Geeky international news on technology, business and culture.
Ending graciously
29 September 2025 @ 12:00 pm
A few decades ago, when I was raising funding for a startup, I made a lasting impression on an investor by not only talking about how successful we would be, but also highlighting what would happen if we weren’t. Later, in an informal setting, I asked him what had persuaded him to invest in us. He told me that during the pitch, I had said, “And if all our predictions and expectations are wrong, we will use the last of our funding for a magnificent farewell dinner for all our investors. You’ll have lost your money, but at least you’ll…This story continues at The Next WebHow robotics could turn e-waste into a tech goldmine
24 September 2025 @ 9:00 am
E-waste has become a global problem. Unfortunately, the majority of discarded used technology, known as e-waste, is dumped or processed in unsafe conditions. Around 78% of electronic products aren’t properly recycled — and the garbage pile keeps growing. In 2024, the world churned out 1.22 billion smartphones. Add this to the billions of TVs, laptops, and computers, and what we have is a saturated market that fuels a throwaway cycle. A United Nations report forecasts that e-waste will grow to 80 million tonnes by 2030. “That’s enough to fill 1.5 million 40-ton trucks, which could circle the planet,” says Eric…Startup wisdom: 5 prompt engineering tips for vibe coding success
24 September 2025 @ 6:03 am
Startup wisdom is a new TNW series offering practical lessons from experts who’ve helped build great companies. This week, Dainius Kavoliūnas, head of no-code platform Hostinger Horizons, shares his tips on vibe coding. Vibe coding has become an indispensable tool, especially for entrepreneurial thinkers building apps and platforms for solving everyday problems, streamlining business processes, or enhancing digital experiences. It represents a paradigm shift in software development. Instead of writing lines of code, you can now describe your requirement and have AI bring it to life. Vibe coding is fast, intuitive and opens up a new realm of possibilities where code…How European battery startups can thrive alongside Asian giants
23 September 2025 @ 9:00 am
The global battery market is experiencing unprecedented growth, with projections showing the sector will reach $400bn by 2030. Yet European entrepreneurs often feel locked out, watching Chinese giants like CATL dominate headlines with record-breaking IPOs while homegrown champions like Northvolt file for bankruptcy, exposing the harsh realities of competing against established Asian supply chains. Still, Europe will never be entirely independent in green energy and will want to cooperate with Asia. Yet the continent has strong demand for on-shoring supply, including green power and critical manufacturing. There are also genuine competitive advantages available to European green battery startups: proximity to…The EU’s €2T budget overlooks a key tech pillar: Open source
23 September 2025 @ 8:30 am
On July 16, the European Commission proposed a €2tn seven-year budget – the largest in the EU’s history – to boost autonomy, competitiveness, and resilience. The spending plan addresses cybersecurity, innovation, and other key digital pillars, but omits a crucial component: open source. Open source software – built and maintained by communities rather than private companies alone, and free to edit and modify – is the foundation of today’s digital infrastructure. Since the 1990s, it has been ever-present in the digital infrastructure that European industry and public sector institutions depend on, creating huge dependencies on open source applications and libraries. From…Opinion: Europe’s VCs must embrace risk — or resign the AI era to US control
22 September 2025 @ 8:00 am
Europe’s AI startups are losing ground to the US — and their own investors are to blame. Only 5% of global venture capital is raised in the EU, according to the European Commission. The US, by contrast, attracts more than half, while China takes 40%. Yet Europe isn’t capital-poor: households save €1.4tn a year, nearly twice as much as in America. Still, very little of that money finds its way into startups, despite a plethora of incentives like the UK’s EIS tax relief for business angels. Even when funding is available, Europe’s venture capital firms are slow and cautious. Funds…VCs are growing wary of ‘AI-washing’ – but real innovation is still winning investors
18 September 2025 @ 10:00 am
Venture capital investment surged to a 10-quarter high of €108.3bn in Q1 2025, fuelled by artificial intelligence, which accounted for over €44.6bn raised. In recent years, AI has felt like a money-printing machine. Investors, eager to avoid missing out on the next big thing, were quick to back almost any startup that mentioned AI in their pitch deck. The idea didn’t need to be particularly well-implemented or useful. In some cases, even the illusion of innovation was enough to earn a unicorn valuation. But investors are now wising up to AI-washing. As the CEO of Gradient Labs — an AI…Opinion: Ukraine is becoming a global defence tech powerhouse
17 September 2025 @ 2:00 pm
The full-scale war has reshaped priorities for Ukraine’s tech sector. Innovative military technologies and advanced defence solutions are not only essential for the country’s security — they’re also among the most promising vectors for business growth. Ukrainian defence tech is tested directly on the battlefield, under the most challenging conditions. These circumstances allow products to prove their effectiveness, attracting interest from international partners, investors, and allied countries looking to strengthen their own defence capabilities. From my position at the heart of Ukraine’s tech ecosystem, I’ve seen how quickly the sector has shifted towards defence — and how global attention is now…Startup wisdom: Why resilience is the most underrated metric in startup success
17 September 2025 @ 7:00 am
Startup wisdom is a new TNW series offering practical lessons from experts who’ve helped build great companies. This week, global traction strategist Nina Aziz Justin — founder of The Resilience Mentor — shares her approach to building resilience. In the startup world, we’re taught to obsess over metrics. Burn rate, CAC, MRR — they dominate the dashboards and drive the decisions. And yes, data matters. But there’s something quietly more essential that rarely gets the same spotlight: resilience. This piece offers a balanced perspective — one that holds space for both sides. While execution metrics are essential for traction and…Europe’s AI boom is leaving femtech behind
16 September 2025 @ 8:00 am
Left unchecked, Europe’s narrow focus on AI investment will come at the health of half its population. As venture capital floods disproportionately into the AI sector, women’s health innovation — the definition of essential infrastructure — is once again left fighting for scraps. In 2021, global femtech investment peaked at €1.89bn before plunging to just €1.1bn the next year, amid a tech funding apocalypse and capital making a headlong dash towards AI. Several factors contributed to this decline — broader market conditions, withering investor risk appetite, and natural sector maturation. But the surge in AI funding coinciding with a plunge…
This Tuesday, November 4, political reporters will be paying close attention to gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virigina as well as New York City's mayoral race — which progressive New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, is expected to win.Meanwhile, in the Keystone State, voters will be voting to either retain or reject three Democratic justices on the 
In the western U.S., seven different states share the Colorado River, whose "main reservoirs," according to Politico's Annie Snider, are seeing their "water levels" reach "historic lows" thanks to climate change. Snider, in an article published on November 2, reports that the states are "locked in battle over who must make sharp cuts in their water use to avoid a catastrophe that could hit as soon as next summer."In that scenario, Snider notes, "federal dam managers would have to decide between cutting water deliveries to Arizona,
Like attorney George Conway, retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig is a prominent figure in the conservative legal movement who became a blistering critic of President Donald Trump and considers him a dangerous threat to U.S. democracy.Luttig rooted for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, as did Conway. Now, nine and one-half months into Trump's second presidency, Luttig is still sounding the alarm. During a Sunday morning, November 2 appearance on MSNBC, Luttig argued that because the U.S. Supreme Court is failing to discourage Trump's attacks on democracy and the rule of law, it's up to the lower federal courts to fight back.Noting recent anti-Tru
Five years after losing to Democrat Joe Biden, Donald Trump continues to claim that the United States' 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. That claim has been repeatedly debunked, yet Trump is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch new 2020 investigations.In an article published on November 11, Washington Post reporters Isaac Arnsdorf, Patrick Marley and Perry Stein describe the conflict between MAGA Republicans who remain obsessed with that election and Republicans who wish Trump would move on and abandon his "renewed fo
In 2024, Donald Trump became the first president in U.S. history to win an election despite four criminal indictments — one of which resulted in a conviction on 34 counts — and two impeachments. And the thing that did the most to get Trump past the finish line was the economy. Trump campaigned on affordability, promising to lower prices "on Day 1" and narrowly winning the popular voting by roughly 1.5 percent. But Trump's steep new tariffs, according to Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and many other economists, are making the United States less, not more, affordable.In an article published by The Guardian on November 2, journalist c
When conservative/libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) voted "no" on President Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, their motivations were much different from all the Democratic lawmakers who voted against it. Paul and Massie argued that the bill would cost taxpayers too much money, and they are worried about how much it will add to the federal deficit.Those GOP lawmakers aren't the only ones who are voicing their concerns about the deficit. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, a Never Trump conservative, ofte
As recently as the 1980s, California was still a red state — from Bakersfield to San Diego to Simi Valley to Glendale. Orange County south of Los Angeles was a bastion of conservatism, and the state's famously conservative GOP governors included Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. These days, California is a Democratic stronghold. Yet it still has pockets of conservatism, including Silicon Valley tech bros who have allied themselves with President Donald Trump. And according to Mercury News reporter Ethan Baron, that bond is showing no signs of weakening. Baron, in an 
This Wednesday, November 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump — which grapples with whether or not President Donald Trump, under the Emergency Powers Act of 1977, has the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs. Trump's detractors, from liberals to right-wing Never Trumpers, are arguing that he doesn't — that members of Congress need to play a proactive role in determining U.S. policy on tariffs and other economic matters. But Trump's MAGA defenders are claiming that tariffs are solely a matter for the federal governmen
A strange thing happened over the past few days. No sooner did Donald Trump again float the idea of running for a third term, saying,” I’d love it” and “I’m allowed to do it,” than he backtracked completely, saying, “I guess I’m not allowed to it” and it’s “too bad.”In between, House Speaker Mike Johnson rushed to tell the press, “I don’t see the path” for a Trump third term, and said he’d spoken with Trump about it on the same day—basically talking Trump down from his first statement in less than 24 hours, or so it appeared.Now, don’t get me wrong. None of us should trust anything Trump says. He is a dictator and clearly wants to stay president, and he has already engaged
This Tuesday, November 4, a variety of elections will become largely a referendum on Donald Trump's second presidency — from gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia to three Pennsylvania Supreme Court races. Democratic and GOP strategists will be paying close attention to them in an effort to gauge what might lie ahead in the 2026 midterms.Democrats, along with many Never Trump conservatives, are debating what it will take to counter Trumpism. The New York Times Ezra Klein, in an in-depth column published on November 2, lays out some of the challenges Democrats are