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Polars, the Amsterdam-based company behind the popular open source project of the same name, has raised €18 million (about $21 million) in a Series A round led by Accel, with participation from Bain Capital Partners and angel investors. But while raising this kind of money is the dream of many developers, its creator Ritchie Vink didn’t set out to do so. It all started as a pet project during Covid. Frustrated with the limitations of Pandas, a tool for organizing and working with data tables, Vink decided to build a better query engine in Rust. Fast-forward five years, and Polars…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Here he is, depicted at six months in office, chiseled and brawny, as mighty as the very nation. Here he is as a Star Wars Jedi wielding a patriot-red lightsaber, rescuing our galaxy from the forces of evil. Here he is taking over Gaza, transforming the strip into a luxury resort complete with a golden effigy of himself.You can be anything, perhaps you were told growing up. Doctor. Astronaut. Maybe, one day, the president. But even the chief executive of the United States, the free world’s leader, frames himself as something more epic — as someone not…
A view of Cadillac Escalade IQ Sport 2 at Electrify Expo San Francisco, the largest electric vehicles (EV) event in North America at Alameda Point in Alameda, California, United States on Aug. 23, 2025.Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu | Getty ImagesDETROIT — Automakers and investors are about to find out what the “natural demand” is for new all-electric vehicles in the U.S., starting this week.Amid what’s set to be a record year for EV sales, including a new record for units sold in the third quarter, demand for EVs is expected to decline. That’s because federal incentives of up to $7,500…
When wellness travel started, it was all about spa days — not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’ll take a spa day any day, won’t you? But the concept of wellness travel has evolved beyond that. It’s now a multi-billion-dollar industry centered on intentional experiences that have the potential to transform beyond just your vacation. High-end travelers are now seeking destinations that offer luxury, health, and personal growth. Traditional wellness havens like Arizona and California still reign, but a new wave of cities in the U.S. are emerging as wellness capitals, drawing interest from their unique offerings. These cities…
Despite millions spent on financial software, many finance teams still rely on Excel to close their books and reconcile numbers while preparing them for audit. Two former Microsoft executives view it as a problem — and they have started Maximor to replace spreadsheets with AI agents for the grunt work finance teams perform. Excel spreadsheets are everywhere in finance. Even with dedicated ERP, CRM, and billing systems, many mid-sized companies and enterprises still export transactions into Excel for manual reconciliation. Teams often treat spreadsheets as makeshift databases, sometimes even relying on functions like VLOOKUP — a function used to pull…
Manny Medina, previously best-known as the founder of sales automation startup Outreach ($4.4 billion valuation), has wowed investors with his young startup, Paid. Paid just closed an oversubscribed $21.6 million seed round led by Lightspeed. With the €10 million pre-seed round it raised in March, London-based Paid has already raised $33.3 million and hasn’t even hit its Series A yet. A source familiar with the deal says the startup’s valuation is over $100 million. Paid came out of stealth in March offering an interesting contribution to the AI agentic world: The company doesn’t offer agents. It offers a way for…
In the absence of stronger federal regulation, some states have begun regulating apps that offer AI “therapy” as more people turn to artificial intelligence for mental health advice. But the laws, all passed this year, don’t fully address the fast-changing landscape of AI software development. And app developers, policymakers and mental health advocates say the resulting patchwork of state laws isn’t enough to protect users or hold the creators of harmful technology accountable.“The reality is millions of people are using these tools and they’re not going back,” said Karin Andrea Stephan, CEO and co-founder of the mental health chatbot app…
Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” and Matthew McConaughey playing the real-life bus driver who saved elementary school students during California’s deadliest wildfire are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: The classic children’s story “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White turned into an animated series for HBO Max, the documentary “Prime Minister” chronicling the five-year tenure of former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern and some katana-swinging mayhem with the…
On her first full day of preschool, Alexander Lane’s 3-year-old daughter stayed in the car for an hour at drop-off because she didn’t want to go inside. On the second day, she entered class in tears. But by the third day, she eagerly ran into the classroom. Starting preschool or kindergarten is a milestone, but also a source of anxiety for some children, including many who are experiencing their first extended period of time away from a parent or guardian. Lane already knew his daughter was nervous about being away from her parents. She had resisted going to a couple…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bad Bunny will bring his Latin trap and reggaeton swagger to the NFL’s biggest stage next year: The Grammy winner will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show in Northern California.The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Sunday that Bad Bunny will lead the halftime festivities from Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California. The Puerto Rican superstar’s selection comes amid another career-defining run: He’s fresh off a historic Puerto Rico residency this month that drew more than half a million fans and is leading all nominees at the Latin Grammys in…