Researchers built an AI therapist that reads your smartwatch and earbuds to detect distress before you ask for help
An AI system called UbiMyTherapist detects emotional distress by analyzing data from smartwatches and earbuds rather than waiting for users to initiate contact. Researchers at the University of Ottawa developed this proactive assistant to identify stress and anxiety through physiological signals captured by wearable devices.
TechCrunch Mobility: All eyes on Tesla FSD
Tesla's Full Self-Driving system is receiving increased attention for its autonomous driving capabilities. The system represents a significant focus area in discussions about AI's role in the transportation and automotive industries.
Boffins build a better pixel capable of emitting and receiving light
A new pixel design can simultaneously emit and receive light, combining transmission and detection capabilities in a single unit. The technology enables bidirectional optical communication within a pixel structure, allowing it to function as both a display element and a sensor.
Micron briefly surpassed Meta and Tesla in market value. Its stock is up 236% in a month.
Micron Technology's stock climbed 236% in one month, briefly making it worth $1.27 trillion. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $41.45 billion, quadrupling year-over-year.
Govee’s smart nugget ice maker makes every iced drink feel like a luxury
Govee released a smart nugget ice maker priced at $500 that produces soft, chewable ice. The GoveeLife Smart Nugget Ice Maker Pro targets consumers who prioritize ice quality in their beverages.
Auto repair is one of the least digitised industries in America. AI is changing the economics of why.
The auto repair software market is projected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2026 to $8.6 billion by 2033 at a 14.2% annual growth rate. North America's 280,000 independent repair shops currently operate on 1990s-style workflows including phone scheduling, paper repair orders, and manual parts ordering.
Google is rationing Gemini access to Meta because it cannot provide enough compute
Google placed limits on Meta's use of Gemini AI models due to insufficient computing capacity to meet demand. The restrictions affected Meta's internal projects and several other Google clients particularly severely.
India’s payments chief says AI will drive UPI from 750 million to a billion daily transactions
India's Unified Payment Interface currently processes over 750 million daily transactions. The National Payments Corporation of India's CEO stated that AI will be central to reaching one billion daily transactions.
Battery swapping for EV trucks to go mainstream as Octopus teams with CATL to service 300,000+ electric trucks across Europe
Battery swapping stations for electric trucks will expand across Europe through a partnership between Octopus and CATL. The collaboration aims to service over 300,000 electric trucks while developing energy storage infrastructure.
Instagram wants to make algorithm customisation a core part of the app, not a buried setting
Instagram is moving its Your Algorithm feature from a buried setting to a central part of the app, allowing users to specify which topics they want to see more or less of. Head Adam Mosseri announced the goal is to evolve the tool to feel like a core experience rather than a hidden setting.
Salesforce employees are confused about why the company is promoting a competitor inside Slack
Salesforce promoted Anthropic's Claude Tag on social media, an AI product that operates as a persistent teammate inside Slack channels. This promotion created confusion among Salesforce employees because Claude Tag directly competes with Salesforce's own Slackbot and Agentforce platform.
The 33-year-old ex-Snap exec Nadella is trusting to fix Copilot now oversees 11,000 people
Jacob Andreou merged Microsoft's consumer and enterprise Copilot teams and now manages more than 11,000 people. He is building a super app combining chat, coding, and a new agentic workflow called Autopilot.
Hawaii is turning ocean plastic and fishing nets into roads
Ocean plastic and discarded fishing nets are being mixed into asphalt for Hawaiian roads. Early testing showed these roads released no more plastic particles than standard pavement, with tire wear dominating any signal from the recycled material.
Could legal 'personhood' help save Lough Neagh?
Lough Neagh could be granted legal personhood status, giving the lake the same protections as a person under law. This Rights of Nature approach would treat the 30-kilometer-long water body as an entity with its own legal rights.
Peptide alternative to antibiotics could combat antimicrobial resistance crisis
A human-derived peptide called D-GK17 attacks bacterial and fungal biofilm surfaces without harming human cells. Preclinical testing showed the peptide is stable and nontoxic, targeting the sticky matrix that antibiotics cannot penetrate.
Here's your daily reminder that you don't own digital content
European PlayStation Store customers will lose access to Studio Canal films they purchased when the store closes in September 2025. The closure affects digital movie ownership, leaving buyers unable to access previously bought content on the platform.
World's largest particle smasher halts for upgrade to boost hunt for dark matter
The Large Hadron Collider will close for four years of upgrades beginning Monday to increase its collision capacity. The renovations aim to enhance the accelerator's ability to detect dark matter and other fundamental physics discoveries.
Scientists discover what triggers belly fat as we age
Specialized stem cells that increase with age activate the body's production of belly fat, potentially explaining middle-age weight gain. This discovery identifies a biological mechanism that could serve as a target for developing new obesity treatments.
Laser-based 3D imaging system enables precise detection and quantification of methane leakage
A laser-based 3D imaging system visualizes methane gas clouds and enables precise detection of microleakages and accurate source location. The technology can quantitatively retrieve emission rates from methane leaks.
Europe's deadly heatwave breaks German record and halts public events
Germany recorded a provisional high temperature of 41.3 degrees Celsius in Saarbrücken, breaking the country's previous heat record. The extreme temperatures across Europe have forced cancellations of public events and caused fatalities in several nations.
Cloudflare cut 1,100 jobs and then grew its engineering team by 45 percent, and its CEO says the pattern will repeat everywhere
Cloudflare's engineering headcount increased 45 percent to 1,894 employees following layoffs of 1,100 workers in May. The company's total workforce shrank by one-fifth while engineering staff grew from 1,308 positions.
'We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default': OpenAI unveils big GPT-5.6 upgrades for ChatGPT, but you can't use them yet
OpenAI released GPT-5.6 upgrades for ChatGPT, but users cannot access them yet because the US government requested to test the new models first. OpenAI stated it does not want government access evaluation to become the standard practice for model releases.
FBI says Russian intelligence hackers have a new trick for reading your Signal messages, and it works even after you change phones
Russian intelligence hackers are targeting Signal users' backup recovery keys through phishing to compromise accounts and read messages. The attackers can restore an account's backup and access messages even after victims change phones once the key is obtained.
OpenAI poaches Uber India’s chief to run its biggest market outside the United States
Prabhjeet Singh, Uber India's outgoing president, was appointed as OpenAI's first managing director for India, starting in September. Singh will oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations while reporting to the company's Asia Pacific managing director.
Trustpilot just partnered with Shopify to put its reviews where AI search engines are already looking
Trustpilot integrated its review platform into Shopify, allowing merchants to display and manage reviews directly in their stores starting June 29. This marks Trustpilot's first native integration with a major ecommerce platform.
Lamprey brain atlas reveals 450-million-year blueprint of vertebrate brains
Scientists created a comprehensive brain atlas of the lamprey, a jawless fish whose body structure has remained largely unchanged for 360 million years. The atlas reveals the ancestral blueprint of vertebrate brains by mapping neural structures in an organism that represents an early stage of vertebrate brain evolution.
A Tokyo startup and a Beijing security firm just launched AI tools to fill the gap Anthropic’s export ban created
Sakana AI released Fugu, an orchestration model matching Anthropic's suspended Fable 5 on key benchmarks. Beijing's 360 Security unveiled Tulongfeng, a vulnerability-discovery tool designed to rival Anthropic's suspended Mythos model.
New driving model predicts split-second crash avoidance with humanlike accuracy
A new driving model predicts how human drivers avoid crashes with high accuracy by combining different collision avoidance behaviors into a single framework. Waymo is using the model to benchmark its autonomous vehicles against human driver performance.
Polestar Faces a Ban on Selling Its EVs in the US
Polestar cannot sell its upcoming EV models in the United States due to regulatory concerns about its connections to China. The ban affects the automaker's future vehicle lineup scheduled for the American market.
Remote surgery goes mainstream — China's Toumai robot wins EU approval after a London doctor operates on a patient 1,500 miles away
MedBot's Toumai teleoperated surgery robot received EU approval following a successful prostate cancer operation performed by a London doctor on a patient 1,500 miles away. The robot can now be used for surgical procedures across Europe with regulatory clearance.