Lily Mae Lazarus / Fortune:
Sources: Salient, which uses AI to automate loan servicing, raised $10M following a $60M Series A in June, pushing its valuation to ~$500M; its ARR hit $25M  —  In an industry where high churn is the norm, Salient has retained all of its customers.COURTESY OF MATRIX.VC

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Instacart will pay $60M to settle FTC allegations that it used deceptive tactics in its subscription signup and “satisfaction guarantee” advertising  —  Instacart will pay $60 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that it misled users with false advertising and deployed …

Tom Cruise debuts a new look in Iñárritu’s apocalyptic comedy thriller Digger, hitting theaters October 2, 2026.

Between all the new phones, smartwatches, and laptops we see throughout the year, it often feels like we're constantly being nudged toward shinier, more expensive gadgets. And I get it. As a self-professed gadget nerd, few things are more exciting than unboxing and setting up a new device. But the truth is, you can still […]

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon rolls out Alexa+ on the web to early access users, with chat functionality, smart home controls, file management, and cross-device conversations  —  Amazon is quietly rolling out the last big pillar of its AI-powered Alexa+ vision: the Alexa.com website, bridging the gap between its Echo devices …