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Traditionally, sleep earbuds have been designed to mask outside noise and promote sleep with calming sounds. But today, a Boston-based startup called SOND is introducing a new type of earbuds designed to actively intervene to encourage better sleep. Founded by a pair of MIT grads, one who is Bose’s former Head of Global Sleep, SOND emerged from stealth on Wednesday with $7 million in funding. Together with the funding, the company introduced its debut product: Dreambuds, a closed-loop, in-ear system that captures 12 physiological signals from the wearer, then acts on them in real time to help consumers get better…
The first week of the French Open has yielded as many major upsets (two) as people collapsing on the court due to sweltering conditions.While temperatures in Europe are extremely hot for this time of year, they aren’t Sahara-in-the-middle-of-summer hot. To truly understand why people on the court are struggling amid the heat, you need to look at an obscure measure known as the wet bulb globe temperature. Consider it a souped-up version of the adage “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” that’s best suited for gauging the impact of heat on human health.A ball girl nearly fainted during a…
There are only 3 days left to save up to $410 on your ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Early Bird pricing ends May 29 at 11:59 p.m. PT, and once the deadline passes, ticket prices increase. If you plan to attend one of the most influential gatherings in tech this year, now is the time to lock in your pass before rates go up again. Disrupt: Where the tech ecosystem moves forward From October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, TechCrunch Disrupt brings together 10,000+ founders, investors, operators, and innovators driving the future of technology. Whether you’re raising capital, scouting investments, hiring talent, launching…
Luxury smartphone brand Vertu on Thursday unveiled a foldable phone powered by an AI agent that connects with enterprise software and coordinates workflows. The company is targeting executives who manage business operations and communications on the move. Called the Alphafold, the foldable smartphone starts at $6,880 for the calfskin version. Higher-end models feature bespoke finishes including alligator leather, 18K gold, and natural diamond accents, along with customized detailing. This continues Vertu’s long-standing strategy of positioning its phones as luxury status symbols aimed at affluent buyers. The company told TechCrunch that its highest-end standard model is currently priced at $46,800, with…
Vertu is a company known for making extraordinarily gaudy smartphones with outdated technology, luxe materials, and eye-watering prices. Now the brand is here to meet the AI moment with its first-ever book-like folding phone, complete with an AI agent on board.The company announced the AlphaFold smartphone on Thursday—targeting business executives—which comes outfitted with the Hermes Agent. This agent can purportedly handle schedules and tasks on a user’s behalf and “connect to enterprise systems.” Agents are big in the smartphone world right now, with companies like Google and Samsung offering ways for Gemini on Android smartphones to perform tasks such as…
Google I/O made it official: AI-generated answers are now front and center in search, and most brands have almost no visibility into how AI is describing them to their customers. For anyone who has spent years building a strategy around 10 blue links, the rules just changed in a pretty significant way. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Matt Thompson, VP of partnerships at Scrunch, a startup positioning itself at the center of the AI search shift, to talk about what Google’s changes mean and what marketers and founders should actually do about it. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at…
It’s about to get easier to share your favorite moments from a podcast, with the introduction of Spotify’s new Podcast clips feature, out on Wednesday. In the app, a new scissors icon in the “Now Playing” view will allow you to clip a particular segment of interest from a podcast you’re listening to, then share it more broadly with your audience on social media or with friends, colleagues, or anyone else. When clipping, you’ll be able to trim the portion of the audio and preview it to hear it back before sharing more publicly. You’ll then tap the sharing button,…
Voice AI company ElevenLabs launched a new version of its music-generation model, called Music v2, that can switch genres mid-track. The company said that the model is designed to handle both complexity in vocals and composition. The new release comes nearly 10 months after the startup launched the first version of its music-generation model. ElevenLabs noted that the model can go from opera to heavy metal and back, deliver fast rap without losing coherence, and add non-musical sound effects to a track. With the new model, artists can pick a part of a song and re-create it using prompts without…
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered SpaceX to investigate why its Starship booster failed during the company’s May 22 test flight, according to a statement released to TechCrunch on Wednesday. This means SpaceX will have to pause any further Starship test launches until the investigation is completed and the results are submitted to the FAA for approval, diminishing the chance that another will occur before the company’s anticipated IPO in mid-June. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “After a thorough assessment of the operation, the FAA has determined the May 22 SpaceX Starship Flight 12…
How many Ps are in Google? According to Google, there are two. There’s also is also “exactly 1 ‘r’ in the word ‘poop’,” Google’s AI Overview says, as well as two ‘d’s in the word journalism, yet spelled it: j-o-u-r-n-a-d-i-s-m. Google did at least identify that there is one P in the last name of the U.S. president, but spelled it as t-r-p-u-m. You didn’t need to be a prophet to predict that Google’s AI-forward Search overhaul was going to go over poorly. We’ve done this before. The first time Google added AI Overviews to Search, the feature ended up…
The U.S. Justice Department charged Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo with insider trading, alleging the employee made $1.2 million trading on Polymarket based on confidential business information. Spagnuolo, who used the name “AlphaRaccoon” on Polymarket, has worked at Google for over 12 years, according to information on LinkedIn. “As alleged, Spagnuolo violated the duties he owed to his employer and used Google’s confidential business information to make more than $1.2 million in trading profits on Polymarket,” Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release. “Insider trading compromises the integrity of…
The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday requiring frontier AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind to have their safety practices audited by a third party. If signed into law, AI safety experts tell WIRED, it would be the nation’s leading check on the power of major AI companies.The bill, SB 315, now heads to governor JB Pritzker’s desk. In a post on social media Wednesday, Pritzker said he plans to sign the bill, citing a need to hold Big Tech accountable.Since Congress has yet to pass any meaningful AI safety legislation, state lawmakers have happily…
Thea Energy has raised an oversubscribed $100 million Series B led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, the fusion startup told TechCrunch. The sum places the company among the better-funded fusion startups, giving it an improved chance at achieving a commercial reactor. The new funding will help Thea expand manufacturing for its uniquely designed smaller magnets and begin construction of Eos, its “power plant relevant” demonstration device, starting next year. Thea previously closed a $20 million Series A in early 2024. The new round brings total private investment to $130 million, the startup told TechCrunch. Magnets are at the core of…
A tiny blue octopus that lives in the deep sea off the coast of the Galápagos Islands is so small that it can fit in the palm of a hand. And as a team of researchers coordinated by Chicago’s Field Museum announced in a new study just published in the journal Zootaxa, it now has an official name—Microeledone galapagensis.The octopus was first spotted in 2015 during a deep-sea expedition aboard the research vessel E/V Nautilus. From there, marine biologists used a remotely operated underwater vehicle (RoV) to explore the ocean floor near Darwin Island, at the northern end of the…
Triomics, a startup building an AI-powered platform to help oncologists and administrative staff automate data-heavy tasks like clinical trial matching and appointment prep, has raised $22 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from returning backers Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed, Y Combinator, and others. The good news is that oncology breakthroughs are keeping patients alive longer. That welcome trend, however, is creating dense, multi-year medical records that take healthcare staff a long time to review and decipher. A typical medical chart includes physician progress notes, imaging and pathology reports, and even scans of…
A Google security engineer has been charged with crimes stemming from allegedly placing trades on Polymarket using confidential internal information from the tech giant. Michele Spagnuolo, a 36-year-old Italian citizen, was arrested this morning in New York, as first reported by ABC News.Spagnuolo is charged with one count each of commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He has worked at Google since 2014 and was based out of the company’s Zurich, Switzerland offices.According to the complaint, Spagnuolo placed trades on Polymarket from around October 2025 to December 2025 using internal Google data. In one instance, he netted $1.2 million…