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WP Engine, a managed WordPress platform, raises $250M from Silver Lake
While apps continue to grow in popularity as a primary route for people to interface with the digital world, there remains a very significant role…
Toyota Research Institute to debut its 3.0 self-driving research car at CES
Toyota Research Institute is accelerating its autonomous vehicle efforts with a new third-generation test platform that it’ll be showing off in person at CES next…
Amazon’s Alexa may eventually serve up ads
It was only a matter of time, folks. According to a report from CNBC, Amazon is in talks with brands and advertisers to include ads…
On-demand streaming now accounts for the majority of audio consumption, says Nielsen
U.S. album sales declined in 2017 as streaming continues to grow, according to Nielsen’s year-end music report released this week. The report found that album…
Now Alexa can help you microwave dinner
Amazon wants to put Alexa in every room of your home — that much is clear. It’s the main reason the company offers the Echo…
Volkswagen and Hyundai both plan to deploy self-driving taxis by 2021
On Thursday, automakers Hyundai and Volkswagen both announced a new partnership with Aurora, the autonomous driving startup with a killer pedigree and good momentum early…
GardenSpace robot takes the heavy-lifting out of gardening, and puts the fun back in
A lot of people dream about growing their own vegetables at home, but just don’t have the time to maintain one. You’ve got to know…
Flintu’s SideKick is an everyday carry which could save you and your smartphone
As Australia’s startup ecosystem experiences a resurgence, it’s hardware startups are getting in on the act. Despite Sydney being around the same flight time from…
Nintendo Switch is the fastest-selling video game console ever in the U.S.
Nintendo has managed to sell so many of its Nintendo Switch console that it’s become not only its own fastest-selling console, but also the fastest…
Shadow launches its cloud computer for gamers in California
French startup Blade, the company behind Shadow, is about to expand its cloud gaming service to the U.S. Customers who live in California can pre-order starting…
Starry Internet’s beaming broadband tech hits LA and DC this month, with more cities coming soon
Starry’s mostly been pretty quiet since coming out of stealth roughly this time two years ago. The Boston-based startup has been busy raising funds and…
Volkswagen and Hyundai team up with Aurora on self-driving
Aurora, the startup founded by Google self-driving car program and Tesla alum Chris Urmson, has signed up two high-profile automaker partners despite its relative youth…
Linkkle is a super simple tool for all your social media links
Decisions, decisions. Do you link to your Instagram profile on your Twitter feed or your Facebook page? Or maybe you want to showcase your Github,…
France says anti-fake news election law incoming
France’s president has said he plans to introduce new legislation aimed at curbing the spread of online fake news during election periods. Read More
WeWork banks on a local approach and Powered By We to crack Southeast Asia
WeWork charged into Asia two years ago but it finally moved into Southeast Asia in the second half of 2017 through the acquisition of SpaceMob and…
MoneyLion raises $42M to grow its personal finance platform for the middle class
MoneyLion, the part lending, part savings and part wealth management app targeted at the financial middle class has raised $42M in Series B funding.This brings…
Malaysia’s Dahmakan chows down $2.6M for its end-to-end food delivery service
Dahmakan, a food delivery startup from Malaysia that graduated Y Combinator last year, has raised $2.6 million as it begins to explore the potential to…
The News Lens takes a big step for Asian indie media with its first acquisition
Founded four years ago to reach millennials disenchanted with Taiwan’s scandal-obsessed media, The News Lens is growing up fast. The Taipei-based company announced it has…
Of course China’s forgotten social network is doing an ICO
ICOs were one of the breakthroughs in the tech industry in 2017. Initially it was just those in the blockchain space who were aware, but…
Crunch Report | MoneyGram’s Sale to Alibaba Blocked by U.S. Government
Spotify files to go public, BloomThat gets acquired and MoneyGram’s sale to Alibaba got blocked by the U.S. government. All this on Crunch Report. Read…
Wi-fi startup Eero lays off 30 employees
Eero, the mesh Wi-Fi router startup, has laid off 20 percent of its workforce (about 30 employees), TechCrunch has learned. Eero confirmed about 30 employees…
Kernel panic! What are Meltdown and Spectre, the bugs affecting nearly every computer and device?
If you’re confused by the avalanche of early reports, denials, and conflicting statements about the massive security issues announced today, don’t worry — you’re far…
Cloud infrastructure vendors begin responding to chip kernel vulnerability
Several cloud vendors began responding to the chip kernel vulnerability that has the industry reeling today. Each Infrastructure as a Service vendor clearly has a…
Instagram tests letting users post Stories directly to WhatsApp
Last October, Facebook extended the usage (and flexibility) of Instagram Stories — the Snapchat-like feature that lets you patch together photos and videos into a…
Apple readies Siri for the HomePod by adding a podcast-powered news brief
The HomePod had a bit of a notable production setback, back in December, but Apple’s high-end smart speaker is still on track for an “early…
Apple picks up Reese Witherspoon thriller starring Octavia Spencer
Apple is adding another TV project to its upcoming slate: Are You Sleeping, a crime show based on America’s love affair with true crime podcasts…
Google’s Project Zero team discovered critical CPU flaw last year
In a blog post published minutes ago, Google’s Security team announced what they have done to protect Google Cloud customers against the chip vulnerability announced…
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s CES appearance has been cancelled
If you hoped to attend a “candid conversation” with the FCC’s Ajit Pai at CES, I have bad news: he won’t be there. In a…
Google faces revised gender-pay lawsuit
Google is facing a revised class-action gender-pay lawsuit that alleges Google underpaid women in comparison with their male counterparts and asked new hires about their…
Tesla made 2,425 Model 3s in Q4 2017, aims to make 2,500 weekly by end of Q1 2018
Tesla produced a lot more Model 3 cars during the last quarter of 2017 than it did during Q3: it produced 2,425 cars during the…
Designing blockchains for a frictionless world
Every enthusiast in the crypto and blockchain space that has “seen the light” believes in a future that is collaborative, transparent and frictionless. Peer-to-peer and…
Responding to ‘incorrect’ reports, Intel says major flaw affects ‘many different vendors’
Reports this morning that Intel processors are affected by a serious flaw that may reduce performance significantly hit the company’s credibility and stock hard. Intel…
Spider silk startup Bolt Threads closes on $123 million in Series D funding
Bolt Threads, the startup making spider silk from microbugs, has raised a giant $123 million Series D round of funding. As we reported in November, an SEC…
Apple Developer Program fee waivers are now available for nonprofits, schools and government
Apple announced today it will begin allowing select publishers to waive the membership fees associated with its App Developer Program. Specifically, the new fee waivers will…
Didi confirms it has acquired 99 in Brazil to expand in Latin America
Earlier today, we reported that Didi was in the process of acquiring 99, a ridesharing company in Brazil, and now the two companies have confirmed…
Google is about to force you to use its new Calendar design
Last October, Google announced a redesigned look and feel for Google Calendar on the desktop. Not everybody loves the design (including me, though some people…
FanDuel is giving away bitcoin to winners of a fantasy football tournament
Daily fantasy sports platform FanDuel just announced The Bitcoin Bowl, a promotion that will last the length of the NFL playoffs and give winners a…
Opera now protects you from cryptojacking attacks
Opera today launched version 50 of its desktop browser. Sadly, this release doesn’t come with a cake to celebrate this milestone (not even a tiny…
Berlin-based Yoga startup Asana Rebel raises $6.5M led by e.ventures, La Famiglia
Today, Yoga is known worldwide as an attractive way of staying healthy and fit. However, there remains a psychological barrier for many people confused by…
Rubikloud scores $37 million investment to bring intelligence to retail industry
The retail industry is one that’s ripe for disruption by technology. Under intense pressure from giants like Amazon and Walmart, retailers are often stuck using…
Spotify files to go public
Spotify has filed confidentially to go public, sources told Dan Primack at Axios. He learned that the music streaming company filed with the SEC at the end…
A major kernel vulnerability is going to slow down all Intel processors
A significant vulnerability has been discovered in all Intel processor chips and it’s going to have a huge impact going forward. The Register first noticed…
A flower giant has reportedly acquired BloomThat, an on-demand flower startup
BloomThat, an on-demand flower startup, has sold itself to flower giant FTD, Axios reports. FTD, which offers same-day delivery flowers for a variety of occasions,…
Baidu teams up with BlackBerry on self-driving and connected car tech
Chinese internet tech giant Baidu will work with Canada’s BlackBerry in a partnership that will see QNX used as the basis for Baidu’s Apollo self-driving…
A week with Hulu with Live TV
Cord-cutting continues to sweep the nation with 22.2 million U.S. households ditching their cable or satellite TV provider. My beautiful mother was one of those…
Nissan tech allows a car to read your mind to boost reaction times
Nissan’s latest research project is ‘brain-to-vehicle’ (aka ‘B2V’) tech that could have your next car anticipating your driving reactions before you can even translate them…
Netflix is officially making a ‘Bright’ sequel
Reports suggested Netflix had been optimistic about a sequel to its blockbuster Bright, the fantasy/buddy cop genre mashup starring Will Smith with a budget of…
E-commerce traffic spiked on New Year’s, too
The record-breaking e-commerce activity seen over Black Friday and the 2017 holiday shopping season led to a busier New Year’s online, as well. According to new…
Microsoft acquires Avere Systems to further hybrid computing mission
In a world shifting to the cloud, Microsoft has carved out a place trying to help companies caught between two worlds — on-prem legacy solutions…
SpaceX targets January 5 launch for mystery Zuma payload
SpaceX is launching Zuma, a mystery spacecraft operated by the U.S. government for purposes unknown, thanks to it being very classified. The launch was supposed…
Roombas will soon be able to build a WiFi coverage map of your house
iRobot CEO Colin Angle has talked a lot about his company’s plans to make its popular robotic vacuum and integral part of the connected home.…
SpaceX shows off its Falcon Heavy rocket vertical on the launchpad
SpaceX is getting ready for its first ever test flight of the Falcon Heavy, it’s heavy-duty rocket aimed at propelling large cargo loads into low…
Roku joins the voice computing market with smart soundbars, speakers and more built by partners
Roku, which sells the most popular brand of streaming media players in the U.S., is now aiming to carve out a niche for itself as…
YouTube is equally to blame for Logan Paul’s video
It appears that YouTube is more responsible for the first crisis of the year on its video platform than was initially thought. Yesterday, the internet…
Report: China’s Didi to buy Brazil’s 99 in $1B deal to take on Latin America
A year ago, Didi made a big move into Brazil when it laid down over $100 million to take a stake in 99, a local…
Apply today for TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield Dubai
Technology innovation and entrepreneurial genius exists across the globe. That’s why in 2017 TechCrunch took the Startup Battlefield to Africa, Australia, Europe, and of course…
The US government blocks MoneyGram’s $1.2B sale to Alibaba’s Ant Financial
The proposed acquisition of global payment service MoneyGram by Alibaba’s Ant Financial is off after the U.S. government blocked the $1.2 billion deal. Ant Financial,…
Crunch Report | Telegram and Instagram Are Being Restricted in Iran
Amazon Prime shipped 5 billion Items in 2017, SuperMeat gets $3 million in funding and Telegram and Instagram are being restricted in Iran. All this…
These psychedelic stickers blow AI minds
Machine learning systems are very capable, but they aren’t exactly smart. They lack common sense. Taking advantage of that fact, researchers have created a wonderful…
Samsung’s C-Lab projects include smart glasses and a portable directional speaker
Samsung’s Creative Lab is one of the more entertaining additions to CES in the last several years. Deemed C-Lab for short, the department is a…
The FCC is still tweaking its net neutrality repeal (but that’s normal)
You may think, from the pomp accompanying the FCC’s vote in December to repeal net neutrality, that the deed was accomplished. Not so — in…
Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit from music publisher alleging copyright infringement
Spotify is facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing, the publisher that represents artists like Tom Petty, Missy Elliot, Stevie Nicks and Neil…
You can get that $29 battery replacement, regardless of your iPhone’s health
Apple hasn’t been super specific when it comes to those $29 iPhone battery replacements. After all, the company would no doubt like to the whole…
Airbnb beats big property landlord’s lawsuit in California
A California judge has dismissed Apartment Investment & Management Company’s lawsuit against Airbnb. Last February, Aimco, which owns or manages about 50,000 properties, sued Airbnb, saying that the…
Apple buys app development service Buddybuild
Apple continues to ramp up its efforts to court developers by making it easier to create and iterate their apps for its platforms. The iPhone…
Some apps were listening to you through the smartphone’s mic, says report
There may be a reason why that ol’ “Facebook is listening to you talk” conspiracy theory refuses to die – and not just because Facebook’s…
Facebook, not Twitter, will live stream this year’s Golden Globes’ red carpet pre-show
Facebook has scored the exclusive rights to live stream this year’s Golden Globes’ red carpet pre-show – a deal that last year went to Twitter.…
It’s the New Year and you’re getting laundry folding robots, because the 1960s thought of everything
The robot laundry folding wars are heating up. The German appliance manufacturing giant BSH is in the early stages of partnering with Israeli laundry folding…
Amazon shipped over 5 billion items with Prime in 2017
Amazon still won’t officially reveal how many consumers worldwide participate in its Amazon Prime membership program, but it did today offer a few new stats…
UK eyeing ‘extremism’ tax on social media giants
The UK government has kicked off the new year with another warning shot across the bows of social media giants. Read More
Fast-growing Chinese media startup ByteDance enters 2018 with some uncertainty
One of the fastest rising Chinese startups of last year had a bumpy ride into 2018 after falling foul of China’s internet censors for the…
Telegram and Instagram being restricted in Iran
Messaging app Telegram and Facebook-owned social sharing platform Instagram appear to be being blocked in Iran. Read More
Lab-made meat startup SuperMeat raises $3M seed to develop ‘clean’ chicken
SuperMeat, an Israeli biotech and food-tech startup that is developing lab-made chicken meat, has raised $3 million in seed funding, as it becomes the latest…
YouTube star Logan Paul apologies for video of apparent suicide victim
January is less than two days old and already we have a reminder of the bad side of YouTube after it emerged that Logan Paul,…
Building AI systems that work is still hard
Even with the support of AI frameworks like TensorFlow or OpenAI, artificial intelligence still requires deep knowledge and understanding compared to a mainstream web developer. If you…
Researchers can now make neighborhood voting predictions from Google Street View images
In a sign that computers will be able to perform image analysis as fluently as text analysis, a group of Stanford-based researchers were able to…
A conversation with Dean Kamen on the myth of “Eureka!”
“I think invention is maybe like love,” says Dean Kamen. “Everybody wants to have it. Nobody knows what it is.” Read More
Smart lock maker Otto suspends operations
Otto showed the world its digital lock in August. Four months later, the company has suspended operations. Hardware is hard. It’s a cliche for a…
What were your best nine Instagram photos from 2017?
You might have noticed a new end-of-year trend on Instagram the past few days. If so, you can thank 2017bestnine.com, a website that lets you…
Voice interfaces beginning to find their way into business
Imagine attending a business meeting with an Amazon Echo (or any voice-driven device) sitting on the conference table. A question arises about the month’s sales…
Twitter ended the year on a fascinating run
It’s been pretty easy to point at Twitter and, with each quarterly moment when it discloses its financial guts, let out a long exasperated sigh.…
These apps will help you keep your New Year’s resolutions
Almost half of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Far fewer stick to them. “Losing weight” and “exercising more” are among the most popular goals. A sizeable…
Hyperscale data centers reached over 390 worldwide in 2017
Hyperscale operators are defined as enormous companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google that need to provide computing on a massive scale. You would think…
The food revolution may have just needed a cup of Blue Bottle
Each massive exit in the tech ecosystem usually follows the same cycle: an upstart becomes a huge business, it goes public or sells for a…
How a simple tech upgrade at the IRS could transform the economy
When you apply for credit, you essentially ask a lender to evaluate your financial picture to make an informed decision about your approval, rate and…
Watch the second half of Bubbleproof’s first season
We’re excited to be premiering a new mockumentary series about the startup world called Bubbleproof. You can watch the second half of the first season…
Automating your life on this week’s episode of CTRL+T
People are lazy. Well, let me speak for myself. I am lazy. So it’s no wonder why on this week’s episode of CTRL+T, I was…
Apple’s $29 iPhone battery replacements are available starting today
Those $29 battery out-of-warranty replacements Apple promised are now available for impacted users with an iPhone 6 or later. The company was initially aiming for…
Crunch Report | Apple Apologizes for Slowing Down iPhones
Apple apologizes for slowing down iPhones, humans spent $200 million on apps this Christmas and Google retires the Pixel C tablet. All this on Crunch…
Financial technology startups emerged as serious challengers to financial services in 2017
While cryptocurrencies stole the spotlight in 2017, a clutch of companies were quietly working behind the scenes to slowly bring the financial services establishment to…
Latin America’s Groupon Mafia
The founders of PayPal and its employees have produced many highly successful companies over the years. Often referred to as the “PayPal Mafia” because they’ve…
Facebook has a 100-person engineering team that helps advertisers build tools and infrastructure
Facebook says that one of its success stories in recent years involves a relatively small group of engineers. Originally it was just one engineer, Vastal…
All 50 States Vote Yes On AT&T’s $40 Billion Emergency Response Network FirstNet
From wildfires in California to hurricanes on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, communications are the bedrock of emergency response and management. However, those communications can…
Amazon did a lot of funky stuff this year and it’s paying off
Holy hell, it’s been a year for Amazon. Jeff Bezos’ former-online-bookstore dumped $13.7 billion to buy a bunch of grocery stores, that speaker you talk…
iFixit drops its iPhone battery replacement to $29, matching Apple’s apology price
iFixit has never been particularly fond of Apple’s repair policies. The company’s gadgets regularly rack up poor repairability scores on the site. The site’s taking…
OKCupid’s rating sinks as users rebel over new ‘real name’ policy
OKCupid’s users are angry – very, very angry. Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now…
TrendKite raises another $11M for its PR analytics platform
TrendKite is closing out 2017 with the announcement that it’s raised an additional $11 million in funding. The Austin-based startup says it’s currently analyzing 4.2…
Pinterest adds former CBS Corp. CFO Fred Reynolds to its board
Pinterest announced today it’s adding former CBS and PepsiCo exec Fred Reynolds to its board of directors. Reynolds’ background includes global financial and strategic planning…
A digitizing David takes on photo-scanning Goliath
Mitch Goldstone loves photo scanning. His business, ScanMyPhotos, does what it says on the tin: you send photos to the company and, using high speed…
You can now pick up an iMac Pro in-store, for $4,999 and up
Apple’s super-powered iMac Pro hit the company’s online store just ahead of Christmas. Now those who’d prefer to pick one up in-person can do so…
A cyclist is using a Google Assistant-controlled electric bike wheel to ride cross country to CES
This is one way to put your new electric bicycle wheel through its paces ahead of launch. But more importantly, it’s a pretty solid publicity…
Consumers dropped $200 million on apps on Christmas, up 12 percent from last year
Consumers spent $196 million on apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions on Christmas Day 2017 across the App Store and Google Play, according to new data…
Historian Leslie Berlin talks about the rise of Silicon Valley
In this week’s episode of Technotopia I spoke to author and historian Leslie Berlin, writer of Troublemakers: Silicon Valleys’ Coming Of Age. Berlin is the…
Th U.S. needs to create civic social networks
I have no doubt that the same great minds who are actively driving new platforms for commerce and engagement can formulate a new product (or…
Equity podcast: 2017 IPO recap and who will go public in 2018?
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week the crew — Katie Roof, Matthew Lynley, Alex Wilhelm —…
Crunch Report | South Korea Announces New Cryptocurrency Regulations
South Korea announces new cryptocurrency regulations coinciding with the drop in bitcoin prices, YouTube gets pulled from Fire TV and SoftBank will now own about…
Google retires the Pixel C tablet, as it shifts focus to the Pixelbook
As noted earlier today by Android Police, Google has stopped selling the Pixel C through its online store. It’s a quiet and not unexpected end…
It’s surprisingly easy to program living tissue to form new 3D shapes
The boundary between biology and technology blurs further and further as researchers discover more and more parallels between the two. Today they have found that…
Hiring has gone Hollywood
The top of the hiring funnel has gotten very crowded. We’ve always had recruiters or headhunters for top executives. They’re also commonly used in many…
What to expect at CES 2018
I know, right? Christmas just ended and the New Year hasn’t even dawned — but we’re already ramping up for CES mode, and we’re taking…
Netflix’s ‘Bright’ reached 11M viewers in its first three days, according to Nielsen
Netflix spent $90 million on the production of Bright, an unlikely hybrid of buddy cop movie and high fantasy. Will that investment pay off? Well,…
Uber’s Frankenboard arrives
Today was a momentous day in Uber history. After much debate, rumors and strife over the past few weeks, it looks like the company and…
Apple apologizes for not being clearer about slowing down iPhones with older batteries
Apple has today posted a letter on its website and a technical article in its Knowledge Base apologizing for not being more transparent about how…
Snapchat adds a 2017 year in review feature for saved memories
Snapchat users who snap and save can take a stroll down memory lane with the app’s new feature, “A Look Back at 2017.” If you’re…
AWS showed no signs of slowing down in 2017
AWS had a successful year by any measure. The company continued to behave like a startup with the kind of energy and momentum to invest…
PSA: You can’t opt out of the customer surveys Netflix is running in its TV app, but you can skip
While preparing to do a little binge-watching over the holidays, something odd popped up on my TV’s screen upon launching the Netflix app on my…
SoftBank’s big investment in Uber comes to a close
It looks like SoftBank’s long-anticipated investment in Uber is almost done. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, a SoftBank-led group has almost…
Britain’s spy agency can’t stop losing cyber talent to major tech companies
The NSA isn’t the only secretive national intelligence agency having trouble keeping its tech-savvy recruits. In a new document from the Intelligence and Security Committee…
Lamborghini’s EV initiatives seem to lack a spark
It doesn’t look like Lamborghini will be joining the race for e-performance vehicles anytime soon. Even as the Italian company announced plans to work with MIT in a…
Still living under the tyranny of the password in 2017
When I lost access to my Google account recently, it left a gaping hole in my digital life and showed me just how tenuous the…
Amazon updates Fire TV’s YouTube app to redirect users to a web browser instead
The feud between Amazon and Google continues today with the early removal of YouTube from the Fire TV – a move Google had said wouldn’t…
LG debuts the ThinQ, a Google Assistant-powered smart speaker
LG is adding a new smart speaker powered by Google Assistant to its 2018 lineup, the company announced this morning. The LG ThinQ, as it’s…
Crypto prices suffer as Korean government announces new regs, potential ban
The South Korean government announced new legislation today that would put increasingly tough regulations on the country’s burgeoning cryptocurrency markets. Under the legislation, Korea, which…
HQ Trivia Is Coming to Android | Crunch Report
HQ Trivia is coming to Android, Amazon Echo is the No. 1 best seller on the site and the founder of LeEco is ordered to…
Thousands of major sites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
It’s no secret that ad-blockers are putting a dent in advertising-based business models on the web. This has produced a range of reactions, from relatively…
Certain Sonos and Bose models can be accessed by hackers to play sound remotely
Researchers at Trend Micro have discovered a potential hack opening key speakers from Sonos and Bose to remote access. As first reported by Wired, the…