Timef 03/03/2025

The U.K.’s privacy watchdog has launched investigations into three social media companies over how they go about protecting the privacy of children on their respective platforms. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced today that it’s looking into how TikTok uses personal information of 13-17-year-olds to recommend videos, “in light of growing concerns” around how young […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Upholding export controls on semiconductor chips made in the U.S. made chips may be harder than Washington D.C. thinks. Chinese buyers are getting their hands on computing systems with Nvidia’s Blackwell chips through third-party traders located in other regions, the Wall Street Journal reported. Buyers in Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are buying these resources for […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

When hosting the 2025 Oscars last night, comedian and late-night TV host Conan O’Brien addressed the use of AI in his opening monologue, reflecting the growing conversation about the technology’s influence in Hollywood. “We did not use AI to make this show,” O’Brien said. His remarks were clearly a reference to the use of generative AI […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

New malware "FrigidStealer" targets Mac computers. Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson offers four ways to stay safe from infostealer malware.

With these high-tech cat boxes, gone are the days of bending over, scooping, and covering your nose. Welcome to the future.

It was inevitable that this year at MWC in Barcelona, at least one carrier would announce a major effort at building a smartphone with a top AI company. And here it is: Deutsche Telekom (DT), said that it is building an “AI Phone,” a low-cost handset created in close collaboration with Perplexity, along with Picsart […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

It was inevitable that this year at MWC in Barcelona, at least one carrier would announce a major effort at building a smartphone with a major AI company. And here it is: T-Mobile, the mobile telco owned by Deutsche Telekom, said that it is building an “AI Phone”, a low-cost handset created in close collaboration […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

AI startup Stability AI has teamed up with chipmaker Arm to bring Stability’s Stable Audio Open, an AI model that can generate audio including sound effects, to mobile devices running Arm chips. While a number of AI-powered apps can generate audio, like Suno and Udio, most rely on cloud processing, meaning that they can’t be […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The ending of "Anora" contrasts with the rest of the film. Here's what it means, according to writer/director Sean Baker and sex workers.

iMessage, Signal, and WhatsApp have made E2EE the default for messaging, but Skype paved the way decades ago. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

HackerPulse builds dashboards of information pulled from engineering tools to show how and where engineers spend their time. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A roundup of the best and worst moments from the Oscars 2025.

Jolla, the erstwhile mobile maker turned privacy-centric AI business — via sister startup, Venho.ai — has taken the wraps off an AI assistant that’s touted as a “fully private” alternative to letting data-mining cloud giants crawl all over your personal information.   The AI assistant is designed to integrate with apps like email, calendar and […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

In 'The White Lotus' Season 3, episode 3, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) hears a strange noise. But what is it?

If you're all-in on digital weight training, you'll want to splurge on this fancy slab for sweating.

The software supply chain is notoriously porous: a reported 81% of codebases contain high- or critical-risk open source vulnerabilities. A single vulnerability can have a far-reaching impact on the wider software supply chain, as evidenced by the likes of the Log4Shell exploit that saw millions of applications exposed to potential remote code execution hacks via […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Browser company Opera has unveiled a new AI agent called Browser Operator that can complete tasks for you on different websites. In a demo video, the company showed the AI agent finding a right pair of socks from Walmart; securing tickets for a football match from the club’s site; and looking up a flight and […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Xiaomi SU7 Ultra made an appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Mashable got up close.

The best-known budget bidet maker successfully counters high-end electric bidets (with a few minor quirks).

Beats Solo 4 headphones normally retail for $199.99. As of Mar. 3, they're on sale for $129.99 at Best Buy.

Amazon’s drones met more resistance in College Station, Texas, than in any other city in the US. Now they’re gone—and a sense of peace and privacy has been restored.

As of Mar. 3, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ (Series II) portable speaker is on sale for $229. Normally it retails for $299.

Google is rolling out new features to its continuous conversational AI Gemini Live, including live video and screen sharing.

Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson talks about how lab-grown muscles power a biohybrid hand for scalable prosthetics and research.

Uber has started testing its teenagers-focused service, Uber for Teens, in India. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Max normally retails for $59.99. As of Mar. 3, it's on sale for $39.99 at Amazon.

Google is adding new features to its AI assistant, Gemini, that let users ask it questions using video or content on the screen in real time. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 in Barcelona, the company showed off a new “Screenshare” feature, which lets users share what’s on their phone’s screen with Gemini and […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Save 12% on the ASUS Vivobook S 14 at Amazon.

Long before TikTok refugees discovered Red Note, Candise Lin was giving Americans a portal into the wild, hilarious world of Chinese social media.

Save 44% on the roborock S8 Pro Ultra at Amazon.

Save 15% on the Beats Fit Pro at Amazon.

Save 23% on the Apple Pencil Pro at Amazon.

Accessing information on abortions online is becoming more difficult and risky. Here's how to protect yourself while searching.

Save 82% on Luminar Neo, a user-friendly AI photo editor with pro tools, a video training course, and six packs of preset filters — no subscription required.

Are you job-hunting? Ensure your resume stands out with ResumeFromSpace's ATS optimization, smart recommendations, and more, now $59.99 (reg. $240).

Upgrading to a new device? Before selling or recycling your computer, wipe everything from its hard drive with this PC-compatible data shredder stick, now $29.99 (reg. $39).

Infinix has a solar case and a solar phone that can restore battery by simply being in the light.

As of March 3, the LG 86-inch QNED80T Series Smart TV is available for $1,139.96 at Amazon, saving you $157 off its usual price of $1,296.99.

As of March 3, the Google Pixel 9 (Unlocked, 128GB) is on sale for $599 at Amazon, saving you $200 off its usual price of $799.

As of March 3, the TCL 75-inch Q6-Series QLED 4K Smart TV is available for $499.99 at Best Buy, saving you $200 off its usual price of $699.99.

To all the 'Wicked' fans mourning the film's Best Picture loss, fret not! We can still look ahead to the sequel coming out later this year.

Get a £20 lifetime subscription to the iScanner app and scan documents, edit PDFs, and automatically count objects in photos on your iOS device.

Hulu's Oscars 2025 live broadcast ended before Best Actress and Best Picture, users report.

The 2025 Oscars devoted a Broadway-inspired musical number to Quincy Jones, who passed in November 2024.

Sean Baker's dramedy "Anora," starring Mikey Madison, wins Best Picture over "Conclave" and "The Brutalist."

The 25-year-old ingenue Mikey Madison beat out Demi Moore of "The Substance" to win Best Actress for her performance in "Anora."

Sean Baker takes home the Best Director Oscar for his movie "Anora."

Adrien Brody took home the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2025 Academy Awards for his performance in "The Brutalist."

The NYT Strands hints and answers you need to make the most of your puzzling experience.

Connections is a New York Times word game that's all about finding the "common threads between words." How to solve the puzzle.

In "The White Lotus" Season 3, episode 3, Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey) has a dream about a tsunami. But what does it mean?

Here's the answer for "Wordle" #1353 on March 3, as well as a few hints, tips, and clues to help you solve it yourself.

Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra and co-star Yuval Abraham take home the Oscar for 'No Other Land'.

Zoe Saldaña took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 Academy Awards for her role in "Emilia Pérez."

In a tribute to James Bond at the 2025 Oscars, BLACKPINK's Lisa, Doja Cat, and RAYE took to the stage to perform classic Bond themes.

Oscars 2025 winners full list. The 97th Academy Awards are hosted by Conan O'Brien.

Watch Conan O'Brien's opening monologue at the 2025 Oscars, which took on AI, Netflix, and Karla Sofía Gascón.

Kieran Culkin took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at the 2025 Academy Awards. He won for his performance in "A Real Pain."

If you hate the big camera bump of today's smartphones, you'll love the detachable lens of Xiaomi’s Modular Optical System.

The 2025 Oscars opened with a "Wicked" performance from stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Best Actor nominee Chalamet took a butter-colored pastel approach to the big night's red carpet looks.

Forget flip phones, Lenovo’s latest concept is a flip laptop

Privacy-focused messaging app Signal has been flying high in the Dutch app stores this past month, sitting many days as the most downloaded free app on iOS and Android for all categories, per data from multiple app-tracking platforms such as Sensor Tower. The app has experienced surges in popularity through the years, often in response […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Apple is struggling to rebuild Siri for the age of generative AI, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who says the company might not release “a true modernized, conversational version of Siri” until iOS 20 comes out in 2027. That doesn’t mean there won’t be big Siri updates before then. A new version Siri will reportedly […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

With just a few words, AI models can be prompted to create a story, an image, or even a short film. But according to Weber Wong, these models are all “made by non-creatives for other non-creatives to feel creative.” In other words, they’re not built for actual creative professionals. That’s something Wong is hoping to […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

John Cena turned heel and joined forces with The Rock. Social media erupted.

Mike Meyers stars as Elon Musk in 'SNL' Cold Open

The Blue Ghost has landed on the moon, stable and upright, according to Firefly Aerospace.

Ed Norton makes the argument that Sheldon Mopes, from 'Death to Smoochy' is quite similar to his Oscar-nominated character, Pete Seeger, from 'A Complete Unknown'.

Get Windows 11 Pro with AI-powered Copilot for just A$24. Upgrade your PC with advanced features like system setting changes, web page summaries, and more.

The world's biggest call center company is using AI to mask employees' accents.

President Donald Trump is throwing his support behind the idea of creating a federal reserve of cryptocurrency assets — he specifically mentioned XRP, Solana, and Cardano, but not Bitcoin or Ethereum. In January, Trump issued an executive order calling for the formation of a working group that would study and make recommendations around crypto policy, […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The Honor UI Agent—powered by Google's Gemini 2 model—gives us a glimpse of artificial intelligent agents on Android.

Aviron’s home fitness equipment operates on a simple principle: People hate working out. But many of those same people love playing video games. Perhaps the only thing standing between them and a more active lifestyle is some health competition and well-timed distraction. It’s the same gamification concept that made Nintendo’s Wii and VR games like […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Xiaomi’s flagship phone lineup for photography enthusiasts has a new member: The Xiaomi 15 Ultra.

Answers to each clue for the March 2, 2025 edition of NYT's The Mini crossword puzzle.