TechCrunch Industry News
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Tumblr to run on skeleton crew as parent company Automattic absorbs staff
According to a leaked memo, Tumblr’s longterm financial woes have reached a breaking point. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lyft picks comfort over sharing in bid to compete with Uber
Lyft is introducing a “more affordable sort of higher-end ride” in an attempt to offer ride-hail products that customers actually want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI blames DDoS attack for ongoing ChatGPT outage
OpenAI has confirmed that a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack is behind “periodic outages” affecting ChatGPT and its developer tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Instagram is finally testing a feature to let you turn off read receipts for DMs
By Ivan Mehta - Instagram is finally testing a feature that will let users turn off read receipts for Instagram DMs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung unveils ChatGPT alternative Samsung Gauss that can generate text, code and images
Written by Kate Park - Just a few days after OpenAI’s developer event, Samsung unveiled its own generative AI model, Samsung Gauss, at the Samsung AI Forum 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GM halts production of Cruise Origin robotaxi amid suspended operations
Cruise is pausing production of its purpose-built robotaxi, the Origin — the autonomous vehicle company’s latest setback amid suspended operations and increased scrutiny from regulators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WeWork, once worth $47 billion, files for bankruptcy
Flexible-office-space firm WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a stunning change in fortune for the once high-flying startup co-founded by Adam Neumann and bankrolled by SoftBank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People are turning to Snap Map for firsthand perspectives from Gaza
The world is watching the humanitarian crisis in Gaza unfold in real time through firsthand accounts documented on, of all places, Snapchat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Android’s new real-time app scanning aims to fight malicious sideloaded apps
Android’s in-built security engine Google Play Protect has a new feature that conducts a real-time analysis of an Android app’s code and blocks it from installing the app if it’s considered potentially harmful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DoorDash adds new safety tools for its delivery people, including ‘driving insights’
DoorDash is launching three new in-app safety tools for its delivery people, the company announced on Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X runs ‘timeline takeover’ ad promoting anti-trans film
Thursday on X (Twitter), all users saw the same pinned topic under the “What’s happening?” sidebar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dashtoon uses AI to turn storytellers into comics artists
Dashtoon wants to make anyone with a story to tell into a comics artist, even if they can’t draw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple Music shuts down its Siri-only Voice Plan nearly two years later
Apple Music just shut down its cheapest option—the Voice Plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Politicians commit to collaborate to tackle AI safety, US launches safety institute
By Ingrid Lunden. The world is locked in a race, and competition, over dominance in AI, but today, a few of them appeared to come together to say that they would prefer to collaborate when it comes to mitigating risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blockers globally
Written by Ivan Mehta. YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blocker usage globally, by showing warnings about breaking the platform’s terms of service. In some cases, the company is preventing users from viewing more videos unless they disable ad blocks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple brought back the best Mac colorway with the new M3 MacBook Pro
Apple has a new range of updated MacBook Pro notebooks, and while they get a pretty nice internal upgrade courtesy mostly of the new M3 processor lineup, the big news for aesthetes is on the outside. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ event video was shot on iPhone
In tech, ‘dogfooding’ means using your own stuff in the way you intend for your users to, which is helpful to make sure your stuff lives up to your marketing claims. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shein adds struggling UK brand Missguided to its fashion empire
Shein, the fast fashion giant that has thrived on its nimble supply chain in China, is expanding its product range by scooping up competitors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
President Biden issues executive order to set standards for AI safety and security
U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order that seeks to establish “new standards” for AI safety and security. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise pauses all driverless robotaxi operations to ‘rebuild public trust’
Cruise said Thursday evening it has paused all driverless operations, a decision that comes just two days after the California DMV suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits effectively ending its robotaxi operations in the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A year after Musk’s takeover, X says an average user spends 32 minutes per day on the platform
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Musk taking over Twitter (now X), the company published a retrospective blog post examining how it has fared under the new management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta says users and businesses have 600 million chats on its platforms every day
Meta is doubling down on business messages for revenue generation, as Mark Zuckerberg indicated during the company’s earnings call for Q3 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Will X’s addition of audio and video calling create stickiness in the app?
Elon Musk announced Wednesday that an early version of video and audio calling is now available on X, formerly known as Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
California agency pulls Cruise’s commercial robotaxi permit following DMV action
The California Public Utilities Commission has suspended Cruise’s authority to carry and charge passengers for its robotaxi service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google is actively looking to insert different types of ads in its generative AI search
Google confirmed on its earnings call that it is working on different ad formats for its generative AI-powered search experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC aims to investigate the risk of AI-enhanced robocalls
As if robocalling wasn’t already enough of a problem, the advent of easily accessible, realistic AI-powered writing and synthetic voice could supercharge the practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feds expand Tesla investigation to include vehicle range, personal benefits
Tesla has the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice — again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After $43B valuation, Databricks acquires data replication startup Arcion for $100M
Databricks has remained a hot startup at a time when interest from investors has cooled across the ecosystem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder’s app gets more social by letting friends play matchmaker
Dating app users will often sit with friends as they swipe through their matches in order to gain feedback, or even hand over their phone and let their friends swipe for them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google takes aim at Duolingo with new English tutoring tool
Google’s gunning for Duolingo with a new Google Search feature designed to help people practice — and improve — their English skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk confirms X is soon launching two new premium tiers
Elon Musk today said that X (formerly Twitter) is going to soon launch two new premium tiers, confirming previous reports and code sightings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sidebar thinks the key to career dev is small peer groups
Sidebar, a company developing a group coaching program focused on driving individual career growth, today announced that it raised $13.3 million in a seed round from investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp will now let log into two accounts simultaneously
WhatsApp announced today that it is rolling out the ability for users to use two accounts simultaneously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Foxconn and Nvidia are building ‘AI factories’ to accelerate self-driving cars
Nvidia and Foxconn are working together to build so-called “AI factories,” a new class of data centers that promise to provide supercomputing powers to accelerate the development of self-driving cars, autonomous machines and industrial robots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X starts experimenting with a $1 per year fee for new users
X, formerly Twitter, announced today that is starting a new experiment to charge a $1 per year fee for “new unverified” users to interact with posts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube is launching new playback and creator-focused features
YouTube is rolling out a new set of features for better mobile-based playback, song search, and creator-friendly tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
WhatsApp is launching passkey support on Android
WhatsApp is introducing support for passkeys on Android, the Meta-owned messaging service has announced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
General Catalyst and European early stage fund La Famiglia ‘join forces’ to invest in European startups
In a move that will help cement the incursion of US-based VCs into the European ecosystem, General Catalyst and La Famiglia have announced they are, in their words, “joining forces”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Leucine makes drug manufacturing compliance less onerous
The compliance process at pharmaceutical manufacturers is a complicated and prone to errors because many still use paper-based systems to record manufacturing steps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford increases wages at planned EV battery factories amid UAW strike
Ford and its joint venture partner SK On, will increase wages at two planned EV battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee in an effort to assuage striking autoworkers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft’s $68.7B Activision acquisition clears final hurdle as UK approves restructured deal
Microsoft’s near-two year attempt to buy gaming giant Activision is finally happening, after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted a restructured proposal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Twitch adds anti-harassment features to stop banned users from watching streams
Twitch streamers can finally block banned users from watching their streams, thanks to a recent update to the platform’s anti-harassment features. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Linda Yaccarino responds to EU: 700 Community Notes, 5K+ images shared on Israel-Hamas war, “thousands” of pieces of content removed
X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, came under fire earlier this week in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Recs is a social ‘wallet’ for stashing and sharing your favorite places
The most popular apps suck us into the technological equivalent of couch lock, but it’s easy to imagine how things might have gone differently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Klarna launches a suite of new features, including an AI-powered image-search tool
Klarna is introducing a suite of new features, including an AI-powered image-search tool called Shopping lens, the company announced on Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Consumer payments startup Braid shuts down, cites struggles with ‘leveraging third-party software’
Braid, a four-year-old startup that aimed to make shared wallets more mainstream among consumers, has shut down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X’s new control lets only verified accounts reply to a post
X has introduced a new control that limits replies to only verified accounts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prosus-backed fast-fashion startup Virgio, valued at $161 million, shuts down
Fast-fashion startup Virgio, founded by former Myntra chief, is shutting down its operations less than a year after raising funds at a valuation of over $160 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo-Zeekr robotaxi poised for US testing by end of 2023
Nearly two years after Waymo and Geely struck a deal to develop robotaxis for the U.S. market, we are seeing concrete progress in the collaboration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix’s 6.5M India subscribers dwarfed by Prime Video and Disney, Bernstein says
Netflix has “not succeeded” in scaling up its business in India despite the global streaming giant consistently lowering the subscription costs in the country, analysts at AllianceBernstein wrote in a report to clients Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices