These MagSafe earbuds snap on to the back of an iPhone

We've seen a handful of AirPod-charging iPhone battery cases come and go over the years. Artronic's new earbuds take a different approach, with a slim charging case that snaps directly to the back of MagSafe-compatible phones. The Komutr buds were announced on Friday, a few days ahead of t

Electra found a cheap, clean way to purify iron, and it's raising $257M to make it happen

Electra has raised $180.4 million to clean up the dirty ironmaking industry, technewss has learned. The startup has developed a novel method of using electricity to coax pure iron out of low-grade ores, opening the door to cleaner steel. The new funding round, which was disclosed in a regulatory

Online gift card store exposed hundreds of thousands of people’s identity documents

A U.S. online gift card store has secured an online storage server that was publicly exposing hundreds of thousands of customer government-issued identity documents to the internet. A security researcher, who goes by the online handle JayeLTee, found the publicly exposed storage server late last y

Rivian wraps 2024 with more than 50,000 EVs delivered

Rivian finished last year having delivered 51,579 electric SUVs, trucks, and vans, more than triple the number it shipped to customers in 2023. The company announced Friday that it also built 49,476 EVs in 2024. That’s about 8,000 fewer than it expected to manufacture as recently as July. R

Hindustan Unilever in talks to acquire Peak XV-backed Minimalist for up to $350M

Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever is in advanced talks to acquire 4-year-old direct-to-consumer startup Minimalist for up to $350 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. An acquisition would add to the Unilever subsidiary’s buying spree in India, where it expanded in

Cloudflare’s VPN app among half-dozen pulled from Indian app stores

More than half a dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflare’s widely used 1.1.1.1, have been pulled from India’s Apple App Store and Google Play Store following intervention from government authorities, technewss has learned.  The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued removal orders for t

Peter Thiel-backed venture debt firm Tacora raises $268.7M for new fund

Tacora Capital, a Texas firm that specializes in venture debt, has raised $268.7 million for its second fund, according to a new SEC filing. Tacora’s inaugural fund in 2022 raised about $350 million, including $250 million from Peter Thiel — the prominent Republican billionaire and investo

xAI’s next-gen AI model didn’t arrive on time, adding to a trend

The list of flagship AI models that missed their promised launch windows continues to grow. Last summer, billionaire Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of AI company xAI, said that Grok 3, xAI’s next major AI model, would arrive by “end of year” 2024. Grok, xAI’s answer to mode

These 55 robotics companies are hiring

New year, new you — and what better way to celebrate than a new job? In spite of a very up and down 2024, plenty of robotics firms are still hiring. Addverb Technologies (10 roles)Advanced Construction Robotics (2 roles)Agility Robotics (20 roles)Aion Robotics (15 roles)

Meta policy chief Nick Clegg steps down

The president of Meta’s Global Affairs team, Nick Clegg, is stepping down from his position at the company, the executive announced in a tweet on Thursday. Clegg, Meta’s politically centrist policy chief since 2018, will be replaced by one of the company’s most prominent Republic

New details emerge in Cybertruck explosion outside Trump hotel in Vegas that left 1 dead, 7 injured

A Tesla Cybertruck that exploded and burst into flames Wednesday morning just outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas has left one person dead and seven people injured, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD). Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old man who was a

CES 2025: What to expect from the year’s first and biggest tech show

CES 2025 officially kicks off in Las Vegas on the morning of Tuesday, January 7 and runs through the end of the day on January 10. The “official” dates are specific to when the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center is open to attendees, and ultimately belie the show's true duration. A pa

Spotify's partner program for podcast hosts is now available

Spotify announced Thursday the launch of its new “Partner Program” that lets popular podcast hosts monetize their video content. Spotify's new program gives qualifying creators on its platform opportunities for extra income beyond just advertising revenue, such as video payouts. The progra

Thomson Reuters acquires tax automation company SafeSend for $600M

Thomson Reuters has acquired tax automation company SafeSend in an all-cash transaction valued at $600 million. Founded in 2008, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based SafeSend serves a cloud-based platform designed to streamline the processing and sharing of sensitive financial documents. This includes tools