Also: Cursor apologizes for poorly communicated pricing change
Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're looking at a new smartphone going up against Samsung and Apple; Cursor's messy pricing change; and the LA VC firm backing Slate Auto. We've also got notes on fresh funds for clean energy and real estate tech; Bluesky's updates; OpenAI's paranoia; Marco Rubio's AI imposter, and more. Let's dive in! | | | Image Credits: Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch | 1. Oh this phone? It's Nothing: VC-backed hardware startup Nothing's $799 Phone (3) hopes to compete with Samsung and Apple's flagships. While its design has been controversial, its AI search features give the phone a functional feel, Ivan Mehta writes in his review of the Phone (3). Read More 2. Mistakes happen: Cursor had to apologize for a poorly communicated change to its $20-per-month Pro AI-powered coding pricing plan. The changes resulted in users running out of requests quickly and facing unexpected additional costs. Read More 3. Back it up: Jeff Bezos isn't the only one to invest in Slate Auto, the venture-backed startup promising a sub-$20,000 electric pickup. TechCrunch spoke to LA VC firm Slauson & Co. about why they invested in Slate, and why they still have faith in the company's mission despite Trump-related headwinds. Read More | | | Image Credits: Arbor Energy | 🚀 Rocket power! Frontier, backed by Stripe, Google and Meta, is paying Arbor Energy $41 million to build its first commercial-scale power plant that will burn waste biomass to generate electricity for a data center. The plan also involves removing 116,000 tons of carbon dioxide by the end of the decade. Read More 🔥 Remember that time we split methane? In the early 2000s, engineers at Technit Group inadvertently managed to split methane into pure hydrogen and pure carbon – in essence, burning stuff without oxygen. Then they forgot about it. Twenty years later, that idea turned into hydrogen production startup Tulum, which just closed a $27 million seed round. Read More 💙 Custom blue: Bluesky has released three updates to make it easier for users to personalize notifications and reduce unnecessary alerts. You can now get activity notifications for certain accounts, and can even control which alerts you receive. Read More 🏠 Nm, just buying a house: UAE-based Huspy wants to change how people buy homes online. One of the largest proptechs in its home country, the startup has now expanded to Spain and closed a $59 million Series B led by Balderton Capital. Read More 🔐 Gotta protect corporate secrets: After DeepSeek allegedly "improperly copied" OpenAI's models, the ChatGPT maker has reportedly overhauled its security operations to protect against corporate espionage. Now, for example, only verified team members can access sensitive algorithms and new information. Read More | | | 🥸 This is why we can't have nice things: Reuters reports that a Russia-backed imposter used an AI-generated voice to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio in exchanges with three foreign ministers and two U.S. politicians. Read More 🛰️ Monopoly in the skies: The Musk Watch blog reports that leakage from SpaceX's Starlink satellites is blocking astronomers' radio signals from the telescopes they use to do their work. It's a symptom of a larger problem — the impact commercial satellites can have on science. Read More 🫧 Viral soap: The Wall Street Journal takes a good look at how Unilever is combining AI with influencer marketing to make products like Dove soap go viral on social media. The company is essentially using AI to deploy thousands of creative "assets" across brands to influencers. Read More | | | 📚 Study party: Some ChatGPT subscribers are seeing a new drop-down feature called "Study Together." Apparently, rather than providing answers, the feature makes ChatGPT ask more questions and requires the user to answer. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. TechCrunch Media LLC. 9720 Wilshire Boulevard, 6th floor, Beverly Hills, CA | | | | |
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