For context, WordPress powers more than 40% of the web, and while any individual or company is free to take the open-source project and run a website themselves, a number of businesses have sprung up to sell hosting services and technical expertise off the back of it. These include Automattic, which Mullenweg set up in 2005 to monetize the project he’d created two years previous, and WP Engine.
Automattic is also being forced to remove a list of WP Engine customers on a site that was created to show how many customers have stopped using WP Engine since Mullenweg launched his campaign. It must also remove a check box on its login page that requires users to confirm that they are not affiliated with WP Engine
Automattic said in a statement that it will keep fighting the case.
“Today’s ruling is a preliminary order designed to maintain the status quo. It was made without the benefit of discovery, our motion to dismiss, or the counterclaims we will be filing against WP Engine shortly,” the company said in a statement.
WP Engine said the court’s order will bring stability to the WordPress ecosystem: “We thank the Court for granting our request for a preliminary injunction. The order will bring back much-needed stability and security to the WordPress ecosystem. WP Engine is focused on serving our partners and customers and working with the community to find ways to ensure a vigorous and thriving WordPress community,” a spokesperson said.
The saga has raised questions about the open-source nature and stability of the WordPress community. There have also been discussions about what a fair contribution to open-source projects constitutes, as Mullenweg had accused WP Engine of not doing enough for the betterment of the WordPress project.
Several Cruise employees who spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity said they were “surprised” and “blindsided” by the decision. One source told TechCrunch that employees learned about GM’s plans the same time the media did.
Staff were told they “should be proud” of themselves and that “the technology will live on,” noting there would be a restructuring and that it would take several months for Cruise to transition to GM’s team.
The executives provided no details about potential layoffs, according to sources. However, several employees told TechCrunch they expect job cuts. While details are slim, it’s likely that the most vulnerable will be non-engineering roles or those related to robotaxi operations, including government affairs, communications teams, ground operations, and remote assistance teams in the cities where Cruise has slowly restarted testing, such as Phoenix, Houston, and Dallas.
Cruise has been under pressure to commercialize robotaxis — and generate revenue — for years. And at one point, hopes and ambitions were high. In 2021, GM projected that Cruise would have tens of thousands of custom-built Origin robotaxis on the road that could generate $50 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade.
The company was eventually forced to push back its ambitious deadline, like many other autonomous vehicle startups.
Cruise finally received in August 2023 the final permit required by California regulators to operate commercially in San Francisco. Two months later, the company would come under intense scrutiny following an October 2 incident that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis. That incident, and Cruise’s actions in the immediate aftermath, led to Cruise losing its permits to operate in California, grounding its entire U.S. fleet, its co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt stepping down, rounds of layoffs, and GM taking more direct control over what was once a promising self-driving startup.
Even as GM tried to reign in costs, all roads seemed to point toward a reboot.
In June, GM handed Cruise a $850 million lifeline to help it relaunch testing of its robotaxis in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston. Cruise even signed a partnership deal with Uber to launch its robotaxis on the Uber platform in 2025.
KAST’s launch comes as stablecoin adoption sees rapid growth. More than 20 million people use stablecoins every month across the world, and much of that is concentrated in emerging markets. Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge in October has further signaled growing mainstream corporate interest in the technology.
The startup faces competition from both crypto-native firms and traditional fintech companies expanding into stablecoins. PayPal has launched its own dollar-pegged token, while Revolut and Ripple have announced plans to issue stablecoins. The sector is also heavily concentrated, with Tether controlling roughly three-fourths of supply.
Daniel Bertoli, KAST’s other co-founder and a former partner at Quona Capital, argues that existing neobanks struggle with blockchain integration because their core systems were not designed for crypto. “The next generation of digital banks will be inherently global and built on stablecoins from the ground up,” he said.
Partners from DST Global and Goodwater Capital also invested in the round. KAST declined to disclose user numbers or its valuation, but said its growth had exceeded projections in its first four months of operation.
The startup plans to launch savings products and expand its remittance services while maintaining a focus on stablecoin-based infrastructure.
Because KAST only works with stablecoins, it also offers its customers “a safe haven for hard-earned income when local currencies decline,” said Alex Svanevik, co-founder and chief executive of analytics platform Nansen.ai and an early-backer of KAST.
“As more digital nomads receive salaries in stablecoins, they can now bypass the hassle of legacy rails. International transfers that once took weeks can now be completed instantly and at virtually no cost,” he said in a statement.
For Peak XV and HongShan, this is their first joint deal since they separated from Sequoia in June 2023. The firms are increasingly operating beyond their traditional geographic boundaries — HongShan has expanded into Europe and North Asia as it works to deploy its $9 billion pool of capital, while Peak XV has established a presence in the U.S.
Their former parent Sequoia is in advanced stages of deliberation to back fintech Vance, TechCrunch reported late last month. If the deal goes through, it would be the firm’s first investment in India since the separation.
YouTube’s auto-dubbing utilizes Google’s Gemini capabilities to replicate human speech. However, the company cautions that the feature may not perform perfectly, as the technology is still in its early stages of development.
“We’re working hard to make it as accurate as possible, but there might be times when the translation isn’t quite right, or the dubbed voice doesn’t accurately represent the original speaker. We really appreciate your patience and feedback as we continue to improve,” the company wrote in Tuesday’s blog post.
The company also reminded creators that they can look forward to another upcoming update called “Expressive Speech,” which is designed to help replicate the creator’s tone, emotions, and even the ambiance of their surroundings.
“Spotify entered the market in a very smart way,” Murray explained. “They had several 100 million listeners of music and podcasts … so it was a very small, adjacent shift for them to monetize the audiobook listener.” He also pointed out that while Amazon-owned Audible had been able to monetize the core audiobook listener, Spotify’s model taps into the potential around the more occasional audiobook listener.
“You didn’t have to sign up with a full commitment to so many books per year,” he said. “You could … do it with your 15 hours free. You could sample. And I think that entry strategy — I mean, we now know a year later — that entry strategy has been very successful for Spotify, and as a result, we get a little bit of an incremental growth in our business in total.”
Spotify’s relationship with HarperCollins, similar Harper’s deal with Audible, involves a wholesale distribution deal, which means that the publisher is paid on a consumption basis — a per-listen sort of model, Murray said. That sort of model is more direct than the streaming music model where a percentage of subscription revenue first goes into a pool and is then paid out to artists. The publisher can tell authors exactly what their royalties will be from audiobooks under this model.
Murray additionally said there’s room for growth with Spotify, as the company is working to adjust a “technical problem” with family plans, which currently limits audiobook streaming to the family plan’s credit card holder. In time, Spotify will open up listening to all plan members, he said.
Reached for comment, Spotify said there’s no technical issue, but expanding audiobooks across family plans is something it’s testing in some markets now.
“Echoing Brian Murray’s comments, we have been pleased with the growing interest in audiobooks and the resulting benefit to the publishing industry and authors,” a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “Although we have nothing to announce today, we’re actively exploring ways to enhance the audiobook experience for Spotify plan members and look forward to sharing more in the future.”
Spotify has also been expanding audiobooks to more global markets, which opens it up for further growth.
Switching gears, Murray then spoke about the potential and concerns around how artificial intelligence will affect publishing.
Beyond the obvious risks associated with IP-based businesses founded on copyright, the publisher is worried about generative AI, which could lead to an explosion of lower-quality content, competing for consumers’ time and attention. Still, Murray said he thinks higher-quality content will ultimately win.
Internally, AI could also help in areas of the business like marketing and selling, and there are already dozens of initiatives across departments at HarperCollins where they’re trying to realize productivity improvements from AI, Murray said.
AI could be useful for audiobooks, too, as it will allow the company to make audiobooks for smaller markets where it couldn’t before justify the expensive. Book translations will also expand, opening up more revenue opportunities.
Further down the road, HarperCollins foresees how the technology could help turn books into film. “You can imagine taking a manuscript, pouring it in, and having a movie script or television script come out, and then using [OpenAI’s] Sora to storyboard,” Murray said. “In terms of … maybe speed to market or getting concepts — clear concepts — to the professionals in film and television … that’s easier to do now.”
“We heard from creators that they just don’t always feel comfortable or they’re reluctant to experiment with different types of content because they’ve built up a follower base and they want to make sure they don’t alienate it,” Alexander said. “We hear from the fashion creator that maybe wants to branch into a music career, but they’re kind of scared because their followers have gotten used to getting outfits of the day, and so if they’re posting a video of themselves singing, they’re worried that they might turn those people off.”
Creators can share a reel as a trial by toggling the “Trial” option after creating a reel. The reel will then be shared with non-followers, and won’t appear on their profile’s main grid or reels tab. It’s worth noting that a follower could still see a trial reel if someone shares it directly with them.
After 24 hours, creators can see how many views, likes, comments, and shares the reel received. They can then choose to archive it or post it to their profile to share it with their followers.
The new feature is rolling out globally to everyone with a professional account on Instagram over the next few weeks.
Trial reels are a useful addition for creators, as many of them see their Instagram profile as their business card, which adds a lot of pressure around the content they publish. With this new feature, they can test new content and ensure they are only putting their most polished content on their profile to ensure they don’t lose followers or brand deals.
“Creatives have lots of ideas and one of the worst things that can kill creativity is feeling pressure, or feeling like there’s repercussions for taking chances,” Alexander said. “And we don’t ever want that to feel that way on Instagram. Instagram should be a place where you can take all of your most bold creative chances and be rewarded when they pan out.”
Alexander said Instagram’s goal is to innovate ahead of its competitors, and that the social network wants to help creators understand how they can make their content better and reach a wider audience by recognizing what’s working well and what isn’t. The company plans to do this with both trial reels and future creator-focused features.
The aftermath
If you’ve followed the news after America’s other catastrophic financial meltdowns — the financial crisis of 2008, Black Monday in 1987 — you can probably guess what happened to Mitchell.
Basically nothing.
He was acquitted of tax evasion and then sued by the federal government for the same crime. After losing the case, Mitchell fought the decision for several years before settling for an undisclosed sum in 1938.
!summarize #israel #syria #military #war
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For context, WordPress powers more than 40% of the web, and while any individual or company is free to take the open-source project and run a website themselves, a number of businesses have sprung up to sell hosting services and technical expertise off the back of it. These include Automattic, which Mullenweg set up in 2005 to monetize the project he’d created two years previous, and WP Engine.
Automattic is also being forced to remove a list of WP Engine customers on a site that was created to show how many customers have stopped using WP Engine since Mullenweg launched his campaign. It must also remove a check box on its login page that requires users to confirm that they are not affiliated with WP Engine
Automattic said in a statement that it will keep fighting the case.
“Today’s ruling is a preliminary order designed to maintain the status quo. It was made without the benefit of discovery, our motion to dismiss, or the counterclaims we will be filing against WP Engine shortly,” the company said in a statement.
WP Engine said the court’s order will bring stability to the WordPress ecosystem: “We thank the Court for granting our request for a preliminary injunction. The order will bring back much-needed stability and security to the WordPress ecosystem. WP Engine is focused on serving our partners and customers and working with the community to find ways to ensure a vigorous and thriving WordPress community,” a spokesperson said.
!summarize #ev #china
The saga has raised questions about the open-source nature and stability of the WordPress community. There have also been discussions about what a fair contribution to open-source projects constitutes, as Mullenweg had accused WP Engine of not doing enough for the betterment of the WordPress project.
!summarize #nymets #nyyankees #juansoto #mlb
!summarize #byd #ev
!summarize #vw #germany #ev
Several Cruise employees who spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity said they were “surprised” and “blindsided” by the decision. One source told TechCrunch that employees learned about GM’s plans the same time the media did.
Staff were told they “should be proud” of themselves and that “the technology will live on,” noting there would be a restructuring and that it would take several months for Cruise to transition to GM’s team.
The executives provided no details about potential layoffs, according to sources. However, several employees told TechCrunch they expect job cuts. While details are slim, it’s likely that the most vulnerable will be non-engineering roles or those related to robotaxi operations, including government affairs, communications teams, ground operations, and remote assistance teams in the cities where Cruise has slowly restarted testing, such as Phoenix, Houston, and Dallas.
!summarize #tesla #stock #tsla
Cruise has been under pressure to commercialize robotaxis — and generate revenue — for years. And at one point, hopes and ambitions were high. In 2021, GM projected that Cruise would have tens of thousands of custom-built Origin robotaxis on the road that could generate $50 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade.
The company was eventually forced to push back its ambitious deadline, like many other autonomous vehicle startups.
!summarize #stocks
!summarize #mlb #rigged #sports
!summarize #canada #jobs #economy
Cruise finally received in August 2023 the final permit required by California regulators to operate commercially in San Francisco. Two months later, the company would come under intense scrutiny following an October 2 incident that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis. That incident, and Cruise’s actions in the immediate aftermath, led to Cruise losing its permits to operate in California, grounding its entire U.S. fleet, its co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt stepping down, rounds of layoffs, and GM taking more direct control over what was once a promising self-driving startup.
Even as GM tried to reign in costs, all roads seemed to point toward a reboot.
!summarize #europe #france #eu
In June, GM handed Cruise a $850 million lifeline to help it relaunch testing of its robotaxis in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston. Cruise even signed a partnership deal with Uber to launch its robotaxis on the Uber platform in 2025.
KAST’s launch comes as stablecoin adoption sees rapid growth. More than 20 million people use stablecoins every month across the world, and much of that is concentrated in emerging markets. Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge in October has further signaled growing mainstream corporate interest in the technology.
The startup faces competition from both crypto-native firms and traditional fintech companies expanding into stablecoins. PayPal has launched its own dollar-pegged token, while Revolut and Ripple have announced plans to issue stablecoins. The sector is also heavily concentrated, with Tether controlling roughly three-fourths of supply.
!summarize #blackswan
Daniel Bertoli, KAST’s other co-founder and a former partner at Quona Capital, argues that existing neobanks struggle with blockchain integration because their core systems were not designed for crypto. “The next generation of digital banks will be inherently global and built on stablecoins from the ground up,” he said.
Partners from DST Global and Goodwater Capital also invested in the round. KAST declined to disclose user numbers or its valuation, but said its growth had exceeded projections in its first four months of operation.
The startup plans to launch savings products and expand its remittance services while maintaining a focus on stablecoin-based infrastructure.
!summarize #juansoto #mlb #Nymets #rondarling
!summarize #stevecohen #mlb #nymets
Because KAST only works with stablecoins, it also offers its customers “a safe haven for hard-earned income when local currencies decline,” said Alex Svanevik, co-founder and chief executive of analytics platform Nansen.ai and an early-backer of KAST.
“As more digital nomads receive salaries in stablecoins, they can now bypass the hassle of legacy rails. International transfers that once took weeks can now be completed instantly and at virtually no cost,” he said in a statement.
!summarize #doj #boston #fraud #councilor
For Peak XV and HongShan, this is their first joint deal since they separated from Sequoia in June 2023. The firms are increasingly operating beyond their traditional geographic boundaries — HongShan has expanded into Europe and North Asia as it works to deploy its $9 billion pool of capital, while Peak XV has established a presence in the U.S.
Their former parent Sequoia is in advanced stages of deliberation to back fintech Vance, TechCrunch reported late last month. If the deal goes through, it would be the firm’s first investment in India since the separation.
!summarize #media #cablenews
YouTube’s auto-dubbing utilizes Google’s Gemini capabilities to replicate human speech. However, the company cautions that the feature may not perform perfectly, as the technology is still in its early stages of development.
“We’re working hard to make it as accurate as possible, but there might be times when the translation isn’t quite right, or the dubbed voice doesn’t accurately represent the original speaker. We really appreciate your patience and feedback as we continue to improve,” the company wrote in Tuesday’s blog post.
!summarize #michaeljordan #nba #basketball
!summarize #tsla #tesla #stock #market
!summarize #joebenigno #juansoto #nymets
The company also reminded creators that they can look forward to another upcoming update called “Expressive Speech,” which is designed to help replicate the creator’s tone, emotions, and even the ambiance of their surroundings.
“Spotify entered the market in a very smart way,” Murray explained. “They had several 100 million listeners of music and podcasts … so it was a very small, adjacent shift for them to monetize the audiobook listener.” He also pointed out that while Amazon-owned Audible had been able to monetize the core audiobook listener, Spotify’s model taps into the potential around the more occasional audiobook listener.
“You didn’t have to sign up with a full commitment to so many books per year,” he said. “You could … do it with your 15 hours free. You could sample. And I think that entry strategy — I mean, we now know a year later — that entry strategy has been very successful for Spotify, and as a result, we get a little bit of an incremental growth in our business in total.”
!summarize #amazon #datacenter #nuclear #energy
Spotify’s relationship with HarperCollins, similar Harper’s deal with Audible, involves a wholesale distribution deal, which means that the publisher is paid on a consumption basis — a per-listen sort of model, Murray said. That sort of model is more direct than the streaming music model where a percentage of subscription revenue first goes into a pool and is then paid out to artists. The publisher can tell authors exactly what their royalties will be from audiobooks under this model.
Murray additionally said there’s room for growth with Spotify, as the company is working to adjust a “technical problem” with family plans, which currently limits audiobook streaming to the family plan’s credit card holder. In time, Spotify will open up listening to all plan members, he said.
!summarize #fastmoney #cnbc #stocks #market
Reached for comment, Spotify said there’s no technical issue, but expanding audiobooks across family plans is something it’s testing in some markets now.
“Echoing Brian Murray’s comments, we have been pleased with the growing interest in audiobooks and the resulting benefit to the publishing industry and authors,” a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “Although we have nothing to announce today, we’re actively exploring ways to enhance the audiobook experience for Spotify plan members and look forward to sharing more in the future.”
Spotify has also been expanding audiobooks to more global markets, which opens it up for further growth.
Switching gears, Murray then spoke about the potential and concerns around how artificial intelligence will affect publishing.
Beyond the obvious risks associated with IP-based businesses founded on copyright, the publisher is worried about generative AI, which could lead to an explosion of lower-quality content, competing for consumers’ time and attention. Still, Murray said he thinks higher-quality content will ultimately win.
Internally, AI could also help in areas of the business like marketing and selling, and there are already dozens of initiatives across departments at HarperCollins where they’re trying to realize productivity improvements from AI, Murray said.
!summarize #money #future
!summarize #ai #education #salkhan
AI could be useful for audiobooks, too, as it will allow the company to make audiobooks for smaller markets where it couldn’t before justify the expensive. Book translations will also expand, opening up more revenue opportunities.
Further down the road, HarperCollins foresees how the technology could help turn books into film. “You can imagine taking a manuscript, pouring it in, and having a movie script or television script come out, and then using [OpenAI’s] Sora to storyboard,” Murray said. “In terms of … maybe speed to market or getting concepts — clear concepts — to the professionals in film and television … that’s easier to do now.”
!summarize #divorce #relationships
“We heard from creators that they just don’t always feel comfortable or they’re reluctant to experiment with different types of content because they’ve built up a follower base and they want to make sure they don’t alienate it,” Alexander said. “We hear from the fashion creator that maybe wants to branch into a music career, but they’re kind of scared because their followers have gotten used to getting outfits of the day, and so if they’re posting a video of themselves singing, they’re worried that they might turn those people off.”
!summarize #media #cartel #journalism
Creators can share a reel as a trial by toggling the “Trial” option after creating a reel. The reel will then be shared with non-followers, and won’t appear on their profile’s main grid or reels tab. It’s worth noting that a follower could still see a trial reel if someone shares it directly with them.
After 24 hours, creators can see how many views, likes, comments, and shares the reel received. They can then choose to archive it or post it to their profile to share it with their followers.
The new feature is rolling out globally to everyone with a professional account on Instagram over the next few weeks.
Trial reels are a useful addition for creators, as many of them see their Instagram profile as their business card, which adds a lot of pressure around the content they publish. With this new feature, they can test new content and ensure they are only putting their most polished content on their profile to ensure they don’t lose followers or brand deals.
“Creatives have lots of ideas and one of the worst things that can kill creativity is feeling pressure, or feeling like there’s repercussions for taking chances,” Alexander said. “And we don’t ever want that to feel that way on Instagram. Instagram should be a place where you can take all of your most bold creative chances and be rewarded when they pan out.”
!summarize #wealth #billionaire
Alexander said Instagram’s goal is to innovate ahead of its competitors, and that the social network wants to help creators understand how they can make their content better and reach a wider audience by recognizing what’s working well and what isn’t. The company plans to do this with both trial reels and future creator-focused features.
The aftermath
If you’ve followed the news after America’s other catastrophic financial meltdowns — the financial crisis of 2008, Black Monday in 1987 — you can probably guess what happened to Mitchell.
Basically nothing.
He was acquitted of tax evasion and then sued by the federal government for the same crime. After losing the case, Mitchell fought the decision for several years before settling for an undisclosed sum in 1938.