Instagram announced today that it’s introducing a new “Add Yours” sticker that creates public threads in Stories. The new feature essentially allows users to respond to other users’ Stories with their own following a prompt or a certain to…
Coinbase is acquiring the startup Agara, which operates an AI-powered customer support platform, the two said Tuesday, as the cryptocurrency exchange looks to make it easier for users to join the service and seek assistance.
The firms d…
Last week, a press release from Hertz indicated that the rental company had placed an order for 100,000 Tesla Model 3s for its rental fleet. Late yesterday, however, Elon Musk tweeted that the order is far from firm, saying that “no contra…
A digital token inspired by the popular South Korean Netflix series Squid Game has lost almost all of its value as it was revealed to be an apparent scam.
Squid, which marketed itself as a "play-to-earn cryptocurrency", had seen its pri…
Fortress Night, the Chinese version of the popular game Fortnite, is to close later this month.
Epic Games, which owns Fortnite, has so far provided no reason for the decision to close the online shooter game.
An announcement said th…
A day after Facebook’s rebranding as Meta (and simultaneous and unceremonious dropping of the Oculus brand), the company announced that it is acquiring Within. The Los Angeles firm is the developer of Supernatural, a Beat Saber-style worko…
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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for October 29, 2021. If you feel a little snowed-under after all the…
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s message about Instagram’s impact on teenage girls was unequivocal: Facebook’s studies found that 13% of British teens said Instagram prompted thoughts of suicide, and 17% of teen girls say Instagram …
Wikipedia's ability to retain balance on Chinese issues has been called into question following the global platform's ban preventing several mainland Chinese "editors" writing and updating pages.
Against the backdrop of tensions between…
The corporation formerly known as Facebook has a new name Meta.
There will still be a Facebook, and an Instagram and all the familiar platforms, as this is simply a renaming of the parent company alone.
The new name also invites peop…
At Facebook’s AR/VR-focused event Connect, the company announced a new app focused on bringing more creators into the world of building for augmented reality.
Image Credits: Facebook
The upcoming iOS app, called Polar, allows users t…
Audi has rolled out a new software update to its 2019 model year e-tron electric SUV that will add up to 12 miles of range to the battery.
While the improvement might not seem significant — it is, after all, only 12 miles — it does show…
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.
Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for October 28, 2021. With our SaaS event now behind us — a big thank…
TikTok is testing a new in-app tipping feature on its platform that would allow creators to accept money from fans outside of TikTok LIVE streams, where gifting is already supported. The company confirmed the feature is part of a limited t…
MVNO, the search giant announced today. When enabled, the feature means that no one, not even Google, can listen in on the contents of a call. Although it’s possible to have end-to-end encrypted audio calls through services like FaceTime a…
Twitter is now allowing hosts of Twitter Spaces chats to record and share their broadcasts. The feature is starting to roll out to a limited number of Twitter Spaces hosts on iOS and should be available to all hosts “within a few weeks.” T…
Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 to more PCs this week. After an initial launch to mostly new PCs earlier this month, Microsoft is gradually making the free Windows 11 upgrade available to more existing and eligible devices.
“The ava…
Google is expanding several of its privacy and security features including Google Photos’ secure Locked Folder feature, the VPN offered alongside Google One, and the Pixel’s new centralized security hub. The plans were detailed in a blog p…
Microsoft is updating its PowerToys for Windows with new UI changes for Windows 11, a universal video conference mute, and a find my mouse feature. The software maker has been gradually improving PowerToys ahead of the Windows 11 launch, w…
It’s rare that a new smartphone feels all that new. The common refrain is that smartphones are all a “mature” technology and today’s new phone is only incrementally different from the prior one. There’s a lot of truth in that — Apple’s mad…
Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand.
The company said it would better "encompass" what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR).
The change does…
If you're a fan wanting to express your devotion to the hit Korean Netflix show Squid Game - well, there's a cryptocurrency for that.
Gamers have created an online version of the programme, for which you need the Squid cryptocurrency to…
Estonian on-demand transport firm Bolt is set to roll out electric taxi options in South Africa four months after introducing e-bike food delivery services in the country.
Bolt’s plan follows the introduction of a ‘green category’ – whi…
Agriculture has a 10,000-year history, and it’s predominantly a history of technology. Developments from the plow and wheel to enclosures and the modern mechanical miracles of gas-powered tractors and sorters have consistently improved cro…
Supporters of tidal energy projects say they are "deeply frustrated" that their plans to tackle climate change are being "ignored" by the UK government.
Tidal technology could produce between 5% and 10% of the UK's electricity needs, ac…
A Japanese start-up is hoping to convince motorists to swap their cars for a $680,000 (£495,000) hoverbike.
ALI Technologies' XTurismo Limited Edition went on sale in Japan, earlier on Wednesday.
Electronics giant Mitsubishi and foot…
A former Facebook employee has told US authorities the company's efforts to remove child abuse material from the platform were "inadequate" and "under-resourced".
The allegations are contained in documents seen by BBC News and submitted…
Growing reliance on SaaS has opened the door to shadow IT: SaaS applications bought by individual employees without the knowledge or approval of their organization’s IT department.
While shadow IT can be an opportunity for innovation, i…
Apple News is expanding its local news coverage to Charlotte, Miami and Washington, D.C. Local news coverage will give users access to numerous publications such as Axios Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer, Eater Miami, the Miami Herald, DC…
mPharma, a Ghanaian health startup, has taken a controlling stake in Uganda’s Vine Pharmacy for an undisclosed amount, marking the firm’s entry into its latest market in Africa.
mPharma disclosed to TechCrunch that it has acquired a 55 …
Snap said today it has amassed 100 million monthly active users in India, an impressive feat in the key overseas market where Facebook and Google reach over half a billion people, and is inking deals with a range of firms including Android…
Land Rover plans to add an all-electric Range Rover to its lineup in 2024, the brand said Tuesday.
The announcement was made alongside its reveal of the 2022 Range Rover, the redesigned fifth generation of its luxury SUV that is loaded …
YouTube is rolling out a designated “New to you” tab on its platform after testing the feature earlier this year. The new tab is now available on the YouTube homepage across mobile, desktop and TV devices. YouTube says the feature will hel…
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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for October 25, 2021. What a day. We kicked off with news that a majo…
Google has revealed a new smartphone that can erase unwanted objects or passers-by from photographs.
Its "magic eraser" feature is being launched with the Pixel 6 smartphone, which is powered by a chip of its own design.
The BBC's Da…
Facebook has posted better-than-expected profits for the third quarter, as it continues to face bad press over leaked internal documents.
The social media giant made $9bn (£6.5bn) of profit in the three months to September, up from $7.8…
As social-audio apps like Clubhouse, Beams, Pludo, Racket and Quest have gained popularity in the last year, more marketers, product teams and up-and-coming competitors are beginning to explore the strategies that are making and breaking t…
Digital lenders that share personal data of loan defaulters, with third parties, risk license withdrawal in Kenya after lawmakers added a clause — granting the banking regulator the mandate to revoke permits of operators who breach custome…
Meet Hera, a new calendar app that wants to turn the calendar into the main work interface. Hera helps you schedule meetings more easily with natural language processing and lets you share availabilities in an email or any messaging app. T…
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
On Equity this week, we discussed the value of the written word. You can imagine that the resulting …
The threats to our cities seem endless - from flash flooding to pollution, overcrowding to the risk of pandemics.
To help avert crises, many cities have invested in technology - the theory being that if you can see the scale of the prob…
Cam Adair finally realised that his addiction to video games was out of control when it made him consider ending his life.
"I struggled with it for 10 years," he says. "I dropped out of high school, never went to college, and pretended …
As regulatory pressure on the Play Store for Android increases, Google is once again making changes to its business structure. It has announced that more categories of apps will be eligible to pay significantly less than the usual 30 perce…
Snap has some things to be happy about this quarter. It crossed $1 billion in revenue for the first time, added 13 million daily users, and doubled submissions to Spotlight, its relatively new TikTok rival. But it has also ran into a serio…
Microsoft is releasing a new Windows 11 update today that fixes some of the AMD CPU performance issues. AMD and Microsoft found two issues with Windows 11 on Ryzen processors at launch, with one causing L3 cache latency to triple and slowi…
After steadily expanding access over the course of the year, Twitter announced today its audio chatroom feature known as Twitter Spaces is now open to anyone who wants to host a Space across iOS and Android. Earlier this year, the company …
Facebook has reached a multiyear agreement to pay French publishers for resharing their content on its platforms, it announced today.
The social media giant said the licensing agreement with the Alliance of national and regional newspap…
Google put out a report detailing a phishing campaign directed at YouTubers, which involved around 15,000 fake accounts and over a million messages to targets. The phishing attempts were carried out by multiple hackers, and the company say…
Bolt Mobility, a micromobility company co-founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, has launched an in-app navigation system for its e-scooters dubbed “MobilityOS.” To make this feature easy to use, Bolt’s next generation of scooters, the “B…
Google has held discussions to invest over $50 million in Indian social commerce startup Meesho, which recently secured $570 million in a financing round, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Android-maker, which has back…