The Brutalist Report

TechCrunch

• Defense tech Theseus landed Y Combinator, the US Special Forces, and $4.3M from a tweet [17d]
• Ramp is trying to get the US government as a customer after seeing a tweet from DOGE [18d]
• OpenAI launches Flex processing for cheaper, slower AI tasks [18d]
• Carbon removal startup Holocene bought by oil and gas giant Occidental [18d]
• As the trade war escalates, Hence launches an AI ‘advisor’ to help companies manage risk [18d]
• Chinese shopping app Taobao joins DHgate in Top 5 on US App Store [18d]
• Former Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston launches new AI ‘safety’ fund [18d]
• Google’s latest AI model report lacks key safety details, experts say [18d]
• Automakers selling cars in China banned from using ‘autonomous driving’ in ads [18d]
• AI benchmarking platform Chatbot Arena forms a new company [18d]
• Florida draft law mandating encryption backdoors for social media accounts billed ‘dangerous and dumb’ [18d]
• Instagram’s new Blend feature creates a custom reels feed for you and your friends [18d]
• Here are all the tech companies rolling back DEI or still committed to it — so far [18d]
• OpenAI’s Stargate project sets its sights on international expansion [18d]
• The latest viral ChatGPT trend is doing ‘reverse location search’ from photos [18d]
• Judge rules Google illegally monopolized adtech, opening door to potential breakup [18d]
• Make a brand impact by hosting a Side Event during TechCrunch All Stage Week in Boston [18d]
• Mark Zuckerberg says TikTok slowed Meta’s growth [18d]
• Shein and Temu to raise prices for US shoppers in response to tariffs [18d]
• Wasp’s platform is the glue that holds web dev apps together [18d]
• Archer Aviation wants to help New Yorkers skip airport traffic with electric air taxis [18d]
• Smashing, the reading curation app by Goodreads’ founder, shuts down [18d]
• xAI adds a ‘memory’ feature to Grok [18d]