October 18, 2024 road report

Engadget The Morning After: YouTube is testing a new subscription option that could remove most ads The biggest news stories this morning: A $105,000 robot arm nobody needs can cook a delicious lunch, A new trailer for the Dune: Prophecy series just dropped, Amazon is rebooting its live-action adaptation of God of War.

Last-minute Expo+ 2-for-1 passes available for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 To ensure no one misses this highly anticipated event, we're offering Expo+ 2-for-1 passes for the final days leading up to Disrupt 2024. Bring a friend, colleague, or family member to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30. Full access to the bustling Expo Hall: Connect with 10,000 attendees, explore startups' innovations, and watch pitches on the Pitch Showcase Stage.

Yahoo Personal Finance Money market account rates today, October 17, 2024 (up to 5.05% APY) If you're on the hunt for today's best money market rates, we've narrowed down some of the top offers. Learn more about money market account rates today and how to open an account.

Automattic offered employees another chance to quit — this time with nine months' severance Days after 159 people accepted Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg's offer of a six-month severance package to employees who wanted to leave, the company floated a new offer late on October 16 of a nine-month severance package to anybody who quit immediately. In a Slack message seen by TechCrunch, Mullenweg posted that people who accepted the offer would lose access not only to Automattic but also to WordPress.org. Apart from being Automattic CEO, Mullenweg also owns and controls WordPress.org's open source site.

General Catalyst reportedly to back Saudi Arabian startup Despite Saudi Arabia's record of human rights abuses, some investors are warming up to investing in the country's startups. General Catalyst is planning to invest in Lean Technology, a Saudi Arabia-based fintech startup, the firm's first investment in the Middle Eastern nation, the Information reported. Other Saudi Arabian startups that U.S.-based investors recently backed include lending platform Tamara, which last year received capital from Coatue Management.

Yahoo Life Shopping The best mascara of 2024 will cost you just $10 We tested, reviewed, and rated dozens of lash lengtheners, only to discover that this drugstore find is the best you can buy.

Announcing the final group of top VCs to judge the Startup Battlefield 200 Final at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is just a week away. Two hundred companies have been hand-selected by the TechCrunch editorial staff to grace the expo hall, 20 of which will launch their company for the first time live on our stage. Nail-biting pitches live on the Disrupt Stage, make or break hardware and software demos.

The next Like A Dragon game recasts a series regular as an amnesiac pirate Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has revealed yet another Like A Dragon game, which will arrive just 13 months after Infinite Wealth. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will arrive on February 21.

Yahoo Sports Tony Bennett, longtime Virginia men's basketball head coach, unexpectedly retires before start of the season Bennett, who has been the Cavaliers' coach since 2009, led the team to an NCAA Championship in 2019 a year after Virginia lost in the first round as a No. 1 seed.

The 14 biggest take-private PE acquisitions so far this year in tech The private equity realm has been pretty active so far in 2024, serving as a powerful "alternative" source of liquidity for technology startups and scale-ups in search of an exit. In August, TechCrunch reported that EQT had picked up a majority stake in cybersecurity firm Acronis at a valuation of around $4 billion, following in the footsteps of another exit, in which EQT snapped up enterprise middleware company WSO2 for $600 million. According to PitchBook, there were 136 take-private deals led by private equity firms in 2023, up 15% on the previous year.