Only Products and Other Stuff

Ahead of the official relaunch of subscription-based movie ticketing service MoviePass, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against three of its former executives, claiming they lied to investors and the public. The SEC filing targeted former MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe and Ted Farnsworth, the former CEO of parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), claiming they lied about how it planned to be profitable and used “fraudulent tactics to prevent MoviePass’s heavy users from using the [unlimited subscription service],” the SEC wrote. When under the rule of Lowe and Farnsworth, MoviePass promised users a $9.95 per month subscription that would give them an unlimited number of 2D movie tickets. However, MoviePass quickly kissed “unlimited” goodbye, ending the service that was likely losing a lot of money. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Last year, Farnsworth and Lowe settled with the Federal Trade Commission after MoviePass was accused of...

Apple’s latest iPadOS 16 developer beta brings Stage Manager to older iPad Pro models, as an M1 chip is no longer required. Stage Manager , which offers easier multitasking and switching between apps, was previously only compatible with the M1-powered iPad Air and the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models released last year. Now, the feature will also be coming to third and fourth-generation iPad Pro models. The news was first reported by Engadget . However, the older iPad models won’t be able to extend their display to an external model, which means Stage Manager will only work on the iPad’s display. In addition, external display support for Stage Manager is getting delayed to a future software update later this year. Given that some people have shared their concerns about Stage Manager’s external display feature, Apple is likely looking to take more time to fine-tune the functionality. Apple provided TechCrunch with the following statement regarding the changes: “We introduced S...

If you love a great comeback story, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more dramatic one than Parker Conrad, the former CEO of Zenefits. A legendary Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur, Conrad took Zenefits on a meteoric rise to a $4.5 billion valuation just three years after launching the company in 2013. But there is rarely gain without pain. After the company ran afoul of compliance issues, Conrad stepped down as CEO in 2016 . Undeterred, Conrad founded a new startup within months of leaving Zenefits. Rippling, a promising, high-flying HR and IT software company, hit a valuation just slightly north of $11 billion last May after raising $250 million in Series D funding. The round, co-led by Bedrock and Kleiner Perkins, included participation from existing investors Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital and others. We love a comeback story, too, which is why we’re thrilled that Parker Conrad will join us onstage for a fireside chat at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–10 in San Francisco. ...

Netflix announced today it’s introducing a new feature to its games service that will allow its members to create game handles when they’re playing its exclusive titles. TechCrunch had previously reported the feature was in development and had been quietly tested on select titles, including The Breach, Bowling Ballers, Mahjong Solitaire and Heads Up. Now, the option is rolling out more broadly to members across both iOS and Android devices, the company says. The game handles allow Netflix subscribers to create a unique username that can be used across Netflix’s games, including multiplayer titles like Rival Pirates, where the handles could help identify players, or in other games which include leaderboards like Dominoes Café and Lucky Luna, for example. Netflix also notes game handles will help players to discover other gamers, make friends and play with each other. Image Credits: Netflix These social features were also spotted in development recently, as references in the mo...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today proposed new rules to fight back against so-called “robotext” campaigns — the barrages of scam texts sent by malicious actors and large criminal organizations. In a press release, the agency said it would solicit ideas to apply caller ID technologies to text messaging and explore mandating that cell providers block illegal texts before they reach consumers. “The American people are fed up with scam texts, and we need to use every tool we have to do something about it,” FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Recently, scam text messaging has become a growing threat to consumers’ wallets and privacy. More can be done to address this growing problem and today we are formally starting an effort to take a serious, comprehensive, and fresh look at our policies for fighting unwanted robotexts.” In a notice of proposed rulemaking published this morning, the FCC suggests requiring cell carriers to block texts that purpo...

Meeting reminders can be tough to navigate. Even if you get a notification 10 or 30 minutes before the meeting you might forget to join or struggle to find the meeting link moments before joining. Magical, a pro ductivity company,  aims to solve these problems with a Chrome extension called  timeOS . This extension shows your next meeting’s details on every new tab you open. The timeOS extension works in a simple way. After installing it, the extension will ask you to log in with your Google account to sync your calendar. Once the sync is complete, it will show your next meeting on the new tab page. The timeOS extension shows your next meeting on every new tab Image Credits: timeOS You can quickly join the meeting from that page with CMD/Ctrl + J shortcut or get a popup reminder to join a minute before the meeting starts. What’s more, the tool also reminds you to wrap up your meeting on time so you can move on to other tasks. Image Credits: timeOS The new tab page a...

The more coupon codes we can find for online shopping the better, but Harry Dixon, Rory Garton-Smith and Elliot Rampono thought something was missing: the ability to house all of the various savings we receive in one place. “Marketing channels have become saturated and everyone is trying to figure out their own channels,” CEO Dixon, who previously worked at EasyPost, told TechCrunch. “We are used to getting personalized codes and have even changed our behaviors to wait for code, but we never know when they are going to come.” Enter Checkmate , a company they started 18 months ago that aims to compete against online deal aggregators, like Honey , Capital One Shopping and Vetted , to provide a shopping tool that gathers all the online discount codes, gift cards and personalized deals from your inbox and automatically applies them at checkout. Their offering is twofold: Users can track packages and manage gift cards from a dashboard. One of the best parts? Checkmate will make you ...