Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Zoox, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Amazon, paused its driverless testing program for more than a week and issued a voluntary recall of its software following a crash in Las Vegas, according to the company and a filing with federal safety regulators. The April 8 crash, which involved an unoccupied Zoox vehicle and a…

Uber announced its third partnership with a Chinese autonomous vehicle company this week, revealing the ride-hail and delivery giant’s appetite for global domination in the emerging robotaxi sector. Uber said Tuesday it would work with Guangzhou-based Pony AI, which late last year went public on the Nasdaq at a $5.25 billion valuation, to launch robotaxis…

Employer.com has acquired MainStreet.com for an undisclosed amount, the latest fintech startup to get snapped up by the workforce management company. In a post on X, Employer.com Chairman and co-founder Jesse Tinsley said the two companies were “merging forces to simplify business back office solutions into one powerhouse platform.” Tinsley confirmed the acquisition to TechCrunch.…

Elon Musk may have a sizable fan base, but residents of the upscale Austin suburb of West Lake Hills, Texas, are unimpressed by their celebrity neighbor, reports the New York Times. Instead, a $6 million home Musk purchased in 2022 has become the center of a battle after his team erected an unauthorized 16-foot chain-link…

YouTube is testing a new two-person Premium subscription plan in select countries, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The tier is being piloted in India, France, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The news was first reported by Money Control. “We’re experimenting with new ways to provide greater flexibility and value to our YouTube Premium subscribers,…

Google is reportedly spinning up a film and TV production project called 100 Zeroes. According to a report from Business Insider, this initiative is intended to make young audiences feel more positively about Google’s products, as well as tech at large. Like Apple’s TV shows, where actors will use MacBooks and iPhones with clearly visible…

Anysphere, the maker of AI-powered coding tool Cursor, has attracted $900 million in a fresh round of funding led by Thrive Capital, Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the deal. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Accel are also participating in the round, which values Anysphere at about $9 billion, the report said. Earlier in…

Duolingo announced plans this week to replace contractors with AI and become an “AI-first” company — a move that journalist Brian Merchant pointed to as a sign that the AI jobs crisis “is here, now.” In fact, Merchant spoke to a former Duolingo contractor who said this isn’t even a new policy. The company cut…

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is getting its own official company town. Residents of an area around SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in southern Texas voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to incorporate as a city — also named Starbase. According to results posted online by the Cameron County Elections Department, there were 212 votes in favor and only six…

While many tech companies are mandating that their employees return to their offices, and putting an emphasis on building in-person teams, they are also turning in droves to Latin America to find developer talent — especially for post-training AI models. Revelo, a full-stack platform of vetted developers in Latin America, is seeing a new surge in…