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…
Author: Intern
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…
In a decision that could reshape the landscape of copyright and artificial intelligence, a U.S. federal judge has ruled that AI company Anthropic was legally allowed to train its language models on published books—without asking for the authors’ permission. Judge William Alsup handed down the ruling on Tuesday, marking the first major legal win for an AI company claiming that its use of copyrighted materials falls under the controversial fair use doctrine. And while this doesn’t mean that all similar lawsuits are now void, it does set a powerful precedent—one that could influence future rulings across the country. A Blow…
Uber and Waymo announced Tuesday that their joint autonomous ride service, already operating in Austin, has officially launched in the heart of Georgia. Initially, the service will cover around 65 square miles of Atlanta, with plans to expand over time. This launch marks a big step forward for both companies. Uber, which has built relationships with 18 autonomous vehicle (AV) partners, says it’s now operating at an annual run rate of 1.5 million AV mobility and delivery trips. On the other hand, Waymo says it’s delivering 250,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across cities like Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and…
Andy Konwinski, a co-founder of Databricks and Perplexity, has pledged $100 million of his personal wealth to launch a new nonprofit research institute dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence in meaningful, human-beneficial ways. The newly formed Laude Institute isn’t just another AI research lab. Instead, it’s designed more like a philanthropic investment engine, distributing funding through grants to promising researchers and labs. Its structure blends a nonprofit arm with a public benefit corporation, allowing it to pursue both academic and real-world impact. A Powerhouse Board and Berkeley Flagship Lab Laude’s board includes some of the biggest names in computer science and…
The Canadian government, in coordination with the FBI, has revealed that a state-backed Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon breached at least one Canadian telecom company earlier this year in a cyber-espionage operation. In a joint security advisory issued late Friday, officials confirmed that the hackers compromised the network of an unnamed Canadian telco in mid-February, exploiting three Cisco routers to quietly siphon off traffic and data without detection. The intrusion was part of a broader surveillance effort that security agencies believe is far from over. Authorities say Salt Typhoon’s activities extend well beyond the telecommunications sector, with signs…
A controversial Republican-led effort to prevent states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations has taken a major step forward in the U.S. Senate. What’s in the Proposal? Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz rewrote the provision to comply with budgetary rules. Under the revised language, states that attempt to enforce AI regulations in the next 10 years could lose federal broadband funding. The rewrite passed review by the Senate Parliamentarian, who ruled that it’s not subject to the Byrd rule — a budgetary limitation that could’ve derailed the provision. This clears the way for it to be included in…
From space lasers to AI-powered smart glasses, this week’s tech news shows no signs of slowing down. Let’s break it all down. Big Story of the Week Meta and Oakley Launch Next-Gen Smart Glasses Meta is back with a stylish twist. In partnership with Oakley, the company just unveiled a new pair of smart glasses packed with features: Price: $399Limited Edition (Oakley Meta HSTN): $499 — launches July 11 Startup & Business Moves Wix Buys Solo-Built AI Tool Base44 for $80M Wix acquired Base44 — a profitable, no-code AI web app builder founded just six months ago — for $80…
Earlier this week, nearly the entire population of Iran lost access to the internet in what has been described as a near-total national blackout. The sudden and widespread outage left millions of people disconnected unable to access news, communicate with loved ones, or follow updates on the escalating war with Israel. Initially, the cause of the shutdown was unclear. But Iran’s government has now acknowledged that it ordered the internet restrictions in an effort to protect against increasing cyber threats, which it attributes to Israel. Government officials explained that the decision to impose the blackout was driven by growing security…
Character.AI, the fast-growing Google-backed chatbot company, has named Karandeep Anand as its new CEO. Anand, formerly the VP of Business Products at Meta, steps into the role during a critical chapter for the company, which boasts tens of millions of monthly active users. Anand isn’t entirely new to Character.AI — he had already been serving as a board advisor. Now, he’s taking the reins as the company navigates dual challenges: scaling up its platform while addressing serious safety concerns. In recent months, Character.AI has come under scrutiny due to a lawsuit involving a tragic incident in which one of its…
The U.S. AI startup ecosystem is maintaining its momentum in 2025, building on a blockbuster 2024. Last year, 49 startups raised $100M+ rounds, with seven companies securing billion-dollar investments. The trend is continuing in 2025, with several mega-rounds already closed in the first half of the year. Below is a list of 24 U.S.-based AI startups that have raised $100 million or more so far this year: June May April March February January This list will be updated as more funding rounds are announced. The AI funding surge shows no signs of slowing, as startups continue to raise capital to…
Midjourney, the creative-focused AI image generation startup, has officially stepped into the AI video space with the launch of its first video model: V1. Unveiled on Wednesday, V1 is an image-to-video model that generates short, five-second video clips from a single still image. Users can upload their own image or use one created through Midjourney’s existing AI models. Each prompt produces four video outputs. As with Midjourney’s image tools, V1 is accessible exclusively via Discord and is available only on the web at launch. “Introducing our V1 Video Model. It’s fun, easy, and beautiful,” the company shared on X. “Available…
For a few tense minutes on Wednesday, followers of Andreessen Horowitz’s official X (formerly Twitter) account were startled to see it promoting a crypto “airdrop” — the kind often associated with scams. The post, followed by another claiming $5 million had already been given away, raised alarm bells, especially coming from an account with over 851,000 followers. The situation escalated quickly — but so did the response. A member of the a16z crypto team immediately posted a warning urging users not to engage. X swiftly removed the fraudulent post, but not before confusion spread across the platform. In a statement…