This week at WWDC 2024, that prize went to Apple Intelligence.
It’s something that I’ve been requesting from Apple for several years, fueled by my own health struggles and the fact that I’ve somehow managed to contract COVID four times so far.
The ability to pause your activity rings is a minor feature update for most, but for those of us who obsess about such things to an unhealthy degree, it’s the best Apple Watch update in years.
There are several options for pausing: You can do it for one day, by day of the week or for entire months at a time.
Once entered, this will be the goal for that day of the week until it’s changed again.
The early-stage venture capital firm took a unique take on the industry by spearheading public relations for its portfolio companies.
Through Fund I ($20 million) and Fund II ($50 million), the Silicon Valley firm’s portfolio has had 22 exits, including an IPO with Terran Orbital.
It also has backed eight unicorns, including Superhuman, Remote, Worldcoin, Truebill (which exited to Rocket Companies in 2021) and DuckDuckGo.
“When we connected, he was already the founder of three unicorns, which was quite surprising,” Bucher told TechCrunch.
A year later, Bucher exited M&A PR Studio and started Day One Ventures.
A few months after its launch, how is Apple’s Vision Pro faring?
I am a long-term bull on augmented reality, virtual reality, and face-computers in general.
So it is to my partial chagrin that the hype around the Apple Vision Pro has faded more rapidly than I anticipated.
But I anticipated the Apple brand to keep the hardware in the news — and atop our collective minds — longer than it managed after its launch.
I find it archaic that my monitors are akin to digital chalkboards when they should be built into my glasses.
“When we think about our nation’s IP and leadership globally, it’s synonymous with leadership in space,” Stricklan told me in an interview before the occasion.
To that end Space Workforce 2030 has started with the basics: collecting and understanding the data in order to establish a baseline.
Stricklan told me that thousands of teachers have signed on and they expect to see a lot of engagement next month.
They have different touchpoints to get to those that just don’t understand there could be a future for them in a STEM-related career.” Stricklan told me.
You can learn more about the Space Workforce 2030 effort here.
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NASA has given three space companies the chance to design the next-generation moon buggy — but only one design will go to space.
Footage obtained by TechCrunch shows the catastrophic ending that Astra’s Rocket 3.0 suffered during prelaunch testing in March 2020.
Well-known startup accelerator Y Combinator held one of its two yearly demo day events this week, showcasing hundreds of startups that recently went through its program.
Judging from our coverage of the two-day event, TechCrunch found lots to like in the presenting companies.
There was lots more than just AI on display, so for today’s TechCrunch Minute I compiled a few trends and vibes from the shindig for your enjoyment.
Accelerators play an important role in the startup world, giving founders early capital and advice as they get off the ground.
Y Combinator competes with Techstars and other platforms globally.
What a week, everyone.
Two full days of Y Combinator demo day activity kept us busy, but the latest accelerator cohort’s launch was far from the only big story in startup-land.
Then to close out, we chatted through the impending Ibotta and Rubrik IPOs.
The latter deal could provide a fascinating heat-check for unprofitable unicorns that need to find some sort of exit, and quickly.
All told we chatted through startups from their very earliest form all the way through their most mature.
Intuit is winding down budgeting app Mint this week and that’s become good news for competitor Copilot.
The New York-based CEO started the subscription-based personal finance tracker in January 2020 to offer an alternative to Mint.
Users also save an average of 5% after starting with the app, Copilot calculates.
Beyond MintLike millions of others, Ugarte tried some personal finance apps, including Mint, yet found them to be lacking.
Other personal finance apps show where you are spending, even in categories that might not be relevant, he said.
It’s not a flat-out refutation of the form factor, so much as an acknowledgement that — in spite of investor enthusiasm — it’s not the ideal tool for every job.
This week’s Modex supply chain show inAtlanta told its own story — one populated by very few humanoids.
A number of the players I spoke with continued to express skepticism around the widespread adoption of humanoid robots in the workplace.
I heard very few outright rejections of the humanoid form factor.
These instances, which now require human intervention, could be the ideal scenario for humanoids, whether operating autonomously or teleoperated, as in the case of Reflex, the other humanoid robotics firm present at Modex.
The Rivian R2, an all-electric sport utility vehicle that’s smaller and more affordable than the automaker’s flagship SUV, appears to be a hit with potential customers.
At least, if the number of reservations for the R2 is any guide.
Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe posted Friday on Instagram that the company had received more than 68,000 R2 reservations less than 24 hours since the vehicle was revealed at an event in Laguna Beach, California.
The R2 is a five-seat, all-electric midsized SUV that will have more than 300 miles of range and a base price of $45,000.
Rivian also revealed Thursday the R3 and the R3x, all-electric hatchback vehicles with sporty Honda e vibes.
