• Meta-backed Hupo finds growth after pivot to AI sales coaching from mental wellness

    January 13, 2026

    When Justin Kim, co-founder and CEO of Hupo, first launched his company about four years ago, it wasn’t selling AI-powered sales coaching to banks, finance services, or insurance companies. The company originally began as Ami, a mental wellness platform focused on how people manage pressure, form habits, and change behavior over time. “I’ve always been a big sports fan – basketball, football, Formula One, MMA – and what draws me to all of them is performance. In my free time, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what actually drives human performance. People are very different, but across sports,…

  • Monarch Money is offering 50 percent off its budgeting app for new users

    January 13, 2026

    The start of the new year is a great time to get your finances in order, and a good budgeting app can help with that. Instead of laboring over a spreadsheet, you can try one of our favorite budgeting apps for less than usual. Monarch Money is running a sale that gives new users 50 percent off one year of the service, bringing the final cost down to just $50. Just use the code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout to get the discount. Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via apps for iOS,…

  • Hands-on with Bee, Amazon’s latest AI wearable

    January 13, 2026

    In early tests with a review unit of Bee, we found the device itself was easy to use. It’s just a press of a button to turn recording on or off. In the app, you can configure whether a double press bookmarks a section of the conversation, processes the current conversation, or both, and you can set whether a press and hold gesture lets you leave a voice note or chat with the AI assistant. (Bee’s companion app currently reminds you to enable voice notes, so we did.) Like many other AI products and services, such as Plaud, Granola, Fathom,…

  • MG 4 deal sees prices slashed by thousands following sales slump

    January 13, 2026

    MG is offering deals across almost its entire model range, but it’s the MG 4 electric hatchback that’s getting the largest discounts. The Chinese brand’s Summer Savings campaign, which ends on January 31, 2026, includes discounts of $2000 on HS Hybrid+ and Super Hybrid mid-size SUVs, and between $500 and $1000 off certain variants of the MG 3 hatch, ZS small SUV, HS, and QS large SUV. However, the MG 4 is being offered for between $4000 less than its recommended drive-away price in all bar top-spec XPower trim, which receives a $5000 discount. The discounted pricing is available on…

  • Two-year plans are up to 78 percent off

    January 13, 2026

    If you’re looking to up your privacy game on the internet in the new year, you can do so for a little less than usual thanks to ExpressVPN’s latest deal. Its two-year plans are up to 78 percent off right now: the Advanced tier is on sale for $101 for two years, plus four additional free months. That works out to $3.59 per month during the promotional period. We’ve consistently liked ExpressVPN because it’s fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it’s our current pick for best premium VPN. One of the…

  • OpenAI buys tiny health records startup Torch for, reportedly, $100M

    January 13, 2026

    OpenAI announced it has acquired a tiny startup called Torch for an undisclosed sum. An unnamed source told The Information that OpenAI paid $100 million worth of equity for the startup. Torch’s four-person team is joining OpenAI, both companies said. Torch was working on an app that combined all of a person’s medical information for AI use from a range of sources such as doctor visits, lab tests, wearables, and other portals, including consumer wellness tests and the like. The Torch team called their tech “a medical memory for AI, unifying scattered records into a context engine.” The Torch team…

  • Police crackdown on hoons at Summernats

    January 13, 2026

    A total of 19 vehicles have been impounded by police during the annual Summernats festival in Canberra, with 85 defect notices issued. ACT Policing says 22 drivers were found to be impaired in the week of the event, with almost 20 vehicles seized during a high-visibility operation in the nation’s capital. With temperatures reaching 35 degrees, the 38th running of Summernats attracted approximately 130,000 attendees from across the country, with 3000 vehicles entered into the car show, according to ABC News. One yellow Holden VN Commodore with expired Victoria club permit number plates was impounded in the lead-up to the…

  • Mark Zuckerberg announces new ‘Meta Compute’ initiative for its data center and AI projects

    January 13, 2026

    On the heels of Mark Zuckerberg announcing that Meta’s former board member, Dina Powell McCormick, would be formally joining the company as president and vice chairman, the CEO has shared new details about her purview at the company. The executive will play a key role overseeing Meta’s sprawling infrastructure investments as part of a newly announced initiative called Meta Compute. “Meta is planning to build tens of gigawatts this decade, and hundreds of gigawatts or more over time,” Zuckerberg said in an update. “How we engineer, invest, and partner to build this infrastructure will become a strategic advantage.” Zuckerberg said…

  • More than 100 new tech unicorns were minted in 2025 — here they are

    January 13, 2026

    With AI igniting an investor frenzy, every month, more startups obtain unicorn status.  Using data from Crunchbase and PitchBook, TechCrunch tracked down the VC-backed startups that became unicorns so far this year. While most are AI-related, a surprising number are focused in other industries like satellite space companies Loft Orbital and blockchain-based trading site Kalshi.    This list will be updated throughout the year, so check back and see the latest powerhouse startups that are now worth over $1 billion.  December    Heven Aerotech —$1 billion: This startup, founded in 2019, is creating hydrogen powered drones. It last raised a $100 million Series B, and…

  • Framework increases Desktop prices by up to $460 due to RAM crisis

    January 13, 2026

    Computer brand Framework has hiked the prices on RAM for its Desktop systems and Mainframes in response to rising costs with its suppliers. Compared with when the Desktops were announced, the 32GB and 64GB options each cost $40 more, but its 128GB variation now costs an extra $460. The current pricing for machines is $1,139 for 32GB, $1,639 for 64GB or $2,459 for 128GB. Since the company began altering its pricing structure last month, it committed to remaining transparent with customers about the changes happening to RAM prices. Framework also said it would reduce prices again once the market calms…