, affecting around one-third of its employees. The German logistics startup reduced a significant number of sales staff. Wicresoft Will stop its operations in China, affecting around 2,000 employees. The move came after Microsoft decided to end outsourcing after-sales support to Wicresoft amid increasing trade tensions. Wicresoft, Microsoft’s first joint venture in China, was founded in 2022 and operates in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It has over 10,000 employees. Five9 Plans to cut 123 jobs, affecting about 4% of its workforce, according to a report by MarketWatch. The software company prioritizes key strategic areas like artificial intelligence for profitable growth. Google Has laid off hundreds of employees in its platforms and devices division, which covers Android, Pixel phones, the Chrome browser, and more, according to The Information. Microsoft Is contemplating additional layoffs that could happen by May, Business Insider reported, citing anonymous sources. The company is said to be discussing reducing the number of middle managers and non-coders in a bid to increase the ratio of programmers to product managers. Automattic The WordPress.com developer is laying off 16% of its workforce across departments. Before the layoffs, the company’s website showed it had 1,744 employees, so more than 270 staff may have been laid off. Canva Has let go of 10 to 12 technical writers approximately nine months after telling its employees to use generative AI tools wherever possible. The company, which had around 5,500 staff in 2024, was valued at $26 billion after a secondary stock sale in 2024. March Northvolt Has laid off 2,800 employees, affecting 62% of its total staff. The layoffs come weeks after the embattled Swedish battery maker filed for bankruptcy. Block Let go of 931 employees, around 8% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization, according to an internal email seen by TechCrunch. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of the fintech company, wrote in the email that the layoffs were not for financial reasons or to replace workers with AI. Brightcove Has laid off 198 employees, who make up about two-thirds of its U.S. workforce, per a media report. The layoff comes a month after the company was acquired by Bending Spoons, an Italian app developer, for $233 million. Brightcove had 600 employees worldwide, with 300 in the U.S., as of December 2023. Acxiom Has reportedly laid off 130 employees, or 3.5% of its total workforce of 3,700 people. Acxiom is owned by IPG, and the news comes just a day after IPG and Omnicom Group shareholders approved the companies’ potential merger. Sequoia Capital Plans to close its office in Washington, D.C., and let go of its policy team there by the end of March, TechCrunch has confirmed. Sequoia opened its Washington office five years ago to deepen its relationship with policymakers. Three full-time employees are expected to be affected, per Forbes. Siemens Announced plans to let go of approximately 5,600 jobs globally in its automation and electric-vehicle charging businesses as part of efforts to improve competitiveness. HelloFresh Is reportedly laying off 273 employees, closing its distribution center in Grand Prairie, Texas, and consolidating to another site in Irving to manage the volume in the region. Otorio Has cut 45 employees, more than half of its workforce, after being acquired by cybersecurity company Armis for $120 million in March. ActiveFence Will reportedly reduce 22 employees, representing 7% of its workforce. Most of those affected are based in Israel as the company undergoes a streamlining process. The New York- and Tel Aviv-headquartered cybersecurity firm has raised $100 million at a valuation of about $500 million in 2021. D-ID Will cut 22 jobs, affecting nearly a quarter of its total workforce, following the announcement of the AI startup’s strategic partnership with Microsoft. NASA Announced it will be shutting down several of its offices in accordance with Elon Musk’s DOGE, including its Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the DEI branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. Zonar Systems Has reportedly laid off some staff, according to LinkedIn posts from ex-employees. The company has not confirmed the layoffs, and it is currently unknown how many workers were affected. Wayfair Announced plans to let go of 340 employees in its technology division as part of a new restructuring effort. HPE Will cut 2,500 employees, or 5% of its total staff, in response to its shares sliding 19% in the first fiscal quarter. TikTok Will cut up to 300 workers in Dublin, accounting for roughly 10% of the company’s workforce in Ireland. LiveRamp Announced it will lay off 65 employees, affecting 5% of its total workforce. Ola Electric Is reportedly set to lay off over 1,000 employees and contractors in a cost-cutting effort. It’s the second round of cuts for the company in just five months. Rec Room Reduced its total headcount by 16% as the gaming startup shifts its focus to be “scrappier” and “more efficient.” ANS Commerce Was shut down just three years after it was acquired by Flipkart. It is currently unknown how many employees were affected. February HP Will cut up to 2,000 jobs as part of its “Future Now” restructuring plan that hopes to save the company $300 million before the end of its fiscal year. GrubHub Announced 500 job cuts after it was sold to Wonder Group for $650 million. The number of cuts affected more than 20% of its previous workforce. Autodesk Announced plans to lay off 1,350 employees, affecting 9% of its total workforce, in an attempt to reshape its GTM model. The company is also making reductions in its facilities, though it does not plan to close any offices. Google Is planning to cut employees in its People Operations and cloud organizations teams in a new reorganization effort. The company is offering a voluntary exit program to U.S.-based People Operations employees. Nautilus Reduced its headcount by 25 employees, accounting for 16% of its total workforce. The company is planning to release a commercial version of its proteome analysis platform in 2026. eBay Will reportedly cut a few dozen employees in Israel, potentially affecting 10% of its 250-person workforce in the country. Starbucks Cut 1,100 jobs in a reorganizing effort that affected its tech workers. The coffee chain will now outsource some tech work to third-party employees. Commercetools Laid off dozens of employees over the last few weeks, including around 10% of staff in one day, after failing to meet its sales growth targets. The “headless commerce” platform raised money at a $1.9 billion valuation just a few years ago. Dayforce Will cut roughly 5% of its current workforce in a new efficiency drive to increase profitability and growth. Expedia Laid off more employees in a new effort to cut costs, though the total number is unknown. Last year, the travel giant cut about 1,500 roles in its Product & Technology division. Skybox Security Has ceased operations and has laid off its employees after selling its business and technology to Israeli cybersecurity company Tufin. The cuts affect roughly 300 people. HerMD Is shutting down its operations amid “ongoing challenges in healthcare.” It’s unclear the number of employees affected. In 2023, the women’s healthcare startup raised $18 million to fund its expansion. Zendesk Cut 51 jobs in its San Francisco headquarters, according to state filings with the Employment Development Department. The SaaS startup previously reduced its headcount by 8% in 2023. Vendease Has cut 120 employees, affecting 44% of its total staff. It’s the Y Combinator-backed Nigerian startup’s second layoff round in just five months. Logically Reportedly laid off dozens of employees as part of a new cost-cutting effort that aims to ensure “long-term success” in the startup’s mission to curb misinformation online. Blue Origin Will lay off about 10% of its workforce, affecting more than 1,000 employees. According to an email to staff obtained by CNN, the cuts will largely have an impact on positions in engineering and program management. Redfin Announced in an SEC filing that it will cut around 450 positions between February and July 2025, with a complete restructuring set to be completed in the fall, following its new partnership with Zillow. Sophos Is laying off 6% of its total workforce, the cybersecurity firm confirmed to TechCrunch. The cuts come less than two weeks after Sophos acquired Secureworks for $859 million. Zepz Will cut nearly 200 employees as it introduces redundancy measures and closes down its operations in Poland and Kenya. Unity Reportedly conducted another round of layoffs. It’s unknown how many employees were affected. JustWorks Cut nearly 200 employees, CEO Mike Seckler announced in a note to employees, citing “potential adverse events” like a recession or rising interest rates. Bird Cut 120 jobs, affecting roughly one-third of its total workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The move comes just a year after the Dutch startup cut 90 employees following its rebrand. Sprinklr Laid off about 500 employees, affecting 15% of its workforce, citing poor business performance. The new cuts follow two earlier layoff rounds for the company that affected roughly 200 employees. Sonos Reportedly let go of approximately 200 employees, according to The Verge. The company previously cut 100 employees as part of a layoff round in August 2024. Workday Laid off 1,750 employees, as originally reported by Bloomberg and confirmed independently by TechCrunch. The cuts affect roughly 8.5% of the enterprise HR platform’s total headcount. Okta Laid off 180 employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The cuts come just over one year after the access and identity management giant let go of 400 workers. Cruise Is laying off 50% of its workforce, including CEO Marc Whitten and several other top executives, as it prepares to shut down operations. What remains of the autonomous vehicle company will move under General Motors. Salesforce Is reportedly eliminating more than 1,000 jobs. The cuts come as the giant is actively recruiting and hiring workers to sell new AI products. January Cushion Has shut down operations, CEO Paul Kesserwani announced on LinkedIn. The fintech startup’s post-money valuation in 2022 was $82.4 million, according to PitchBook. Placer.ai Laid off 150 employees based in the U.S., affecting roughly 18% of its total workforce, in an effort to reach profitability. Amazon Laid off dozens of workers in its communications department in order to help the company “move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers.” Stripe Is laying off 300 people, according to a leaked memo reported by Business Insider. However, according to the memo, the fintech giant is planning to grow its total headcount by 17%. Textio Laid off 15 employees as the augmented writing startup undergoes a restructuring effort. Pocket FM Is cutting 75 employees in an effort to “ensure the long-term sustainability and success” of the company. The audio company last cut 200 writers in July 2024 months after partnering with ElevenLabs. Aurora Solar Is planning to cut 58 employees in response to an “ongoing macroeconomic challenges and continued uncertainty in the solar industry.” Meta Announced in an internal memo that it will cut 5% of its staff targeting “low performers” as the company prepares for “an intense year.” As of its latest quarterly report, Meta currently has more than 72,000 employees. Wayfair Will cut up to 730 jobs, affecting 3% of its total workforce, as it plans to exit operations in Germany and focus on physical retailers. Pandion Is shutting down its operations, affecting 63 employees. The delivery startup said employees will be paid through January 15 without severance. Icon Is laying off 114 employees as part of a team realignment, per a new WARN notice filing, focusing its efforts on a robotic printing system. Altruist Eliminated 37 jobs, affecting roughly 10% of its total workforce, even as the company pursues “aggressive” hiring. Aqua Security Is cutting dozens of employees across its global markets as part of a strategic reorganization to increase profitability. SolarEdge Technologies Plans to lay off 400 employees globally. It’s the company’s fourth layoff round since January 2024 as the solar industry as a whole faces a downturn. Level The fintech startup, founded in 2018, abruptly shut down earlier this year. Per an email from CEO Paul Aaron, the closure follows an unsuccessful attempt to find a buyer, though Employer.com has a new offer under consideration to acquire the company post-shutdown. This list updates regularly. On April 24, 2025, we corrected the number of layoffs that happened in March.

On YouTube, hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world are staring at an unmoving broadcast of the Sistine Chapel chimney. Occasionally, a seagull will swoop in and perch atop the roof for a few minutes. But for the most part, nothing happens. On Wednesday, the College of Cardinals started the process of picking the next pope, who will succeed the late Pope Francis. This is a closed-door, sacred ritual, dating back long before mass media made it possible to quickly transmit news with so much public interest. So instead of issuing statements to the press, the conclave signals its progress to the public via smoke — black if they have not agreed on a new pope, and white if they have come to a decision. While the smoke signal used to be for the benefit of local onlookers, there are now dozens of global broadcasters streaming 24/7 coverage of the Sistine Chapel’s exterior online. There is no narration from a television host — only the ambient noise of the packed city square, and perhaps a smattering of seagull calls. In a time when YouTubers strive to optimize every last frame of their videos to boost their chances of viral fame, the mundanity of “conclave cam” is oddly awe-inspiring. It feels like an extension of the Nordic “slow TV” trend, where public networks broadcast commercial-free footage of dull, yet calming scenes. For hours or days at a time, viewers can watch salmon swimming upstream, trains journeying across the countryside, or moose migrating to their summer habitat. Within the context of YouTube, the surrounding user interface of these “conclave cams” is familiar — the unmoderated live chats move quickly, like a popular creator’s livestream. But unlike a Fortnite Battle Royale, there’s not really much to talk about in the chat. The chimney might emit black smoke, or it might emit white smoke. For the vast bulk of the broadcast, the most exciting moments occur when a bird flies through the frame. But because it’s the internet, people end up arguing about politics, soccer, and Elon Musk. There’s some nasty language thrown in there. In some cases, viewers will buy superchats — bold blocks of text that are more noticeable in a busy chat — to declare their vision for the future of the Catholic church. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The point of watching a conclave livestream isn’t to find out when the next Pope is selected — that’s what breaking news push notifications are for. Instead, what’s alluring is the quiet. Office workers may pull up a stream in a tiny window in the corner of their laptop screen, looking over when they see a slight movement of a seagull out of the corner of their eye. When sunset hits, we watch as the sky gets darker and darker, until suddenly it’s night. There’s something spiritual about this gathering of strangers on a common web page, but it has nothing to do with the actual religiosity on display. It’s the desire for people to experience something together — even if that something includes an unmoderated live chat.

OpenAI has met with officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to discuss the agency’s use of AI to speed up drug evaluations, Wired reported on Wednesday. According to the report, OpenAI and the FDA have discussed a project called cderGPT, which seems to be an AI tool for the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE). The CDE regulates over-the-counter and prescription drugs in the U.S. Associates from Elon Musk’s DOGE have reportedly been part of the talks as well. It’s not uncommon for drug development processes to take more than a decade to complete. OpenAI’s work with the FDA aims to accelerate a small portion of that timeline, towards the end, per Wired. AI has long been touted as a potential accelerant that could be used throughout drug development, making some notoriously slow steps more efficient. That said, there’s unanswered questions around how to control for the unreliability of AI models.

Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi” in reference to its vehicles has been refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for being too generic, according to a new filing. Another application by Tesla to trademark the term “Robotaxi” for its upcoming ride-hailing service is still under examination by the office. In addition, applications from Tesla for the trademark on the term “Cybercab” have been halted due to other companies pursuing similar “Cyber” trademarks. That includes one company which has applied for numerous trademarks related to aftermarket Cybertruck accessories. The USPTO issued Tuesday what’s known as a “nonfinal office action” on the “Robotaxi” trademark application which means Tesla has three months to file a response or the office will abandon the application. A trademark lawyer representing Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla applied for the trademarks in October 2024 on the same day that it revealed the so-called Cybercab, the purpose-built electric car that it hopes to one day use in its planned autonomous ride-hailing service. Tesla also submitted two similar trademark applications October 10 for the term “Robobus,” which are still under examination. The trademark that was refused was assigned to a USPTO examiner on April 14. Tesla said it would use the word in reference to “Land vehicles; electric vehicles, namely automobiles; automobiles; and structural parts therefor,” according to the original application. While the USPTO examiner found there were no conflicting trademarks in existence, it refused the application because it was “merely descriptive.” The examiner wrote that the term “Robotaxi” is “used to describe similar goods and services by other companies.” “[S]uch wording appears to be generic in the context of applicant’s goods and/or services,” the examiner wrote. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Tesla will be allowed to submit evidence and arguments to support its argument in favor of the trademark. If it does, the USPTO wants Tesla to provide: “Fact sheets, instruction manuals, brochures, advertisements and pertinent screenshots of applicant’s website as it relates to the goods and/or services in the application, including any materials using the terms in the applied-for mark.” In other words, Tesla needs to give the agency specific plans for how and why it deserves the “Robotaxi” trademark. The examiner also wrote that Tesla will need to tell the USPTO if “competitors” use the terms “ROBO, ROBOT, or ROBOTIC to advertise similar goods and/or services.” Tesla’s other application for the “Robotaxi” trademark would cover the use of the word when offering transportation services, including “coordinating travel arrangements for individuals and for groups,” “arranging time-based ridesharing services,” and offering vehicle sharing or rentals. That application was also assigned to a USPTO examiner on April 14, but no decision has been filed. This story has been updated to include information about the “Cybercab” trademark applications.

A game emulator called Delta is taking advantage of the recent court decision around Apple’s App Store to be able to support its business by linking to its Patreon membership page. The update, approved Wednesday for release on the U.S. App Store, allows Delta users to join the Delta team’s Patreon directly from the mobile app, without giving Apple a cut of its subscriptions. The move follows last week’s court ruling that forced Apple to fully open up its U.S. App Store to external purchases, after a years-long fight with Fortnite maker Epic Games. Though Apple largely won that antitrust lawsuit, a judge ruled that the tech giant had not properly followed the court’s orders in one key area: in-app purchases. Apple previously vetted which apps could link out to their websites and added screens to scare users away from making purchases through external payment mechanisms. All the while, it was still charging a commission on those web sales of 27%, down from its usual 30%. After Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple had failed to comply with her original injunction, Apple changed its App Store rules for the U.S. Since then, businesses like Spotify, Amazon Kindle, and Patreon have updated their iOS apps to add links to their websites where consumers can pay directly, without using Apple’s in-app purchases. While this is a win for larger companies that now get to keep more of their profits by skirting Apple’s commission, Delta’s update is an example of how the ruling makes way for new business models for monetizing mobile apps. Image Credits:DeltaThat change could give the App Store the boost it needs at a time when indie app development has been declining and every iOS release “sherlocks” (copies) more third-party apps. Smaller developers often struggle to make a living after paying a 30% commission to Apple, but now have the option to keep more of their profits thanks to the expanded support for web payments. In the updated version of Delta’s game emulator app, users are prompted to “Join our Patreon” from the app’s Settings screen. Here, they can then click a button to subscribe to Delta’s $3 per month Patreon membership, which provides access to exclusive features and other perks. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The web page opens inside the app, allowing users to link their Patreon accounts and choose a membership tier, like monthly or annual. (Before, users could only link a Patreon account in the app, but they couldn’t subscribe directly.) “We can now freely mention our Patreon without giving Apple 27% of donations,” noted Delta creator Riley Testut in a post on social media, adding “Goodbye scare screens” — a reference to the previously required warnings that nudged users away from external purchase links. Image Credits:DeltaDelta still includes a way to pay through Apple’s in-app purchases, as is still required. However, it’s tucked away under an “Alternative Payment Methods” menu in the Settings screen — an option many users will likely never seek out. Hiding pro-consumer options deep within layers of menus is a trick that Apple itself has used to its advantage over the years. For instance, if you want to turn off Apple’s personalized ads (essentially the Apple version of its required “Do Not Track” pop-up authorization for apps), you have to delve into your iOS Settings, go to Privacy & Security, scroll down to the very bottom of the page, tap Apple Advertising, then toggle off Personalized Ads. Or, if you want to clear the app usage data that personalizes your App Store experience, you have to go to Settings, Apps, App Store, scroll to the bottom of that page, tap Personalized Recommendations, then tap Clear App Usage Data on the screen that appears. Apple surely can’t be mad at developers for adopting its own tactics? Given that Delta’s app has now received approval from Apple’s App Review, it seems to follow that we’ll soon see other Patreon-supported apps emerging in the near future.

Anthropic is launching a new API that allows its Claude AI models to search across the web. Developers using it can build Claude-powered apps that deliver up-to-date info, the company said in a press release published Wednesday. The rollout of the API comes as AI companies look to augment their models in various ways that might attract new customers to their platforms. For its part, Anthropic last week debuted a tool to connect applications to Claude as well as an expanded “deep research” capability that lets Claude search enterprise accounts, websites, and more. “Developers can now augment Claude’s comprehensive knowledge with current, real-world data by enabling the web search tool when making requests to [our] API,” Anthropic wrote in its release. “With web search, developers can now build AI solutions that tap into current information without needing to manage their own web search infrastructure.” Web search is now available on our API. Developers can augment Claude's comprehensive knowledge with up-to-date data. pic.twitter.com/pRQf0ZKXUZ — Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) May 7, 2025 When the web search API is enabled, Claude will use “reasoning” capabilities to determine whether a given request would benefit from up-to-date information or specialized knowledge. If Claude decides to search the web, it’ll generate a search query, retrieve results, analyze them, and provide an answer with citations. Claude can also refine its queries and conduct multiple searches, using earlier results to inform subsequent queries. Developers can customize this behavior as well as specify domains from which Claude is allowed and not allowed to search. Devs can also allow or prohibit web search use at the organization level, Anthropic says. Devs can block Claude from searching certain domains. Image Credits:AnthropicIn related news, Anthropic is bringing web search to Claude Code, its tool that allows devs to tap Claude to complete various coding tasks. With web search enabled, Claude Code can access current API documentation, technical articles, and other information on development tools and libraries. Claude Code remains in beta as a research preview. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW

Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi” in reference to its vehicles has been refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for being too generic, according to a new filing. Another application by Tesla to trademark the term “Robotaxi” for its upcoming ride-hailing service is still under examination by the office. The USPTO issued Tuesday what’s known as a “nonfinal office action,” which means Tesla has three months to file a response or the office will abandon the application. A trademark lawyer representing Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla applied for the trademarks in October 2024 on the same day that it revealed its so-called Cybercab, the purpose-built electric car that it hopes to one day use in its planned autonomous ride-hailing service. Tesla also submitted two similar trademark applications October 10 for the term “Robobus,” which are still under examination. The trademark that was refused was assigned to a USPTO examiner on April 14. Tesla said it would use the word in reference to “Land vehicles; electric vehicles, namely automobiles; automobiles; and structural parts therefor,” according to the original application. While the USPTO examiner found there were no conflicting trademarks in existence, it refused the application because it was “merely descriptive.” The examiner wrote that the term “robotaxi” is “used to describe similar goods and services by other companies.” “[S]uch wording appears to be generic in the context of applicant’s goods and/or services,” the examiner wrote. Tesla will be allowed to submit evidence and arguments to support its argument in favor of the trademark. If it does, the USPTO wants Tesla to provide: “Fact sheets, instruction manuals, brochures, advertisements and pertinent screenshots of applicant’s website as it relates to the goods and/or services in the application, including any materials using the terms in the applied-for mark.” In other words, Tesla needs to give the agency specific plans for how and why it deserves the “Robotaxi” trademark. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The examiner also wrote that Tesla will need to tell the USPTO if “competitors” use the terms “ROBO, ROBOT, or ROBOTIC to advertise similar goods and/or services.” Tesla’s other application for the “Robotaxi” trademark would cover the use of the word when offering transportation services, including “coordinating travel arrangements for individuals and for groups,” “arranging time-based ridesharing services,” and offering vehicle sharing or rentals. That application was also assigned to a USPTO examiner on April 14, but no decision has been filed.

During his junior year study abroad, Max Morganroth, traveled to 30 countries, primarily flying in business and first class. His jet setting was funded almost entirely by airline points he collected through strategic credit card applications and miles redemptions. Morganroth told TechCrunch that just about everyone he knew was “begging” him to teach them how to get free flights through airline miles programs, a term he calls travel hacking. However, most people in his circle, including fellow Wharton students, either didn’t qualify for the best airline rewards credit cards or lacked the time to maximize their mile conversions for optimal flights. By marketing credit cards and sharing fees with banks, frequent flyer programs have become significant revenue generators for airlines. But according to Morganroth, about 70 million Americans don’t have sufficient credit history to access these reward schemes. During his travels, Morganroth discovered that in Hong Kong people don’t need to open credit cards to earn miles on Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program. “Miles there are treated like a second currency,” he said. “You go to 7-Eleven to buy a water bottle; you earn Asia Miles. You can open a bank account and earn cash interest, plus miles on your savings. You can even sell a property for part cash, part miles.” Morganroth saw an opportunity to create a program similar to Asia Miles, where consumers could earn miles on various airlines when they shop in certain stores. His proposition to airlines was that they could tap into a larger consumer demographic, particularly Gen Z, a generation eager to travel but still lacking established credit. After graduating, Morganroth, now 22 years old, teamed up with Arhan Chhabra, a recent Harvard grad, and the duo set out to build Rove, a startup that claims to be the first universal mile loyalty program. Of course, it’s not exactly the first and only. American Express’s rewards program, for instance, lets users redeem points with multiple airlines And sites like Expedia offer points that can be used for various airline flights. But multi-airline programs are still a rarity. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Rove entered the Y Combinator’s winter 2024 batch and proceeded to fly around the world, where they struck partnership deals with the mile programs of 11 airlines, including Air France-KLM, Aeromexico, Finnair, and Qatar Airways. These partnerships, which were previously only available primarily to credit card issuers of the major banks, helped Rove raise $2 million from investors including YC, General Catalyst, and Soma Capital. Rove’s loyalty program allows airlines to expand the lucrative business of miles to millions more consumers, Mogranroth said. But instead of allowing airlines to share fees with credit cards, Rove gives them a way to make money through affiliate marketing with over 7,000 merchants through the Rove shopping extension for Google Chrome. That’s a business model that’s similar to Honey and Rakuten. Mogranroth explained that the points earned from shopping can be converted into airline miles, which hold more value than their equivalent in cash. In addition to the affiliate marketing scheme, Rove also offers its users miles for hotel bookings. In fact, Mogranroth said that the points from a $1,000 hotel stay could be worth a round-trip ticket to Europe from the United States, a flight that could then be used for the same trip, if the hotel booking is non-refundable. Hotel bookings are so valuable because some hotels share as much as 40% of their sales as commission. Instead of pocketing that profit, Rove gives all of its share of those earnings to the user in the form of miles. Users can combine Rove miles earned on hotel bookings with miles from the shopping extension and even credit card miles if they have a card that earns airline points. The startup’s elaborate scheme may seem complicated, but Mogranroth says that earning miles through Rove is straightforward, as long as users book hotels on its platform or shop using the Rove shopping extension. When users are ready to book flights with their miles, Rove’s travel portal helps them find the best award flight deals. And while Rove partnered with only 11 airlines, the startup’s users can book award travel on about 140 carriers because it is often possible to transfer miles of one airline company to its affiliates in another region. Rove is available to anyone, but Morganroth believes its offering is the most attractive to young adults. “Gen Z wants to travel more than any other demographic, yet they have the least access to the tools like this that actually make it cheaper,” he said. “They no longer have to wait until they’re 28, have five years of credit history and $700 free to get one of these cards; they can just download a Chrome extension, book any of their existing travel through us, and they’ll immediately be in the game.”

Snapchat announced on Wednesday that Snap Map now has more than 400 million monthly active users, a new milestone for one of the app’s core features. Launched in 2017, Snap Map was originally a way for users to see their friends’ locations and browse public snaps from around the world. Overtime, the feature has evolved and now offers ways for users to discover local hotspots and find things to do. Snap Map’s success is important for Snapchat, as it’s a crucial part of the social network and gives it a competitive edge over rivals like Instagram and TikTok, both of which don’t offer real-time social discovery in the way that Snap Map does. Instagram is aware of this, as the Meta-owned social network has been spotted working on a “Friend Map” that would allow users to see their friends’ locations in real time. “Snap Map is one of the most used mobile maps in the world, and we’re thrilled to see our community continue to grow,” said Ceci Mourkogiannis, VP of Product at Snap, in a statement to TechCrunch. “The Snap Map is helping hundreds of millions connect with friends and their favorite places and discover what’s happening around them, making the world feel more connected every day.” The news comes as Snapchat has been updating Snap Map with additional functionality over the years. Last year, the company launched a “Footsteps” feature that lets you see how much of the world you’ve explored and track where you’ve traveled to. Plus, Snapchat rolled out “Promoted Places” on Snap Map as a way for users to discover new places. For brands, Promoted Places offers the ability to advertise and showcase all of their locations on Snap Map. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW

SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink, is directly benefiting from the Trump Administration’s tariff trade war, according to leaked State Department memos obtained by the Washington Post. The memos show the U.S. pushing countries to adopt Starlink. Some show that countries believe that doing so could help lubricate their U.S. trade and tariff negotiations. One memo about the tiny African nation of Lesotho, which the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff against, flat-out said so about its new 10-year deal with Starlink, the Post reported. Elon Musk is the founder CEO of SpaceX and one of the Trump administration’s closest advisors. A White House spokesperson told the Post there was no conflict of interest. The State Department described the work of pushing deals for an American satellite company as “patriotic” in light of competition from China. SpaceX did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Lucid Motors has been working through some quality “hiccups” in the early stages of delivering its long-awaited electric SUV, according to interim CEO Marc Winterhoff. “It is true that we had some technical issues that we had to overcome around software” and the Gravity’s heads-up display, Winterhoff said on a conference call Tuesday. “There have been some hiccups. To be quite frank, I think this is absolutely normal in the beginning of launching a vehicle.” In particular, Winterhoff cited supply chain issues with Gravity’s heads-up display as a source of trouble. The company has pulled that option back for now while it works with the supplier to increase production of the part. Winterhoff said these early quality snags are the reason why Lucid has been slow to bring the Gravity to its showroom locations, including SUVs that are supposed to be used for test drives. But he said the company is “knocking those [issues] out.” “We’d rather push it out a few days or weeks, rather than putting a half-baked product in front of the customer,” he said. Lucid’s first SUV arrives at a critical juncture for the company. It has so far failed to sell its Air sedan at anywhere near the levels it once promised to Wall Street. Its total losses to date are now over $13 billion, according to a new regulatory filing. And in February, its long-running CEO abruptly stepped down, which led to the installation of Winterhoff. The Gravity was originally supposed to hit the market in 2023. The launch was pushed back a year thanks to the disruptions caused by the covid pandemic. Lucid did technically start delivering Gravity SUVs in late 2024, although only to employees and people close to the company. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The SUV, which currently starts at $94,000 and gets 450 miles of range, started shipping to regular customers in the last few weeks. But progress has been slow thanks to some of these early production challenges. Lucid has said it doesn’t expect to grow the volume of deliveries until the back half of this year. And it is not alone in dealing with early-run quality problems. Automakers of all sizes tend to deal with issues big or small as they start building new vehicles. Elon Musk once said in a 2021 interview that he tells friends to wait until Tesla is making new cars at scale before they buy one. Partnerships as a service Selling cars makes up the overwhelming majority of Lucid’s business. The company has often said it wants to be a supplier of EV tech to other automakers. To date, it has only inked a deal with Aston Martin, but Winterhoff teased other possible partnerships on Tuesday’s call. The interim CEO said “several players” have reached out to explore “joint manufacturing” in the U.S., potentially at the former Nikola factory in Coolidge, Arizona that Lucid is now leasing. “The President and the administration want to have a strong manufacturing sector in the U.S., and we are looking at potential ways we can leverage our assets,” he said. Winterhoff also said Tuesday that Lucid is in “advanced discussions with partners who have told us the Lucid Gravity is the best-positioned AV-capable platform on the market.” He said aspects like the Gravity’s advanced sensor suite, redundant electrical and control architectures, and fast-charging capability is what makes the SUV attractive in this context. Winterhoff claimed “multiple L4-focused software and mobility companies have engaged Lucid about potential collaboration.” These potential supplemental lines of business could theoretically provide another stream of revenue for Lucid and shore up its finances as it works towards rolling out a more affordable mid-sized vehicle in late 2026. The company has said it has enough cash and vehicle revenue to make it to that point without raising more funding. The global economy has become volatile during the early months of President Donald Trump’s second administration, and that could present a risk to companies like Lucid. To wit, Winterhoff said on Tuesday’s call that Lucid is evaluating “vehicle price changes, tariff risk mitigation, and bifurcating [its] supply chain” in order to protect against the volatility.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, and other Meta execs thought that TikTok was beating Meta at its own game. That’s according to a new filing in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant, published on Monday. The document, dated February 2022, includes conversations among a number of Meta execs discussing Facebook and Instagram’s strategy and market position. In one message, Zuckerberg called Facebook a “challenger” that has “lost the mindshare and momentum,” while adding that TikTok creates a “feeling of shared context” where friends see the same memes, he said. Mosseri also agreed that Facebook should be thought of as a challenger now, noting it’s no longer the default discovery engine. He proposed that the preferred discovery engine today could be YouTube, but he expected TikTok to surpass the Google-owned video platform in time, given the data Meta had on hand. “The most natural differentiated … strategy for Facebook is to be the default discovery surface. But it’s interesting that [TikTok] is 100% video and beating us badly,” Mosseri wrote. “My guess is they’re growing the social mobile market and eating into TV, long-form video, Netflix as well.” Mosseri was right. TikTok overtook YouTube for average watch time in the U.S. in 2021, one study found. Another study by the parental control software maker Qustodio discovered that kids ages 4 through 18 had spent 60% more time on TikTok than YouTube in 2023. Last year, TikTok began allowing 60-minute uploads to challenge YouTube. And just this week, Netflix introduced its own TikTok-like experience in its mobile app, offering a new vertical video feed of recommended videos, personalized to the individual user. In the trial, however, the U.S. government is attempting to prove that Meta violated competition laws by acquiring companies like Instagram and WhatsApp to create a social networking monopoly. A document like this could damage the case, given that, internally, Meta execs were discussing how badly Facebook was being beaten by TikTok. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW For instance, Zuckerberg noted that even if Facebook remained the biggest app in terms of the number of people who engage with it on a daily or weekly basis, it was no longer the biggest app by time spent. He also pointed out that TikTok has a way to provide people with a sense of shared context. That is, if you and your friends are interested in the same things, you’ll likely come across the same things in TikTok’s feed, he said. “That makes it inherently social because instead of having to send some content to a friend you can just assume they’ve seen it,” the CEO explained. “If we could get to a level like this with topics and unconnected content on FB, that would be great. “ Other execs also chimed in. Head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart pointed out that TikTok users could comment on a video in a particular niche, which would lead the algorithm to bring them and other commenters to the same videos over time. Stan Chudnovsky, then a VP and GM at Meta, added that Meta had now begun to compete in a space that had become very fragmented with a “bunch of companies eating into our growth.” “Just adding a new format (like we did with Stories) is not enough anymore. There are just so many other places for people to be,” he added, citing other social apps popular in the U.S., like TikTok, Twitter, iMessage, Snap, YouTube, Reddit, and Discord. John Hegeman, then the VP of Ads (now Chief Revenue Officer), agreed that TikTok was “clearly in the lead” in areas like short-form video content, ranking capabilities, and creation tools, but said he thought Meta could close the gap by getting creators to also post on Reels. However, he said he was less certain about how far behind Meta was on the machine learning and technical side of things, and in terms of creation tools. The document paints a picture that in Meta’s view, Facebook is the underdog in the social media market. It’s also not the only document that has surfaced during the trial to demonstrate Meta’s fear of competition. Zuckerberg himself testified last month that TikTok’s success was both a risk to Meta’s business and had slowed its growth.

Amazon says that it has developed a new warehouse robot, Vulcan, that can “feel” some of the items it touches. The two-armed Vulcan, which can maneuver goods inside the storage compartments Amazon has in its warehouses, uses force sensors to help it know when it makes contact with an object. One arm rearranges items in a compartment, while the second arm — which is equipped with a camera and suction cup — grabs items. Amazon says that Vulcan was trained on physical data including force and touch feedback to pick around 75% of Amazon’s stock, and that it’s capable of self-improving over time. The robot has been deployed in Spokane, Washington, and Hamburg, Germany, where it has processed half a million orders to date. Vulcan is only the latest addition to Amazon’s fleet of warehouse robots. It uses hundreds of thousands to fulfill customer orders across its global storage facilities. While critics allege that Amazon’s robotics investments are an effort to replace human workers, Amazon asserts that this isn’t the case, arguing robots like Vulcan simply make its warehouses safer.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, and other Meta execs thought that TikTok was beating Meta at its own game. That’s according to a new filing in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant, published on Monday. The document, dated February 2022, includes conversations among a number of Meta execs discussing Facebook and Instagram’s strategy and market position. In one message, Zuckerberg called Facebook a “challenger” that has “lost the mindshare and momentum,” while adding that TikTok creates a “feeling of shared context” where friends see the same memes, he said. Mosseri also agreed that Facebook should be thought of as a challenger now, noting it’s no longer the default discovery engine. He proposed that the preferred discovery engine today could be YouTube, but he expected TikTok to surpass the Google-owned video platform in time, given the data Meta had on hand. “The most natural differentiated … strategy for Facebook is to be the default discovery surface. But it’s interesting that [TikTok] is 100% video and beating us badly,” Mosseri wrote. “My guess is they’re growing the social mobile market and eating into TV, long-form video, Netflix as well.” Mosseri was right. TikTok overtook YouTube for average watch time in the U.S. in 2021, one study found. Another study by the parental control software maker Qustodio discovered that kids ages 4 through 18 had spent 60% more time on TikTok than YouTube in 2023. Last year, TikTok began allowing 60-minute uploads to challenge YouTube. And just this week, Netflix introduced its own TikTok-like experience in its mobile app, offering a new vertical video feed of recommended videos, personalized to the individual user. In the trial, however, the U.S. government is attempting to prove that Meta violated competition laws by acquiring companies like Instagram and WhatsApp to create a social networking monopoly. A document like this could damage the case, given that, internally, Meta execs were discussing how badly Facebook was being beaten by TikTok. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW For instance, Zuckerberg noted that even if Facebook remained the biggest app in terms of the number of people who engage with it on a daily or weekly basis, it was no longer the biggest app by time spent. He also pointed out that TikTok has a way to provide people with a sense of shared context. That is, if you and your friends are interested in the same things, you’ll likely come across the same things in TikTok’s feed, he said. “That makes it inherently social because instead of having to send some content to a friend you can just assume they’ve seen it,” the CEO explained. “If we could get to a level like this with topics and unconnected content on FB, that would be great. “ Other execs also chimed in. Head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart pointed out that TikTok users could comment on a video in a particular niche, which would lead the algorithm to bring them and other commenters to the same videos over time. Stan Chudnovsky, then a VP and GM at Meta, added that Meta had now begun to compete in a space that had become very fragmented with a “bunch of companies eating into our growth.” “Just adding a new format (like we did with Stories) is not enough anymore. There are just so many other places for people to be,” he added, citing other social apps popular in the U.S., like TikTok, Twitter, iMessage, Snap, YouTube, Reddit, and Discord. John Hegeman, then the VP of Ads (now Chief Revenue Officer), agreed that TikTok was “clearly in the lead” in areas like short-form video content, ranking capabilities, and creation tools, but said he thought Meta could close the gap by getting creators to also post on Reels. However, he said he was less certain about how far behind Meta was on the machine learning and technical side of things, and in terms of creation tools. The document paints a picture that in Meta’s view, Facebook is the underdog in the social media market. It’s also not the only document that has surfaced during the trial to demonstrate Meta’s fear of competition. Zuckerberg himself testified last month that TikTok’s success was both a risk to Meta’s business and had slowed its growth.

A group of investors are considering a plan to inject another $30 million into BluSmart in a bid to revive the Indian cab-hailing startup that abruptly halted operations last month, TechCrunch has learned. The proposal from these existing investors has a catch: its contingent on BluSmart co-founder Anmol Singh Jaggi agreeing to resign. The proposed investment will be treated in the form of unsecured debt and will be aimed at fixing the startup’s operational liabilities, including pending dues and employee salaries, two sources told TechCrunch. BluSmart’s investors with pro-rata rights, including BP Ventures and Switzerland-based ResponsAbility, started discussing the resolution last week. BP Ventures and ResponsAbility declined to comment when reached out on Monday. While Jaggi has not signed the resignation from BluSmart, sources told TechCrunch he has verbally agreed to resign from its board, subject to assurance he will not face any future legal action from BluSmart’s investors. Jaggi and BluSmart’s other co-founder, Punit K. Goyal, did not respond to messages sent earlier this week. BluSmart halted operations last month after a probe was launched into Gensol Engineering, its primary EV lessor and the company that shares Jaggi as its co-founder. The move affected riders looking for EVs, its investors, and its 600 employees, who did not receive their salaries at least until March. The Gurugram-based startup had around 2.5 billion Indian rupees (~$30 million) in pending dues, which include 500 to 600 million Indian rupees of overdue payments to employees, TechCrunch has learned. About 8,700 EVs on BluSmart’s fleet have also been abandoned due to the suspension of its service. This could affect the health of batteries and other components on the vehicles if the startup does not restart its service soon. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The suspension has also impacted BluSmart’s drivers, some of whom have gone on strike in New Delhi to protest the move. Some of those out-of-work drivers may see some relief as Delhi-based EV cab-hailing service Evera Cabs recently announced the addition of 500 cabs leased to it by BluSmart lenders. The startup is also looking to add 1,000 EV cabs currently associated with BluSmart and some of its drivers. Existing BluSmart investors do not want the startup to lose its branding by letting other cab-hailing companies, including Evera and even Uber, use its fleet on their services. Sources told TechCrunch the investors are keen to restart the service in the next three weeks. Still, BluSmart’s comeback has some challenges. One of them is the purported corporate governance issues, in addition to those in Gensol impacting the startup indirectly. The Indian corporate affairs ministry recently launched a probe into Gensol and BluSmart for that. Jaggi’s resignation from BluSmart is also not as certain as it appears. The Indian stock exchange regulator ordered Jaggi and his brother to resign from the publicly-listed Gensol while launching the probe. However, the regulator’s direction does not apply to BluSmart, which is a private entity. Climate investment fund Eversource Capital, which is backed by Britain’s BP, shared an interest in buying BluSmart in a slump sale last month, as first reported by Indian outlet Inc42. The fund proposed to merge the startup with its B2B fleet operator, Lithium Urban. However, the BluSmart board has not agreed to the offer as it priced the startup at a 60% cut from its earlier $300 million valuation. Lithium Urban is struggling as a company with mounting losses and most of its vehicles are reaching their end of life, TechCrunch learned last month. Lithium Urban’s original founder Sanjay Krishnan also abandoned the business, a person familiar with the matter said. Eversource Capital and Lithium Urban did not respond to requests for comment at the time. Indian conglomerate Adani Group also showed interest in buying the EV cab-hailing startup to use its fleet at its airports, TechCrunch learned last month. The company had early talks with the BluSmart board. It already has Uber as a fleet partner. Adani Group did not respond to a request for comment. Nevertheless, BluSmart investors hope the startup could be better positioned to attract investments from strategics like Eversource Capital, Uber, or Adani after restarting its operations.

A group of investors are considering a plan to inject another $30 million into BluSmart in a bid to revive the Indian cab-hailing startup that abruptly halted operations last month, TechCrunch has learned. The proposal from these existing investors has a catch: its contingent on BluSmart co-founder Anmol Singh Jaggi agreeing to resign. The proposed investment will be treated in the form of unsecured debt and will be aimed at fixing the startup’s operational liabilities, including pending dues and employee salaries, two sources told TechCrunch. BluSmart’s investors with pro-rata rights, including BP Ventures and Switzerland-based ResponsAbility, started discussing the resolution last week. BP Ventures and ResponsAbility declined to comment when reached out on Monday. While Jaggi has not signed the resignation from BluSmart, sources told TechCrunch he has verbally agreed to resign from its board, subject to assurance he will not face any future legal action from BluSmart’s investors. Jaggi and BluSmart’s other co-founder, Punit K. Goyal, did not respond to messages sent earlier this week. BluSmart halted operations last month after a probe was launched into Gensol Engineering, its primary EV lessor and the company that shares Jaggi as its co-founder. The move affected riders looking for EVs, its investors, and its 600 employees, who did not receive their salaries at least until March. The Gurugram-based startup had around 2.5 billion Indian rupees (~$30 million) in pending dues, which include 500 to 600 million Indian rupees of overdue payments to employees, TechCrunch has learned. About 8,700 EVs on BluSmart’s fleet have also been abandoned due to the suspension of its service. This could affect the health of batteries and other components on the vehicles if the startup does not restart its service soon. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The suspension has also impacted BluSmart’s drivers, some of whom have gone on strike in New Delhi to protest the move. Some of those out-of-work drivers may see some relief as Delhi-based EV cab-hailing service Evera Cabs recently announced the addition of 500 cabs leased to it by BluSmart lenders. The startup is also looking to add 1,000 EV cabs currently associated with BluSmart and some of its drivers. Existing BluSmart investors do not want the startup to lose its branding by letting other cab-hailing companies, including Evera and even Uber, use its fleet on their services. Sources told TechCrunch the investors are keen to restart the service in the next three weeks. Still, BluSmart’s comeback has some challenges. One of them is the purported corporate governance issues, in addition to those in Gensol impacting the startup indirectly. The Indian corporate affairs ministry recently launched a probe into Gensol and BluSmart for that. Jaggi’s resignation from BluSmart is also not as certain as it appears. The Indian stock exchange regulator ordered Jaggi and his brother to resign from the publicly-listed Gensol while launching the probe. However, the regulator’s direction does not apply to BluSmart, which is a private entity. Climate investment fund Eversource Capital, which is backed by Britain’s BP, shared an interest in buying BluSmart in a slump sale last month, as first reported by Indian outlet Inc42. The fund proposed to merge the startup with its B2B fleet operator, Lithium Urban. However, the BluSmart board has not agreed to the offer as it priced the startup at a 60% cut from its earlier $300 million valuation. Lithium Urban is struggling as a company with mounting losses and most of its vehicles are reaching their end of life, TechCrunch learned last month. Lithium Urban’s original founder Sanjay Krishnan also abandoned the business, a person familiar with the matter said. Eversource Capital and Lithium Urban did not respond to requests for comment at the time. Indian conglomerate Adani Group also showed interest in buying the EV cab-hailing startup to use its fleet at its airports, TechCrunch learned last month. The company had early talks with the BluSmart board. It already has Uber as a fleet partner. Adani Group did not respond to a request for comment. Nevertheless, BluSmart investors hope the startup could be better positioned to attract investments from strategics like Eversource Capital, Uber, or Adani after restarting its operations.

OpenAI is launching a program, OpenAI for Countries, that the company says will enable it to build out the local infrastructure needed to better serve international AI customers. As a part of the new program, OpenAI will partner with governments to assist with efforts like building out data center capacity and customizing OpenAI’s products, including ChatGPT, for specific languages and local needs. Funding for the program will come from OpenAI as well as from governments in each country, according to the startup. The goal is to pursue 10 international projects to start, but OpenAI hasn’t said where they’ll be located yet. OpenAI said that it hopes to “spread democratic AI.” That essentially means it wants to convince other countries to use Western AI models — OpenAI in particular — instead of Chinese competitors. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI for Countries is meant to complement the company’s AI data center push, Project Stargate, which is reportedly set to expand beyond the U.S. OpenAI for Countries may lean on Stargate infrastructure, for example, or perhaps even funding from Stargate investors.