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Showing posts from August, 2026

Hackers claim millions of patient records stolen during data breach at healthcare giant McKesson

The company, which distributes medicines and medical devices to hospitals and healthcare practices across the U.S., said it was hacked and expects intermittent service degradation.

Meeting notetaker Circleback adds a free tier to attract more customers

Circleback is also introducing new pricing plans starting from $14 per month

Grindr wants to be the everything app for gay men; investors are still deciding whether it can pull it off

George Arison is done letting Wall Street's "Grindr discount" go unchallenged — in a wide-ranging Q&A, the CEO walks us through how AI, a controversial $350-plus EDGE tier, and a bet on healthcare and long-distance matchmaking are turning Grindr into the "gayborhood in your pocket" he's been promising since 2022.

Liux’s Big microcar bets on sustainability to take on Chinese rivals

The Liux Big microcar is made in Spain. The startup thinks it can compete in a crowded market with its tiny electric car built around sustainability.

Musk’s faster path to more gas turbines comes with pollution problem

Elon Musk says a secretive new SpaceX foundry will let him cast his own turbine blades and get gas power online 18 months faster than anyone else — but it's a bet on a fuel source that's already triggering lawsuits and health studies everywhere his (and others') turbines have gone in.

TechCrunch Mobility: The hidden human cost of robotaxis

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.

Caterpillar is bringing to AI deployment what it learned from automating mining

Caterpillar has spent decades putting autonomous machines to work at remote mining sites. It's now bringing that experience to AI deployment.

Sony Music, Warner sue Anthropic, alleging a “brazen campaign” of intellectual property theft

This latest lawsuit is particularly broad and homes in on accusations of illegal piracy.

Neocloud Lambda secures $1B in debt to buy more chips

Neocloud Lambda has raised $1B in private debt to buy Nvidia AI chips and lease them to Microsoft. It's the latest in a string of loans, underscoring the high cost of the AI boom.

Open-weight AI companies are the Valley’s hottest acquisition targets

There's a lot of capital pouring into the business of giving models away.

Barret Zoph, the Thinking Machines co-founder ousted before joining OpenAI, is now at Google

Zoph, who co-founded Thinking Machines Lab alongside Mira Murati and also served as the startup's CTO, led a brief stint at OpenAI and is now at Google.

Medical device maker Boston Scientific says a cyberattack is causing a ‘global disruption’ to its operations

The company won't say if medical devices are affected or if any customer data was exfiltrated.

Instagram’s ‘First Draft’ feature aims to make editing Reels less tedious

Instagram is making one of the most tedious parts of creating Reels easier. The company announced Tuesday in a Threads post that it’s rolling out “First Draft,” a new editing feature that automatically trims selected video clips and removes pauses, pulling together the best moments into an initial cut.  Instagram says the process can produce […]

Your vote matters! Decide which Audience Choice sessions will make it to TechCrunch Founder Summit 

Each year, we get a huge influx of applicants to speak at TechCrunch’s events, and this year’s Founder Summit in Boston on November 4 will be no different!

Apply now to host a Side Event at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Apply before September 4 to be a part of the Disrupt community by hosting your own Side Event.

US nutrition startup Berry Street merges with India’s Healthify as GLP-1 trends upwards

Berry Street founder Noah Kotlove and Healthify founder Tushar Vashisht will act as co-CEOs of the new entity.

Uber faces fine of nearly $1B over automated driver suspensions

The Dutch Data Protection Authority is fining Uber €825 million in the second largest penalty issued under Europe’s GDPR.

Two years after launch, Walmart’s Flipkart is closing in on India’s quick-commerce leaders

Flipkart's quick-commerce venture is delivering 1.1 million to 1.2 million orders a day, nearly triple its November volume.

Will the DOJ’s investigation into a16z spook other VCs?

On the latest episode of Equity, we wonder why the DOJ is investigating startup board seats.

Inherent, founded by DeepMind alumni, says its AI ‘teammate’ just outperformed Anthropic and OpenAI at replicating research

Built by DeepMind alumni, British AI lab Inherent released Faraday, an AI agent whose ability to replicate scientific papers could be a stepping stone for innovation.

Nvidia just showed that the harness, not the AI model, is now the real hero

Nvidia research shows that AI agents can perform well, and not go off the deep end, through fine-tuning, even if the AI model isn't that great at the task.

Linkdaze’s smart calendar is built to run a household, not just track a schedule

Linkdaze's smart digital calendar stands out for not putting its features behind a paywall, including an AI meal planner tool.

T-Mobile ‘chopped a cable’ to expel Chinese hackers from its network

The U.S. phone provider escaped a large-scale breach of its network after identifying Chinese-backed hackers early on.

DOJ’s probe into Andreessen Horowitz over board seats baffles VCs

Since portfolio companies often pivot and expand into competing markets, investors view occasional conflicts of interest as unavoidable for large VC firms.

TikTok explores peer-to-peer payments via DMs, report says

If rolled out, the feature would use the social media service’s TikTok Pay offering, which is already available in Southeast Asia for TikTok Shop purchases.

Etched’s valuation doubles to $21B in a month

Jane Street has installed Etched's first shipped AI cluster system, and was so impressed, it led another massive round, the startup says.

Spotify’s new Playlist Notes let users and editors explain their song picks

Spotify launches a new feature that gives users a chance to explain the stories and reasoning behind their favorite music. Editors will be using the feature, too, on top playlists like RapCaviar and others.

Sound-powered fire protection startup gets $15M to snuff out fires before they turn catastrophic

Sonic Fire Tech raised its new funding to help get its sound-powered fire protection system into everything from commercial kitchens to apartment buildings.

Crypto hardware wallet owners face fresh security risks after recent spate of personal data thefts

The hacks at shipping companies used to mail out hardware wallets puts crypto owners at greater risk of real-world attacks.

Why people aren’t buying Mark Zuckerberg’s AI future

On the latest episode of Equity podcast, we discuss why not everyone is buying Zuckerberg’s vision.

Anthropic CEO says AI backlash is ‘fundamentally a crisis of trust’

Dario Amodei is pushing back against the idea that he's been painting an overly pessimistic picture of AI.

TechCrunch Mobility: The shifting flight path of electric air taxis

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

Woman claims her stepfather used Grok to transform childhood photo into explicit imagery

The woman claimed that AI tools are "taking everyday life and turning it into child sexual abuse."

Anthropic shares more details about how Claude’s new watermarks will work

How will the watermarking actually work? Can it be hidden with editing? And how does this affect code?

Self-driving trucks are officially testing on California highways

Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI, two companies developing self-driving trucks, have received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Read-it-later app Pocket shut down — here are the best alternatives

Pocket users have until October 8, 2025, to export their saved articles and other items, including lists, archives, favorites, notes, and highlights.

Anthropic set AI agents loose on the same task. They started a turf war.

Anthropic researchers found AI agents can clash, collude, and coordinate in unexpected ways, raising new questions about whether today’s safety tests capture the risks of multi-agent systems.

Northrop’s robot space mechanic is a new way to keep satellites at work longer

The Mission Robotic Vehicle is making the first attempt to attach a new thruster to an aging satellite.

Amazon will train on Twitch streamers’ content by default, unless they opt out

"If this was opt-in, nobody would opt in," Twitch CPO Mike Minton said on a livestream responding to user feedback. "That's honestly the answer."

AI coding startup Cognition reportedly already in talks to raise at $40B valuation

Cognition may be looking to raise another mega round just a few months after raising $1 billion at a $26 billion valuation.

FBI says cybercriminals are hacking into victims’ online accounts to steal their intimate pictures

In a new alert, the FBI said cybercriminals are targeting adults and minors in an attempt to steal their personal and intimate pictures in extortion campaigns.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT desktop app for Linux

OpenAI is finally bringing a dedicated ChatGPT desktop app to Linux operating systems.

Google’s Gemini app surges to one billion users

Gemini is keeping pace with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which hit 1 billion monthly active users back in June. 

Tech industry is buzzing after a Claude agent hacked into a gym

An OpenClaw agent hacked into a gym's reservation system to bump its human boss higher on a class' waitlist. And the tech industry took notice.

YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money

Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Google Play adds Venmo as a payment option

The ability to add Venmo to Google Play comes as people are spending more money on apps and games.

Embattled hedge fund Situational Awareness invests $400M in chip startup Source Foundry

The AI-focused hedge fund is still making some big bets.

Anthropic is turning Claude Code’s auto mode on by default

Programming with Claude Code will soon require even less human oversight.

This ‘adversarial’ pattern can prevent surveillance cameras from detecting you

A security researcher has designed an algorithm that can create computer-generated patterns capable of hiding people, faces, and vehicles from detection by surveillance cameras.

This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs

More than 20 years ago, King's Cross was one of the seediest area's in London. Now it's sprouting something new.

Planned Amazon data center could become the biggest climate polluter in the U.S.

As part of a planned Texas data center, Amazon is investing in an on-site power plant that could reportedly become the largest source of climate pollution in the United States.

OpenAI acquires presentation startup NextSlide

NextSlide says its team members are now working on ChatGPT.

OpenAI says it slowed Astra model development over security concerns

OpenAI said this model, which is still in development, reached its "critical cybersecurity threshold," meaning it could independently identify and carry out cyberattacks against traditionally well-protected real-world systems.

Wacom’s Movinkpad 11 is a fun and mid-priced entry point for digital artists

The Movinkpad 11 a versatile little graphics tablet that can help make your wildest digital art dreams come true.

Security researchers scanned the Polish web and found courts, hospitals, and airports at risk of hacks

Researchers found common points of failure, like software used to organize and display web content, could have allowed hackers to run riot through government websites.

Vogue just gave another nod of approval to the tech world

Vogue World is coming to San Francisco next year — perhaps another indication that tech bros are now part of the fashion zeitgeist.

China-linked LightSpy spyware caught targeting victims in 13 countries, including the US

Researchers linked the latest malicious activity to a Chinese company, after one of the spyware's operators placed an order with KFC using their real name and office address.

Defense tech Hadrian raises $1.37B at $8B valuation

Hadrian is building automated factories to mass produce parts for defense vehicles like submarines. It's backed by a long list of well-known investors.

Jeff Dean and other top AI researchers are leaving Google to launch their own startup

The legendary Google executive is joined by other outgoing Google execs in a joint mission to use AI to push forward the process of scientific discovery.

Nvidia doesn’t mess around: A week after open AI industry group formed, it’s already showing progress

The week-old Open Secure AI Alliance, spearheaded by Nvidia and grown to over 120 companies, already has proposals out for defending against AI agents.

Take an extra $100 off your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass: This week only!

Starting today, you can take an additional $100 off your founder, investor, or attendee TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass, which is a nice bonus on top of our current discounted pricing. 

DesignArena creators raise $7.9 million to bring taste to AI models

DesignArena is used by 5.3 million people around the world, providing critical human evaluations to frontier labs.

Apple finally fixed Siri. So why does it feel anticlimactic?

Apple’s long-awaited AI overhaul finally makes Siri the assistant it was always supposed to be. But after years of delays, the launch lands in an AI landscape where chatbots have evolved into agents that can code, reason, create media, and complete complex tasks. Siri AI is genuinely useful, yet it arrives at a moment when simply being a capable AI assistant no longer feels revolutionary.

Samsung bans smart TV apps that share users’ internet connections with strangers

New security research offers a rare view inside residential proxy networks, which rely on apps that share a person's internet connection with someone else.

A Marc Benioff-backed startup thinks AI can solve the AI deployment problem

June emerged from stealth today with a $20 million pre-seed round to make AI adoption simpler.

The global memory shortage hits the MacBook Air

The global memory chip shortage appears to be affecting the availability of Apple’s most popular Mac.

Sam Altman and AI’s decel debate

On the latest episode of Equity, we discuss why Sam Altman has calling on the industry to "pace the rate of AI development."

YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’

Green offered a remarkable apology, saying that "the level of dopamine that I've been getting from interacting with LLMs ... is not healthy for me or good for the world."

Should you still buy your next smartphone — or subscribe to it instead?

Apple's new Upgrade program is the latest sign that smartphone ownership is changing.