Hertz will order up to 175,000 EVs from General Motors, including BrightDrop vans

Eco-conscious vehicle renters can soon expect to see EVs from GM brands Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and even commercial delivery unit BrightDrop at Hertz rental locations. The car rental giant said Tuesday it plans to order up to 175,000 electric vehicles from General Motors over the next five years, with first deliveries of Chevy Bolt … Read more

SoftBank Robotics Europe is now Aldebaran (again)

Its 2015 acquisition of Aldebaran didn’t go as smoothly as SoftBank hoped. At the time, the French robotics startup was best known for its Nao, which had become a fairly ubiquitous presence in research facilities across the globe. The small humanoid robot formed the foundation for the rebranded SoftBank Robotics’ best-known creation, Pepper. Nao mostly … Read more

Disney+ makes it through its first livestreamed TV show, ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ without major crashes

As you can tell from the Mickey Mouse-shaped disco ball in the photo above, Season 31 of “Dancing with the Stars” (DWTS) premiered on Disney+ last night. This marked the first time the streaming service livestreamed a TV show. With instances of live TV apps crashing across the sports streaming space (looking at you DirecTV!), … Read more

YouTube announces Creator Music, a new way for creators to shop for songs for use in videos

In addition to the groundbreaking news that YouTube would begin to monetize Shorts videos and revamp its Partner Program, the company today also announced a new offering for creators who leverage music to back their videos: Creator Music, now in beta testing. This new destination will introduce a large catalog of songs that creators can … Read more

Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 update with File Explorer tabs, system-wide captions and more

Microsoft today announced that the next major version of Windows 11, the aptly-named Windows 11 2022 Update, has begun rolling out to the more than 190 countries where Windows is available. The highlights include updates to the Start menu and tabs in File Explorer, as well as new accessibility features including system-wide live captions, voice … Read more

Nvidia unveils Drive Thor, one chip to rule all software-defined vehicles

Nvidia is gearing up to deliver Drive Thor, its next-generation automotive-grade chip that the company claims will be able to unify a wide-range of in-car technology from automated driving features and driver monitoring systems to streaming Netflix in the back for the kiddos. Thor, which goes into production in 2025, is notable not just because it’s … Read more

Nvidia launches new services for training large language models

As interest around large AI models — particularly large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-3 — grows, Nvidia is looking to cash in with new fully managed, cloud-powered services geared toward enterprise software developers. Today at the company’s fall 2022 GTC conference, Nvidia announced the NeMo LLM Service and BioNeMo LLM Service, which ostensibly make … Read more

Tesla extends FSD access amid regulator scrutiny

Tesla is extending access to its advanced driver assistance system, Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta version 10.69.2.2, to 160,000 owners in the U.S. and Canada, according to a tweet Monday from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Around 100,000 Tesla owners currently have access to the controversial driver assist system, which, for a price tag of $15,000, promises … Read more

Enact Systems connects solar installers and customers for more efficient energy use

There are about three million solar installations in the United States per year, but that process is costly and often lacks transparency. Pleasanton, Ca.-based Enact Systems wants to increase collaboration between installers and end-users with two-sided software. One side lets salespeople remotely design, price and sell solar systems, and the other enables their customers to … Read more

Nvidia debuts new products for robotics developers, including Jetson Orin Nano

Amid the festivities at its fall 2022 GTC conference, Nvidia took the wraps off new robotics-related hardware and services aimed at companies developing and testing machines across industries like manufacturing. Isaac Sim, Nvidia’s robotics simulation platform, will soon be available in the cloud, the company said. And Nvidia’s Jetson lineup of system-on-modules is expanding with … Read more

LibreOffice begins charging Mac App Store users $8.99

LibreOffice, the popular open source document processing suite, has begun charging users who download the software through the Mac App Store a one-time fee of $8.99. First spotted by The Register, it’s an unexpected step for The Document Foundation — the organization behind LibreOffice — which since its inception has made all versions of LibreOffice … Read more

Announcing the agenda for TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022

The crypto industry seemed to age several decades over the past bull run, maturing in some places while barreling ahead in ambitious new pursuits, including DeFi, NFTs and web3. And while scams continued to proliferate and hacker heists became a weekly occurrence, the space onboarded an onslaught of retail investors and fostered feverish excitement among … Read more

4 employment law mistakes startups can stop making today

Kristen Corpion Contributor Share on Twitter Kristen Corpion is the founder of CORPlaw, a Miami-based law firm serving fast-growing technology companies and entrepreneurs as fractional general counsel. More posts by this contributor All my apes gone: Legal disputes at the intersection of IP and NFTs When should an early-stage startup hire a full-time lawyer? As … Read more

Nilos unifies crypto and fiat accounts for small businesses

Meet Nilos, a startup that wants to bridge the gap between crypto wallets and traditional business bank accounts. The company provides a dashboard that displays all your transactions — whether those are fiat transactions or crypto payments. From this platform, you can initiate payments and reconcile operations across multiple accounts. The startup raised a $5.2 … Read more

Blue Origin’s private space station is starring in a new movie — but it’s firmly grounded for now

Orbital Reef, the in-progress private space station headed by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, is coming to the big screen. The companies announced today that the space station will be featured in a forthcoming film, HELIOS, in a deal with production company Centerboro Productions. The film, which will be set in 2030, will be the … Read more

5 questions for venture capital in Q3 2022

Somehow, some way, the third quarter is nearly over. That means we’re gearing up for a wave of venture capital data that will start to drop in less than two weeks’ time. We’re itching to get our hands on the final numbers because the third quarter of 2022 is a pretty damn important data point. … Read more

InnovaFeed nabs $250M to extend its vertical insect farms to the U.S.

InnovaFeed, a vertical insect farm operator that’s rearing insects for animal and plant nutrition, has raised $250 million in a series D round of funding led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. While countless companies are developing alternative and more sustainable ways for humans to get their protein fixes such as through … Read more

Flowhub launches Maui, the next generation of its cannabis POS platform

Selling weed is easy. Selling legal weed is not easy. Dispensaries have to comply with an ever-changing list of regulations and consumer expectations. For example, online menus must match local inventory, and dispensaries must find a system that allows cashless transactions for those customers with credit cards. And then there’s marketing concerns, loyalty programs, and … Read more

Dating app Hinge adds more ways to connect with new polls and video-specific prompts

Targeting a younger generation of daters, the Match-owned dating app Hinge today launched two new features, “Video Prompts” and “Prompt Polls,” allowing users to answer video-specific prompts as well as publish polls with three unique answers for potential matches to choose from. The announcement of the two new features comes a year after Hinge rolled … Read more