Swap Robotics is paving the way for electric solar vegetation cuts and sidewalk snow plowing

Swap Robotics, a company that manufactures electric grass-cutting and snow removal robots, presented today at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield to detail how it’s making sustainable outdoor work equipment. For the next few years, 95% of the startup’s focus will be on facilitating robots that cut grass and vegetation on 1,000+ acre utility-scale solar farms. The company’s … Read more

Deep Render believes AI holds the key to more efficient video compression

Chri Besenbruch, CEO of Deep Render, sees many problems with the way video compression standards are developed today. He thinks they aren’t advancing quickly enough, bemoans the fact that they’re plagued with legal uncertainty and decries their reliance on specialized hardware for acceleration. “The codec development process is broken,” Besenbruch said in an interview with … Read more

Mother Honestly’s new commerce offering aims to give employees more freedom when it comes to caregiv

Being a working parent is challenging. Being a working mother, according to many studies, is extra challenging. Many mothers have had the unfortunate experience of having to choose between their careers and children as the balancing act of both can be overwhelming. Factor in aging parents and the number of women who are caregivers for … Read more

How to record a phone call on an iPhone

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Are you trying to find a way to record your phone calls on an iPhone call, say, for an interview? Unfortunately, there’s no native feature or app that allows you to do that in a straightforward manner given the potential legal repercussions Apple could face. Thankfully, though, there … Read more

Alaffia Health taps AI to detect errors in hospital bills

The multi-decade rise in healthcare costs isn’t expected to reverse course any time soon. In search of a fix, Adun Akanni and TJ Ademiluyi co-founded Alaffia Health in 2020, one of the startups participating in the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield 200. The healthtech company uses machine learning to try to identify fraud, waste and abuse in … Read more

Netflix has 55 more games in development

Netflix’s games library is only going to get bigger. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix currently has 55 games in development, including additional games based on Netflix franchises, the company said in its investor letter released Tuesday (PDF). The company only really got serious about gaming with the initial release of its … Read more

Netflix is all-in on binge-watching

Jung Ho-yeon in Squid Game | Image: Netflix As the various streaming services try different release models, Netflix is making one thing clear: binge releases aren’t going away. In its quarterly earnings statement today, the company explained that “we think our bingeable release model helps drive substantial engagement, especially for newer titles.” It cited the … Read more

Netflix adds 2.41 million subscribers, soaring past expectations

Things are looking up for Netflix this quarter. The streamer added 2.41 million subscribers, bringing the total to 223.09 million. Netflix expected a net gain of 1 million subs in the third quarter. The streaming giant also slightly beat analysts’ expectations, earning $7.93 in revenue. Analysts predicted $7.85 billion. Netflix experienced two very grim quarters … Read more

Videos on tap: Vitag launches NFC-powered ‘sticky notes’ for visual instructions

While QR codes emerged as something of a technology poster-child during the pandemic, garnering a new lease of life in everything from restaurant menus to contactless payments, there remains a certain inelegance to the matrix barcode system. Usability remains a sticking point, both in terms of the effort it takes to create content and align … Read more

Netflix password-sharing crackdown will roll out globally in ‘early 2023’ — and here’s how it could work

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix plans to crack down on password sharing beginning in 2023. After giving users the ability to transfer their profiles to new accounts, the streamer says it will start letting subscribers create sub-accounts starting next year in line with its plans to “monetize account sharing” more widely. This … Read more