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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — On a scorching hot Saturday in San Antonio, dozens of teachers traded a day off for a glimpse of the future. The topic of the day’s workshop: enhancing instruction with artificial intelligence.After marveling as AI graded classwork instantly and turned lesson plans into podcasts or online storybooks, one high school English teacher raised a concern that was on the minds of many: “Are we going to be replaced with AI?”That remains to be seen. But for the nation’s 4 million teachers to stay relevant and help students use the technology wisely, teachers unions have forged an…
Francesco Vitali will be the first to admit that when his co-founder Chris Siametis first pitched him on Rent a Cyber Friend, he didn’t quite get the idea. “Who’s going to pay somebody to speak with somebody?” Vitali told TechCrunch. “But Chris was insistent. Chris is a millennial, and I’m Gen X, so it wasn’t easy for me to understand his vision.” Vitali had worked with Siametis for about two decades; they ran 48FILM, an international short film festival (Vitali is also a film producer). So he took a leap of faith to trust his collaborator on the idea he…
by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 8:40 AM ET, Thu October 16, 2025 United Airlines’ financials for the third quarter of the year performed higher than Wall Street predictions, and the airline’s looking forward to a more productive end to the year, too—expecting record-breaking revenue.During the third quarter, the airline reported pre-tax earnings of $1.3 billion and an adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.78, higher than the expected range of $2.25 to $2.75. Total operating revenue for the year grew 2.6 percent, to $15.2 billion. It reported a net income of $0.9 billion. Premium cabin revenue during the third quarter grew…
Energy startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) said Thursday it’s working with Google’s DeepMind division to fine tune — and even improve — the operation of its forthcoming Sparc reactor using AI. The companies’ plan will simulate the plasma that will burn inside CFS’s reactor using specialized DeepMind software known as Torax. They also plan on pairing Torax with AI models to help CFS figure out how best to achieve fusion power. Fusion power promises to deliver massive amounts of electricity with zero emissions from a near limitless source of fuel: water. AI-related companies have been bullish on fusion startups as…
by Brian Major Last updated: 9:30 AM ET, Thu October 16, 2025 Andrea Franklin is Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.’s new CEO. (Photo courtesy of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.)The governments of Dominica and Barbados have entered into a landmark tourism partnership under which the countries will collaborate on promoting their tourism products and offer enhanced multi-destination packages. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on October 1 at the Hilton Barbados Resort during the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC).Through the pact, the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) and the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) will seek to…
Meta is shutting down Messenger’s stand-alone desktop apps for Windows and Mac on December 15, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday. Starting December 15, users will no longer be able to log into the apps and will be automatically redirected to the Facebook website to access Messenger. “If you’re using the Messenger desktop apps, you’ll get an in-app notification once the deprecation process begins,” a Messenger help page reads. “You will have 60 days to use the Mac Messenger app before it is fully deprecated. Once the 60 days are over, you’ll be blocked from using the Mac Messenger…
by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 10:45 AM ET, Thu October 16, 2025 U.S.-based travel agency air ticket sales totaled $8.7 billion for September, recording the highest monthly sales total for the month and marking an 8 percent increase from 2024, according to Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) data. Third-quarter ticket sales and passenger trips increased 4 percent, reaching $25.1 billion in ticket sales and 74.7 million trips—showing the demand for travel increasing into the off-season, when pre-pandemic, back-to-school season historically decreased travel. That’s not the case anymore. “Strength in pricing and passenger demand helped ARC-accredited agencies close out the third quarter at record…
Amazon’s surveillance camera maker Ring announced a partnership on Thursday with Flock, a maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras that share footage with law enforcement. Now agencies that use Flock can request that Ring doorbell users share footage to help with “evidence collection and investigative work.” Flock cameras work by scanning the license plates and other identifying information about cars they see. Flock’s government and police customers can also make natural language searches of their video footage to find people who match specific descriptions. However, AI-powered technology used by law enforcement has been proven to exacerbate racial biases. On the same…
by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 10:50 AM ET, Thu October 16, 2025 Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras is back on the water after refurbishments.The Excel class ship underwent a comprehensive dry dock in Marseilles, France. It’s now setting sail from Barcelona on a 15-day voyage across the Atlantic—featuring stops in Málaga and Cádiz (Seville), Spain; Tenerife, Canary Islands; and Celebration Key—to return to Port Canaveral, Florida. From there, the vessel will resume its year-round schedule of cruises to the Caribbean. In 2027, Mardi Gras will be the first Excel class ship, and the biggest in the fleet, to offer four- and…
For one week this summer, Taylor and her roommate wore GoPro cameras strapped to their foreheads as they painted, sculpted, and did household chores. They were training an AI vision model, carefully syncing their footage so the system could get multiple angles on the same behavior. It was difficult work in many ways, but they were well paid for it — and it allowed Taylor to spend most of her day making art. “We woke up, did our regular routine, and then strapped the cameras on our head and synced the times together,” she told me. “Then we would make…