Technology

Mecka AI nears $500M valuation in Sequoia-led deal amid rush for robot training data

The round for the two-year-old startup is coming together months after Mecka announced its Series A.

TechCrunch • 3w ago • Marina Temkin
Technology 3w ago

Random rewards enrich classic game-theory insights

Simple games gain rich strategies in the face of noise.

Technology 3w ago

Khosla Ventures is opening a New York office this fall — its first outpost outside Sand Hill Road

"It's actually allegedly being built out now," said Rabois, who has clearly dealt with a missed construction timeline or...

Technology 3w ago

Android NAT-T keepalive offload bypasses VPN lockdown

https://mullvad.net/en/blog/another-way-to-leak-traffic-on-a... Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=496...

Technology 3w ago

Bouncy castle launches horrifying MRSA outbreak, striking 48 kids in Ireland

The strain lurking in the inflatable structure was hypervirulent.

Technology 3w ago

Y Combinator’s Garry Tan wants US open-weight AI labs to ‘distill’ frontier models, too

Tan wants smaller, American open-weight AI labs to use the same kind of training techniques on American frontier AI labs...

Technology 3w ago

OpenAI’s feud with mathematicians is only escalating

Twenty-five leading mathematicians signed an open letter arguing that AI labs are threatening their intellectual work.

Technology 3w ago

Lawyer fined $5K over AI-hallucinated witnesses in a murder case

New Mexico's Supreme Court is punishing a lawyer for including AI-fabricated witnesses and fake police testimony in an a...

Technology 3w ago

One week left to book your exhibit table at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Only one week left to secure your exhibit table. Tables are limited and can sell out before the September 18 deadline.

Technology 3w ago

Trump's forced coal plant extensions thrown out by judge

The Department of Energy declared an "emergency" when none existed.

Technology 3w ago

Final, final, final call for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Side Events

The absolute last chance to apply to host an official Side Event during TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is tonight, September 11...

Technology 3w ago

Kimi-maker Moonshot AI targets $2B in annual revenue

While K3's usage figures have declined slightly in recent months, OpenRouter data currently shows as many as 300 billion...

Technology 3w ago

ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses

"I didn't know that AI could hallucinate facts," New Mexico defense lawyer says. ...

Technology 3w ago

The US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket Trades

The agency that oversees prediction markets has investigated Polymarket trades on Biden pardons and the Iran war—and e...

Technology 3w ago

Roblox is making it easier to build games with AI — and play them outside Roblox

At its annual Roblox Developer Conference (RDC), the company announced several new features, including new game-creation...

Technology 3w ago

Meta Sued Over Training Data for Its AI and Face-Recognition Systems

The proposed class action alleges Meta illegally harvested people’s Facebook and Instagram photos to train its AI imag...

Technology 3w ago

Central Eurasia names its 2026 Road to Battlefield winners: Cerberus, WeGlobal AI, and LOOQ

Cerberus, WeGlobal AI, and LOOQ took the top three spots at the regional final of Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield...

Technology 3w ago

Scientists unlock secrets of ancient Egyptian materials with proteomics

Analysis revealed seed proteins from sesame and moringa, which held religious and symbolic sign...

Technology 3w ago

Oracle tries to appease Stargate data center opponents with renewables push

Renewables pledge won’t change the Oracle and OpenAI data center’s use of gas. ...

Technology 3w ago

A misalignment of AI in mathematics

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a-severe-misalignm...https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/09...

Technology 3w ago

λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study

Article URL: https://snap.berkeley.edu/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662214 Points: 163 # Comme...

Technology 3w ago

Matt Mullenweg returns as Automattic CEO two days after getting booted

Two days after being placed on a paid leave of absence, Matt Mullenweg says he has been reinstated as CEO of Automattic,...

Technology 3w ago

Nscale adds former OpenAI exec Fidji Simo to its board ahead of potential IPO

The No. 2 exec at OpenAI also led Instacart through its IPO in 2023.

Technology 3w ago

We unfolded the iPhone Duo

You only get one chance at a first impression, and getting to introduce Apple's first folding phone is certainly a stron...

Technology 3w ago

NASA moving at warp speed to set up US Space Academy

NASA asks US states to show them the money.

Technology 3w ago

Matt Mullenweg tells (trolls?) Automattic staff, saying he’s back in control after CEO ouster

In a Slack message seen by TechCrunch, Matt Mullenweg told Automattic employees he’s back in control of the company, d...

Technology 3w ago

One of AI’s Fiercest Critics Says All the Doom Talk Is ‘Meant to Distract Us’

Timnit Gebru argues that AI companies are stoking fears of extinction to avoid discussing actual harms, like autonomous ...

Technology 3w ago

I fixed a tractor using John Deere's self-repair service. Farmers aren't sold

https://web.archive.org/web/20260911105205/https://www.wired...https://archive.ph/1xTJ3 Comments URL: https://news.yco...

Technology 3w ago

Scammers target hundreds of thousands of crypto owners after Trezor confirms data breach of email provider

This is the second data breach affecting a company that hardware crypto wallet maker Trezor relies on.

Technology 3w ago

Claude users found ways around safeguards for bioweapons research

Some dangerous biology looks much like legitimate research, complicating AI safeguards. ...