TechCrunch Industry News
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Netflix acquires Adam McKay’s asteroid comedy ‘Don’t Look Up’, Jennifer Lawrence will star
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix announced today that it has acquired “Don’t Look Up,” a comedy written and directed by Adam McKay, with Jennifer Lawrence attached to s...
Ring slightly overhauls security and privacy, but it’s still not enough
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Security camera maker Ring is updating its service to improve account security and give more control when it comes to privacy. Once again, this is yet...
Black haircare startup Naza Beauty just raised $1 million from Alexis Ohanian’s Initialized Capital
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As we all saw in Oscar-winning short film Hair Love, black hair is beautiful but it’s also notoriously difficult to manage. One of the first hair me...
Google confirms it again removed alleged spying tool ToTok from Google Play
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In December, The New York Times reported a popular messaging app called ToTok was actually a spying tool used by the government of the United Arab Emi...
Images of TCL’s slide-out display smartphone surface in wake of MWC cancellation
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This morning brought a look at some of what we’re missing at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The show may have been called off on account of co...
Google ends its free Wi-Fi program Station
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Google said on Monday that it is winding down its Station program, through which it rolled out free Wi-Fi in more than 400 railway stations in India a...
Google’s Gboard introduces Emoji Kitchen, a tool to mash up emojis to use as stickers
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re ever felt like there just weren’t enough emoji options to express how you’re feeling, a new addition to Google’s Gboard keyboard, la...
Instagram prototypes “Latest Posts” feature
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Instagram users who miss the reverse chronological feed might get a new way to see the most recent pics and videos from who they follow. Instagram ha...
Battery Ventures just closed on a whopping $2 billion across two funds, two years after its last fundraise
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Battery Ventures just closed on a whopping $2 billion across two funds, two years after its last fundraise Battery Ventures, the now 37-year-old inves...
Netflix fishes for new subscribers in U.S. with free stream of ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix is looking to get young adults hooked on its service by making its popular teenage rom-com, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” availab...
Samsung gives foldables another go with the Galaxy Z Flip
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Samsung did a surprisingly good job keeping the Galaxy Fold under wraps, surprising the world with its first foldable this time last year during the G...
Activist gig workers seek to form nonprofit to support fellow workers
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Vanessa Bain (pictured above), a well-known gig worker-activist, has teamed up with fellow gig worker-activist Sarah Clarke (pseudonym) to form the Gi...
Facebook’s Twitter account compromised, hacker group claims credit
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There’s this brilliant feeling on Fridays if you’re a reporter when you think that all the things you have to write about are complete. You kickst...
Attempt to fold Motorola’s Razr 100,000 times doesn’t go great
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Galaxy Fold felt like an omen for a burgeoning category. The fascinating and promising product was plagued by broken review units that forced Sams...
Instagram prototypes letting IGTV creators monetize with ads
07 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Instagram may finally let IGTV video makers earn money 18 months after launching the longer-form content hub. Instagram confirms to TechCrunch that i...
Forescout to be acquired by a pair of private equity firms for $1.9B
07 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Forescout, the network security company that has been publicly traded since 2017, announced today it was going private again. Private equity firms Adv...
Blackbox welfare fraud detection system breaches human rights, Dutch court rules
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An algorithmic risk scoring system deployed by the Dutch state to try to predict the likelihood that social security claimants will commit benefits or...
What is going on with Tesla?
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shares of American electric car company Tesla are sharply higher again this morning, adding $122.40 (or 15.69 percent ) to their value before regular ...
Rocket Lab readies parachute tests for its rocket recovery and reuse program
05 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rocket Lab is proceeding as planned with its efforts to recover and reuse spent rocket boosters from its Electron launch vehicle, and has completed i...
Alphabet earnings show Google Cloud on $10B run rate
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today after the bell, Alphabet reported its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results. The company’s revenue grew from $39.3 billion in 2018 t...
Truecaller hits 200 million users
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Truecaller, one of the world’s largest caller-identification service providers, has amassed 200 million monthly active users and is increasingly pr...
Maxar and NASA will demonstrate orbital spacecraft assembly with a new robotic arm
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
NASA has awarded Maxar an estimated $142 million contract to demonstrate in-orbit spacecraft refueling and assembly of new components using a custom ...
Top 10 meditation apps pulled in $195M in 2019, up 52% from 2018
31 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The millennial obsession with wellness and self-care has led to a booming business for meditation apps. In the first quarter of 2018, app intelligence...
Insurance startup Gabi raises $27M to double its product, engineering and marketing teams
31 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gabi, a startup built to help consumers save money on home and auto insurance, announced today that it has closed a $27 million Series B. The company ...
Flexibits launches major Fantastical update
30 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Flexibits, the company behind popular calendar app Fantastical, is releasing Fantastical 3.0 on all platforms today — macOS, iOS, iPadOS and watchOS...
Apple shares rise after company reports better-than-expected revenue of $91.8B
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today after the bell, Apple reported the results of the first quarter of its fiscal 2020. The company’s revenue totaled $91.8 billion, far ahead of ...
Apple reports a record $12.7B in services revenue
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Apple’s increasing focus on its services business seems to be paying off, with the company reporting a record $12.7 billion in services net sales d...
Sundance: In Miss Americana, Taylor Swift demotes the Internet
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In nearly a decade of attending Sundance, I’ve never seen a scene like the premiere of the documentary Miss Americana, detailing the last year and ...
Mural raises $23M Series A after history of capital-efficient growth
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This morning Mural, a software startup focused on visual collaboration1, announced that it closed a $23 million Series A round of capital. The funds c...
Vine reboot Byte officially launches
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Two years after Vine’s co-founder Dom Hofmann announced he was building a successor to the short-form video app, today Byte makes its debut on iOS a...
Vivo beats Samsung for 2nd spot in Indian smartphone market
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Samsung, which once led the smartphone market in India, slid to the third position in the quarter that ended in December even as the South Korean gian...
Some tech I loved is getting worse and I’m mad
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Time is supposed to make technology better. The idea is simple: With more time, humans make newer, better technology and our lives improve. Except for...
U.S. mobile app subscription revenue jumped 21% in 2019 to $4.6B across the top 100 apps
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. mobile app subscription revenue jumped 21% in 2019 to $4.6B across the top 100 apps Outside of in-app purchases in mobile games, subscription rev...
Google’s latest user-hostile design change makes ads and search results look identical
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Did you notice a recent change to how Google search results are displayed on the desktop? I noticed something last week — thinking there must be so...
This ultrasonic gripper could let robots hold things without touching them
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If robots are to help out in places like hospitals and phone repair shops, they’re going to need a light touch. And what’s lighter than not touchi...
Your Sonos system will stop receiving updates if you have an old device
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Your Sonos system will stop receiving updates if you have an old device Smart speaker manufacturer Sonos has announced that the company is going to dr...
Apple Card users can now download monthly transactions in a spreadsheet
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the big questions I got around the time the Apple Card launched was whether you’d be able to download a file of your transactions to either w...
Deep tech VCs on what they view as some of the most impactful young startups right now
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Deep tech VCs on what they view as some of the most impactful young startups right now During this week’s Democratic debate, there was a lot of talk...
Max Q: SpaceX succeeds with a spectacular Crew Dragon test launch
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Max Q is a new weekly newsletter all about space. Sign up here to receive it weekly on Sundays in your inbox. We’re off and running with good milest...
The last radio station
20 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
North of Silicon Valley, protected by the Point Reyes National Seashore, is the only operational ship-to-shore maritime radio station. Bearing the cal...
The paradox of 2020 VC is that the largest funds are doing the smallest rounds
20 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I talked yesterday about how VCs are just tired these days. Too many deals, too little time per deal, and constant hyper-competition with other VCs fo...
Xiaomi spins off POCO as an independent company
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Xiaomi said today it is spinning off POCO, a sub-smartphone brand it created in 2018, as a standalone company that will now run independently of the ...
Chrome gets global media controls
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Here is a small but useful new feature in Google Chrome: global media controls that allow you to control all of the audio and video sources in your cu...
Hipmunk’s co-founders tried to buy it back before the shutdown
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a little over a week, the travel metasearch engine Hipmunk will shut down. It’s an abrupt and disappointing end for a product acquired by SAP Con...
Four years after being acquired, Hipmunk is shutting down
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re still using Hipmunk for trip planning, it’s time to find another site. Sooner than later, really. The Hipmunk team announced this after...
Dear Spotify, add rabbits to your pet playlists
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I there’s one thing I know, it’s that music is the best thing our species has every created. If there are two things I know, it’s the music thin...
Microsoft and NSA say security bug affects millions of Windows 10 computers
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Microsoft has released a security patch for a dangerous vulnerability affecting hundreds of millions of computers running Windows 10. The vulnerabilit...
Visa is acquiring Plaid for $5.3 billion, 2x its final private valuation
14 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Visa announced today that it is buying financial services API startup Plaid for $5.3 billion. Plaid develops financial services APIs. It is akin to wh...
Tesla surges past $500 on back of analyst upgrade, China momentum
14 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today in regular trading, shares of American electric car manufacturer Tesla surged past the $500 mark. Tesla, perhaps the most famous electric vehic...
Amazon fires employees for leaking customer email addresses and phone numbers
13 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon has fired a number of employees after they shared customer email address and phone numbers with a third-party “in violation of our policies....
A closer look at Ballie, Samsung’s friendly robotic ball
13 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, I’ve slept on it. I was skeptical at first, but after a good night’s sleep, let’s do this. I want a Ballie. All of the people and the pets...
Congratulations 23andMe users, your genes are finally helping the company make drugs
10 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
All of that genetic material that 23andMe has been collecting is finally being used for commercial drug development — specifically dermatological dr...
August Home ditches the bridge and Yale launches a smart lock in Europe
10 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Assa Abloy, the world’s largest lock maker and the parent company of August Home and Yale, announced some new products at CES this week. The company...
Pax unveils a vape that increases transparency around cannabis consumption
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The new Pax Era Pro vaporizer packs a host of improvements and brings increased transparency to the user. Pop in a pod, and the smartphone companion a...
TCL teases a 5G device, headset and its first foldable at CES
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
TCL is hardly a household name in the smartphone space. That’s hardly surprising, however, as the Chinese electronics company is better known for su...
Audi AI:ME concept demonstrates innovative safety through lights
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Audi AI:ME is a concept for future urban travel. The little car is autonomous, has a surprisingly spacious interior, and it’s equipped with a h...
Samsung’s Lite devices bring the headphone jack to flagship design (sort of)
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some devices need no explanation. The Galaxy S10 and Note 10 Line are not such devices. They’re more nebulous, walking an interesting line, between ...
Get a load of these Dell PC concepts that you can’t buy
07 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Concept PCs are a lot like concept cars. The idea comes from a decent enough place, but mostly they exist to make you feel bad an inadequate about you...
This matcha maker is (most likely) coming soon to a coworking space near you
07 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This matcha maker is (most likely) coming soon to a coworking space near you Over the past few years, matcha has become a kind of unavoidable phenomen...
HTC had a terrible 2019
06 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
HTC can’t seem to catch a break. The once-king-of-the-hill smartphone vendor, which had a terrible 2018, continued to bleed last year, according to...
Former HBO exec Richard Plepler signs exclusive production deal with Apple TV+
06 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly a year after stepping down as chief executive of HBO, Richard Plepler and his production company Eden Production have signed a five-year deal ...
How two-year-old Loft nabbed $175M led by Andreessen Horowitz
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Loft may have better product market fit in Brazil than Opendoor does in the U.S.. And now the São Paulo-based property tech company has growth fundin...
The story of why Marc Benioff gifted the AppStore.com domain to Steve Jobs
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Marc Benioff’s book, Trailblazer, he tells the tale of how Steve Jobs planted the seeds of the idea that would become the first enterprise app s...
China-based NIO’s shares skyrocket as the Tesla rival beats investor expectations
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shares of NIO, a China-based electric car manufacturer, are soaring this morning after the company’s Q3 2019 earnings beat investor expectations. NI...
TechCrunch Include yearly report
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the third annual TechCrunch Include Progress Report. Our editorial and events teams work hard throughout the year to ensure that we bring y...
Tech’s biggest companies are worth ~$5T as 2019’s epic stock market run wraps
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Look, this is the last post I’m writing in 2019 and I’m tired. But I can’t let the year close without taking stock of how well tech stocks did t...
Can a $30 pair of wireless earbuds actually be any good?
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
2019 was the year wireless earbuds went mainstream. The category has been around much longer, of course, and Apple really broke the whole thing open a...
VMware completes $2.7 billion Pivotal acquisition
31 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
VMware is closing the year with a significant new component in its arsenal. Today it announced it has closed the $2.7 billion Pivotal acquisition it o...
Google Pixel 4A renders include a headphone jack and hole-punch display
31 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the slowest week of the year for gadget news. Christmas is in the rearview, and it’s a few days until the new year. After that, it’s a stra...
A ton of Ruckus Wireless routers are vulnerable to hackers
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A security researcher has found several vulnerabilities in a number of Ruckus Wireless routers, which the networking giant has since patched. Gal Zror...
Animated, interactive digital books may help kids learn better
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Digital books may have a few advantages over ordinary ones when it comes to kids remembering their contents, according to a new study. Animations, esp...
The year of the gig worker uprising
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The year of the gig worker uprising 'A pivotal year not only for gig workers but for workers across the tech economy' 2019 was a momentous year for gi...
Plenty of Fish app was leaking users’ hidden names and postal codes
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dating app Plenty of Fish has pushed out a fix for its apps after a security researcher found they were leaking information that users had set to “p...
Max Q: Launches from SpaceX, Boeing and the ESA
26 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Max Q is a new weekly newsletter all about space. Sign up here to receive it weekly on Sundays in your inbox. Typically, the holiday season is a slow ...
Chinese apps are losing their hold on India to local developers
26 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Apps from Chinese developers have been gaining popularity on Indian app stores for sometime. Last year, as many as 44 of the top 100 Android apps in I...
No, Spotify, you shouldn’t have sent mysterious USB drives to journalists
25 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Spotify sent out a number of branded-USB drives to reporters with a note: “Play me.” It’s not uncommon for reporters to to receive U...
SoftBank Vision Fund invests $275M in India’s Lenskart
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lenskart, an omni-channel retailer in India that sells eyewear products, said on Friday that it has raised $275 million in a new financing round from ...
Flickr owner SmugMug emails subscribers with an urgent request: help us find more paying users
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When in April of last year, the photo hosting service SmugMug acquired the photo-hosting service Flickr from Verizon’s digital media subsidiary, Sm...
Tesla vehicles are getting Stardew Valley
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tesla owners have seen a bunch of games added to their car’s in-dash display over the last few months, from a handful of Atari classics to the pain...
Rocket Lab adds new $7.5 million “Mission Success” coin to its online store
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Rocket Lab’s merch store has pretty much what you’d expect from a space-themed gift shop – baby onesies, t-shirts, caps and mission patches. Bu...
Facebook is building an operating system so it can ditch Android
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook doesn’t want its hardware like Oculus and Portal to be at the mercy of Google because they rely on its Android operating system. That’s ...
Here’s a Mickey Mouse version of Amazon’s Echo Wall Clock
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon’s original Echo Wall Clock was mostly fine. Some consumers ran into connectivity issues with the device, but it was mostly okay. It’s one o...
Need more buttons for your PS4 controller? This gadget adds two on the caboose
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Need more buttons for your PS4 controller? This gadget adds two on the caboose When you play games on your PS4, it’s fair to say that your thumbs an...
As the Nasdaq sets new records, a reminder how highly valued tech stocks are today
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at an all-time record high of 8,814.23, up 0.91% on the day. The Nasdaq is up more than 32% on the year....
Verizon’s 5G comes to (parts of) Los Angeles
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The clock is ticking on Verizon’s plans to bring 5G to 30 cities. Short of an actual Christmas miracle, things are looking rough. On the upside, the...
Rocket Lab cuts the ribbon on its US launch facility, with the Air Force as its first customer
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Launch provider Rocket Lab has opened the doors on LC-2, its first launch facility in the U.S., adding capacity and versatility for providing trips t...
Join TechCrunch for our 3rd Annual Winter Party
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After last year’s stellar turn out of almost 1,000 Silicon Valley shakers and movers, TechCrunch is returning with the 3rd Annual Winter Party at Ga...
Klarna CEO says “maybe” of taking public Europe’s most valuable fintech next year (but he’s not ruling out another round, either)
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Klarna CEO says “maybe” of taking public Europe’s most valuable fintech next year (but he’s not ruling out another round, either) Yesterday, a...
Join TechCrunch for our 3rd Annual Winter Party
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After last year’s stellar turn out of almost 1,000 Silicon Valley shakers and movers at our inaugural Winter Party, TechCrunch is returning with the...
BeBlocky is using gaming to educate a new generation of African programmers
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
BeBlocky is using gaming to educate a new generation of African programmers Nathan Damtew, the founder of new Ethiopian education technology and gamin...
The new Mac Pro goes up for order December 10
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After more than a year of teasing, Apple finally unveiled the new Mac Pro at WWDC in June. The long wait was finally over — though Apple left out on...
The first trailer for the NEW new Ghostbusters is here
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The first trailer for the NEW new Ghostbusters is here It’s been nearly a year since a teaser trailer revealed a world weary Ecto-1 beneath a tarp i...
Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are back in the first trailer for ‘Wonder Woman 1984’
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are back in the first trailer for ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Despite the financial success of of the goofily likable “Aquaman,...
Uber’s fatal accident tally shows low rates but excludes key numbers
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Uber’s just-released U.S. Safety Report sets forth in some detail the number of fatal accidents, and the good news is that the overall rate per mil...
After criticism, Homeland Security drops plans to expand airport face recognition scans to US citizens
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Homeland Security has confirmed it will not expand face recognition scans to U.S. citizens arriving and departing the country, days after it emerged t...
What we know about Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon 865 and 765 chips
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Qualcomm’s holding its big annual get-together this week in Hawaii, portioning off Snapdragon news, piece by piece. Yesterday’s event was the big ...
YouTube warns creators of subscriber count declines amid purge of closed accounts
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
YouTube is warning creators they may see their subscriber numbers decline this week as the result of a purge that will remove closed accounts from You...
AWS announces new ARM-based instances with Graviton2 processors
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
AWS, the cloud division of Amazon, just announced the next generation of its ARM processors, the Graviton2. This is a custom chip design with a 7nm ar...
T-Mobile opens pre-orders on two 5G phones as low-band network goes live
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The 5G question has long been carts and horses. The next-generation wireless network has always been an inevitability, of course, but the rollout has ...
The UniFi Dream Machine router is a great entry point for networking nerds
03 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago, Ubiquiti unveiled the UniFi Dream Machine, an all-in-one networking device that combines a router, a switch with four Ethernet ports ...