Earlier this week, Instagram Threads rolled out what it described as its most-requested feature so far: direct messages (DMs). But instead of widespread applause, the update has sparked a wave of criticism—particularly from women—who say there should be an option to opt out of DMs completely due to concerns about harassment. While most major social platforms, including X, Bluesky, and Mastodon, already offer DMs, some Threads users actually liked that this feature was absent. For them, not having private messages created a different, more comfortable environment. Comments like these were common in response to Threads’ announcement, which Instagram head Adam…
Author: Intern
Even Tesla’s energy storage division—long a rare bright spot in the company’s sprawling operations—can’t seem to escape the turbulence swirling around the electric automaker. For the second quarter in a row, installations of Tesla’s Powerwall home batteries and Megapack utility-scale storage systems have fallen. According to the latest figures released by Tesla, the company deployed 9.6 gigawatt-hours of stationary storage in Q2. That’s down from 10.4 GWh in the first quarter—a decline of about 8%. It’s a sharp reversal from late last year, when Tesla’s storage business hit an all-time high. In the final quarter of 2024, the company deployed…
A critical security flaw in a shadowy Android spyware operation called Catwatchful has exposed thousands of people—both the customers using the app and the unsuspecting victims whose phones were being secretly monitored. The vulnerability, discovered by Canadian security researcher Eric Daigle, effectively spilled Catwatchful’s entire user database onto the open internet. This cache included email addresses and plaintext passwords that customers used to log in and track the stolen data from targeted devices. Catwatchful presents itself as a “child monitoring app” that claims to be “invisible and cannot be detected.” In reality, it quietly uploads nearly everything from a victim’s…
ICEBlock, a new iPhone app designed for anonymously reporting sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, has surged to the top of Apple’s U.S. App Store rankings. Ironically, the app’s sudden popularity was fueled by public criticism from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. According to CNN, most of ICEBlock’s roughly 20,000 users are in Los Angeles, where ICE raids have increased in recent weeks. After Bondi’s remarks late Monday denouncing the app, it went viral almost overnight. By Tuesday afternoon, ICEBlock had become one of the most downloaded free iPhone apps in the country. The app lets people…
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has confirmed that plans to move Tumblr over to WordPress infrastructure have been put on hold indefinitely. Speaking on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Mullenweg explained that the company decided to focus on projects that users can see and care about more directly, rather than a big backend overhaul. “This was more like an infrastructure thing, kind of like any big re-architecture,” he said. “I still want to do it. It’s just cleaner. But right now, we’re not working on it.” One reason for the migration was to better integrate Tumblr into the broader open social web,…
Apple is exploring using AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic to power an updated version of Siri, rather than relying solely on its own technology, according to a report from Bloomberg. While Apple continues to develop an internal project called LLM Siri, the company has reportedly asked both OpenAI and Anthropic to train versions of their AI models that could run on Apple’s cloud infrastructure for testing. Apple had planned to launch an AI-enabled Siri in 2025, but the release was delayed until 2026 or later due to technical challenges. The company has faced increasing pressure as rivals like Google,…
Campfire, the AI-powered accounting startup challenging legacy ERP systems, has raised a $35 million Series A round led by Accel. The round also included Foundation Capital, Y Combinator, Capital 49, and angel investors such as Mercury’s CFO Dan Kang. Founded by finance veteran John Glasgow, Campfire launched in 2023 to replace traditional accounting software like NetSuite with an LLM-driven alternative that automates reconciliation, cash flow analysis, and reporting. In under a year, Campfire attracted a notable roster of customers, including Advisor360, Rhumbix, and Fooji, all of which migrated from NetSuite. At the seed stage alone, Campfire grew to around 100…
Former President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that a sale is finally going through to sell TikTok to a consortium of high-net-worth American investors—a move that, if it happens, would reshape the app’s uncertain future in the U.S. Speaking on Fox News in an interview on Sunday, Trump said a purchaser has emerged to buy the extremely popular short-form video app from its Chinese parent, ByteDance. “We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way,” Trump declared. “I think I’ll probably need China’s approval. I think President Xi [Jinping] will likely do it.” He refrained from identifying any buyers or…
The FBI and leading cybersecurity firms are sounding the alarm: Scattered Spider, one of the most notorious hacking groups in recent years, has shifted its sights to the airline and transportation sectors. In a short but urgent statement shared with TechCrunch on Friday, the FBI confirmed it had “recently observed” cyberattacks linked to the group hitting airlines. Executives at Google’s cybersecurity arm, Mandiant, and Palo Alto Networks’ research unit, Unit 42, echoed the warning. They said they have seen fresh evidence of Scattered Spider targeting aviation companies, a troubling escalation given the group’s reputation for brazen and damaging attacks. Scattered…
Meta is definitely offering hefty multimillion-dollar pay packages to AI researchers when wooing them to its new superintelligence lab. But no one is really getting a $100 million “signing bonus,” according to a poached researcher and comments from a leaked internal meeting. During a company-wide all-hands meeting on Thursday, leaked to The Verge, some of Meta’s top executives were asked about the bonuses that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Meta had offered to top researchers. Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth implied that only a few people in very senior leadership roles may have been offered that kind of money, but clarified…
A crane collapsed at SpaceX’s South Texas rocket facility this week, and the company’s newly formed city won’t say if anyone was hurt. On June 23, a crane being used to clean up debris from the most recent SpaceX rocket explosion collapsed at the company’s launch complex. Footage of the accident was captured by Lab Padre, one of the content creators who film and photograph the site on a regular basis. But it was filmed from far away, making it impossible to tell whether anyone was harmed or in danger. SpaceX has not publicly acknowledged the collapse and did not…
Yes, after nearly four decades of haunting our screens, the iconic Windows error page is finally getting a makeover. The Blue Screen of Death—known to tech support workers everywhere simply as BSOD—will soon become the Black Screen of Death. Why Is This Happening Now? This isn’t just a random design choice. The change comes as part of a wave of updates rolling out in the aftermath of last year’s massive CrowdStrike outage. If you need a refresher, that meltdown knocked 8.5 million Windows devices offline, paralyzing airports, TV stations, and even government offices. In response, Microsoft launched the Windows Resiliency…
Rivian has laid off about 140 employees—roughly 1% of its workforce—as it gears up for the release of its more affordable R2 SUV next year, TechCrunch has learned. The job cuts mainly affected Rivian’s manufacturing team and have been happening since Wednesday, according to several former employees who spoke on condition of anonymity. Some workers were told their roles were being eliminated because they contributed to “process inefficiencies.” We have made the difficult decision to reduce a small number of our salaried manufacturing employees as part of an ongoing effort to improve operational efficiency for R2,” a spokesperson said. The…
Kalshi, the regulated prediction market platform, has just closed a $185 million funding round led by crypto-focused venture capital firm Paradigm, boosting its valuation to $2 billion post-money. Representatives from both Paradigm and Kalshi confirmed the news to TechCrunch. “Prediction markets remind me of crypto 15 years ago: a new asset class on a path to trillions,” said Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner at Paradigm, in a statement. “There’s no better team than Kalshi to scale prediction markets and reshape how people think about everything from elections and economic markets to weather and sports.” The Wall Street Journal was…
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is facing mounting criticism in Memphis over its new Colossus data center. The facility, powered by natural gas turbines, has alarmed local residents who worry it may be polluting the air in surrounding neighborhoods. City’s Initial Tests Show No Immediate Danger But Questions Remain Earlier this week, the city of Memphis released results from preliminary air quality testing conducted by a third-party contractor. The tests, carried out on June 13 and 16, measured 10 pollutants and concluded that none were present at levels considered dangerous. However, the findings have done little to calm community…