Welcome back to TechCrunch PM! This afternoon, people tried to find X in the Mac App Store and couldn't, Microsoft is taking its relationship with OpenAI to an interesting level, Google offers up some new features, and we have some unfortunate news about layoffs. Let's dig in! | | | Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch | 💻 The end of a Mac app era?: X (formerly Twitter) can no longer be accessed in the Mac App Store, suggesting that it has been officially delisted. Some say it was buggy anyway. Read more 🤝 FOSSA acquires StackShare: StackShare is one of the more popular platforms for developers to discuss, track and share the tools they use to build applications. Both companies began working together last year. Open source compliance and security platform FOSSA partnered with StackShare to give its own customers a more comprehensive view of technologies used across its enterprise. Read more 🚲 Rad Power Bikes has more layoffs: Rad's latest layoffs follow a culling a year ago, when the e-bike maker pulled out of Europe and laid off around 40 employees. Rad laid off staff twice in 2022. Read more | | | Image Credits: Aurora Innovation | | | 🚛 In the driver's seat: Self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation is looking to raise hundreds of millions in additional capital as it races toward a driverless commercial launch by the end of 2024. Due to strong investor demand, the offering was upsized to $420 million. Read more 🥚 Microsoft is not putting all of its eggs in one basket: Especially when referring to OpenAI, which the company has had a long and tangled history with. The tech giant is now calling the startup a "competitor" for the first time. Read more 🔍 New Google features: Google announced some Gemini-powered features for Chrome's desktop version, including Lens for desktop, tab compare for shopping assistance, and natural language integration for search history. Read more ☁️ Google Cloud also made updates to its Spanner SQL database, which now features graph and vector search support, as well as extended full-text search capabilities. Read more 🚀 Boeing loses more money on its Starliner program: This includes another $125 million on its Starliner astronaut capsule program due to delays in its first crewed flight test, which was supposed to last just eight days. It's now been on orbit for almost two months. Read more 🏗️ Anthony Levandowski likes to off-road: His company, Pronto, has developed a self-driving system designed for haulage trucks and other off-road vehicles that are used at construction and mining sites. Read more 🛰️ Building in space: Commercial space station company Vast is building a private microgravity research lab as part of its wider Haven-1 station plans. The module is set to launch during the second half of 2025. Read more | | | Image Credits: EKIN KIZILKAYA / Getty Images | 🧪 Knowde closes Series C: The San Jose-based online marketplace for chemicals and polymers raised $60 million in a round that values it lower than the $500 million valuation it garnered in its most recent round. Read more 🧒 Heeyo emerges from stealth: The startup, now with $3.5 million, offers children between the ages of 3 and 11 an AI chatbot and over 2,000 interactive games and activities, including books, trivia and role-playing adventures. Read more 🎩 Meet Molly Alter: She's Northzone's newest partner. Oh, and she wears many more hats than that. Read more | | | 🛑 Bill Ackman pulls IPO: Earlier this week, we shared that the pricing for the Pershing Square IPO was lowered. Today, Axios reports that Ackman has pulled the IPO altogether. Read more 🛜 First it was Delta, now it's shareholders: Following the outage that took down a lot of big companies, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike now has some 'splaining to do to its shareholders: They've filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of allegedly defrauding investors. The Guardian has more 🚘 Have electric car, will travel: It used to be that taking a road trip, like 1,000 miles, in an electric car would involve an intricate plan of where to stop to charge up along the way. Not anymore, NPR reports. Read more | | | Featured jobs from Crunchboard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA | | | | |
