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If there’s one thing McDonald’s has done for the world, it’s made starting a burger restaurant relatively straightforward. Franchisees buy into the system, and in return they get equipment, marketing, and even an operating manual. Terraton wants to bring that same model to biochar, a technology that turns agricultural waste into a carbon dioxide-sequestering fertilizer. Terraton recently raised an $11.5 million seed round for its “business-in-a-box” approach to biochar project development, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The series was led by Lowercarbon Capital and Gigascale Capital. ANA Holdings’ ANA Future Frontier Fund and East Japan Railway Company’s Takanawa Gateway Global…

Seven years after unveiling Mirror at TechCrunch Disrupt 2018, Brynn Putnam is returning to the stage where it all began. The serial entrepreneur who turned a fitness concept into a $500 million acquisition by Lululemon will debut her latest venture at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 at San Francisco’s Moscone West in October. Putnam’s path from that breakthrough Disrupt moment to today is a story of very smart timing. Mirror, the connected fitness device that brought boutique workout classes into homes, launched just as the pandemic created unprecedented demand for home fitness solutions. The timing proved so prescient that Lululemon acquired the…

Hardware company Plaud.ai released its new physical notetaker, the Plaud AI Pro, on Wednesday. The notetaker, priced at $179, comes two years after the original Plaud Note was released, and a year after the company released an AI pin. For people who haven’t seen one, the Plaud Note is a credit-card-sized hardware notetaker, which can stick on the back of your phone and help you take notes for calls or in-person meetings. The Note Pro looks similar to the original Note, but there’s one major difference. The new device has a small 0.95-inch AMOLED screen, which shows information like a…

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — Forget Philadelphia: In the far north of Sweden, locals and tourists alike chow down on Arctic cheesesteaks, their hoagie rolls piled high with moose and reindeer meat.At Stejk Street Food in Kiruna, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, owners Zebastian Bohman and Cecilia Abrahamsson modeled their specialty after the famous Philly cheesesteak. Last week, thousands of visitors descended upon Kiruna to watch as the historic Kiruna Church moved 5 kilometers (3 miles) east as part of the town’s relocation. The journey was necessary because the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening…

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned an international fraud network used by North Korea to infiltrate U.S. companies with hackers posing as legitimate job seekers, agency officials announced Wednesday. The sanctions are the latest action taken by the U.S. Treasury in recent months aimed at combating North Korean government workers from seeking employment at American companies using fake identities and documents to apply for jobs. Once employed, the hackers earn a wage from the company, but also steal sensitive company data and extort their employers by demanding a ransom. In a statement Wednesday, the Treasury said the fraud network generated at…

Malaysia has developed its first domestic edge AI processor. Malaysian chip design company SkyeChip announced its MARS1000 processor at an industry event on Monday, Bloomberg reported. While an edge processor isn’t as powerful as an advanced Nvidia chip, it still represents a technological milestone for Malaysia, which is looking to play a bigger role in the global AI race. Malaysia already has a foothold in the chip manufacturing sector and has recently increased its efforts and investment around AI. The country announced the creation of the Malaysian National AI Office in late 2024, an agency that plans to focus on…

VENICE, Italy (AP) — George Clooney plays a famous actor on a soul-searching journey and Emma Stone makes a turn as the CEO of a pharmaceutical company in two of the films premiering at the Venice Film Festival Thursday evening.Clooney and Stone are among the many Hollywood actors, including Adam Sandler, Laura Dern and Jesse Plemons, expected to grace the red carpet with the world premieres of Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” and Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia.” Both films are vying for the coveted Golden Lion prize, the winner of which often goes on to get Oscar nominations and even wins.Lanthimos is…

by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 11:50 AM ET, Wed August 27, 2025 HX Expeditions is adding new theme menus to its dining programs aboard MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen.Guests on those ships can now enjoy rotating international menus at the casual dining venue Restaurant Fredheim. The menus, which are being offered for three to four nights per voyages, include vegan, vegetarian and dietary-friendly options. Reservations are encouraged. “Together with the launch of our Culinary Ambassador program in Greenland this summer, these new menus reflect HX’s commitment to authentic storytelling through food,” says Stefan Engl, vice president of hotel…

Steve Jobs once said, “Everything’s a remix.” And that’s a philosophy that Mark Cuban has taken to heart, building an entire entrepreneurial and investment career on that simple belief. The real opportunity, Cuban says, lies in spotting patterns others miss and turning them into billion-dollar disruptions. On today’s episode of Equity, Cuban joined TechCrunch’s Rebecca Bellan to discuss his decades-long strategy of betting on technologies before they go mainstream, from his early investments in local area networks and streaming services to his current healthcare and AI ventures. But Cuban’s real insight isn’t just about picking winners. It’s about understanding why…

With its 2025 National Conference just months away, Dream Vacations and CruiseOne disclosed details about its 2026 conference, which is scheduled for Nov. 1-8 aboard Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas out of Port Canaveral, Fla.“Our annual conference is more than just a meeting – it’s an immersive experience that blends education, networking and unforgettable moments,” said Drew Daly, senior vice president and general manager of Dream Vacations and CruiseOne. “In 2026, we’ll make history as the first industry conference to take place on an Icon Class ship, the Star of the Seas.”The itinerary will call at Perfect Day at…