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A cyberattack on a U.S. vehicle breathalyzer company has left drivers across the United States stranded and unable to start their vehicles. The company, Intoxalock, says on its website that it is “currently experiencing downtime” after a cyberattack on March 14. Intoxalock sells breathalyzer devices that fit into vehicle ignition switches, and is used by people who are required to provide a negative alcohol breath sample to start their car. Intoxalock spokesperson Rachael Larson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company had been hit by a cyberattack. Larson said the company took steps to “temporarily pause some of our systems as…

For decades, the process of making a surfboard has more or less been the same: cut a piece of foam; put a wooden stringer down the middle to provide structure and strength; shape it, then wrap it in fiberglass, sand it, and leave holes for the leash and fins. That was until Firewire Surfboards came along. Now the company uses a 21-step construction process and a dizzying assortment of aerospace-grade foams, carbon fiber, and bio-resins to produce a board that looks straight out of science fiction.The surf world tends to favor the tried-and-true, but in Firewire’s case, every new material…

Well, the data is out. AI startups accounted for 41% of the $128 billion in venture dollars raised by companies on Carta last year — a record-high annual share. In a sense, though, we knew that. Investors last year were voracious in deploying capital to AI startups, to the point that 10% of startups accounted for half of the funding.  Those startups included Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, which raised double-digit billions last year at sky-high valuations. Actually, they are still raising at an even more astounding velocity. In January, xAI raised a $20 billion Series E. In February, OpenAI snagged a…

Tinder made Lauren Grauer feel like a delinquent dater.While watching videos on YouTube last month, the New York talent marketer was served an ad for “Double Date,” a new feature the dating app launched that lets users pair their profiles with friends to swipe on other paired matches.Grauer was shocked by the news. Four years ago, she’d essentially thought to do the same thing by making a double date profile of her and a friend. The idea got her kicked off the app.“The reason I got banned from Tinder is what they’re advertising now,” Grauer says in a TikTok video.…

The Trump administration on Friday laid out a legislative framework for a singular policy for AI in the United States. The framework would centralize power in Washington by preempting state AI laws, potentially undercutting the recent surge of efforts from states to regulate the use and development of the technology. “This framework can only succeed if it is applied uniformly across the United States,” reads a White House statement on the framework. “A patchwork of conflicting state laws would undermine American innovation and our ability to lead in the global AI race.” The framework outlines seven key objectives that prioritize…

Cases for Your Filters and Memory CardsWhat good is protecting your camera if your memory cards and filters get ruined? You won’t be able to take the shot you want! I like these protective cases.Wandrd Lens Filter Case Photograph: Julian ChokkattuWandrd Lens Filter Case for $44: I’m always so bad at packing my lens filters. Either I always leave them at home, or I bring the wrong one. When I do bring the right one, I’ve been so lazy that I’ve just tossed it into a crevice in my camera bag. Don’t be like me! I love this hardshell EVA…

The U.S. Justice Department accused Iran’s government of being behind the hacktivist group Handala, which last week claimed responsibility for the destructive cyberattack against the U.S. medical tech giant Stryker.  In a press release published on Thursday, the Justice Department said Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) is operating Handala.  The Justice Department called the group a fake activist persona that the Iranian ministry used to carry out “psychological operations” against the regime’s enemies, to claim responsibility for cyberattacks, and to publish stolen information obtained during those hacks. The group also called for the killing of journalists, regime dissidents,…

China has made history by becoming the first nation to approve a commercially available brain chip to treat a disability. NEO, the implant developed by Neuracle Medical Technology, translates the thoughts of a person with paralysis into movements of an assistive robotic hand.After 18 months of testing that proved its safety, China’s National Medical Products Administration authorized the implant for people aged 19 to 60 with paralysis caused by neck or spinal cord injuries that prevent them from moving their limbs.According to Nature, the implant embedded in the skull is about the size of a coin. Eight electrodes protrude from…

Blue Origin, the space conglomerate founded by Amazon chair Jeff Bezos, has asked the U.S. government for permission to launch a network of more than 50,000 satellites that will act as a data center in orbit. In a March 19 document filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Blue Origin’s attorneys described “Project Sunrise” as a network of spacecraft that will perform advanced computation in orbit to “ease mounting pressure on U.S. communities and natural resources by shifting energy — and water-intensive compute away from terrestrial data centers.” Blue Origin’s filing did not describe its plans for the satellites in…

Compare Top Kids Bike BrandsHonorable MentionsPhotograph: Adrienne SoLinus Roadster for $349: We tried the 20-inch Roadster and it’s a little kids’ bike, with coaster brakes and no gears. The reach is also a little far for a 7-year-old. However, it is a beautiful bike, with an aluminum alloy frame and gorgeous, vegan leather handlebar grips and seat. You also get a bell and a kickstand.ByK E-450 for $191: This first pedal bike has an alloy frame that puts its weight at an insanely light 18 pounds. It’s also cheap for everything you get—a big saddle, a bell, and both coaster…

Financial planning firm Quicken sits in a competitive category of companies that have long relied on search to find new customers. But with the shift to large language models (LLMS) and AI answer engines, the brand has reworked its strategy to better reach consumers searching with these tools while also changing how its marketing collateral is created, CMO Euan Campbell told ADWEEK.Quicken had built a strong SEO presence, assuming that alone would translate to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) driven by LLMs. Instead, it fell behind a smaller competitor within AI answer engines, Campbell said. Plus, analytics tools falsely showed that AI…

Anthropic submitted two sworn declarations to a California federal court late Friday afternoon, pushing back on the Pentagon’s assertion that the AI company poses an “unacceptable risk to national security” and arguing that the government’s case relies on technical misunderstandings and claims that were never actually raised during the months of negotiations that preceded the dispute. The declarations were filed alongside Anthropic’s reply brief in its lawsuit against the Department of Defense and come ahead of a hearing this coming Tuesday, March 24, before Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco. The dispute traces back to late February, when President Trump…

It’s a chilly March morning in the undisclosed mid-Atlantic hotel hosting Palantir’s developer conference. The defense contractors, military officers, and corporate executives in attendance are unprepared for the weather; they’d assumed the previous day’s mid-70s temperatures would hold. A cold rain turns to steady snowfall, and Palantir passes out heavy blankets. As people move between open-air pavilions, it looks like they were pulled from shipwrecks. Nonetheless, spirits are high. To this self-selecting crowd, Palantir is delivering on its promises. The company’s stock price is soaring. The gathering is infused with the giddy groupthink of a multilevel marketing event.After securing an…

X is imploring advertisers who’ve abandoned the platform to return, promising some a sweetheart deal of up to $200,000 in extra value, according to a leaked pitch deck viewed by ADWEEK. On one slide, presented to an ad agency with many clients that have not invested in the platform for a number of months, X suggested it would toss in 50% of added value for every dollar spent, up to $200,000 per advertiser. Details of what constitutes “added value”—whether discounts, free ad credits, rebates, or something else entirely—were unspecified.The incentive was framed as a “return-to-platform incentive” in the slide.The incentive structure is…

A French Navy officer went for a run on the deck of the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and uploaded his workout to Strava, inadvertently leaking the location of the nuclear-powered warship as it heads to the Middle East. First reported by French newspaper Le Monde, the story is not an anomaly — this popular fitness tracking app has proven to be a privacy nightmare before. By default, accounts on the social fitness app are set to public, publishing your route any time you log a workout. Strava data has previously been used to locate military bases around the world.…

Anthropic cannot manipulate its generative AI model Claude once the US military has it running, an executive wrote in a court filing on Friday. The statement was made in response to accusations from the Trump administration about the company potentially tampering with its AI tools during war.“Anthropic has never had the ability to cause Claude to stop working, alter its functionality, shut off access, or otherwise influence or imperil military operations,” Thiyagu Ramasamy, Anthropic’s head of public sector, wrote. “Anthropic does not have the access required to disable the technology or alter the model’s behavior before or during ongoing operations.”The…