The IPO window may have cracked open, but it seems some former startups have no intention of going public. Makes sense, in a way: IPOs were traditionally a way to raise money, and if you can manage to raise ungodly amounts without having to put your company through public scrutiny, why do it? Databricks is … Read more
In the almost 20 years since James Cameron first introduced us to the alien world of Pandora, 20th Century Studios has repeatedly tried to parlay the Avatar films’ financial success into a sprawling multimedia franchise. Almost immediately after the first movie hit theaters, there was a video game, plans for a book series that never … Read more
The most impressive thing about Fallout’s first season was how well it nailed the tone. The games are a mix of grim and goofy, a postapocalyptic story in a bleak world that’s also full of crude jokes and ridiculous characters. It’s a tough balance to get right — too serious and it’s a miserable place … Read more
I never felt done with my Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. Despite playing every day for two years, and racking up 1,700 hours of playtime, I somehow never finished decorating. I had plenty of ideas for my island, sure, but actually implementing them was another story: The decorating and terraforming systems that helped make New … Read more
Adobe is updating its AI video-generation app, Firefly, with a new video editor that supports precise prompt-based edits, as well as adding new third-party models for image and video generation, including Black Forest Labs’ FLUX.2 and Topaz Astra. Until now, Firefly only supported prompt-based generation, so you would have to recreate the entire clip if … Read more
In the span of a decade and a half, from 2010 to the end of 2024, the number of data centers in the US quadrupled. The trend is similar worldwide: more data centers, bigger, now or soon. The number of the construction projects of centers over 100 megawatts announced over the last four years total … Read more
Mozilla is in a tricky position. It contains both a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the internet a better place for everyone, and a for-profit arm dedicated to, you know, making money. In the best of times, these things feed each other: The company makes great products that advance its goals for the web, and … Read more
After years in the wilderness, it’s a good time to be a nuclear startup. “For the first half a decade that I was telling people I was doing nuclear, I had to convince them, ‘Hey, here’s why nuclear is important,’” Bret Kugelmass, founder and CEO of Last Energy, told TechCrunch. “Now everyone just comes to … Read more
Ed Murray has been in the solar business long enough to remember the bloodbath of 1985. That’s when President Ronald Reagan ended Jimmy Carter-era solar tax credits meant to decrease US reliance on fossil fuels following the 1970s oil crisis. “It was a sad time,” says Murray, who is president of the trade group California … Read more
Cashmere sweaters are everywhere these days, often at unbelievably low prices. The appeal is obvious: if you’ve ever worn cashmere, you know it’s soft, light, and warm — an impressive fiber that’s hard to give up. Unfortunately, those bargain prices usually come with a catch. Cashmere comes from the fine undercoat of a handful of … Read more