Hydrogen-powered vehicles haven’t really caught on as an alternative means of eco-friendly transportation. Hyundai, however, hopes to fix that with a bigger investment in the technology and its newest hydrogen-powered concept SUV called the .

Hyundai announced it plans to start production on the hydrogen SUV in the first half of next year. The Initium can run approximately 404 miles on a single refueling and can also run on electric power as a backup that can be recharged from a household electricity supply. The vehicle will also make its public debut at the LA Auto Show and Auto Guangzhou in China next month. It’s not yet confirmed where the cars will be available when they go on sale so a US launch isn’t guaranteed.

The Initium may just be a concept car for now but Hyundai seems committed to bringing its newest hydrogen car to drivers quickly, even if the fuel source hasn’t made nearly as many strides towards widespread acceptance as electric options. The South Korean carmaker is planning on investing $4 billion to develop its hydrogen vehicle technology and infrastructure to meet its complete carbon neutrality goal by 2045 with cars like the Initium and unveiled last year.

Hydrogen may be an efficient alternative to gasoline but it still has a ways to go to be competitive with electric vehicles (and that’s without acknowledging the continued prevalence of gasoline-powered cars). There are only 59 hydrogen charging stations in the US with most of them in California, according to the . There are only a handful of carmakers who still offer a hydrogen powered option including Hyundai () and Toyota (). Honda used to offer a hydrogen car with The Clarity but it ended production in 2021, according to .

A new report from Mistplay sheds light on some of the behaviors of mobile gamers and their relationship with their games — including how monetization affects them. According to their 2024 Mobile Gaming Growth Report, mobile growth in 2025 is going to be marked by new marketing initiatives and new monetization models as developers and game creators attempt to user acquisition costs and scale revenue. Mobile gaming creators are also predicted to use brand collaborations and reward programs to reinvigorate user interest and retention.

According to Mistplay, mobile gaming faces several challenges when it comes to keeping players invested in their games — the goal is to avoid users “churning” out of a game and never returning to play. One of the findings in the report shows that there are several causes for player churn: 77% of gamers surveyed say they leave due to poor balance between gameplay and monetization, and 66% say it’s a similar dissonance between gameplay and in-game ads.

Ramanand Reddi, Mistplay’s Chief Product Officer, said in a statement, “As mobile game publishers face continued challenges heading into 2025, the core opportunity lies in rethinking the traditional approach to growth and manifesting that mindset across all teams. Those who can fully embrace adaptability and innovation, to drive incremental revenue and combat rising [customer acquisition cost], will ultimately unlock sustainable growth for their games.”

Player advertising and alternative monetization

Mistplay’s report shows that one of the most reliable methods for reaching new players is in-app advertising. 67% of players report finding new games in that fashion, with a large amount of gamers also reporting finding new titles on social platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. However, the report also shows that 48% of players report being overwhelmed by the amount of games being offered — meaning there is a point of oversaturation.

Another part of the report also details more about consumer behaviors. According to Mistplay, 75% of players do extra steps before installing a new app, including researching for more information and reading reviews, meaning that maintaining a good reputation is another important factor in avoiding player churn. Players report to Mistplay that they have left a game because it “feels too pay-to-win” (77%) and because of disruptive ads (71%).

Given how informed players are, Mistplay suggests that game developers can offer alternative monetization options. These can include subscriptions, premium titles (where the whole game has a single set cost) and direct-to-consumer web shops. At present, some of these options aren’t as successful with consumers as others — only 14% of players surveyed have engaged with DTC shops. But the report also shows there is room for growth with those options.

Mistplay’s report reads: “DTC web shops are an emerging strategy, rapidly scaling alongside a resurgence of subscription models and continued exploration of IP collaborations for new IAP. This shift aims to improve margins, diversify beyond the traditional app store monopolies, and adapt to changing player behaviors. Investing in these up-and-coming monetization models early will open the door to growing [lifetime value] as adoption rates increase over time.”

In 2014, Ivan Crewkov moved his family from Siberia to the U.S. as his startup, Cubic.AI, was preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign for its smart speaker. A week before the campaign was supposed to go live, Amazon launched its Echo smart speaker, rendering Cubic.AI essentially dead in the water.

“It was a disaster,” Crewkov told TechCrunch. “It made zero sense to compete with Amazon and Google; we ended up selling the company [two years later].”

But the experience wasn’t a total loss. Moving his family from Siberia to the U.S. meant putting his daughters, used to speaking Russian at home, into English-speaking schools. His eldest daughter started working with an online tutor, and when Crewkov realized that the tutor was reading scripted answers, the idea behind his next and current startup, Buddy.ai, was born.

“I just realized that we could probably create an AI character that would do the same things if lessons are scripted,” Crewkov said. “My daughter struggled; she was our first tester and our first user.”

Buddy.ai is an animated, multimodal, conversational character tutor meant to help children learn English as a second language. The company works as a subscription app that consumers can download. The company has also started working with schools in countries like Brazil as well.

Crewkov said that despite their background working in voice-based AI, it was challenging to get the business off the ground. When they started, they thought they would be able to get the product to market within six months, a goal Crewkov now refers to as “naive.” Instead, it took years.

Because the product is aimed at children, the company had to navigate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) and similar laws in other countries. Plus, it’s a tough problem to crack. The AI had to be trained not just to understand human voice but to also understand children’s voices speaking in languages they didn’t fully know yet.

“We are trying to understand a 4-year-old Brazilian girl who is trying to say her first words in English at the same time as a 4-year-old Arabic girl from Saudi Arabia,” Crewkov said. “Completely different accents and completely different languages. We just started collecting data in countries [where] there were no hardcore [regulations] like COPPA and trained the first model on that data.”

But the company prevailed, and now seven years later it is approaching 55 million downloads and works with more than 22 million students annually.

Buddy.ai just raised an $11 million seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures with participation from One Way Ventures, J Ventures, and Point72 Ventures, among others.

Crewkov said that fundraising for Buddy.ai was tough from the beginning, and despite the rise of interest in AI, this round was still a slog. He said they spoke to 186 investors to close this seed round. BITKRAFT just happened to be the second firm they spoke to, and Crewkov said that they were the perfect fit for what his company was doing.

“We were specifically interested in finding a fund with expertise in the gaming field and that’s why we are so in love with BITKRAFT,” Crewkov said. “Children treat Buddy as a game. A fun fact is most of the downloads are actually made by children who just want to play with buddy.”

The company plans to invest all of the capital into product development. Crewkov said that despite the company’s age and traction, thus far he considers the tech to be pretty underdeveloped. Buddy.ai plans to hire a head of game design and a head of UX design with this latest round.

Crewkov added that a big push for the company is to add on more languages and continue to build out its relationships with schools.

Buddy.ai is not the only company looking to use AI characters to help people practice a new language. Univerbal is another that has raised $2 million in venture capital. Loora has raised $21.3 million. Buddy.ai’s approach of focusing on children learning English as a second language helps it stand out.

“We just believe that the future is hybrid where AI tutors and AI agents can really help teachers,” Crewkov said. “You just need to provide a lot of practice, practice daily. We will never [have] enough teachers to do that; it’s the prefect applications to AI.”

Apple’s journey to making its own wireless chips has been a long one, but the end might be in sight. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X that Apple’s switch to its own in-house Wi-Fi / Bluetooth chips will start with the iPhone 17 in the second half of next year.

Kuo also agrees with 9to5Mac’s report that the iPhone SE 4, expected in spring of 2025, will be the first device to use Apple’s own homemade 5G modem. He says that the SE will continue using a third-party Wi-Fi chip made by Broadcom, and that the iPhone 17 will be the first device to use both an Apple-made modem and Wi-Fi chip.

The budget-friendly iPhone SE series is due for a serious upgrade, and it looks like Apple intends to add a lot more than just a new custom modem. Rumors suggest it will come with an OLED screen for the first time, Face ID, and will support Apple Intelligence. But those aren’t the only upgrades it might see: a higher price tag could be in the cards, too.

Ever send a picture of yourself trying on clothes to a friend to see what they think of how you look? Now, imagine doing the same from the perfume and cologne counter. AI could make that happen in the not-too-distant future after a breakthrough in ‘Scent Teleportation.’ Osmo, which bills itself as a “digital olfaction” company, has succeeded in using AI to analyze a scent in one location and reproduce it elsewhere without human intervention.

Scent teleportation uses sensors to collect and analyze a scent with a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS). The data is then transmitted to a specialized molecular printer, which can synthesize and combine the chemicals necessary to exactly reproduce the scent. Osmo has previously performed scent teleportation, but only with humans helping the process at every step.

I took my first ride in a Waymo robotaxi last month, and now I’m obsessed. I have taken five autonomous car rides since, and even convinced two reluctant friends to do it too. Here’s how I went from a hater to a cautious friend of robot cars in five weeks.

Waymo’s parent company Alphabet – which also owns Google – recently launched a pilot programme in San Francisco. When I was ready to hail one, I simply downloaded an app that closely resembles a rideshare app and pushed the call button. Within minutes, a white Jaguar…