Startups

Android app developers may be unwittingly sharing their users location data with advertisers

Developers may not realize they are sharing their users' location data with advertisers, per new research.

Open-weight AI models are catching up to the frontier. The safety gap remains.

A new SaferAI report finds Z.ai's open-weight GLM-5.2 approaches frontier AI capabilities while lacking key safety mitigations, renewing concerns that powerful open models could outpace governance and safeguards.

Anthropic signs $10B deal with AI cloud startup Volta

Anthropic has been on a cloud partnership spree in recent months, and its latest move is reportedly a $10 billion deal with AI cloud startup Volta.

Meet Wrinkles, an app that uncovers the hidden stories of the places around you

Wrinkles, available on both iOS and Android, essentially acts as an AI-powered audio tour guide that reveals hidden history and local stories.

Nvidia doesnt mess around: A week after open AI industry group formed, its 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.

Hackers steal over $130 million by exploiting bug in offline hardware wallets

A security vulnerability in the cryptocurrency hardware wallet Coldcard is allowing hackers to drain the crypto from victims wallets. The total losses amount to more than $130 million, according to blockchain monitoring firms.

Texas halts new data centers as governor calls for audits

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has paused new data center development until an audit has been completed.

Walmart completes its acquisition of TV advertising company Vibe.co

The acquisition, which was first announced in June, brings Vibe.co into Walmart Connect, Walmart's connected TV advertising platform.

Elon Musk spends half his time talking robots and AI on Tesla earnings calls

An analysis of the last seven years of Tesla earnings calls shows just little attention Musk pays to Tesla's car business.

Host a Side Event during TechCrunch Founder Summit Week in Boston

Want to tap into the energy of 1,100+ startup founders, investors, and tech leaders descending on Boston for the Founder Summit 2026 on June 9? Host your own Side Event during Founder Summit Week, happening June 4-10!

Apple says more ex-employees may have taken confidential data to OpenAI

Apple says its trade secrets investigation into OpenAI has widened. In a new court filing, Apple claims additional former staff may have retained or accessed confidential information.

Spotify now has over 300M subscribers

Notably, the company saw its subscriber base swell by 9% in the second quarter despite raising prices in several regions this year.

India moves to give its instant payments network a business model

The legislation lays the groundwork for a potential overhaul of India's zero-merchant-discount-rate regime, under which businesses have not paid fees to accept UPI payments since 2020.

Is the future of data centers portable? Runware builds a pod to find out

On Tuesday, AI infrastructure company Runware announced the launch of its own modular data center called Sonic Inference Pod.

Snap CEO sidesteps Specs pre-order questions on Q2 earnings call

When asked about product-market fit, Spiegel said he believes mass-market consumer adoption won't occur until the end of the decade.

AWS is helping vibe-coding startup Superblocks, and the implications are big

AWS now allows vibe coding tool Superblocks to be embedded into the private clouds of AWS customers. It's another step towards decoupling apps from models.

Whos legally to blame for Anthropic and OpenAIs autonomous AI hacks? Its complicated

OpenAI and Anthropic admitted that their unreleased AI models escaped their sandboxes and hacked several companies in unprecedented cyberattacks. Who is legally to blame? Should prosecutors charge the two AI frontier labs? Can victims sue them? We spoke to lawyers who specialize in computer hacking laws to find out.

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.

Influencers draw backlash for attending OpenAIs first luxury trip

OpenAIs first-ever influencer brand trip is sparking online backlash as tensions over the use of AI continue.

Apple challenges UK governments latest demand for iCloud backdoor: report

Apple has appealed a new legal demand by the U.K. government, which critics say could threaten the privacy rights of users all over the world.

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

Apples 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.

Wispr Flow is preparing to launch a meeting notetaker, updated terms suggest

Wispr Flow's new terms of service indicate it will introduce a notetaker that generates meeting summaries and action items.

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 Apples most popular Mac.

Malaysia is reportedly shutting down Balaji Srinivasans Network School

Let's see how this frontier community for techno-optimists is doing ...

TechCrunch Mobility: Two roads diverged for 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.

These App Store hidden gems prove theres still room for great software in the AI era

Despite predictions that AI agents could make traditional apps obsolete, developers are shipping new software faster than ever. From smarter bookmarking tools and neighborhood marketplaces to digital pen pals and nature journals, here are the latest App Store finds worth adding to your Home Screen.

Inside the London hacker house taking a stand against founder burnout

How one founder house is betting work-life balance can beat burnout .

Judge denies xAIs request to block Minnesota ban on nudify apps

Despite a lawsuit from xAI, a Minnesota ban on apps that allow users to nudify images can move forward.

This $9 key physically locks your most addictive apps

This $9 NFC key requires you to physically scan it to unlock distracting apps on your phone.

Uber is building an autonomous vehicle empire, and heres every company its using to do it

Uber has partnered with and in some cases made direct investments in about 30 autonomous vehicle companies over the past two years.Here's the list and the latest on the partnerships.

Apps that help you break free from doomscrolling and get active

If youre looking to cut back on screen time and get a little more active, heres a roundup of the apps that might help.

Whats the best handheld mini fan?

From premium Shark and Dyson offerings to random Amazon devices, these mini fans will make your sweaty summer a little more managable.