A former U.S. Army soldier has admitted to a sweeping hacking and extortion scheme that targeted some of America’s largest telecommunications companies. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced that Cameron John Wagenius, who operated online under the alias “kiberphant0m,” pleaded guilty to hacking into multiple telecom providers and threatening to release stolen data if companies didn’t meet his demands. According to prosecutors, Wagenius conspired with others to attack 10 victim companies, stealing login credentials through brute-force attacks and other hacking techniques. He then trafficked the stolen credentials and discussed breaches in Telegram group chats, effectively running a shadow marketplace…
Author: Intern
In a stunning show of investor confidence, Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup launched by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has just closed a $2 billion seed round—an eye-popping figure that now values the company at $12 billion, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and drew backing from some of the most powerful names in tech and finance, including Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Street. Just last month, reports had pegged the upcoming round at a $10 billion valuation. But clearly, in the fast-moving world of AI, things can…
When xAI rolled out its new language model, Grok 4, last week, the company boasted that it outperformed several rivals on a range of benchmarks. But almost immediately, users noticed serious problems. The Grok account on X, which runs on the model, began generating antisemitic messages, referring to itself as “Hitler,” and frequently echoing Elon Musk’s opinions when asked about controversial subjects. After a wave of criticism, xAI quickly apologized for Grok’s behavior. On Tuesday, the company said it has addressed both major issues. “We spotted a couple of issues with Grok 4 recently that we immediately investigated & mitigated,”…
In its ongoing race to fuel an ever-expanding network of data centers, Google announced on Tuesday that it has struck a deal worth more than $3 billion to secure carbon-free hydropower from Brookfield Asset Management’s renewable energy division. Under the agreement, Google will purchase 670 megawatts of capacity from two hydropower plants in Pennsylvania—Holtwood and Safe Harbor—through 20-year power purchase contracts. This initial tranche is part of a broader framework that could eventually scale up to 3 gigawatts of renewable capacity. The move underscores the intensifying competition among tech giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, all scrambling to lock…
Japan has just smashed the record for the world’s fastest internet speed, clocking in at a mind-bending 1.02 petabits per second—a connection so fast you could download 10,000 Netflix movies in 4K in just one second. This blistering milestone is 16 million times faster than India’s average internet speeds and about 3.5 million times faster than what most Americans get at home. Even as Japan recently slipped to the world’s fifth-largest economy behind India, its tech innovation is showing no signs of slowing down. The record-setting feat comes from researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT).…
The highly anticipated $3 billion acquisition of Windsurf AI, the breakout coding-focused AI startup, by OpenAI has officially collapsed, according to a report by The Verge. In a surprising twist, Google DeepMind has moved quickly to absorb the talent behind Windsurf AI. The company has hired CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and several top researchers from the startup. Google confirmed the hires in a statement to TechCrunch, marking a major shift in the competitive AI landscape. However, this isn’t a traditional acquisition. Google isn’t taking any equity in Windsurf AI or assuming ownership of its business. Instead, it has…
With the resignation of X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on Wednesday, the platform formerly known as Twitter is heading into a new phase marked by growing uncertainty. Owned by Elon Musk, X has seen its daily active users decline by approximately 10% year-over-year in Q2 2025, according to new data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Although X still holds a significant lead—boasting a user base 65% larger than Meta’s Threads and nearly ten times the size of Bluesky—its long-term dominance is under pressure. Threads, in particular, is rapidly closing the gap, especially on mobile, signaling a shift in the…
Elon Musk announced early Thursday that Grok, the chatbot developed by his AI company xAI, will be arriving in Tesla vehicles “next week at the latest.” The news follows xAI’s debut of its latest flagship model, Grok 4, just hours earlier. Fans had been quick to notice that Musk spent nearly an hour discussing Grok on Wednesday night without mentioning Tesla integration—prompting his early-morning post clarifying the rollout timeline. This update comes amid controversy over Grok’s behavior. Recent adjustments have made the chatbot more likely to produce problematic content, including antisemitic remarks, political attacks, and even threats of violence. As…
Earlier this month, Adrian Holovaty, the founder of the music-learning platform Soundslice, finally figured out a strange puzzle that had been bugging him for weeks. Random screenshots of ChatGPT chats were flooding his system, and he had no idea why. When he dug deeper, he realized something unexpected: ChatGPT had become one of Soundslice’s biggest cheerleaders, but it was also spreading stories that simply weren’t true. Holovaty has a long history in tech. Years ago, he helped create Django, the popular Python framework. In 2012, he started Soundslice to help musicians learn and teach more easily. Unlike many startups, the…
Perplexity has just launched its first AI-powered web browser, called Comet, as part of its ambitious push to compete with Google Search as the main way people find information online. At first, Comet will only be available to subscribers of Perplexity’s $200-per-month Max plan and a select group of early users who joined a waitlist. The browser’s main attraction is Perplexity’s AI search engine, which comes pre-installed and set as the default. This puts Perplexity’s signature feature—AI-generated summaries of search results—front and center. Users also get access to Comet Assistant, a built-in AI agent designed to handle everyday tasks. According…
Apple’s longtime Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Williams, is preparing to step down later this month, the company announced Tuesday. His departure marks the end of a nearly 30-year career that helped shape some of Apple’s most iconic products. Williams is retiring to focus on spending more time with his loved ones. “I look forward to spending more time with friends and family, including five grandchildren and counting,” he shared in a statement. Sabih Khan, currently Apple’s Senior Vice President of Operations, will take over as the new COO. Although Williams plans to retire before the end of the year, he…
Activision has quietly taken down the Microsoft Store version of Call of Duty: WWII after hackers exploited a critical security flaw, which reportedly led to several players having their PCs compromised The game, originally released in 2017, was recently re-launched on Microsoft’s platform and included with Xbox Game Pass — a subscription service that offers access to a library of games. Last week, Activision announced it had taken this version of Call of Duty: WWII offline due to “reports of an issue,” but didn’t elaborate on the specifics. Now, a source with direct knowledge of Activision’s internal response tells us…
Epic Games has officially settled its antitrust lawsuit against Samsung, according to a new court filing. The case, which Epic filed last September, accused Samsung of working hand in hand with Google to keep competing app stores off Samsung phones by default. “We’re dismissing our court case against Samsung following the parties’ discussions,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney shared in a post on X. “We are grateful that Samsung will address Epic’s concerns.” An Epic spokesperson declined to offer further details and referred to Sweeney’s statement. Samsung and Google did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. In the lawsuit,…
Instagram’s Threads is getting closer than ever to overtaking X (formerly Twitter) in daily mobile app usage, according to fresh figures from market intelligence firm Similarweb. In June 2025, Threads’ iOS and Android apps reached 115.1 million daily active users — a massive 127.8% jump compared to last year. In contrast, X attracted 132 million daily actives but saw its own growth decline by 15.2% year-over-year. Meanwhile, the decentralized social platform Bluesky is growing even faster in percentage terms, reporting an eye-popping 372.5% year-over-year increase. Still, its daily audience remains relatively modest: just 4.1 million daily active users worldwide as…
Companies everywhere are racing to keep up with the explosion of AI tools. The challenge? These technologies are evolving much faster than most businesses’ slow, traditional sales and procurement cycles can handle. Brex, the corporate credit card startup, has been no exception. Like many of its peers, Brex quickly realized that its old way of buying and testing software was too sluggish to keep pace with the AI boom. At the HumanX AI conference in March, Brex CTO James Reggio shared how the company had to rethink its entire approach. Initially, Brex tried to evaluate new AI products using its…