SpaceX’s launch services have already become an invaluable resource for the U.S. government, but the company is now jumping into the deep end of the pool it had heretofore only splashed around in. Starshield, a new vertical within SpaceX, will provide “government entities” (think three-letter agencies) with secure communications and bespoke satellite designs.

The new brand (possibly a subsidiary) appeared as a new top-line category on SpaceX’s website, alongside Dragon, Starlink and Starship, but beyond that has not received any visible promotion or discussion in the company’s media channels. I’ve asked the company for more details on certain aspects, but for now all there is to know is on the Starshield page.

The tagline is “supporting national security,” but it’s unclear as yet whether this will actually directly support military intelligence or operations, or restrict itself to, if not purely civilian, then less combat-forward roles. Satellite-sourced data — particularly live imagery — is of enormous importance to the military, which both produces its own with spysats and pays companies like BlackSky for it. While some other nations may be able to take advantage of some of these capabilities, laws limit how much can be sold abroad.

Although Starshield’s page uses the present tense, saying it provides certain services, it does not list any active missions or customers, so this is perhaps rhetorical. That said, the company claims to do Earth observation and secure communications, as well as satellite bus design.

Though SpaceX, through Starlink, has plenty of experience lofting satellites into orbit, that network was meant to be consumer-facing and general purpose, not a taskable asset like a spysat. If SpaceX has any of its own military-grade Earth observation satellites, it has been mighty quiet about designing and launching them. But Starlink’s success shows there is no reason why, in principle, the company should not be able to do so.

SpaceX says that this government-focused service will require “Starshield user equipment,” which likely resembles Starlink’s in operation but meets certain special standards of ruggedness, access, documentation and compatibility with existing networks and assets. As Starlink itself has multiple tiers of ground station, from ordinary consumer rooftop type to paired extra-tough nautical type, the Starshield version is probably going to be one of the high-end ones, souped up (for instance with “additional high-assurance cryptographic capability”) and with a price tag to match.

More importantly this move helps separate government work from consumer work. The company has lamented that its deployment of thousands of terminals in Ukraine has resulted in a quagmire of legal and financial finger-pointing: Ukraine can’t pay, its allies didn’t agree to pay and SpaceX can’t provide the expensive service for free indefinitely. This is partly because the whole network was really never meant to be used in this fashion, and grafting a military/aid operation onto a consumer product has led to unforeseen consequences.

By being more intentional about what services it provides government entities and under what terms, SpaceX probably hopes to avoid the blurred lines between being a global broadband provider and being a supplier of military intelligence. Both may be very profitable in their way, but rarely does one product serve both purposes adequately.

The company also claims to produce a modular satellite bus for diverse mission types, though again this is unsubstantiated — not to say it isn’t so, but the capability is simply stated, not shown with anything beyond a wireframe image.

Exactly how far SpaceX has gotten in achieving the capabilities it describes here is anyone’s guess — they may well have prototyped some of these things out already with some prospective customers, or this may just be a statement of intent with those customers in mind. Regardless of which is the case just now, it seems clear we will be hearing more about this service as its roles escape attempts at secrecy — for example, it is difficult to launch a major Earth observation satellite without anyone knowing.

I have asked SpaceX for more information on its customers and capabilities and will update this post if the company responds.

SpaceX goes full defense contractor with national security-focused Starshield by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

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Obviously you love the Daily Crunch, but did you know that we’ve got a whole lineup of truly amazing newsletters from across the site? Sarah’s This Week in Apps is consistently insightful and interesting about what happens on our handheld supercomputers. The Interchange is Mary Ann’s deep dive into the world of fintech startups, and The Station is the summary of everything transportation, lovingly assembled by the incomparable Kirsten. Finally, Greg’s Week in Review is the “oh crap, I didn’t have time to read TechCrunch this week” summary so you don’t make a complete fool of yourself at the watercooler when Monday rolls around.

We also have space newsletters, robotics newsletters, and more. Check out the full list, and go on a subscribing spree. Go on, what else is there to do in December? — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

Ch-ch-ch-changes: It’s another C-suite shake-up over at Salesforce. Ron reports that Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, who joined Salesforce when the company acquired Slack in 2020, says he is stepping down in January. This news follows some other recent out-of-the-blue departures in the past week, including that of Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who announced his resignation.
A different take on social commerce: Much of the livestream commerce we see today has to do with buying clothes or some fancy vintage playing card. However, Kapu is putting an interesting spin on it, coming out of stealth with $8 million in new funding to create a social commerce site that helps Kenyans find groceries at lower prices. Annie has more.
AI is our life now: We are now using artificial intelligence to create our own avatars and write letters about potential layoffs. Twelve Labs’ founder Jae Lee believes this should be extended to searchable video, so that’s what the company set out to build. Today, it announced $12 million in fresh capital to continue developing AI that understands the context of videos, Kyle writes.

Startups and VC

Loft Dynamics, a Swiss startup creating virtual reality simulation technology for helicopter pilots, has raised $20 million in funding from U.S. venture capital firms, including Craft Ventures, Sky Dayton and Up Ventures, Paul reports. Alongside the funding, the company is also formally announcing its name change from VRM Switzerland to Loft Dynamics.

Apropos VR…demand for real estate VR booms, reports Mike, writing that Founders Fund leads a $16 million round into the Giraffe360 platform.

Here’s five more news story and an invite to the consumer electronics startups out there:

From nonduality to nonexistence: Romain writes that Zenly was the best social app and that he’s sad it’ll shutter on February 3.
Plus d’Euros: French VC firm Partech has closed its fourth fund, a €120 million ($124 million) seed fund, Romain reports.
Row, row, row your code: Haje writes that if Rowy has its way, if you can use Excel, you can build software.
Premature expiration: Devin reports that it looks like sex tech startup Lora DiCarlo is done for.
Today’s special is…: Aigens scales digital menus in Asia, reports Rita, with a $14 million round led by Ant.
Coming to CES? Haje, Brian, and a few of the other TC crew are going, and we want to meet your startup in Vegas in January, writes Brian.

Which way is up? The end of free money and the importance of keeping cash on hand

In simpler times, founders could often satisfy investors just by showing how quickly their company was meeting growth expectations.

“Well, investors today care about the less-distant future,” said Max Schireson, an operating partner at Battery Ventures.

“They care about how much money they need to put into your company to get to that future and when it will arrive.” In a guest post for TC+, he shares frank advice and multiple scenarios that can help founders meet investor expectations during tough times.

“They say time is the one thing you can’t buy, but in fact, time is the easiest thing to buy at a startup.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

For goodness SaaS: Kyle writes how companies can slash ballooning SaaS costs.
A boom in doom and gloom: Tim argues that climate tech is not doomed, despite climate doom.
Slowing the Amazon River: Ron wonders if the era of constant innovation at Amazon is over.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Facebook wants to know your age, but before you clutch your pearls, it’s actually for a good reason. Meta is bringing its age verification technology into its Facebook Dating product, Sarah reports. We already don’t know, or want to know, how 50-year-olds meet 16-year-olds, but Meta definitely doesn’t want to gain a reputation for being THAT place.

And now, we have five more for you:

“No” to jail, for now: Kate reports that a Korean court rejected warrants to detain eight former Terraform Labs employees and investors related to the Luna collapse. The court said the people had a right to fight their cases.
Some people think this guy belongs in jail, too: It’s unlikely that Sam Bankman-Fried will testify in a House Committee hearing on the FTX collapse, taking place on December 13, Manish writes.
Feature drop: Google Pixel users, like Christine, rejoice! An update has new features like clear calling and Google One VPN, Ivan writes.
Going international: General Motors’ BrightDrop e-delivery van business found a new home in Canada with DHL Express, Rebecca reports.
There goes the neighborhood: Elon Musk has been busy bringing back an infamous neo-Nazi on Twitter and vicariously publishing internal emails related to the Hunter Biden laptop drama. Taylor has more on both of these stories.

Daily Crunch: Another Salesforce C-suite exit — Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield will step down in January by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

All aboard the learn-to-code train! As another holiday season looms and kids everywhere start clamouring for shiny stuff, we’ve got you covered with a bumper edition of our annual STEM gift guide. This year’s guide is packed with more than 20 ideas to engage toddlers, excite tweens and inspire teens to get under the hood of the tech world through play.

Products in the STEM learning category typically promise to give kids a head-start on learning core coding and/or electronics concepts while they play. How much learning actually gets done is still a bit of an open questio but ideas in the category have generally converged around a few approaches — so there’s a stronger sense of ‘tried & tested’ out there now. We’re also encouraged to see increasing attention to diversity in STEM.

A few other trends are evident this year — most notably around supply issues linked to the pandemic-triggered (and still lingering) global supply chain crunch. Said crunch appears to be having some impact on product choice and availability.

One category-adjacent example: Sphero’s RVR+, a (mostly) school and makerspace focused programmable robot, was listed as unavailable for supply reasons when we started compiling the guide earlier this fall — but at the time of writing the website reports it’s back in stock “just in time for the holidays.”

‘Out of stock’ labels also remain a regular sight on STEM-focused marketplaces that range maker hardware, such as AdaFruit and Pimoroni. The latter told us recently it’s been managing ongoing shortages of Raspberry Pi hardware by rejigging featured products to mesh with available inventory. So creative stock hacks abound.

Supply issues may also be further decelerating innovation in what had already become a less experimental market compared to earlier, investor-fuelled boom years. The vertical had relatively few wholly new product launches for 2022, as players focused on shifting existing inventory instead.

The upshot is a feeling there’s a bit less fun and excitement to go around than in years past, furthered as more STEM startups pivoted to selling to the formal educational market (not so much to home buyers).

That crossover, from clever toys nudging informal learning to curriculum-focused products catering to formal education, is reshaping the kind of STEM kit on offer and making lots of stuff in the category feel, well, more serious. But — don’t despair — there’s still plenty of fun choices for gift-buying parents and relatives wanting to give budding builders and tiny techies a leg up to grasp the power and possibility of programming.

Suggested gifts in our guide run the gamut from a doll that sings the praises of coding to line-following programmable robots and hardware hacking electronics maker kits. There’s also a DIY computer kit and a sensor-packed robot-on-wheels that can dance and talk back.

As ever, we’ve made sure to include gift options that hit a wide range of price-points, starting at just $6 for a bare microcontroller that throws your kid in at the STEM learning deep end (they’ll need to source other electronics components, have access to a computer and the Internet, and display no shortage of determination to unlock the learning potential with that one), scaling all the way up to $250 for a talking robot on wheels that’s packed with (perhaps too many) distracting bells & whistles, with plenty of choice and price-tags in between. Enjoy!

Gift suggestions are grouped by age for easy reference: 2+, 5+, 8+ and 12+ years.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

2+ years

Lego Coding Express

Lego’s Coding Express is a train set for playful early years coding exploration — featuring 200+ Duplo bricks, including a push-and-go motorized train with lights, sounds and color sensors. The sensors interact with colored action coding blocks which kids place on the track. The set includes activity and inspiration cards to get your toddler started on grasping linear logic — with a free app to expand the parentally guided learning potential.

Age: 2-5
Price: $230from Amazon
Made by: Lego Education

Codie the Coder

Surprise Powerz, the U.S.-based startup behind this cute learning doll, Codie the Coder, was set up back in August 2019 with a STEM-centric mission to inspire girls, especially black and Latina girls, to “break barriers, solve problems and have fun doing it”. “We aim to get more STEM role models in the hands of more girls all across the nation to build their confidence in these critical subjects early,” it explains.

Founder and CEO, Kristel Bell, tells TechCrunch that Codie the learning doll speaks over 75 “coding-related phrases” — just squeeze her hand to hear the doll speak short phrases and questions. She says the goal is to inspire little girls to learn “they also have a place within the tech space” by seeing and hearing a coder role model which looks and talks like them, and engages them in an open ended conversation as they play. “Representation matters,” she adds.

Surprise Powerz’ STEM learning dolls are designed for pre-schoolers and up. Absolutely no screens required.

Age: 2-5
Price: $65 from Surprise Powerz
Made by: Surprise Powerz

Botzees Mini

Botzees’ expressive, line-sensing bot for budding programmers offers a variety of ways for kids to learn core coding concepts as they play. As well as programming challenges, the Botzees Mini pack features math and music puzzles too, throwing a little melody into the tech mix.

Kids control the bot by placing it on the pre-drawn path on maps provided — or by line drawing themselves. The coding element involves kids placing command cards on the robot’s path to control its motion, sound and appearance, with feedback coming at them via the bot’s changing facial expressions (which are displayed on its built-in screen). Supported functions cover programming basics like cause and effect, if/then logic, sequencing and debugging. No additional screens or companion apps are required.

Age: 3+
Price: $70from Amazon
Made by: Pai Technology/Botzees Toys

Switcheroo Coding Crew

Turn learning STEM basics into an “interactive coding adventure” with Switcheroo Coding Crew. The kit aims to teach kids basic coding concepts, early counting and math skills, critical thinking, spatial concepts, sequential logic and more with the help of a battery-powered programmable truck that sports changeable colored shells.

The play-set includes a town-themed puzzle board and a set of mission challenge cards to get things rolling. Screen-free play.

Age: 4-7
Price: $30 from Amazon
Made by: Learning Resources

5+ years

codeSpark Academy – gift subscription

For kids with access to an iPad (or Android-powered tablet), codeSpark Academy sells a range of subscription plans for ‘learn to code’ content in a gaming wrapper which aims to foster sequencing skills and help kids get a head start in STEM as they design and play. The software is centered on a proprietary game-making platform that features a set of cartoon characters called “The Foos.” Kids learn problem solving and coding by engaging with challenges and building their own games.

CodeSpark Academy says its approach is based on research-backed curriculum from MIT and Princeton. Its system includes a word-free interface to maximize accessibility and self-directed learning, with a claim that no prior experience is needed for kids to get coding.

Gift subscriptions start at around $60 per 6 months access — though you’ll have to stump up more to also get the ‘free’ plush toy pictured above…

Ages: 5-9
Price: Gift plans from $60 for 6 months (up to $225 for a lifetime sub, ‘Glitch’ plushy included)
Made by: codeSpark

Miko 3

Meet Miko 3: A sensor-laden, emoting tablet-on-wheels that’s been programmed to entertain and inform curious young minds. Encased in a brightly colored, robot-shaped shell is a voice- and face-recognizing AI (plus built-in speaker) which enables it to respond to questions and commands, piping up with interesting facts or playing tunes for a child’s dance party, and so on. A lot of what Miko offers is pure entertainment so there’s a risk STEM learning takes a back seat to other more fun interactions. This is also definitely not a tech lite (nor screen-free) learning option.

Still, parents hoping to accelerate the development of budding young coders might be won over by educational content the bot can put on tap for kids — via its curated ‘Talents’ app store. Available content includes Kidloland’s Coding School app. Again, though, good luck getting children to focus on something that techie when they could just be asking the bot to spin circles or play hide and seek…

Some of Mike 3’s digital content is bundled with the base price of the bot; unlimited premium kids content requires a subscription.

Ages: 5-10
Price: $249 (plus optional subscription)
Made by: Miko

Osmo Coding Starter Kit

If your wannabe coder already has access to a tablet like an iPad, Osmo’s clever add-on system turns screen time into STEM learning time via hybrid digital/physical play. The product is comprised of a base stand to lift the screen off the table, making room for little hands to physically build lines of code, and a reflector that enables the software to keep track of their table-top programming.

As the name suggests, the Osmo Coding Starter Kit is the place to start. The kit is designed to help kids build coding skills in progression — walking them through three hands-on learning games. Kids learn coding basics by putting together the colorful physical programming blocks, and get real-time feedback by watching their coding adventure play out on the screen.

Ages: 5-10
Price: $99
Made by: Osmo

Tacto Coding

For another spin on physical/virtual play, PlayShifu’s Tacto Coding system turns an existing (compatible) tablet into a dedicated kids coding station. Children are encouraged to get to grips with programming basics by playing through a variety of mini challenges with the look and feel of puzzle games.

The attention-grabbing twist is they interact with digital content on the touchscreen using a range of (physical) figurines arrayed around the tablet base-station. This (er, metaverse ready?) cross-over device is aimed at turning learning coding into child’s play — and a physical-virtual adventure.

PlayShifu’s child-friendly learn-to-code approach also has advanced modes to support kids as they progress, including offering Scratch programming language support so they can try their hand at block-based coding.

Age: 6-12
Price: $40 from Amazon
Made by: PlayShifu

8+ years

Ozobot STEAM Kits

Ozobot has been selling mini programmable STEM learning robots for several years, but these days it’s a lot more focused on the K-12 educational market. New for 2022 it’s added a bunch of STEAM kits into its product mix. You’ll need to either already own or buy one (or more) Ozobots to get the most out of these — but if you already have Ozobot kit at home they could be worth a look.

The OzoGoes to the Solar System kit combines the pull of its rolling robots with a paper-based educational kit for learning about the planets in our solar system, with the bots helping to illustrate their movements. Another kit — OzoGoes to the Sun, Earth & Moon — is similar but doesn’t require as many Ozobots to get the kinetic learning rolling.OzoGoes Around A Sundial (pictured above) has kids deploying their bot as a tool to help learn how to use the sun to tell the time.

Ozobot says the STEAM learning kits were designed by “experienced educators and curriculum developers” so homeschooling parents especially may want to check them out. The kits feature both screen-free (paper-based) and on-screen project-based activities.

Age: 8+
Price: From $30
Made by: Ozobot

Sphero Mini Activity Kit – Kids Coding Activity Kit

Another programmable robotics maker that’s been rolling around the STEM learning space for years is Sphero. It’s also become increasingly geared towards the school markets. But a solid entry point for parents looking to give their kids a very-high energy taste of making code approachable (and fun) is the Sphero Mini Activity Kit – Kids Coding Activity Kit.

The kit comes with a Sphero Mini programmable bot plus a construction set containing STEM-inspired activity cards and bits and bobs so kids can build mazes, design obstacle courses, build towers, play croquet and more. The Sphero bot can be code-controlled using Blocks drive mode — which relies on basic drag-and-drop coding commands — or kids can tap into the Sphero Edu app to expand their programming knowledge. There’s also a Sphero Play app that turns the spherical gizmo into a game controller for arcade-style games if/when they get bored of all the STEM activities.

Age: 8+
Price: $89
Made by: Sphero

littleBits Electronic Music Inventor Kit

The littleBits STEM learning brand — which, since 2019, has been owned by the aforementioned Sphero — is fixed on helping kids learn how electronics hardware works, one connectable component at a time. Perfect if you’ve got a budding hardware hacker on your hands.

Musically minded kids should appreciate putting together (and rocking out) with this littleBits Electronic Music Inventor Kit, which guides them to build a “rockin’ synth guitar,” air drums or another unique creation of their own using the 8 bits and 18 accessories provided in the kit.

Age: 8+
Price: $100
Made by: Sphero

Snap Circuits Code Journey

Veteran electrical engineering STEM brand Elenco has devised a kid-friendly system of encased, snap together electronics components to encourage children to learn about circuits by building them. The Code Journey rover kit, pictured above, adds programming into this mix.

Children are encouraged to get coding by assembling circuits that they mount on the Snap Rover — using components like LEDs, a speaker, jump wires and more — and then by coding commands to send to the vehicle so it can take instructions and perform missions. Programming the rover is done using a simple graphical interface in the Snap Circuits App. There’s also support for Blockly Coding’s drag-and-drop interface as kids’ skills advance.

Age: 8+
Price: $103.74
Made by: Elenco

Coding Lab GinoBot

Cyprus-based Engino has spent years developing a programmable robotics platform for teaching STEM and physical robotics. Newly introduced into the US and UK markets is its Coding Lab: GinoBot. The programmable 4-wheel drive robotics vehicle (which can be assembled into one of two models) packs Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, color sensors, programmable RGB lights, an ultrasound sensor and infrared distance sensors — for powerful programmable play.

Also on board: Built-in connectors to enable structural and mechanical expansion, and the ability to plug in open electronics (such as Raspberry Pi, Microbit and Arduino, or Engino’s own ERP sensor modules) to further expand what’s on board, paving the way for a budding hardware hacker to grow their engineering skills.

Age: 9+
Price: $137.23
Made by: Engino

Code Rocket

Stuff a stocking with Code Rocket and spread a little STEM smarts! This dinky, spaceship-shaped circuit board is armed with built-in LED lights, speaker, and buttons, and designed to teach C++ coding through hands-on electronics. As well as space-themed electronics, the pack provides access to over 20 online lessons. Said lessons introduce kids to concepts like loops, variables and functions as they program the rocket booster LEDs, code a countdown to liftoff, send morse code sound messages, and more. Both block-based and typed C++ coding is supported. Access to a desktop computer to program the electronics is required.

Age: 8-12
Price: $54.99
Made by:Let’s Start Coding

Piper Make Light Show

San Francisco-based Piper Make has clocked up almost a decade in the STEM learning gizmo business — expanding to offer a range of products that encourage hands-on learning and typically blend electronics hardware with distinctive laser-etched wood base structures. The Piper Make Light Show, pictured above, offers a festive intro to programmable electronics. Curious youngsters will be encouraged to learn how to program the light panel to do stuff like display scrolling messages, display light art or host a Tetris-style game.

Programming the kit requires access to a computer (using the bundled micro-USB to USB-A cable) to access Piper’s drag-and-drop coding platform: make.playpiper.com. For the Light Show to work you’ll also need to have Piper’s base kit (aka, the Piper Make Starter Kit) — which comes with a Raspberry Pi microcontroller that’s used to power all its products.

Age: 8+
Price: $59 for the Make Light Show (plus $49 for a Starter Kit if required)
Made by: Piper

imagiCharm besties starter kit

Got twin girls with an eye for tech? Get them into coding with imagiCharm’s besties starter kit — which ships a pair of its customizable tween-friendly, Internet connected “charms”. The Swedish startup’s Tamagotchi-esque connected gizmos are designed to inspire by teaching how to use code to change the look and function of the 8×8 matrix of colored LED lights.

The battery-powered charms can be attached to a school backpack or worn as digital jewellery to show off its coding owner’s latest look/vibe/mood/feels.

Age:8-13+
Price:$136
Made by:imagi Labs

Smart Coding Watch Kit

Has your little engineer been eyeing up the Apple Watch? Why not get them to think outside the hermetically sealed, high shine, proprietary tech box by putting together their own smart watch? And learning to program it on open source hardware with this micro:bit add-on Smart Coding Watch Kit. The STEM learning kit guides them through assembling the wearable and learning how to program functions for it by connecting it to a computer and using free programming software. Options include graphical programming languages like Makecode and Scratch, or microPython or JavaScript.

(As well as access to a desktop computer for programming the hardware, you’ll need a micro:bit board — not included in the watch kit — to power the wearable. If you don’t already own that STEM-focused microprocessor remember to pick one of those up too.)

Age: 8+
Price: $9.90 (+ $29.99 for a micro:bit)
Made by: Elecfreaks

Boolean Box

How about getting your kid learning programming by building a computer of their own to code on? That’s the goal of build-it-yourself Boolean Box.

The DIY computer kit (powered by a Raspberry Pi 4) has been around for a few years — and was conceived with the goal of encouraging girls into coding. But it’s also designed to be an approachable option for children of any gender to up their STEM smarts.

Once kids have built and booted up the computer they’ll be nudged to start coding. Whether by learning to program mini games with Scratch, code Minecraft hacks with Python, or play at being a budding inventor using the bundled breadboard and electronics components to do circuit projecting… just add a TV or monitor and they’re good to go.

Age: 8+
Price: $199.99
Made by: Boolean Girl Tech

12+ years

CircuitPython Starter Kit with AdaFruit Itsy Bitsy M4

Get your little maker started as a hardware hobbyist with CircuitPython using this cute electronics Starter Kit from AdaFruit — powered by an ItsyBitsy M4 microprocessor.

AdaFruit’s website offers tons of beginner guides for help learning all the ins-and-outs of electronics and hardware making. (Note: As well as containing small parts, some light soldering is required to attach headers to the ItsyBitsy, so the build process may require parental supervision.)

Age: Young engineer
Price: $24.95
Made by: AdaFruit

Legendary

Give the gift of inspiration and a sense of belonging to the next generation of expectation-smashing women in STEM. Legendary, by Represented Collective, is a 56-card collection — featuring 41 profiles of professional women in science, technology, engineering and math — curated to showcase the often underrepresented contributions of primarily Black, Indigenous, Women of Color (BIWoC), and to celebrate what it describes as “a diverse set of women and their accomplished, yet nuanced stories”.

Age: Precocious tween+
Price: $40
Made by: Represented Collective

Trilobot Complete Kit

Pimoroni is ranging this handsomely rugged-looking, Raspberry Pi-based Trilobot Complete Kit, which it bills as a “mid-level” robot learning platform.

Designed with educational use in mind, kids first assemble the bot then boot up the on-board Pi and install the Trilobot Python library in order to get tinkering with programming by running examples that let them play around with the bot’s features and functions. As their mastery grows, there’s a possibility of connecting a controller to remote control the rover — if they can figure out the code calls.

The three-wheeled bot sports a pair of grippy, “moon-buggy” wheels up front and a ball caster round the back for 2x front wheel drive. As well as its Pi microprocessor engine, the bot is armed with a Pi v2 camera and an ultrasonic distance sensor. It also sports RGB LED underlighting to dial up the visual fun. Plus you get a 32GB microSD card and 5000mAh USB-C battery pack in this version of the kit (so check local shipping rules to make sure you’re able to receive the battery pack).

Pimoroni has created a detailed, step-by-step beginner tutorial for assembling the Trilobot. After that it’s Python code tinkering time…

Age: Roboticist in training
Price: $120.16
Made by: Pimoroni

Raspberry Pi Pico w

Don’t overlook the gift of pure, unadulterated Raspberry Pi. It’s an incredibly budget-friendly option for STEM learning — such as the $6 Pi Pico microcontroller with wi-fi, pictured above, which is great for powering DIY electro-mechanical projects. Though you will need a bunch of other components and access to a computer to program the hardware.

As we reported earlier this fall, Pi production has been hit by ongoing supply chain challenges since the pandemic but the Pico line is less affected than some of its other (bigger) boards so should be easier to track down.

Pure Pi comes with the baked in advantage of encouraging kids to seek out resources to help themselves learn which was of course the original philosophy behind the wildly successful maker hardware. The Raspberry Pi Foundation offers a solid starting point for setting up newly acquired Pi — and taking the first steps in a learn-to-code journey.

They’ve also published an official guide for MicroPython on the Pico in handy paper-based book form which could make a nice additional gift.

Age: It depends
Price: $6
Made by: Raspberry Pi

Gift Guide: More than 20 STEM gift ideas to inspire kids to code by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Enterprise spend management software company Coupa’s investors are ringing the alarm about a possible sale to private equity, concerned that any such transaction in the current investment environment may unreasonably limit its value.

This is something you don’t see every day. Last week, rumors surfaced that Vista Equity Partners was interested in buying Coupa. Today, Coupa’s largest shareholder, HMI Capital, with 4.8% of the stock, made a letter to the Coupa board public, stating that it would oppose any deal that it believed undervalued the company.

It pegged its value at a minimum of $95 per share. Coupa’s share price hovered around $63 this afternoon, down nearly 3%. Like many SaaS stocks, Coupa’s value has dropped precipitously in 2022, down 60% for the year.

HMI is worried that Coupa’s current value doesn’t reflect what it believes will be a lucrative future once it gets beyond today’s troubled valuation market for software companies.

Unlike the poison-pen letters we are used to seeing from activist investors, this one was full of nothing but praise for the company (probably because its goals were very different):

As we have conveyed to the Board and management team, we invested in Coupa based on our belief that it is an excellent business. Its management team — most notably Chief Executive Officer Rob Bernshteyn — has done an exceptional job building the Company from a startup to a clear market leader, while establishing business spend management as its own critical category. Perhaps most importantly, Coupa’s outlook for future growth and long-term value creation is bright. As Mr. Bernshteyn himself stated only a few months ago:

“Now near-term scenario aside, we are proudly the clear leader in business spend management. Our total addressable market is massive and under-penetrated and we are excited as ever in our pursuit to revolutionize this market and deliver customer success like never seen before.”

It’s our view that we speak for many other shareholders when we say that we would be pleased to own Coupa for the foreseeable future and to bet on the team to continue to build momentum and execute its proven strategy.

It’s almost odd to see an external investor praising a company’s leadership, as most public investor comment is negative. Here we do not see an investor begging management to cut costs or change direction. Instead, it’s praise and a belief in greater value yet to come.

The sunny view of Coupa’s future conflicts with present public market sentiment about the future value of tech companies. That prevailing viewpoint, crossed with huge amounts of private equity dry powder, may have put PE investors in a deal-making mood.

HMI is begging the Coupa crew to stick it out, or at least demand more than they otherwise might settle for. Of course, this is HMI talking its own book, but there may be some substance to its argument. Let’s check the math — and a comp.

Investors sound the alarm about possible private equity tech deals by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

A good way to be wrong is to predict the future. A good way to be incredibly and embarrassingly wrong is to predict the future in a medium that is public and everlasting. With that in mind, welcome back to another episode of “TechCrunch Predicts.”

As we did last year, TechCrunch’s Natasha Mascarenhas, Anna Heimand Alex Wilhelm are back with a passel of predictions, hoping to percolate new postulations in your ponderer. Not all the below will come true, but it should help explain where our heads are at after a year’s reporting, writing, newslettering and podcasting. Among the three of us, we’ve spoken to hundreds of people this year, giving us — we hope — a modicum of insight into the state of technology today and what could be coming next.

When we went back and looked at our 2022 predictions, we got things more right than we could have expected. So let’s do it again! What do we see for 2023? Anna is betting on API-led startups, Natasha is wagering on silence and Alex tripled down with a trio of predictions that, we presume, will be wrong in short order. Enjoy!

Anna Heim: The rise of API-first startups will continue in 2023

I am convinced that API-first will be a major trend in 2023, with this approach being both more widespread than it was previously, as well as more successful than less API-heavy options.

That APIs are on the rise isn’t exactly new — but API-first startups are a subgroup in this world, and one that is enjoying tailwinds.

According to findings from API platform Postman based on internal data and a survey, companies that report spending 76% of their development efforts on APIs are “35% more likely to forecast an increase in hiring over the coming year than respondents ranking themselves lowest in API-first.”

3 views: Predicting 2023’s key startup themes by Anna Heim originally published on TechCrunch

Open source Twitter alternative Mastodon has gained a bit of attention in the wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition. Now, it’s gaining interest from third-party Twitter app developers, as well. The makers of popular Twitter clients, including Aviary and Tweetbot, have recently set their sights on building similar clients for the growing Mastodon user base.

While the Twitter exodus has only impacted a sliver of the social network’s overall user base, the influx of newcomers to the much smaller Mastodon ecosystem has had a significant impact on its community. Today, Mastodon has grown its active user base to somewhere between 3.3 million and 3.6 million, according to independent estimates, up from 655,000 in the days just after Musk’s Twitter takeover.

New Mastodon users are learning the basics of how to choose a server and find their friends, as well as learning about other community values, like the use of “content warnings” for their posts, when appropriate. They’re also realizing that Mastodon is not a Twitter clone, despite some initial similarities. Universal search doesn’t exist, requiring heavier use of reposts and hashtags to increase a post’s visibility. Direct messages work differently than on Twitter. An equivalent to quote tweets isn’t available. And so on.

The new Mastodon clients now in the works, however, could help make Mastodon feel more familiar to former Twitter users who are looking to make the shift to the “fediverse” — as the interconnected collection of servers powering Mastodon and other apps is called.

To be fair, the Mastodon community was not hurting for mobile apps. There were already quite a few third-party clients available, in addition to the official app, including MetaText, Tootle, Toot!, Mast, Mastoot, Tusky, Mercury and others. Several of these have seen increased development activity over the past month or so, as their makers realized their app side projects had suddenly gained a new following.

But for longtime Twitter users, the addition of well-known app makers from the Twitter ecosystem is an exciting prospect.

Among these is Tapbots, known for its popular Twitter app Tweetbot for iOS and Mac. Hailed as one of the third-party Twitter clients that keeps improving with age, the company earlier this year had released Tweetbot 7, which added features like picture-in-picture, a stats tab and widgets. Now, Tweetbots’ developer Paul Haddad is working on a similar app for Mastodon.

Haddad said that while the company hasn’t experienced disruption to the Twitter API since Musk’s takeover (besides a small increase in bugs and other issues), they’ve lost their contacts at Twitter following the layoffs and subsequent employee departures.

To address the “large number of requests” from current users leaving Twitter, the company is now working on a subscription-based app for Mastodon users that is much like Tweetbot.

The app, called Ivory, is still in the initial stages of development, but will likely appeal to Tweetbot users who want an app that also offers quick access to key features — in this case, navigation buttons that take you to your home timeline, @ mentions, favorites, search and trends, and your own user profile. You can swap out some buttons for others if you prefer. For example, a long press on the search button lets you switch over to a statistics feature or another screen for configuring mute filters. In addition to helping users mute topics they don’t care about or find disturbing, the latter could also help older Mastodon users from having to constantly read about Twitter and Musk in their feeds — something that’s been a steady complaint since the Twitter exodus.

And for creating a new post, it adds a floating button with a little horn — a nod to Mastodon’s version of the tweet, which is sometimes called a “toot.”

“Our starting goal for the app is to replicate the Tweetbot experience for Mastodon,” said Haddad. “We want people who are familiar with Tweetbot on Twitter to feel like they are at home with Ivory. Once we have a solid 1.0 version we’ll start working on adding more Mastodon-specific features, as well as some features that we’ve wanted to add to Tweetbot but couldn’t because of technical limitations,” he noted.

One of Ivory’s differentiators is that, unlike Twitter, it won’t show metrics like the number of boosts (Mastodon’s retweets), or the number of favorites or comments a post received in timeline view — a design choice intended to reduce screen clutter (and perhaps, clout-chasing).

Tapbots says Ivory will be developed alongside Tweetbot as they share a lot of code, and a Mac version of both Tweetbot and Ivory are in development, too.

The app is already proving popular, as the TestFlight version of the app blew up and quickly became full after its release.

Another third-party Twitter app maker, Shihab Mehboob who develops Aviary, has also begun work on a Mastodon client, called Mammoth. The new app will be a paid download with a yet-to-be-determined price, and will include the latest Mastodon API features when they’re released, as well as 4.0 features like editing posts and edit history. An iPad and Mac version will be released, as well.

“I was motivated by wanting a ‘good’ Mastodon app out there, as all the existing ones lacked features or design paradigms in one way or another. They all fell short, and didn’t feel native to the iOS and Apple platforms either. So I set out to make my own that achieves all this,” Mehboob explains. He says the app differentiates itself with an iOS-focused design “that feels at home on your device,” and a comprehensive feature set.

“It’s also a joy to use, and has some cool features like sharing posts as images, viewing them in AR, tweaking various parts via settings, and more,” Mehboob adds.

However, one notable third-party Twitter app developer, The Iconfactory, makers of the popular Twitterific apps for iOS and Mac, said they haven’t yet decided to enter the Mastodon app space. Co-founder Gedeon Maheux admits they, too, have lost their API contacts at Twitter in recent weeks. But for now, the company is just watching the development of this alternative ecosystem — and using Mastodon for themselves.

“It’s exciting to be a part of a service that’s growing and adapting to many new users, just as Twitter did back in the day,” said Maheux. “As for a Mastodon app from The Iconfactory, we don’t have anything to announce at this time,” he noted.

Of course, all these third-party apps will still have to compete with Mastodon’s own app, which has been seeing its own improvements since Musk’s Twitter acquisition, and gained another developer to help speed up app updates. But unlike Twitter, which actively worked to crush third-party clients in years past, Mastodon is open to new developments.

Third-party Twitter app makers turn their attention to Mastodon by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch