timef 12/18/2025
- Apple opens up its App Store to competition in Japan techcrunch.com2025-12-18 23:02:49
Epic Games CEO says Fortnite won't return to Japan, though, because the new rules still require high fees.
- Trump Media is merging with fusion power company TAE Technologies in $6B+ deal techcrunch.com2025-12-18 22:59:41
The merger would broaden Trump Media’s holdings into the nascent fusion power space while data centers clamor for more electricity amid the ongoing AI boom.
- Luma releases a new AI model that lets users generate a video from a start and end frame techcrunch.com2025-12-18 22:52:58
Luma AI's new model is available through the company's Dream Machine platform.
- Vibe-coding startup Lovable raises $330M at a $6.6B valuation techcrunch.com2025-12-18 22:26:36
Lovable has seen its valuation more than triple just five months after the company's last funding round in July.
- Amazon’s new Alexa+ feature adds conversational AI to Ring doorbells techcrunch.com2025-12-18 22:00:00
Amazon said that the feature uses the Ring doorbell's video descriptions to determine who the person in front the camera is based on their uniform, actions, and what they are holding.
- Instacart’s AI-driven pricing tool attracted attention — now the FTC has questions techcrunch.com2025-12-18 10:23:43
In an economy where everyone's feeling squeezed, AI-driven price testing of kitchen essentials was bound to attract attention.
- Adobe hit with proposed class-action, accused of misusing authors’ work in AI training techcrunch.com2025-12-18 08:44:55
The lawsuit is just the latest in a string of copyright-related legal complaints aimed at the AI industry.
- Jared Isaacman confirmed as next head of NASA techcrunch.com2025-12-18 05:52:17
Isaacman will run the space agency at a time when Trump is trying to both downsize it and task it with returning astronauts to the Moon.
- YouTube to pull music data from Billboard’s charts because it doesn’t like its ranking formula techcrunch.com2025-12-18 04:57:51
YouTube takes its ball and goes home by pulling Billboard's access to its music data.
- YouTube will stream the Oscars — exclusively — beginning in 2029 techcrunch.com2025-12-18 03:42:35
The news highlights YouTube's growing dominance in the television space and a major shift as streaming takes on more live events.
- Meta is pausing its dream of sharing Quest’s Horizon OS with third-party headset makers techcrunch.com2025-12-18 03:32:52
The company said that it would revisit opportunities for third-party partnerships in the future.
- Cisco says Chinese hackers are exploiting its customers with a new zero-day techcrunch.com2025-12-18 02:58:30
Cisco said it discovered a Chinese hacking campaign targeting its customers by exploiting a zero-day in some of the company's most popular products.
- Facebook is testing a link posting limit for professional accounts and pages techcrunch.com2025-12-18 02:15:58
Meta said that the test impacts professional accounts and pages on Facebook.
- Amazon appoints longtime AWS exec Peter DeSantis to lead new AI org techcrunch.com2025-12-18 02:06:29
DeSantis has spent 27 years at Amazon, including eight years as an SVP for AWS, the cloud provider that powers about one-third of the internet.
- Rad Power Bikes files for bankruptcy and is looking to sell the business techcrunch.com2025-12-18 01:28:50
It's the latest e-bike company to seek bankruptcy protection after pandemic-era excitement for the category wore off.
- Radiant Nuclear raises $300M for its semi-sized 1 MW reactor techcrunch.com2025-12-18 00:07:49
Radiant Nuclear is developing a small modular reactor to replace diesel generators. The startup previously raised $165 million in May.
- Google launches Gemini 3 Flash, makes it the default model in the Gemini app techcrunch.com2025-12-18 00:00:00
Google is making Gemini 3 Flash the default model in the Gemini app and oAI model for Search
- Coursera and Udemy enter a merger agreement valued at around $2.5B techcrunch.com2025-12-17 23:58:22
Coursera and Udemy, two of the biggest names in online learning, are combining platforms next year.
