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Showing posts from August, 2025

Murder at Burning Man turns Silicon Valley’s desert playground into a crime scene

A homicide investigation has rocked the final days of Burning Man after a man was found dead “lying in a pool of blood” Saturday night at the Nevada desert festival, according to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office. According to the New York Times, the grim discovery occurred around 9:14 p.m. just as the festival’s iconic […]

Director Jim Jarmusch ‘disappointed and disconcerted’ by Mubi’s funding from Sequoia

Veteran indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch is the latest to criticize Mubi for taking money from Sequoia.

FTC chair warns Google about Gmail’s ‘partisan’ spam filters

FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson appears to be pursuing conservative complaints over Gmail's spam filters.

TechCrunch Mobility: A new speed bump for EV owners and Waymo’s robotaxi fleet surpasses 2,000

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

Nvidia says two mystery customers accounted for 39% of Q2 revenue

Nearly 40% of Nvidia’s second quarter revenue came from just two companies, identified in a filing as "Customer A" and "Customer B."

Spotlight on AI at TechCrunch Disrupt: Don’t miss these sessions backed by JetBrains and Greenfield

TechCrunch Disrupt isn’t just about showcasing the startups of tomorrow — it’s also about surfacing the boldest ideas shaping technology today.

Tesla challenges $243 million verdict in Autopilot death trial

The company's lawyers blame the driver (who settled with the victims separately) for the crash, and the plaintiffs' lawyers for "overwhelming" the jury with "irrelevant evidence."

Nvidia, Google, and Bill Gates help Commonwealth Fusion Systems raise $863M

Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised nearly $3 billion to commercialize its fusion power plant. It hopes to send electricity to the grid in the early 2030s.

US manufacturing investment stumbles as clean tech cancellations pile up

Companies canceled $5 billion worth of clean tech manufacturing projects in the U.S. in Q2, mirroring a pullback in the broader manufacturing sector.

The Boring Company is finally testing Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ in its Las Vegas tunnels

It may seem like a great place to test Tesla's driver assistance tech, but the underground convention center shuttle program will stay human-driven for a while.

Meta to spend tens of millions on pro-AI super PAC

Meta's new PAC signals an intent to influence statewide elections, including the next governor’s race in 2026.

DOGE uploaded live copy of Social Security database to ‘vulnerable’ cloud server, says whistleblower

The Social Security Administration's chief data officer has publicly blown the whistle, alleging DOGE put hundreds of millions of Social Security records at risk of compromise.

Road to Battlefield: Central Eurasia’s largest startup competition in history sends four winners to TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield

The startup ecosystem in Central Eurasia is having its moment. What started as 485 applications from across 27 countries — including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, UAE, the U.K., Ukraine, the U.S., Uzbekistan, and Vietnam — has culminated in […]

NotebookLM’s Video Overviews feature now supports 80 languages

NotebookLM’s Video Overviews now supports 80 languages, including French and Spanish.

Pintarnya raises $16.7M to power jobs and financial services in Indonesia

The Indonesian startup, now backed by $16.7M in Series A funding, helps workers find full-time and side gigs while offering financial solutions

Former Meta exec Nick Clegg offers careful criticism of ‘cloyingly conformist’ Silicon Valley

Meta’s former policy chief Nick Clegg seems to be walking a tightrope as he promotes his upcoming book, “How to Save the Internet.”

Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ is probably the biggest movie in theaters

This is Netflix's first time winning the domestic box office.

TechCrunch Mobility: Waymo’s Big Apple score and Nvidia backs Nuro

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for news, analysis, and scoops around the future of transportation.

Elon Musk says xAI has open sourced Grok 2.5

Elon Musk’s xAI has made an older version of its AI model Grok — specifically, the model weights used to shape Grok 2.5 —  available on the open source platform Hugging Face.

OpenAI warns against SPVs and other ‘unauthorized’ investments

OpenAI isn't the only AI company looking to crack down on SPVs.

Amazon AGI Labs chief defends his reverse acquihire

The former Adept CEO said he hopes to be "remembered more as "an AI research innovator" than a "a deal structure innovator."

Bluesky blocks service in Mississippi over age assurance law

In a blog post published on Friday, the company explains that, as a small team, it doesn't have the resources to make the substantial technical changes this type of law would require, and it raised concerns about the law's broad scope and privacy implications.

Apple gets ready for AI in the enterprise with new ChatGPT configuration options

Apple will let businesses configure ChatGPT enterprise access in the fall.

TikTok denies India comeback after reports of website going live

TikTok isn’t making a comeback in India.

Ecosia has offered to take ‘stewardship’ of Chrome. And it’s not a bad idea.

Berlin-based nonprofit search engine Ecosia has asked a U.S. judge to turn Chrome into a foundation it controls, funding billions in climate projects.

Elon Musk’s X may finally settle $500M severance lawsuit

Elon Musk's X is settling a severance lawsuit with former Twitter employees.

Anthropic bundles Claude Code into enterprise plans

The integration positions Anthropic to better compete with command-line tools from Google and GitHub, both of which included enterprise integrations on launch.

Google pays $30M to settle lawsuit over children’s YouTube data

Google has agreed to pay $30M to settle a lawsuit over children's data collection, though the company denies wrongdoing.

Discover how developer tools are shifting fast with Lauri Moore and David Cramer at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

From no-code to AI-assisted dev environments, “vibe coding” is changing how early-stage startups build — and who they need to hire. The once-standard idea of landing a “10x engineer” as your first critical hire is getting a serious reality check with Lauri Moore (Bessemer) and David Cramer (Sentry) on the Builder Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in October at San Francisco's Moscone West.

OpenAI launches a sub $5 ChatGPT plan in India

This plan will offer 10x more messages and image generation than the free tier, among other benefits.

SoftBank makes $2B investment in Intel

SoftBank will pay $23 per share for Intel common stock.

Allianz Life data breach affects 1.1 million customers

Data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned notified 1.1 million customers of a July data breach, a number not previously reported.

X’s declining Android app installs are hurting subscription revenue

X is struggling on Android with installs down by 49% year-over-year as of June 2025.

Grammarly gets a design overhaul, multiple AI features

Grammarly now has a new document-based interface, built on the back of Coda, the productivity startup it acquired last year. The interface also sports an AI assistant, as well as a few AI tools meant for students and professionals, including an AI grader, proofreader and citation finder.

GPT-5 is supposed to be nicer now

OpenAI announced late Friday that it’s updating its latest model to be “warmer and friendlier.”

‘Stranger Things’ creators may be leaving Netflix

Netflix could soon lose the creative team behind one of its biggest hits, with the Duffer Brothers reportedly signing an exclusive deal with Paramount.

Duolingo CEO says controversial AI memo was misunderstood

While Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn faced backlash after declaring that Duolingo would become an “AI-first company,” he suggested in a new interview the real issue was that he “did not give enough context.”

AI-powered stuffed animals are coming for your kids

Do A.I. chatbots packaged inside cute-looking plushies offer a viable alternative to screen time for kids? Maybe not.

Les Amis, the European app helping women form friendships, launches in New York

Les Amis is an app designed to make it easy for women to form friendships and attend local events.

Kyte, which billed itself as the ‘best competitor to Hertz,’ shuts down

The startup entered into receivership after selling its customer list to Turo.

Cohere hits a $6.8B valuation as investors AMD, Nvidia, and Salesforce double down

Cohere's market proposition has always been to offer secure LLMs specifically geared for enterprise use, not for consumers.

Airbnb will allow US users book stays without paying upfront

Airbnb has launched a new feature called "Reserve Now, Pay Later" that lets users in the U.S. reserve a property without paying upfront, potentially allowing people to cancel their bookings with less hassle if their plans change.

Co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI departs the company

Igor Babuschkin is leaving xAI less than three years after he co-founded the startup with Elon Musk, following a series of scandals at company.

Google CEO adds a new calendar feature at Stripe co-founder’s request

While users often tag companies and CEOs with online feedback and complaints, you know you've made it when the CEO not only replies to you, but also implements the change you've asked for.

StubHub is once again working on its IPO that could raise $1B

On Monday, StubHub filed an updated S-1. This indicates its delayed IPO is back on.

Russian government hackers said to be behind US federal court filing system hack: Report

Officials are reportedly blaming a recent breach of the U.S. federal court's filing system on Russia, whose hackers used the access to snoop on midlevel criminal cases in the New York City area and other jurisdictions.

Match to pay $14M to the FTC due to false advertising and other deceptive practices

Match Group agrees to pay the FTC $14 million after it was sued for deceiving users into buying subscriptions.

iOS 26 beta 6 adds new ringtones, snappy app launches, and more

The new developer beta release, iOS 26 beta 6, adds new ringtones, faster app launches, and fixes the Camera swipe direction issues.

Poshmark CEO and founder to step down

After nearly 15 years, Manish Chandra will transition to being a member of the board of directors. Namsun Kim, who has served as executive chairman since April, has been appointed as his successor.

How founders are ditching VC norms and finding capital on their own terms at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Founders today have more capital paths than ever. But how do you navigate them — and know which one actually supports your growth?

Why investors just bet $85M on this Indian company’s generic drug strategy

Truemeds has taken a different route from other Indian online pharmacies — and it has helped the startup double its revenue.

The hidden cost of living amid Mark Zuckerberg’s $110M compound

Mark Zuckerberg has spent 14 years gobbling up his leafy Palo Alto neighborhood, according to a New York Times report detailing how the Meta CEO has purchased 11 properties for over $110 million to create his own personal fiefdom in Crescent Park. The piecemeal compound features a main residence, guest homes, manicured gardens, and a […]

Stanford sticks with legacy admissions

Stanford University has confirmed its admissions policies for fall 2026 will continue considering legacy status, a decision that could influence access to one of Silicon Valley’s most important talent pipelines. Stanford is also ending its test-optional policy, requiring SAT or ACT scores for the first time since 2021. According to the Stanford Daily, the university […]

After researchers unmasked a prolific SMS scammer, a new operation has emerged in its wake

Security researchers are now sounding the alarm on a new SMS text message fraud operation, which is surging in popularity — and its ability to steal people's credit cards — since the demise of its predecessor.

Impersonators are targeting companies with fake TechCrunch outreach

Hi, thanks as always for reading TechCrunch. We want to talk with you quickly about something important. We’ve discovered that scammers are impersonating TechCrunch reporters and event leads and reaching out to companies, pretending to be our staff when they absolutely are not. These bad actors are using our name and reputation to try to […]

Sam Altman addresses ‘bumpy’ GPT-5 rollout, bringing 4o back, and the ‘chart crime’

The Reddit AMA got spicy as users peppered OpenAI with the questions, and some asked the company to bring back its previous model.

Former Googlers’ AI startup OpenArt now creates ‘brain rot’ videos in just one click

OpenArt launched a new feature to help creators make AI-generated brain rot videos.

Rocket Lab eyes big defense opportunities with new acquisition

Rocket Lab is taking the concept of an 'end-to-end' space company to new heights with a forthcoming acquisition.

The high costs and thin margins threatening AI coding startups

Coding assistant startups are highly unprofitable, says a source familiar with Windsurf financials.

How to use Instagram Map and set your location-sharing preferences

Following concerns about safety, Instagram head Adam Mosseri reassured users that the feature is opt-in, and noted that some people are “confused” about how the feature works. 

IPO hopeful Brex scored major win to sell in the EU, plans UK expansion

The EU has authorized Brex to sell its spend management products directly in all 30 countries, "no workarounds required," CEO Pedro Franceschi said.

Google takes on ChatGPT’s Study Mode with new ‘Guided Learning’ tool in Gemini

Google is also offering students in the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and Brazil a free one-year subscription to its AI Pro plan.

Qwant and Ecosia debut Staan, a European search index that aims to take on Big Tech

European search engines Qwant and Ecosia said on Wednesday that they have both started serving search queries through an index they developed together, Staan, that aims to be a cheaper, more privacy-focused alternative to Google and Bing.

For the first time, OpenAI models are available on AWS

This is a juicy competitive move for both companies after AWS faced an onslaught of criticism over its progress with AI.

Linda Yaccarino joins health tech platform eMed as CEO after leaving X

Though Yaccarino does not have experience in health tech, eMed said in a press release that they sought her out for her "undeniable ability to negotiate new partnerships."

Jeh Aerospace nets $11M to scale the commercial aircraft supply chain in India

Indian startup Jeh Aerospace has secured $11 million in a new funding round to help ease global supply chain bottlenecks.

A top designer was banned from Dribbble. Now he’s building his own competitor.

Dribbble is enforcing its terms of service that lets it take a cut of designers' work, and kicking out those who don't comply. One top designer has had enough, and is building his own startup instead.

Google says its AI-based bug hunter found 20 security vulnerabilities

The discoveries by an AI-based bug hunter are significant, as it shows these tools are starting to get real results, even if they still need a human.

Foxconn sells former GM factory to mystery buyer after failing to make EVs

The company has spent more than three years claiming the factory would become an "important" EV hub. But it has barely produced anything there.

Joby Aviation to buy Blade Air Mobility’s ride-share business

Joby is buying the Blade brand and the company's passenger business, which includes operations in the United States and Europe, for as much as $125 million.

Tesla proposes $29B comp package for Elon Musk amid ‘AI talent war’

The plan would be voided if the Delaware Supreme Court overturns the decision to spike Musk's $56B comp plan from 2018. A judge ruled in 2024 that plan was unfairly negotiated.

Mastercard denies pressuring game platforms, Valve tells a different story

Mastercard seemingly denied playing a role in a recent marketplace crackdown on games with adult content, while Valve says the pressure was indirect.

Inside OpenAI’s quest to make AI do anything for you

OpenAI developed the first AI reasoning model less than a year ago, but the technology has shifted Silicon Valley's focus to agents.

The uproar over Vogue’s AI-generated ad isn’t just about fashion

“Modeling as a profession is already challenging enough without having to compete with now new digital standards of perfection that can be achieved with AI,” Sarah Murray told TechCrunch.

Tim Cook reportedly tells employees Apple ‘must’ win in AI

Apple CEO Tim Cook held an hourlong all-hands meeting in which he told employees that the company needs to win in AI: "Apple must do this. Apple will do this."

Lina Khan points to Figma IPO as vindication of M&A scrutiny

A surprising figure is celebrating Figma’s successful IPO: Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, who said the offering demonstrates the value of "letting startups grow into independently successful businesses."

Venture firm CRV raises $750M, downsizing after returning capital to investors

The 55-year-old VC firm announced its twentieth fund.

A backlog at the Commerce Department is reportedly stalling Nvidia’s H20 chip licenses

News of a backlog at the U.S. federal department comes less than a week after national security experts urged the Trump administration to reverse its decision that allows Nvidia to export H20 chips to China.

Tesla partly liable in Florida Autopilot trial, jury awards $329M in damages

The jury verdict is one of the first major legal decisions about driver assistance technology that has gone against Tesla. Both Elon Musk and Tesla have spent years making claims about Autopilot's capabilities.