TechCrunch Industry News

NASA unveiled its 2025 astronaut class this week, and two familiar names popped out: Anna Menon and Yuri Kubo. Both spent more than a decade at SpaceX, where they played critical roles in the company’s rise to the behemoth it is today. In other news, while many vibe coding ⁠startups⁠ ⁠have⁠ ⁠become⁠ ⁠unicorns⁠, with valuations in the billions, one area where AI-assisted coding has not yet taken off is on mobile devices. Despite the numerous apps now available that offer vibe coding tools on mobile platforms, none are gaining noticeable downloads, and few are generating any revenue at all. According to an analysis of global app store trends by the app intelligence provider ⁠Appfigures⁠, only a small handful of mobile apps offering vibe coding tools have seen any downloads, let alone generated revenue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta has raised the stakes in Big Tech’s fight against AI regulation. The Facebook-maker is investing “tens of millions” of dollars into a new super PAC to fight state-level tech policy proposals that could stifle AI advancement, reports Axios. Also, Sydney, Australia-based Alloy thinks it can help with that issue: the startup is building data infrastructure for robotics companies to help them process and organize all the data their robots collect from various sources, including sensors and cameras.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Oakland Ballers, an independent Pioneer League baseball team, took that concept of “playing the percentages” to the next level: they let an AI manage the team for a game. The Ballers were founded by edtech entrepreneur Paul Freedman as a salve to the departure of the beloved Oakland A’s, the Major League baseball team that owner John Fisher ripped away from local fans in what’s regarded as one of the most insidious managerial moves in sports history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Trump administration has been talking up a potential TikTok deal this weekend, with President Donald Trump telling Fox News on Sunday that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan are “probably” going to be involved. Also, Google is ending its enterprise subscription to the Financial Times, and it’s not the only enterprise media subscription on the chopping block, sources say. The cuts reflect broader cost-reduction efforts at the search giant, even as the company reports strong financial performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mastodon, the non-profit organization that maintains the software powering the decentralized alternative to social networks like Threads and X, has a new plan to make money. Instead of relying entirely on donations and grants as before, the company announced Friday that it will now offer paid hosting, moderation, and support services for organizations that want to join the open social web. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday unsealed federal charges against British teenager Thalha Jubair, who prosecutors accuse of being involved in at least 120 cyberattacks, including the U.S. Courts system, and the extortion of dozens of U.S. companies.  In other news, Every now and then, researchers at the biggest tech companies drop a bombshell. There was the time Google said its latest quantum chip indicated multiple universes exist. Or when Anthropic gave its AI agent Claudius a snack vending machine to run and it went amok, calling security on people, and insisting it was human. This week, it was OpenAI’s turn to raise our collective eyebrows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nvidia has agreed to buy a $5 billion stake in Intel as part of a broader deal to together develop “multiple generations” of data center and PC products. Also, With friendship apps continuing to gain popularity, Bumble announced on Wednesday the relaunch of its Bumble For Friends app. With younger generations seeking to expand their social circles, the revamped app aims to help users connect with new friends beyond the traditional one-on-one matching that BFF has been known for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it’s introducing an always-on AI agent that will help sellers on its platform run their businesses. The company is updating Seller Assistant, its AI tool for third-party sellers, to help handle tasks on the seller’s behalf. Waymo has struck a deal with ride-hailing company Lyft to launch a robotaxi service in Nashville in 2026. The company said Wednesday it will begin testing its fleet of all-electric and autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in the Nashville area in the coming months and will open up the service to the public next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As robots increasingly enter human spaces, robotics companies will need to think about safety differently than they did when robots were largely siloed from their human counterparts. Sonair thinks its sensors can help robotics companies reach their safety goals — with a solution that is both better and cheaper than popular LIDAR technology. Also, When most kids rebel against their families, they might become a ski bum, join a band, or go to art school. Shen Ming Lee decided to start a company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For years, Big Tech CEOs have touted visions of AI agents that can autonomously use software applications to complete tasks for people. But take today’s consumer AI agents out for a spin, whether it’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent or Perplexity’s Comet, and you’ll quickly realize how limited the technology still is. Making AI agents more robust may take a new set of techniques that the industry is still discovering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices