Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Renault are reportedly in talks that could result in merging vast swaths of their businesses, a move that illustrates the growing desire among automakers to consolidate in an environment of increased regulatory pressure, sales declines and rising costs aimed at bringing next-generation technologies like self-driving cars to market. Bloomberg, Financial Times, […]

Venture capitalists aren’t supposed to make their portfolio companies battle to the death. There’s a long-standing but unofficial rule that investors shouldn’t fund multiple competitors in the same space. Conflicts of interest could arise, information about one startup’s strategy could be improperly shared with the other, and the companies could become suspicious of advice provided […]

Where did the long s come from and why has this character largely disappeared?

Researchers have discovered the first-ever water sample dating to the end of Earth's last ice age, 20,000 years ago.

This week, the Equity duo of Kate Clark and Alex Wilhelm convened to get some quick hits in about Slack’s WORK, Luckin Coffee and Sam Altman’s departure from Y Combinator. They then dug a bit deeper into the money around food: DoorDash and Sun Basket both raised this week. And what is a discussion about […]

Last week, Trump signed an executive order that enabled the federal government to prohibit U.S. companies from buying telecom equipment from foreign companies at their discretion. This week, the full damage began to feel apparent to China’s fastest-growing smartphone powerhouse, Huawei. American companies, at the behest of Trump and company, began turning on the Chinese […]

'And what a SPECTACULAR view it was! - Marco Langbroek.

Mark Zuckerberg has poured billions into his virtual reality dream, a new platform that Facebook owns. Facebook bought Oculus and has spent the last five years killing what it was and reinventing it as a Facebook-scale company. It has dumped most of the co-founders, brought in Zuck loyalists to take over the most important decisions […]

Living in a dense urban environment brings many startup-fuelled conveniences, be it near instant delivery of food — or pretty much whatever else you fancy — to a whole range of wheels that can be hopped on (or into) to whisk you around at the tap of an app. But the biggest problem afflicting city […]

In this week's newsletter: Y Combinator has a new president, DoorDash raises $600M and startups go on acquisition sprees.

When it comes to public universities, the old adage “you get what you pay for” clearly does not apply. Leading public research universities have a track record of turning out successful graduates.

Housekeeping & Extra Crunch 20% event discount reminder Extra Crunch will not be publishing on Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday in the United States. Publishing will resume as normal on Tuesday. Reminder: if you are an annual member of Extra Crunch, your membership includes a 20% discount on event tickets and exhibitor packages. […]

The asteroid will pass close enough to Earth that, with some preparation and a decent telescope, amateur astronomers may spot it blotting out the stars.

Why do people love the taste of garlic, but hate the resulting garlic breath?

The U.S-China trade war is increasingly influencing tech. Huawei has suffered a turbulent past week with key suppliers pausing work with the company, and now China’s largest chipmaker is planning to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) announced in a filing published Friday that it plans to delist next […]

If you’ve been out and about in Silicon Valley in the last month or so, chances are you’ve heard of “Alpha Girls,” a new book written by longtime journalist Julian Guthrie about four investors who’ve made a big impact on the world of startup investing. The book recognizes them — Theresia Gouw, MJ Elmore, Sonja […]

Massively long lines at Mount Everest's frigid summit may have contributed to the deaths of seven climbers this week.

After nearly a decade on Uber's board of directors, the former CEO is calling it quits.

When you watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, do you find yourself criticizing HAL 9000's machinations and thinking, «I could do better than that!» If so, Observation may be right up your alley. In it you play a space station AI called SAM that is called upon by the humans on board to help resolve a deadly mystery — though you may be a part of it yourself.

Every company’s online acquisition strategy is out in the open. If you know where to look. This post shows you exactly where to look, and how to reverse engineer their growth tactics...

News just in from security reporter Brian Krebs: Fortune 500 real estate insurance giant First American exposed approximately 885 million sensitive records because of a bug in its website. Krebs reported that the company’s website was storing and leaking bank account numbers, statements, mortgage and tax records, and Social Security numbers and driving license images […]

Erik Finman is a twenty-something bitcoin maximalist as famous for his precocity as he is for his $12 bet on the currency a few years ago. Now, Finman, who built his first company while still in high school, is launching a new startup called CoinBits, which allows users to passively invest in bitcoin. The idea, […]

Having a strong purpose in life may have not only mental benefits, but also physical ones.

Silence is golden. In Australia, so is the fungus.

Last night's successful Starlink launch was a big one for SpaceX — its heaviest payload ever, weighed down by 60 communications satellites that will eventually be part of a single constellation providing internet to the globe. That's the plan, anyway — and the company pulled the curtain back a bit more after launch, revealing a few more details about the birds it just put in the air.