Latest and Hotest Technology Updates

Today's top story has the European Union naming names — is it safe to call them "The Big 6"? The EU wants to put six tech giants under the Digital Markets Act due to how they gatekeep their core platform services. Find out who didn’t make the list.

Next, images shouldn't have all the fun. That's why X added Community Notes for videos, with the company saying, "Notes written on videos will automatically show on other posts containing matching videos. A highly-scalable way of adding context to edited clips, AI-generated videos, and more." Read more.

And meet Intuit Assist, the company's generative AI–powered digital assistant for small businesses and consumers. It offers personalized recommendations across Intuit's line of products, from TurboTax to Mailchimp. Or is it MailKeemp?

More top reads

Today was the first day of Y Combinator's Summer 2023 Demo Day. While some of the VC comments got YC president and CEO Garry Tan hot (see more below), the team was busy looking through the list of startups and listening to pitches:

• Our favorite startups from YC's Summer 2023 Demo Day, Day 1 (TC+)
• 5 neat AI startups from Y Combinator's summer 2023 batch
• Y Combinator-backed Automat turns videos into workflow automations
• It doesn't look like Y Combinator's summer Demo Day batch will surprise us much (TC+)

Let's all go to the lobby to buy ourselves a snack: Amy Schumer and Mark Wahlberg were among a star-studded group that sank some capital into snack brand SkinnyDipped. Take a bite.

When it's time to wind down: SimpleClosure grabbed $1.5 million in less than 24 hours to help companies shut down faster and cheaper. Learn more about what they do.

AI, it's everywhere you want to be: HubSpot introduced a new strategy that, you guessed it, integrates AI across its platform. Meet HubSpot AI.

Change in pace: Arduino, known for creating microcontrollers for hobbyists, nabs $22 million in fresh funding to support expansion into enterprise. Read more.

Don't you love it when dreams become reality?: In this case, LocalGlobe and Pronomos Capital back Itana to pave the way for Africa's first digital free zone. Find out what it will do.

Departed: Two senior executives quit SoftBank-backed Oyo amid public listing deliberation. Get the scoop.

More layoffs: Roku made another round of job cuts, this time impacting over 300 people. Read more.

That's music to our ears: Duolingo adds both math and music lessons to its upcoming app lineup. It's time to dust off that guitar.

No iPhone for you: Government officials in China reportedly can't use iPhones. Find out why.

More for your Wednesday:

Apple says iPhone and iPad apps will show up on the visionOS App Store from the get-go

Blockchain tech needs a 'ChatGPT moment' to scale enterprise adoption (TC+)

API security startup Pynt raises $6M

GoPro Hero 12 Black: battery life's the thing

Tech companies are finding their profitability groove (TC+)

Grab your pass to TC Disrupt 2023

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TC Opinion: How can startups help close the EV charging gap?

If the U.S. is going to reach its goal of making one car out of every seven a zero-emissions vehicle by 2030, we’ll need to multiply the existing number of charging stations by 20.

“Given the wide gap in supply and demand of EV chargers, there are massive opportunities for startups focused on the space,” according to Margret Dupslaff, an investment associate at BMW iVentures.

If you’d like to submit an opinion column to TechCrunch, please read our new editorial guidelines

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Here's why some investors are sitting out of YC Demo Day

Y Combinator’s Summer 2023 cohort is taking part in Demo Days today and tomorrow, but seven investors Rebecca Szkutak interviewed said they’re taking a pass.

“Demo Day is not really all that useful for pre-seed, seed investors at this point, as most of the companies are already funded," said Amit Shah, general partner at Golden Ventures.

“It's useful for the larger funds that want to track companies/founders. Most of the work pre-seed/seed firms have to do [is] before demo day.”

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription.

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• Systems Programmer Analyst at Delta Dental of South Dakota (Pierre, SD, USA)
• Senior Program Analyst (Data Analyst) at State Bar of California (San Francisco, CA, USA)
• Mobile/Web Developer (.Net) at Air Line Pilots Association (McLean, VA, USA)
• Blockchain Engineer at OpenTensor (Anywhere)
• Technical Writer at OpenTensor (Anywhere)

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