timef 02/15/2025

Talk of backdoors in encrypted services is once again doing the rounds after reports emerged that the U.K. government is seeking to force Apple to open up iCloud’s end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) device backup offering. Officials were said to be leaning on Apple to create a “backdoor” in the service that would allow state actors to […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google Photos is a great service for storing images across devices. But Google Drive and Gmail only offer 15GB of storage for free. Google Photos used to offer free unlimited storage of images, but that is not the case anymore. If you are looking for a better photo storage plan, different features, or just want […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Ride-share giant Uber filed a lawsuit Friday against DoorDash, accusing the delivery outfit of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into exclusive deals. Uber alleges in the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of California, that its chief rival bullied restaurants into only working with DoorDash. Uber claims that DoorDash, which holds the largest share of […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

New court filings in an AI copyright case against Meta add credence to earlier reports that the company “paused” discussions with book publishers on licensing deals to supply some of its generative AI models with training data. The filings are related to the case Kadrey v. Meta Platforms — one of many such cases winding through […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Amazon and Apple are struggling to put generative AI technology in their digital assistants – Alexa and Siri, respectively – according to a pair of reports that came out on Friday. Amazon hoped to release its new Alexa during an event in New York on February 26. Now Amazon plans to delay the release of […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Robotics startup Figure AI is raising $1.5 billion at a $39.5 billion valuation, a whopping 15 times higher than before. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

SailPoint’s IPO on Thursday was a disappointment for anyone hoping it would indicate that tech IPOs are hot again. The first day’s trading ended below the $23 initial price. The stock fared a tad better Friday, closing at over $24. But that’s nothing close to the big bang companies and VCs hope for. For instance, […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

OpenAI’s board of directors has “unanimously” rejected billionaire Elon Musk’s offer to buy the nonprofit that effectively governs OpenAI, the company said on Friday. In a statement shared via OpenAI’s press account on X, Bret Taylor, board chair, called Musk’s bid “an attempt to disrupt his competition.” “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A new startup is addressing the need for an all-in-one toolset built for people who want to grow, manage, and track their Bluesky presence and following. The subscription service BlueSkyHunter, which launched Friday, introduces an online dashboard that combines access to analytics and other tools to schedule posts and automate DMs (direct messages), alongside other […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Meeting that demand will require adding more generating capacity than all of Japan — every year.  © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As Elon Musk and his acolytes rip through the federal government looking for agencies to throw into the “woochipper,” a grassroots effort to hit the world’s richest man where it hurts is picking up steam. The courts are busy contesting the actions of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, but the judicial system is slow — […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng is reportedly set to meet with China’s top politicians, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during a summit that Alibaba founder Jack Ma is also expected to attend. The summit, which could happen as soon as next week, may be intended as a signal by China’s Communist Party that […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

With both Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth making loud noises Friday about Europe stepping up to the plate in spending more on its own defense, it might come as a surprise that Europe is already on the path toward far greater investment in defense, especially in tech. Not only has […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is said to be in talks to raise $10 billion in a round that would value xAI at $75 billion. Bloomberg reported Friday that xAI is canvassing existing investors, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Valor Equity Partners for the round, which would bring xAI’s total raised to $22.4 billion, […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Meta is forming a new team within its Reality Labs hardware division to build robots that can assist with physical tasks, Bloomberg reported. The team will be responsible for developing humanoid robotics hardware, potentially including hardware that can perform household chores. Meta’s new robotics group, which will be led by Marc Whitten, driverless car startup […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week confirmed that even when current events cloud the outlook, some startups still manage to raise significant amounts of funding, with those tied to security and […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Back in November, we broke the news that Meta — owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with billions of users accounting for 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile traffic — was close to announcing work on a major new, $10 billion+ subsea cable project to connect up the globe. The aim was […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Mastodon, the decentralized alternative to X, is going to adopt a controversial feature from the platform formerly known as Twitter: quote posts. The company on Friday shared the progress it’s making on the implementation of the feature, which has divided users over its potential to be used for online abuse and bullying. Critics have long […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

DeepSeek has gone viral. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week after its chatbot app rose to the top of the Apple App Store charts (and Google Play, as well). DeepSeek’s AI models, which were trained using compute-efficient techniques, have led Wall Street analysts — and technologists — to question whether the U.S. can maintain its […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Last week, an ad from the Y Combinator job board for a tiny startup called Firecrawl went viral on X.  That’s because the ad wasn’t for a human. “Please apply only if you are an AI agent, or if you created an AI that can fill this job,” the job posting read.  The seven-person startup […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

After users noticed a new button on Instagram to downvote or dislike comments, the company confirmed that it is testing a way for users to signal that they either didn’t like the comment or don’t think it’s relevant. The feature will appear across both Feed posts and Reels. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

AI Innovators, this Is your moment! Have insights to share with 1,200 AI founders, investors, and enthusiasts eager to push the boundaries of innovation?  Take the stage, shape the AI conversation, and exchange ideas at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall!  We’re bringing together top AI minds from the startup […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Founders, VCs, and startup experts—This is your moment! Got scaling insights? Now’s your chance to share them with 1,200 founders, investors, and entrepreneurs at TechCrunch All Stage 2025 presented by Fidelity, on July 17 in Boston! We’re gathering leading experts from the startup and VC communities to host engaging sessions, interactive roundtables, and dynamic breakouts. […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.