XRP is not a security, Celsius CEO arrested on criminal charges, and more: Hodler’s Digest, July 9-15Ripple Labs has partially defeated the SEC in court, triggering a price increase for XRP. A billion-dollar fine was imposed on Celsius Network by the FTC, and its CEO was arrested for fraud.

Threads hits 100M users, pedestrians fight back against AVs, and VanMoof skids off courseHey, friends — welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular roundup of the week in tech. If life’s gotten in the way of following the major stories on TC, don’t sweat it. You’ve come to the right place.
In this edition, we cover the 19-year-old MIT dropout “replacing gunpowder” for the defense industry, as well as VanMoof, the e-bike darling, which paused sales as execs head for the exits. Elsewhere, robotaxi haters in San Francisco have been disabling AVs with traffic cones, Twitter CEO Elon Musk launched an AI organization and Instagram’s Threads app reached 100 million downloads. Whew.
Read on for more of the top stories from the week — and if you haven’t already, sign up here to get WiR in your inbox every Saturday.
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Hydrogen-powered defenses: Aria writes about Mach Industries, a defense startup that has captured the attention of VCs and the DoD. The company’s 19-year-old founder, Ethan Thornton, is spearheading the R&D of hydrogen-powered platforms for the military, including unmanned aerial vehicles, munitions and hydrogen-generation systems.
VanMoof skids off track: Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof sped into the mobility world with more than $200 million in venture backing. But its fortune appears to have taken a turn for the worse. The company stopped taking orders in late June, and sources claim that senior staff, including the CEO and a co-founder, left executive roles as VanMoof attempts to secure a bridge round to stave off bankruptcy.
Pedestrians fight back: A decentralized group of safe streets activists in San Francisco realized they can disable Cruise and Waymo robotaxis by placing a traffic cone on a vehicle’s hood — and they’re encouraging others to do it, too. The protest comes in the lead-up to a hearing that will likely see Waymo and Cruise expand their robotaxi services in San Francisco.
Threads hits another milestone: Despite lacking features such as post search, direct messages and hashtags, Instagram’s text-based app and Twitter competitor Threads achieved the mark of 100 million sign-ups this week. The Twitter rival was launched on June 6 (or June 5 in the Americas), according to a tracker.
Google Calendar gets availability sharing: This week, Google released new scheduling-related features for Gmail with a Google Calendar integration, including quick event creation and easy availability sharing. Gmail will now have a calendar icon at the bottom of the conversation view, which will have two options — “Create an event” and “Offer times you’re free.”
Satellites get dodgy: Starlink satellites are making thousands of avoidance maneuvers as low Earth orbit becomes more crowded — feeding worries that a catastrophic impact is inevitable. SpaceX’s orbital communication satellites performed maneuvers just over 25,000 times in the six-month period between December 1, 2022, and May 21, 2023, double the number of avoidance maneuvers that Starlink satellites made in the previous reporting period.
Making interstellar space travel a reality: Space propulsion company Pulsar Fusion has started construction on a large nuclear fusion chamber in England as it races to become the first firm to fire a nuclear fusion–powered propulsion system in space. Nuclear fusion propulsion tech, should it prove commercially viable, could reduce the travel time to Mars by half and the time to Titan, Saturn’s moon, to two years instead of 10.
Anthropic releases Claude 2: This week, Anthropic, the AI startup co-founded by ex-OpenAI execs, announced the release of a new text-generating AI model called Claude 2. Anthropic claims that Claude 2 is superior to its predecessor, Claude 1.3, in several areas and is especially capable in tasks like searching across documents, summarizing, writing and coding and answering questions about particular topics.
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If you’re wanting for a podcast to pass the time, look no further than TechCrunch’s growing roster.
On Equity, the crew talked about a range of topics, including a new Chinese AI model that had them wondering who’s really going to win the AI war; Founders Fund scooping up a new partner; Connetic Ventures using AI models to create a less-biased landscape for entrepreneurs; and the cooling tech layoffs and inflation.
And over at Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Maria Shen, a general partner on the investment team at Electric Capital, an early-stage venture firm focused on crypto, blockchain, fintech and marketplaces. In March 2022, the firm announced that it closed $1 billion for a pair of crypto funds — a $400 million vehicle for making equity investments in startups and a $600 million fund intended to invest directly in crypto tokens.
TechCrunch+
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys — which you know if you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, consider signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:
Light at the end of the tunnel:“There’s good reason to believe that the massive correction in venture capital activity that we’ve seen over the past six quarters has run its course,” Alex writes.
Amazon and the brands it kills: Haje reports on the fate of Digital Photography Review, best known as DPReview, which was regarded as one of the best review and news sites. Amazon acquired it in 2007, slowly replacing the staff with contractors and freelancers until killing it in March.
ESG, safe for now: Corporate executives might be making a lot of noise about ESG (environmental, social and governance) — some of it positive, some not. But Tim writes that when it comes to investors, sustainability concerns appear to be here to stay.

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there’s something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code WIR. Learn more.

Threads hits 100M users, pedestrians fight back against AVs, and VanMoof skids off course by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Free Shreddage 3 Stratus Now Available For Kontakt Player
Impact Sound Works updated the free Shreddage 3 Stratus guitar sample library for Kontakt, making it fully compatible with Kontakt Player. I’ll admit I’m not super hip to what the best virtual guitar instruments are. But I am quite deep in the delusion that I can tell you where a C is in three or [...]
View post: Free Shreddage 3 Stratus Now Available For Kontakt Player

Ableton Live Lite: How to get started (free project file included)
From key commands to creative production techniques, this guide to Ableton Live Lite contains everything you need to know to get started with the DAW.

Getting It Done: The Week in D.I.Y & Indie MusicLast week, our tips and advice for the independent, do-it-yourselfers out there covered how to create a one-stop promotion tool, what explicit music does to your streams, and more… Create. Continue reading
The post Getting It Done: The Week in D.I.Y & Indie Music appeared first on Hypebot.

REWIND: The new music industry’s week in reviewA busy week by any definition, the music industry was no exception; with 2024 Grammy regulations released, YouTube caters to content with AI quizzes and more… 5 Movies that changed. Continue reading
The post REWIND: The new music industry’s week in review appeared first on Hypebot.

Vicious Antelope Cat Pads - Octave Cat Cat Pads is our second soundbank for Cherry Audio Octave Cat Synthesizer. It contains 51 classic synth pads that fit for many music genres especially when a synthesized sound background... Read More

StrongSoft SS-VC1 Compressor SS-VC1 Compressor is a comprehensive professional compressor featuring gain and envelope visualisation, as well as all the other features you'd expect from a compressor. It features three... Read More

The Ionian mode: A comprehensive guide
Let’s discuss what the Ionian mode is, some songs and compositions that make use of it, and how to apply it to your own music.

Bobby Darin Estate Relaunches Direction RecordsBobby Darin was, by any definition, a superstar – a chart-topping, multimillion-selling, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, a Golden Globe-winning actor, visionary entrepreneur, and committed political activist.

In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his 1973 passing from heart disease at just 37 years old, the Bobby Darin Estatehas officially relaunched Direction Records, the groundbreaking label founded by Darin in 1968. Distributed by Secretly Distribution, the Direction Records collection kicks off with the release of five classic albums recorded between 1966 and 1967 and newly reverted to the Bobby Darin Estate, all available now on digital platforms for the first time ever.

The new releases include: Bobby Darin Sings The Shadow Of Your Smile (1966), In A Broadway Bag (1966), If I Were A Carpenter (1966), Inside Out (1967), and Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Dolittle (1967). 

“The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers,” Bobby Darin said of the label’s foundation.

Direction Records heralded the two landmark albums in which Darin masterfully reinvented himself as a serious, socially conscious singer-songwriter equal to any of the era – 1968’s Born Walden Robert Cassotto and 1969’s Commitment. In addition, the Direction Records catalog will include Songs From Big Sur, a previously released anthology of non-LP singles, rare tracks, alternate takes, and music recorded live during Darin’s May 1969 residency at West Hollywood, CA’s venerable Troubadour.

CONNECT WITH BOBBY DARIN + DIRECTION RECORDS: WEBSITE

First Amendment org challenges restrictions on TikTok at Texas universitiesThrough a new lawsuit, a free speech group and research coalition that studies technology’s effect on society are pushing back against a ban on TikTok affecting government devices in the state of Texas.
In the lawsuit, filed by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, the allied plaintiffs argue that restrictions on TikTok in Texas violate the First Amendment. The lawsuit focuses on how the ban affects faculty members at public universities.
“Banning public university faculty from studying and teaching with TikTok is not a sensible or constitutional response to concerns about data-collection and disinformation,” Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute Jameel Jaffer said. “Texas must pursue its objectives with tools that don’t impose such a heavy burden on First Amendment rights. Privacy legislation would be a good place to start.”
Late last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed Texas agencies to remove the app from government devices, citing security worries over from TikTok’s Chinese ownership. Abbott described concerns around TikTok as “growing threats,” issuing a mid-February deadline for government offices to implement the changes. Last month, the governor signed a law to firm up the ban, which initially took the form of an executive order.
That ban also applied to public universities in Texas, which moved to block TikTok from campus Wi-Fi networks and school-owned devices. Texas A&M and the University of Texas were among the colleges that complied with the ban, limiting access to the hit social video app across their campuses.
Public universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma and South Dakota have also taken their own measures to restrict TikTok in light of other executive orders. If successful, the Texas lawsuit could serve as a precedent for how similar bans will hold up in those states.
“Like it or not, TikTok is an immensely popular communications platform, and its policies and practices are influencing culture and politics around the world,” Coalition for Independent Technology Research board member Dave Karpf said.
“It’s important that scholars and researchers be able to study the platform and illuminate the risks associated with it. Ironically, Texas’s misguided ban is impeding our members from studying the very risks that Texas says it wants to address.”

COALITION FOR INDEPENDENT T… by TechCrunch
First Amendment org challenges restrictions on TikTok at Texas universities by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

W.A. Production Introduces InstaComposer 2 A.I. MIDI Tool W.A. Production, producers crafting creative plug-ins to help anyone achieve studio-quality processing speedily and easily, introduces InstaComposer 2 as an advanced AI MIDI Tool taking its popular InstaComposer MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) creation station plug-in predecessor to another level — launching new features and improvements that enhance the user experience with more MIDI tracks, scenes, new scales, and new modes married with enhanced generative coding and superior performance to make practicable new ideas flow more quickly than ever before by producing a wide variety of musical elements, including melodies, phrases, riffs, and chord progressions to provide both beginners and professional musicians with endless possibilities for creating unique and engaging music in any genre or style while working with an intuitive interface and advanced algorithms allowing them to focus on the creative aspect of music production without having to think about composing every note.

14-day, fully-functional trial versions of all W.A. Production plug-ins — including InstaComposer 2 — are available by signing up for an account for free from here: waproduction.com/users/login

Watch W.A. Production’s informative introductory video for InstaComposer 2 here: youtu.be/sjx-KYMZip0 

The Very Loud Indeed Co. Summer Sale The Very Loud Indeed Co.'s Summer Sale is currently running, offering savings of 40% on individual products and 61% on bundles. 

From Luminate’s midyear Music Report to Mubert’s 100m AI-generated tracks… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe headlines from the past week you can't afford to miss...
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