Soon, owning fartcoin could put you on a path to homeownership. This week, the Trump administration ordered mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider loan applicants’ crypto assets. The two government-controlled firms don’t issue loans directly, but are responsible for guaranteeing over half of US mortgages. Bill Pulte, who oversees the companies…
The whole thing started as a poker night joke in 2021 between engineer Scott Hickle and developer Tim Blumberg. Someone cracked wise about a “smart toilet,” everyone laughed, and then… they actually built it. And now they have funding for it, too. Last month, per TechCrunch, Hickle and Blumberg’s Austin-based startup Throne raised $4m in seed funding to…
Shove it, questionnaires. There’s a new way to test who’s about to lose their mind. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin developed a forehead monitor that could help us track — and eventually, manage — our mental workloads. The tech, they say, knows you’re about to crack before you do and the hope, per The…
In potentially the biggest threat to Starbucks since other companies figured out that they, too, could market pumpkin-spice flavored treats, Luckin Coffee, China’s biggest coffee chain, opened its first US stores yesterday with two outposts in New York City. If you haven’t heard of Luckin, it’s probably because you’ve never tried to get a cup of joe…