For decades, the U.S. has had a plutonium problem. Around 100 tons of the stuff was made during the Cold War to go into powerful atomic bombs. But as nuclear stockpiles were dismantled, the government had to store the radioactive material in high-security facilities. Now it wants startups to help get rid of some of…

Every year I read through thousands of Startup Battlefield applications. And every year, I see the same pattern: The founders who belong on this stage are often the ones who almost didn’t apply. They think they’re too early. They think they need more traction. They think the program is for companies further along than they…

Volvo Cars reached an agreement with the Trump administration that exempts the automaker from a U.S. crackdown on Chinese-connected vehicle technology. The Swedish automaker, which is majority owned by China’s Geely Holding, said Tuesday that it received specific authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce to continue importing and selling vehicles with Chinese connected car…

A website called UK Visa Portal is publicly exposing the passports and selfie photos of applicants who signed up and paid the site to obtain a U.K immigration visa, TechCrunch has learned. An anonymous person notified TechCrunch about the security lapse, saying that the website is exposing at least 100,000 documents from people who uploaded…

Volvo Cars reached an agreement with the Trump administration that exempts the automaker from a U.S. crackdown on Chinese-connected vehicle technology. The Swedish automaker, which is majority owned by China’s Geely Holding, said Tuesday that it received specific authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce to continue importing and selling vehicles with Chinese connected car…

Security researchers say a March breach of the Los Angeles transit system (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or LACMTA) was the work of Iranian-backed hackers. Israeli startup Gambit Security said in a report on Tuesday that the hackers work for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and State Security (MOIS).  Reuters first wrote about the Gambit…

SpaceX’s recent IPO and Starship rocket test flight delivered two big data points that offer a realistic vision for the coming years — and one that may disappoint both the company’s boosters and its critics. Hidden behind the fantastic expectations for AI enterprise profits and plans for a moon base is a more grounded reality:…

Popular AI gateway maker OpenRouter, founded in 2023, has raised a hefty $113 million Series B led by CapitalG, the growth venture fund of Google parent company Alphabet. While the startup didn’t disclose its new valuation, The New York Times reports that it landed at about $1.3 billion post-money. This is a hefty increase from…

American Airlines said Tuesday it plans to install Starlink on more than 500 narrow-body Airbus aircraft beginning early next year, the latest carrier to pick the SpaceX unit for inflight Wi-Fi service. The deal provides more than just financial lift for Starlink, the satellite communications network and the only SpaceX business unit that generates meaningful…

In the long history of hacking, there have been numerous data breaches that, years or even decades later, remain unsolved. Countless hackers and hacking groups behind them have never been unmasked.   But prolific hacking groups do get caught. This is true whether they’re cybercriminals such as LAPSUS$, a notorious extortion gang that compromised companies such as Microsoft and Nvidia and that have had multiple members arrested,…