
With one week until the January kickoff of Y Combinator’s winter 2024 startup batch, there’s a hush in the prestigious accelerator program’s cavernous new San Francisco headquarters.
The only sound, aside from steady rain streaking the windows, is the muffled labor of two YC partners in a makeshift subterranean kitchen, where they are practicing a chicken and dumplings recipe to serve to a group of incoming founders. Like thousands of hopefuls before them, these

SpaceX will attempt to launch its mega-rocket Starship on its third test flight from its spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, today. The livestream is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. ET, with liftoff targeted for about 8 a.m. ET.
The flight plan for SpaceX’s third Starship test is different from its previous two attempts. The “Super Heavy” rocket booster will once again attempt a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. But the first stage, Starship, will ascend and then ta

Alphabet’s Waymo said on Wednesday it will begin offering free driverless robotaxi services to select members of the public in Los Angeles starting Thursday.
The company received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) earlier this month to start its ride-hailing program, Waymo One, in Los Angeles and some cities near San Francisco.
Waymo’s latest plans put it ahead of its General Motors-owned rival Cruise, which is currently facing sc

Two British surgeons say that they used Apple’s new $3,500 headset to carry out Britain’s first virtual-reality operation. The team at London’s Cromwell Hospital, led by orthopedic surgeons Fady Sedra and Syed Aftab, used the Vision Pro to repair a patient’s spine. Neither surgeon donned the ski goggle-esque device themselves, but instead entrusted it to a nurse working alongside them, the Daily Mail has reported.
Nurse Suvi Verho tells the paper tha

Former CNN host Don Lemon says Elon Musk has terminated a previous agreement to air his new program after the billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter) was unhappy about an interview between the two.
“Elon Musk is mad at me,” said Lemon in a video posted to the social media network. “There’s a whole lot that went down and I’m going to tell you about it in the coming days.”
In a separate statement posted to X, Lemon said, “El

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here.
DeepMind created an agent that can play any game
Researchers have for years been teaching AI models to play video games as a way of preparing them to perform certain tasks in everyday life. Google-owned DeepMind has upped the ante when it comes to AI gaming, re

On Wednesday the European Parliament passed the AI Act by a wide majority, with 523 of its 705 members voting in favor. Hailed as the world’s first major effort to regulate AI, the legislation takes a risk-based approach to services or products that use AI. Content recommendation systems, for example, would be deemed low risk and thus subject to relatively lax oversight; medical devices, on the other hand, would face heightened scrutiny around issues like data and transparency.

Politicians take leave of their senses when they’re on the campaign trail. Self-preservation, shaped through the desire to win re-election, comes before principles. How else to explain the sight of 352 members of the House of Representatives voting on Wednesday to pass the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (also known as the TikTok Act)?
The overwhelming passage of the act, which compels TikTok parent company ByteDance to force a sale of

YouTube wants people to do more than just sit back and watch videos on their TVs.
To that end, it’s launching a redesigned video player for smart TVs and streaming devices, with a sidebar view for descriptions, comments, chapter links, and other details. While such information was already available in YouTube’s TV app, the old design used an overlay that covered up the video when users clicked into the description. The new player shrinks the video down so it appears al

The House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill today that could effectively ban TikTok in the United States. The contentious bill has bipartisan support in the House, but many American TikTok users and free speech and civil liberty organizations say the bill represents government overreach, violates Americans’ First Amendment rights, and is nothing more than censorship. Here’s what you need to know.
What is the bill about?
Offi