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Come on in, the water is lovely. You wouldn’t have thought there was space for more players in the busy soup that’s the crowded sous-vide market, but Typhur begs to differ, thank you very much. At CES in Las Vegas, the company released an exquisitely designed $99 temperature sensor and announced its flagship product, the Sous Vide Station.

Now, sous-vide (which means ‘under vacuum’) isn’t a new technology. The idea of cooking at lower temperatures for longer, to ensure even heat distribution through the food was first described in 1799. For sous-vide, you vacuum-seal something you want to cook in a bag, and then cook it at a very specific temperature for a specific amount of time. If you have a way of accurately controlling the temperature of the water, and a timer, you’re good to go. A determined hacker with $40 to spare can make one themselves in 10 minutes, so it’s no surprise that Kickstarter is full of sous-vide projects, with various degrees of success, and a variable amount of sophistication.

Typhur skipped Kickstarter, raised $20 million, and is placing itself at the high end of the sophistication scale.

“Food is a science that requires precise timing and temperature to extract the best flavor,” said Frank Sun, Founder of Typhur Inc. “The process of cooking sous vide style has always been a well-kept secret in high-end restaurants. It’s a technique cherished for its ability to deliver a consistent and exact level of doneness in everything from savory steaks to poached eggs. With Typhur’s comprehensive Sous Vide Station, anyone can become an iron chef in their own home kitchen—even if the cooking is in a small space.”

Typhur’s answer to the challenge is admittedly extraordinarily fancy. It packs a 12.3-inch LCD screen, video-based guides and recipes, a powerful 1,750W heater and circulator, and a very cool design indeed. Among other things, the company created reusable vacuum bags and a hand-held air extraction pump that magnetically connects to the side of the machine, where it also wirelessly charges. It wouldn’t look out of place in the most high-design fancy home kitchens. At CES, the team insists that the pricing has not yet been set, but the Typhur website lists it with a $900 price tag, and a pre-sale price of $700. Pre-orders are opening ‘soon’.

The company also showed off the first product it is shipping: the Typhur InstaProbe, a $100 temperature probe to see if your food is done. You can buy less sophisticated versions for $15, but it can’t be denied that the InstaProbe is a fantastically sleekly designed version.

“We are thrilled to release what will be the fastest and most accurate food thermometer on the market” said Sun. “The speed and precision offered by the InstaProbe offers unparalleled control over your meats. Most food thermometers take 2-5 seconds to get a reading and are not completely accurate, The Typhur InstaProbeoffers highly accurate readings in less than a second thanks to our patentedtechnology.”

We have no way of verifying Typhur’s claims, so we’ll have to take their word for them, but it is undoubtedly one of the better-looking food thermometers we’ve seen, and there’s no shortage of people who optimize for that sort of thing, so we can absolutely see these showing up in high-end kitchen goods stores and at Silicon Valley barbecues in the near future. The thermometers are shipping now.

Typhur launches sous-vide cooker with 12-inch display by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

Venture capitalists are in the business of predicting the next big thing, even if they get burned in the process. While everyone piled onto crypto in 2021 — and many remain bullish about its future despite multiple failures this year — 2022 saw the rise of generative AI.

But as is the case with any transformative new tech, hype is sure to accompany growing adoption, and generative AI has garnered so much attention and money that many VCs already feel the budding sector will be the next bubble.

TechCrunch recently surveyed more than 35 investors working in different geographies, investment stages and sectors about how they were feeling about next year. One of our questions sought their prediction of where the next bubble would be, and almost half of those surveyed mentioned generative AI.

While several investors said they were bullish on the new tech overall, they also admitted that the sector was likely to get lost in its own hype.

Don Butler, managing director at Thomvest Ventures, feels the bubble is already here. “We believe that the applicability of AI to so many use cases will lead to a very large number of startups being funded in the space, including at some eye-watering valuations, and so we think that the next big bubble is already expanding in this area,” he said.

This isn’t surprising, given how the sector has burgeoned recently as consumer tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E and Lensa AI soared in popularity both in and outside the tech community.

Whoops! Is generative AI already becoming a bubble? by Rebecca Szkutak originally published on TechCrunch

Can Katrina Lake save Stitch Fix? The founder of the nearly 13-year-old, subscription-based online personal shopping service is going to try, returning today to her role as CEO one-and-a-half years after stepping down from the position.

Indeed, according to a new CNBC report, it was Lake who today informed the company’s 1,700 salaried employees that 20% of them are getting cut in a drastic cost-saving measure. Stitch Fix further confirmed to CNBC that the brand’s Salt Lake City distribution center will also be closing and that employees at that center will also be laid off, though it declined to disclose how many people work there. (TechCrunch has separately reached out to Stitch Fix for comment.)

The bearer of bad news may have surprised some. Lake founded Stitch Fix in late 2010 and took the company public in 2017. At the time, she was the youngest woman to do so. But in April of 2021, she relinquished her day-to-day oversight of the company to become its executive chairperson, a role Lake said at the time she would use to focus on Stitch Fix’s sustainability efforts and its marketing. In her stead, Stitch Fix promoted to the role of CEO Elizabeth Spaulding, who joined the company as president in 2020 and worked previously as a partner at Bain & Company.

Spaulding had herself overseen one layoff, in June of this year when Stitch Fix confirmed that it was shedding 330 jobs, or 15% of its salaried workforce, owing to its changing fortunes. While bored shoppers actively used Stitch Fix while trapped in their homes during the pandemic, the business suffered as Covid-related restrictions were lifted and those same customers ventured out to spend some of those discretionary dollars.

Further, says CNBC, a direct-buy option instituted during Spaulding’s brief tenure, wherein Stitch Fix invited customers to buy single items without signing up for a plan or paying a styling fee, appears not to have panned out.

No word yet on Spaulding’s next moves, but Lake reportedly said today that Spaulding will be stepping down immediately. Lake also reportedly told employees that those impacted by today’s layoff will receive at least 12 weeks of pay, and more with tenure.

Stitch Fix’s stock is currently trading at roughly $4 per share. During its peak, in January 2021, shares were trading at more than $96 apiece.

Lake has long been listed as Stitch Fix’s sole founder, but as reported in 2017 by the WSJ, a footnote in one of Stitch Fix’s pre-IPO regulatory filings named a cofounder, Erin Morrison Flynn, who sued Lake and eventually settled with her.

According to a lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California in 2012 by Flynn (and surfaced in that same WSJ article), the pair started the company, originally called Rack Habit, in October 2010; by 2012, according to the lawsuit, their relationship deteriorated after Lake allegedly asked Flynn to give up some of her ownership to distribute the shares to new hires.

Among Lake’s challenges in turning around Stitch Fix are countering economic headwinds, as well as so-called box fatigue, with customers looking to pare down the number of products and services to which they are currently subscribed.

Katrina Lake is back as CEO of struggling Stitch Fix, a year-and-a-half after stepping down by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch

At CES, Delta Air Lines today announced that it will launch free WiFi for all members of its SkyMiles frequent flier program, starting February 1. This free service, which the company is launching in partnership with T-Mobile, will be available in the majority of the company’s domestic, Viasat-enabled mainline aircraft first, with full availability across its regional aircraft and on international flights by the end of 2024.

“At work, at home and everywhere in between, connectivity is essential to daily life, and your journey on Delta should be no different,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian at CES 2023 in Las Vegas. “Our vision has long been to deliver an experience at 30,000 feet that feels close to what our customers have available on the ground.”

Since more users will likely make use of this free service than ever paid for it, the airline put a lot of emphasis on hardening its systems in recent months. Delta said it worked with engineers at Viasat to test and scale its in-flight connectivity service to enable this rollout.

“We didn’t just want free Wi-Fi to offer base-level service – we wanted it to be transformative for the entire onboard experience,” said Bastian. “It is imperative all customers onboard can enjoy their favorite content just as they would at home, and we’ve put this system through meticulous tests to make that possible.”

To use this service, fliers have to be members of Delta’s SkyMiles frequent flier service (though as a spokesperson told me, they’ll be able to sign up an account while on the plane, too). And even though this service is rolling out in partnership with T-Mobile, you don’t have to be a T-Mobile customer to use it.

“It’s going to be available to everyone,” Bastian said today. “Doesn’t matter what price you paid for your seat, what class of service you chose, what credit card you used, what mobile carrier you’re connected to — it’s going to be free to all and it’s something that is so important to the way. The good news is there’s no fine print. It’s free.”

One thing worth noting, as Bastian confirmed in his keynote today, the free WiFi will extend to however many devices you have with you, not just a single phone or laptop.

A lot of other airlines are also now moving in this direction, be that in a more limited form by offering free access to messaging apps (as Delta already did) or by partnering with telcos to offer free WiFi for their customers. United, for example, offers free WiFi for T-Mobile customers on most flights these days.

With this, Delta is also launching Delta Sync, its unified brand for its software, connectivity and in-flight entertainment offerings. In many ways, this builds about the company’s announcements since it first attended CES in 2018. The idea here is to offer fliers a more personalized service using, for the most part, its mobile app, as well as new airport experiences, all linked to a flier’s SkyMiles account. This includes Delta’s (optional) facial recognition-based boarding system, which it is currently trialing in Atlanta and Detroit, but also the new free WiFi offering and new entertainment offers that will only be available to SkyMiles members.

Indeed, the new Delta Sync on Demand will provide fliers with a personalized seatback entertainment system that is more akin to the smart TV they have at home, Delta promises. For now, on top of the entertainment content, this will include food and beverage ordering in first class, a new journey planned, content recommendations and real-time notifications. The airline plans to start rolling some of the initial features of this system out by the end of the year, though many of the personalization features will only launch after that.

As Bastian also today noted, Paramount+ is going to be a partner here, with free Paramount+ streaming on board Delta’s plane.

These new Delta Sync experiences will roll out over the course of 2023.

“Delta Sync elevates what it means to be a Delta SkyMiles Member by enabling a journey that fits you perfectly and grows more rewarding the more you travel,” said Bastian. “The future of travel is one where your digital and physical experiences come together in a seamless, warm and personal way, making those human travel connections even more meaningful.”

Delta launches free WiFi by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

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Welcome back to Actuator and happy first day of CES! This will never not feel weird to say – and not just because of the highly objective “happy” bit. One of the dirty little secrets of CES coverage is that – by the official start of the show, us reporter types have already been on the ground hustling for at least 48 hours. I flew into Vegas on Monday, and have spent the past two days meeting with startups and investors, attending press conferences and and covering smaller pre-show events that purport to offer a microcosm of the week to come – putting the teapot before the tempest, if you’re a fan of mixed metaphors.

CES week lined up a little lopsided for Actuator. Today’s start of the show really refers to the floor opening. For us, that means the news coverage shifts a little bit, as we have more time for demos and carve out an hour between meetings here or there to seek out some weird stuff that would have almost certainly succumbed to the email deluge in our respective inboxes (did I mention that I came back to 1,600 unread messages last week?)

I write this preamble largely to say that what follows will be neither a definitive nor final account of robots at CES. The show will almost certainly spill into next week’s Actuator. Still, after weeks of meetings, emails and press releases, I do feel confident painting some relevant trends in broad strokes, as I shovel some hotel buffet scrambled eggs.

Another prevailing bit of weirdness in all of this is, of course, the whole pandemic dealie. I’d say conservatively that I’ve been to CES 15 times. They start blending after like number two. It’s been a constant in my life. A holiday sullying constant at the very beginning of every year. As such, it was strange sitting two in a row out, and it’s even stranger beginning back at it again. It’s great seeing all of the familiar faces slightly worse for wear after three very difficult years. It’s a homecoming for a town that has – more often than not – made your life hell, but for which you have a certain, unexplainable affection.

Again, it’s impossible to say anything definitive at this point, but I do feel comfortable noting that both the show and city just feel quieter in 2023. Many of the lifers decided the whole spectacle wasn’t worth it for them (a decision I certainly respect). The supply chain and economic crises are no doubt contributing to what feels like a general slowdown of announcements, and many of the bigger companies have drifted away from big, live shows in general.

In all of this, however, something altogether different is happening for robots. I’ve done robot roundups at the show for years, and for a long time it mostly felt like pulling teeth. Over the past several shows, however, there’s been a perfect storm. CES is starting to take robots seriously.

Putting the “R” in CES

I grabbed a cup of coffee with a robotics investor earlier this week who asked if I thought the show would be worth it for them. Their understandable misgiving in all of this is that the “C” in CES once stood for “consumer.” The CTA – the governing body that puts on the event – has been very aggressive in its insistence that CES simply stands for CES now. But this has always been a consumer show, as evidenced by the presence of firms like Samsung and Sony.

In 2023, however, someone who operates solely on the industrial side of the robotics equation could easily fill four-plus days here. CES is, by no means, a robotics show. But robotics’ slow permeation of technology and culture means they’re well represent and here to stay.

There are a few key drivers for the growing presence of robots in Vegas this week.

The pandemic has accelerated the industry in general.
Automakers are getting serious about investing in and acquiring robotics startups or building these technologies in-house. See: Ford’s Agility investments, TRI’s research and Hyundai’s events post-Boston Dynamics acquisition.
Big firms like Amazon have been aggressively pushing consumer robotics.

That last one is important for a lot of reasons. Thing is, there have always been robots – or robot-adjacent products at the show, but the category is about as mixed as bags come. A lot of startups have come and gone over the years with products that couldn’t find a market. There are also plenty of products that have been called robots that certainly look like something close to a platonic ideal of the concept. But more often not, these are toys – and not particularly good ones.

We’ve also seen some extremely questionable robots trotted out on stage by companies like Samsung and LG. A robot demo has always been a quick and easy shorthand to demonstrate to consumers and shareholders that your company is committed to the future and futuristic things.

There is – of course – still a lot of that here. If anything, the broader excitement around the category has convinced those people that they’re very much on the right track. CES is also very much a show about being in the moment. You do your best to vet the validity of a product, but true due diligence is a near impossibility here.

Rounding up robotics

NVIDIA’s – along with other key chipmakers – usually has a sizable presence. It was nice to see a little focus on the robotics side of things. The company debuted an update to its Isaac Sim that brings simulated human robots into the equation, along with more realistic lighting conditions through ray tracing and the ability to render real-time sensor data.

“To minimize the difference between results observed in a simulated world versus those seen in the real world,” Nvidia notes, “it’s imperative to have physically accurate sensor models.”

Labrador, which has been something of a CES mainstay over the past few years, announced a partnership with Amazon (an outgrowth of support from the Alexa Fund) that leverages the Echo Show 10 as almost a robotic telepresence-style display.

“The proof-of-concept demo with the Echo Show 10 is a preview of what we will be testing in our next rounds of pilots with care providers,” CEO Mike Dooley said in a release. “Capabilities like this can make a dramatic difference in the quality of people’s lives and their ability to live independently while staying connected with others, and we’re grateful to Amazon’s team for their support on this project.”

Speaking of eldercare robots, Aeo is a nice little CES success story. The company tells me that getting noticed at the 2018 event led to its adoption in Japanese hospitals, care facilities and schools. It’s a small humanoid robot with one dexterous arm that can open doors and another that has a UV light for disinfecting surfaces – a big hit during the pandemic for obvious reasons.

Yeti is the first of delivery robots we’re sure to see this week. What makes Ottonomy’s robot particularly interesting is the inclusion of an auto dispense mechanism that can drop packages on porches or directly into a compatible locker for safe keeping.

“During the validation processes we ran pilots with airports, retailers and postal services which gave us the deep insights we needed on the most effective use cases and scalability,” s co-founder and CEO Ritukar Vijay says of the company’s early deployments. “With our strategic alignment with Verizon and other enterprises, we are in the prime position to fill the gap that companies like Amazon and Fedex were not able to. As demand and the use cases for autonomous unassisted delivery continue to grow, we are positioned to provide robots as a service for restaurants, retailers and beyond.”

And for the fun of it, here’s a breathing robot pillow called Fufuly from Yukai Engineering, the folks who brought you the cat pillow with the wagging tail. Quoting myself here (I know, I know).

The hardware startup says the product utilizes “respiratory entrainment,” which refers to a phenomenon where in the rhythm of a patient’s breathing matches that of a respirator. Here that basically means the person’s breathing matches up with the robot cushion, rather than the other way around.

Lastly, Kyle rounded up some of the AI-powered gadgets from this year’s show, including a self-driving – and parking – stroller.

All right, back to it. See you soon.

Consumer Robotics Show by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

The Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule on Thursday that would block employers from using noncompete agreements to restrict workers from pursuing employment with competitors.

In its push to throw out noncompete agreements, the FTC cites Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits “unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce.” The agency will now open up the issue for public comment on the practice, which limits employment prospects for tens of millions of Americans.

“The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand. By ending this practice, the FTC’s proposed rule would promote greater dynamism, innovation, and healthy competition.”

The new FTC rule would prevent employers from entering into noncompetes with workers and block them from maintaining a noncompete agreement or representing to a worker that they are subject to a noncompete agreement. If the rule goes into effect, contractors and non full-time workers would also be protected from employers who would try to strong-arm them into one of the agreements. Employers would be forced to dissolve noncompete agreements currently in place and inform workers that they are no longer bound by those agreements.

Antitrust advocates and worker’s rights groups cheered the FTC’s action on the issue. “Millions of workers, future new business owners, everyday consumers, and the American economy overall will be better off because of the FTC’s vote today,” Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project Sarah Miller said on Thursday.

We had a sense that the Biden administration was working on specific action to dismantle the practice of noncompete agreements. The White House took aim at noncompetes in a 2021 executive order that criticized the practice and encouraged the FTC to take regulatory action to end it. The executive order, crafted to promote economic competition by laying out priorities for rule-making agencies, condemned noncompetes as “cumbersome” requirements that “impede economic mobility” by preventing workers from changing jobs freely.

The FTC moves to ban noncompete agreements by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

U.S. non-profit healthcare giant Maternal & Family Health Services has confirmed hackers accessed sensitive patient, financial and medical information months earlier.

In an advisory published on its website on Thursday, MFHS said a “sophisticated ransomware incident” exposed the sensitive information of current and former patients, employees, and vendors. This information included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account data and payment card information, usernames and passwords, and medical and health insurance information.

The organization, which serves more than 90,000 individuals across Pennsylvania, said it was made aware of the incident on April 4, 2022 but may have been initially compromised as far back as August 21, 2021, citing an investigation conducted by an unnamed forensic incident response firm.

It then took MFHS a further nine months to publicly disclose the incident. MFHS said it started notifying affected individuals on Tuesday after its

When reached for comment, Patrick McGloin, a partner at Gaffney Bennett, a public relations firm representing MFHS, declined to answer our questions beyond providing a boilerplate statement. It’s not yet known why MFHS didn’t publicly disclose the cyberattack sooner, who was behind the attack, or whether MFHS paid a ransom demand

Healthcare organizations are a frequent target for ransomware attacks, and at least 25 healthcare providers operating 290 hospitals were hit by ransomware in 2022, according to recent data from Emsisoft. This includes Chicago-based medical giant CommonSpirit Health, which confirmed that an October ransomware attack exposed the personal data of more than 620,000 patients.

US family planning non-profit MFHS says patient medical data stolen in ransomware attack by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch

Today at CES 2023, a great-big tech conference in Vegas, Mercedes-Benz announced its answer to range anxiety and the great electric-vehicle charger shortage.

Following the likes of Tesla and GM, the German automaker shared a plan to develop a 10,000-charger network by 2030, starting with the U.S. and Canada, and later expanding into China, Europe and “other key markets.”

Mercedes-Benz said the North American portion of its self-branded network will eventually grow to 400 hubs, with a total of 2,500 “high-power chargers.” Charging speeds at these stations will top out at 350 kW, and each station will have up to 30 chargers, the company’s press release said. The chargers will be open to anyone, but Benz owners will get special treatment; they’ll be able to reserve stations ahead of time.

In a blow to rural areas, which are prone to charging deserts, Mercedes-Benz said it is centering the new network around “key cities and urban population centers, close to major arteries, convenient retail and service destinations, including participating Mercedes-Benz dealership sites.”

Mercedes-Benz isn’t building out its network alone. The company said it’ll split the cost of the North American portion (“just over 1 billion Euros”) with Mn8 Energy. The Goldman Sachs-spinoff owns hundreds of solar farms and energy storage facilities across the U.S.

Mercedes-Benz also named EV charger company ChargePoint as a partner in the venture. The automaker previously worked with ChargePoint on another charging service, Mercedes me Charge, which more or less smushed together several existing charger networks into one for Benz customers.

Mercedes-Benz plots ‘global’ EV charging network with 10,000 chargers by 2030 by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

Consumer tech is at an inflection point right now, with slowing growth in developed markets and economic depressions pulling emerging markets back when it comes to investment and usage. Into that vacuum, at CES this year, major industrial company John Deere has put itself front and center to launch its latest tech and to make the case for why an agriculture and construction business is a good fit for a consumer electronics show.

Today the company announced ExactShot, a new sensor and robotics-based system for applying fertilizer; and a new electric excavator. The idea with both is to speed up repetitive processes while making them more efficient and less wasteful.

“Why should you care about farmers when they represent less than 2% of the U.S. population?” asked John May, the CEO of John Deere, speaking at a keynote today at CES. His answer: because food production is exactly where tech is actually proving its relevance and making a difference. “You will not find two industries that have a larger impact on our world, and all of us, than agriculture, and construction.”

John Deere at CES? Yes, with a robotics-based fertilizer system and a new electric excavator by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Google is rolling out new Android Auto features Thursday that make it easier for drivers to navigate, play podcasts and music, and communicate while on the go.

The new user experience design update, which was first previewed in May during Google’s I/O event, features a split screen layout that displays directions, music and texts — the essentials — at the same time. Now drivers won’t have to leave map view and navigate through menus and settings to quickly pause a song or see a message.

Google said the split screen layout is compatible with all cars, so it can reconfigure itself based on whether the car’s screen is portrait, widescreen or any other size. The company didn’t respond to TechCrunch’s question on whether the new Android Auto features would roll out via over-the-air software updates to all Android-enabled vehicles today.

At CES on Thursday, Google provided further details of how the display will look to drivers. Maps is now positioned on the screen closer to the driver’s seat, and there’s a “quick launcher” that lets drivers quickly access recently-used apps. The new media card includes Material You, Google’s new unified design language, to feature a driver’s favorite album art.

Android Auto is also getting a Google Assistant update, which will now provide smart suggestions including missed call reminders, quick arrival time sharing and instant access to media. Google is introducing a progress bar for music or podcasts so drivers can skip ahead in a song or episode (yay for skipping ads!), which the company says was one of its most requested features. There will also be on-screen shortcuts for replying to messages and calling favorite contacts, and the newest Pixel and Samsung phones will be able to make calls using WhatsApp with Android Auto soon.

In addition to user design and experience updates, Google is also making it easier to share digital car key access. Currently, users can share digital keys across Pixel and iPhones, but soon that will expand to Samsung phones and Xiaomi users. This is already supported on BMW vehicles, but the digital car key will expand to more brands in the future, says Google.

Updates for cars with Google built in

Honda, Chevrolet, Polestar, Volvo and a number of other OEMs have Google built into their cars, which means Google Assistant, Google Maps and more apps from Google Play can be found directly on the car screen without relying on a phone.

At CES, Google hinted that other car brands like Ford and Lincoln will also be built with Google later in 2023, and shared a number of updates to this integrated service, including:

Select Renault vehicles will now have the Waze app available
Automakers using Google Automotive Services will now have Google’s new HD map, starting with the Volvo EX90 and the Polestar 3. The HD map features precise road details like lane markers, signs and road barriers to better help with advanced driver assistance technologies that promise hands-free driving on certain roads.
YouTube will be available to watch on car screen while the driver is stationary. This is in addition to Tubi and MGM+ that are already available on Google Play. Google said it would be bringing this feature to Volvo cars at CES last year.

New Android Auto features give car display a user design makeover by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch