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Mike Krieger, Anthropic’s chief product officer, resigned from the board of interface design company Figma on April 14. His departure was disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by the publicly traded $10 billion company the same day that The Information reported Anthropic’s next model, Opus 4.7, will include design tools that could compete with Figma’s primary offering. Figma is the developer of a popular tool for user experience designers who build interfaces for websites and apps. The company has collaborated closely with Anthropic to integrate the frontier lab’s AI models into its products as assistants for its users.…
Beauty tool brand Foreo was launched by founder Filip Sedic in 2013, inspired by his wife’s facial brush, which he considered too abrasive and unsanitary. Since then, the Swedish brand has built a reputation for gentle, hygienic beauty tools across skincare, haircare, oral care, and eye care. More recently, the company has expanded into hair removal with IPL at-home devices like the Peach 2 Pro Max.I’m currently testing the FAQ 202 Plus, Foreo’s latest LED mask, which features 634 LED lights and eight wavelengths: near-infrared, red, blue, green, orange, yellow, purple, and cyan. I’m also testing the Flip Play, an…
There is currently a low-grade war between OpenAI and Anthropic over who can release the most convenient and powerful AI-coding tools and, so far, Anthropic seems to be winning. Claude Code has been dubbed the tool of choice for many businesses, as TechCrunch reported last week, but OpenAI isn’t giving up yet. This week, OpenAI announced a revamp of Codex, its own automated tool, with a variety of new updates designed to give it significantly expanded powers. On Thursday, the company announced a plethora of new features and updates, perhaps the most notable of which is that Codex can now…
Few venture firms have bet more aggressively on AI than Sequoia Capital, and it isn’t slowing down. The Silicon Valley stalwart has raised roughly $7 billion for a new fund, according to Bloomberg. Sequoia declined TechCrunch’s request for comment. The money will go toward what the firm calls its “expansion strategy” — essentially its late-stage investing arm, focused on the U.S. and Europe — and it’s nearly double Sequoia’s last comparable fund, a $3.4 billion vehicle raised in 2022. That growth in fund size reflects something bigger: late-stage investing has taken on an entirely new meaning in the AI era.…
“American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence,” Ramaswamy wrote, in an attempt to explain why tech companies hire foreign workers. The post was met with a tidal wave of slurs and revulsion towards the visa program. It also reportedly expedited Ramaswamy’s January 2025 departure from DOGE.While Ramaswamy and even Elon Musk defended aspects of the H-1B visa, others want the program scrapped. In January, Texas Republican Party chairman Abraham George—an American citizen born in India—called for the state to ban hiring workers on H-1B visas. Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas governor Greg Abbott have also pledged to eliminate hiring…
Slash Financial, which offers business banking accounts, corporate credit cards, transfers, and crypto, has raised a $100 million Series C round at a $1.4 billion valuation from a crowd of A-list investors, the company announced. Fintech-focused Ribbit Capital, Khosla, and Goodwater Capital led the round. Returning investors NEA and Y Combinator also invested. Slash was founded about five years ago by CEO Victor Cardenas and CTO Kevin Bai, both who were 19 years old at the time, and are now 24, Bloomberg reports. They dropped out of college to build a fintech company focused on sneaker resellers. When the startup’s main customer,…
After the damp squib that was Rolex’s anniversary celebration at this year’s Watches and Wonders in Geneva (maybe Rolex will bring back the Milgauss in 2027?), we started to worry that truly WIRED timepieces would be few and far between this year. Then we found the Retrovision ’64 by Hautlence.Clearly channeling none other than Captain Kirk, the high-end Swiss brand has turned Star Trek’s iconic Communicator into a full-on luxury wristwatch—and we’re very much here for it. Fans of the ’60s sci-fi series will be delighted to recognize the characteristic cover and perforated grille, which, oh yes, flips up to…
What happens when canned water teams up with a classic toaster pastry? If it’s Liquid Death and Pop-Tarts, the answer is absolute chaos.The two brands have unveiled their new collaboration: a limited-edition iced tea drink called Pop-Tarts Carnage. The drink tastes like Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts and comes in Liquid Death’s iconic death metal can.An accompanying ad, created in-house by Liquid Death’s production arm Death Machine, opens on a scene of domestic drudgery: a husband and wife eating breakfast at their dining table.“I think I’ll clean the gutters today and then file for divorce,” the husband says. His wife responds with…
Physical Intelligence, the two-year-old, San Francisco-based robotics startup that has quietly become one of the most closely watched AI companies in the Bay Area, published new research Thursday showing that its latest model can direct robots to perform tasks they were never explicitly trained on — a capability the company’s own researchers say caught them off guard. The new model, called π0.7, represents what the company describes as an early but meaningful step toward the long-sought goal of a general-purpose robot brain: One that can be pointed at an unfamiliar task, coached through it in plain language, and actually pull…
In response to questions from WIRED, Solly’s lawyer says, “It is critical to note that both SSA and Leidos have conducted comprehensive investigations, including forensic audits of their computer systems, and unequivocally determined that Mr. Solly did not access or share any [Personally Identifiable Information]. He has always strictly adhered to both institutions’ rules and procedures and will continue to do so.”Amanda Scales, Office of Personnel Management and Private SectorAmanda Scales was one of the early DOGE team members who appeared at OPM within the first week of Trump’s presidency, where she was installed as the agency’s chief of staff.Scales…
Bob Liodice, longtime CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, will step down at the end of this year, the organization announced today, bringing a 31-year tenure to an end.ADWEEK’s request for comment from Liodice was not immediately returned, but in a prepared statement, he expressed gratitude for “the opportunity to serve the ANA and the broader marketing community. Together with our members, we built the ANA into the leading voice for marketers and a catalyst for growth and change.”Founded in 1910 with a “singular mission to drive growth for marketing professionals, for brands and business, and for the industry,”…
AI infrastructure company Upscale AI is reportedly in talks to nab its third funding round since launching just seven months ago, according to Bloomberg. This latest round — which aims to raise around $180 million to $200 million — would value the company at about $2 billion. The company announced a $200 million Series A in January and a $100 million seed round in September, when it first launched. Investors in the company include Tiger Global Management, Xora Innovation, and Premji Invest. Notably, Upscale AI has yet to release a product. However, it’s said to focus on building custom chips…
If you have eating restrictions, you’ll likely see even more repetition. My colleague Kat Merck, who tested GLP-1-appropriate meals—and also stated a preference for no fish—found herself drowning in a sea of chicken on the six meals she tried. She found the portions appropriate to those on GLP-1 meds, and appreciated that the meals offered her the proteins she needs to maintain muscle mass even while chemically un-hungry.But still: chicken. After eating five of her six meals, she wrote, “I don’t think I had one I didn’t end up liking, but they were absolutely repetitive. Chicken chicken chicken chicken.”The sixth…
Disney and ESPN are looking to have a winning game plan and a yearlong celebration for the 2027 Super Bowl, and part of that plan will involve a new football-focused creator initiative.At ADWEEK’s Social Media Week on Wednesday, Celia Bouza, vp of multi-platform video at ESPN, announced that the fourth iteration of ESPN’s Creator Network, which brings content creators behind the scenes of some of the biggest sports events, will be football-centric ahead of the Super Bowl.“I’m here to officially announce our Creator Network. It’ll be football-centric for this fall. We are going to do it all over again. We’re…
More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology. Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player. On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a…
It came in just a few pieces (seat, handlebars, front wheel, pedals), all of which I’ve already assembled and adjusted in my analog bikes. I still wrangled two friends for assistance, which proved helpful since it is somewhat unwieldy to wrestle the heavy frame in place with everything aligned.Unlike the other bike in this line, the Ranger S ($1,099), you don’t need the HeyBike app to use the Ranger Pro. The app lets you change the bike settings, update firmware, and track rides, but it’s not necessary to activate the bike. It charged to 100 percent in just three hours…