Wednesday, September 18, 2024 | | | Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we have a review of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Al Gore's thoughts on climate investment, and a startup setting up Earth-to-moon communication infrastructure. We've also got details of Mozilla's exit from the fediverse, defense tech funding, United's Wi-Fi deal with Starlink, AI regulation in California, an app that teaches kids life skills, and more. — Rebecca | | | Image Credits: Brian Heater / TechCrunch | 1. The iPhone 16 Pro Max review: TC's Brian Heater says the top model of the new iPhone, at $1,200, gives us a glimpse into the future of smartphones. New upgrades to love include early Apple Intelligence features, a more impressive camera, and a smarter Siri. Read More 2. A conversation with Al Gore: TC's Connie Loizos interviewed Al Gore about a new annual climate report from his investment firm. The Nobel Prize winner slammed corporations and politicians, comparing their climate promises to New Year's resolutions. Read More 3. To the moon: NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines a $4.82 billion contract to build and deploy a satellite constellation that will serve to facilitate communication between the Earth and the moon. Read More | | | 💻 Mozilla exits the fediverse: Come December, Mozilla will stop running its fediverse server, Mozilla.social. The company is trying to scale back its efforts to focus on its core products like Firefox. Read More 🚀 You wouldn't download a rocket!? Startup Ursa Major just got a $12.5 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defence to develop 3D printed solid-fuel rocket engines. It's the latest show of interest in defense startups from the military. Read More 🛰️ United's tryst with Starlink: United Airlines last week signed an agreement with SpaceX to bring the Starlink internet service to its entire fleet, giving passengers free access to WiFi. TC's Frederic Lardinois sat down with United's chief customer officer, Linda Jojo, to explore the logic behind the deal. Read More 💪 California and AI regulation: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed some of the U.S.' toughest laws this week to crack down on AI deepfakes. But one bill still hangs in the balance. Read More 🧑🦯 No, tech still hasn't cured blindness: It's a good idea to take outlandish tech promises with a large cupful of salt. And that's true for Neuralink's new device, which received FDA clearance as a "breakthrough device." Devin breaks down what that actually means. Read More 💸 An antitrust win for Google: The search giant has successfully overturned a $1.7 billion antitrust fine that the EU handed down in 2019 after finding that Google's adtech practices violated competition rules. Read More 🚸 Nurturing life skills: Kids are tablet-natives these days, and startups want to cash in. Nurture is a new app for kids aged 4 to 7 that aims to teach kids life skills like finances, mindfulness, fitness and nutrition through story-based adventures. Read More | | | 👻 CriminalTech takes an L: Australian police have arrested a man for allegedly building and deploying an encrypted message app they say was "built solely for the criminal underworld," reports Al Jazeera. The app, Ghost, has been used by organized crime gangs to traffic drugs and firearms, launder money, and order killings. Read More 🪆 Everyone wants to influence the U.S. elections: Microsoft has released a report that says Russia and Iran have both attempted to influence the U.S. presidential election by disseminating fabricated videos "designed to sow discord and spread disinformation about" VP Kamala Harris. Read More 🥸 HTC Vive's Focus Vision: Engadget reviewed the new standalone VR headset, which brings built-in eye tracking and front-facing cameras for mixed reality options. For $999, Engadget says it's a decent device for business and VR enthusiasts. Read More | | | 🗣️ Hallo, Siri: Apple said its generative AI offering will be available in more languages starting in 2025 as part of the iOS 18.1 update, including English (India), English (Singapore), German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Vietnamese and others. 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 | | | | |
