Timef 03/14/2025

When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber took the SXSW stage this week, she managed to make fun of Mark Zuckerberg without mentioning Meta at all. Her black t-shirt was emblazoned with black text stretching across the chest and sleeves, similar to the style of a t-shirt that the billionaire founder wore at an event last year. […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google, following on the heels of OpenAI, published a policy proposal in response to the Trump Administration’s call for a national “AI Action Plan.” The tech giant endorsed weak copyright restrictions on AI training, as well as “balanced” export controls that “protect national security while enabling U.S. exports and global business operations.” “The U.S. needs […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A list of some of the alternative app stores iPhone users in the EU can try today.  © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Amazon won't say if it will stop hosting data from three phone surveillance operations that spilled private data on millions of people. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Rumman Chowdhury, a data scientist, nonprofit founder, and former director of Twitter’s machine ethics team, had strong words for Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during an SXSW panel on Thursday. “When your funding is frozen and you don’t know if you’re gonna be fired, and there’s this, like, absolutely unhinged person […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Light, the maker of a minimalist phone designed to help consumers disconnect from smartphone distractions and social media, will launch its newest model, the Light Phone III, on March 27. This version of the device, like its older counterpart, offers a simple black-and-white display and necessary features like support for calls, texts, navigation, alarms, hotspots, […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Silicon Valley’s most storied startup accelerator, Y Combinator, held its Winter 2025 Demo Day on Wednesday, showcasing its latest batch of 160 startups. Some of Silicon Valley’s most successful startups – including Stripe, Airbnb, and Reddit – started out in a YC batch. Unsurprisingly, many of the startups in this batch are focused on building […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The accounts were frozen in February, but documents filed today make public details which had previously been unknown. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Facebook is rolling out the ability for creators to earn money for views on public stories. The new monetization option is available globally to creators who are part of the Facebook Content Monetization program. With this new monetization option, creators can earn money from content that they are already producing and sharing if they post […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Lockdown Mode is an "extreme protection" feature that's good for at-risk users, but its notifications are increasingly confusing. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Meghan Markle is launching a new podcast entitled “Confessions of a Female Founder,” which will hear the duchess talking about her entrepreneurial journey. It will also feature talks with other female founders about the reality of building a business, according to People magazine. The show will premiere April 8th on Lemonada Media and will have […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

In a new policy proposal, OpenAI describes Chinese AI lab DeepSeek as “state-subsidized” and “state-controlled,” and recommends that the U.S. government consider banning models from the outfit and similar People’s Republic of China (PRC)-supported operations. The proposal, a submission for the Trump Administration’s “AI Action Plan” initiative, claims that DeepSeek’s models, including its R1 “reasoning” model, […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

In the AI chatbot wars, Google thinks the key to retaining users is serving up content they can’t get elsewhere, like answers shaped by their internet habits. On Thursday, the company announced Gemini with personalization, a new “experimental capability” for its Gemini chatbot apps that lets Gemini draw on other Google apps and services to […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google announced new features around PC and mobile gaming today ahead of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), including new titles, control customization, and developer tools for making mobile games available on PC. The company first introduced Play Games for PC in 2022 in the beta phase. Over time, it has introduced the program to various […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.