Manus AI, the viral AI agent platform out of China, on Monday morning launched two subscription plans starting at $39 per month. Manus, which is still in beta, is an AI-powered agentic tool that can be used to complete tasks ranging from creating a web page for a wedding invitation to crafting a scoring sheet … Read more
Seattle-based Temporal has made its name over the last several years in the world of microservices — specifically providing a platform to orchestrate the messy business of building and operating integrations and updates across disparate services and apps in the cloud. But the AI boom has come at the company fast. Now, Temporal has raised … Read more
Amazon on Monday unveiled Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent that can take control of a web browser and independently perform some simple actions. Alongside the new agentic AI model, Amazon is releasing the Nova Act SDK, a toolkit that allows developers to build agent prototypes with Nova Act. Nova Act, developed by Amazon’s recently … Read more
As it gears up to go public, Chime is going all in on new features in an effort to attract more customers. The digital bank is offering customers who agree to have their paychecks directly deposited into a Chime savings or checking account an APY of 3.75%, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. For those who don’t … Read more
Last weekend, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, found himself at the center of a digital fiasco when he was unexpectedly added to a Signal group chat with 17 U.S. government officials who were discussing imminent airstrikes in Yemen. For some, the incident has raised questions about how phone numbers end up in contact lists … Read more
Apple is developing a new version of its Health app that includes an AI coach that can advise users on how to get healthier, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman first reported that something like this was in the works back in 2023, but now he says development is moving ahead, with the new features … Read more
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas recently took to Reddit to address users’ product complaints and reassure them that the company is not under serious financial pressure. Srinivas seemed to be responding, in part, to a user theory that the company is “doing horribly financially” and “making lots of changes to cut costs.” As an example, the … Read more
It’s been 25 years since China Miéville stepped into the literary spotlight with his novel “Perdido Street Station.” Combining elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, the novel introduced readers to the fantastically complex city of New Crobuzon, filled with insect-headed khepri, cactus-shaped cactacae, and terrifying slake moths that feed on their victims’ dreams. It … Read more
A year ago, Bluesky was opening up to the public and was known as one of the many X competitors that emerged after Elon Musk acquired the network formerly known as Twitter. Today, Bluesky’s social network has grown to over 33 million users, while the technology it’s built upon — the AT Protocol (or ATProto … Read more
New and expanded data centers are expected to double the sector’s power demand by 2029 as tech companies rush to capitalize on AI.
Time is running out! Less than 48 hours left to lock in your $300+ discount for TechCrunch All Stage founder and investor passes. More than just you? Save even more with bundle tickets. Rates increase on March 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT. TC All Stage is where founders accelerate their growth and investors discover their … Read more
An excerpt from the upcoming book “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future” offers new details about why OpenAI’s board briefly fired CEO Sam Altman back in 2023. Written by Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey, the book claims the nonprofit’s board members became increasingly concerned after learning about issues … Read more
Amazon announced this week that Jennifer Salke is stepping down as the head of Amazon MGM Studios — a move that could indicate high-level dissatisfaction with the company’s streaming strategy over the past few years. To be clear, Salke’s boss Mike Hopkins (the head of Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video) praised her work in … Read more
Welcome back to Week in Review! Elon Musk says that xAI bought X in an all-stock deal; a16z-backed 11x faked some customers; the Lumon Terminal Pro pops up on Apple’s website; and much more. Let’s dig in! xAI buys X: X owner Elon Musk announced on X on Friday that xAI acquired X in an … Read more
CoreWeave co-founder Brian Venturo knows that three hedge fund guys, turned crypto miners, now running AI training infrastructure has been a wild ride.
When Intel Capital announced its plans to spin out from semiconductor giant Intel in January, it came as a bit of a shock considering the firm has been operating as Intel’s venture investment arm since 1991. In many ways this decision marks the end of an era for what’s considered by some to be the … Read more
Last year, funding into African startups edged past $2 billion, returning to pre-pandemic levels and presenting a mixed bag as expected. Signs suggest 2025 will follow the cautious trends of the past two years. A sharp decline in mega-deals, mirroring global venture capital tightening since the boom of 2020-2021, pushed local and international investors to … Read more
The final countdown is here! This is your last weekend to lock in Early Bird pricing for TechCrunch All Stage founder and investor tickets. Save up to $320 before the clock strikes 11:59 p.m. PT on March 31. Founders, charge ahead. Investors, power the mission! On July 15 at SoWa Power Station in Boston, 1,200 … Read more
Charlie Javice, the founder of student loan application startup Frank that was purchased by JPMorgan for $175 million, was found guilty on Friday of defrauding the bank by greatly inflating the customer count. After a five-week trial, the jury found Javice guilty, agreeing with prosecutors’ claims that she fabricated the vast majority of Frank’s customer … Read more
‘Tesla Takedown’ organizers have promised their biggest day of global action this weekend, encouraging thousands to protest outside Tesla showrooms, dealerships, and even charging stations to peacefully object to Elon Musk’s role in slashing government spending. As Tesla protests have spread, so has the backlash. Activists holding up signs are being conflated with masked vandals … Read more
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has acquired his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, he announced in a post on X Friday. “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt),” Musk said in the post. “xAI and … Read more
Prolific fintech investor and QED Investors co-founder Frank Rotman said Friday that he will transition to a partner emeritus role by year’s end to focus on founding his own startups. But those startups won’t necessarily be financial technology companies. In a post on X, Rotman — who helped start QED in 2007 — declared that … Read more
Nintendo announced on Friday that its live-action “The Legend of Zelda” movie will premiere on March 26, 2027. It’s a little weird to announce this the day after a Nintendo Direct livestream, where the gaming company usually unloads all of its recent news. But that was intentional. The company wants fans to download its new … Read more
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Before we jump into the transportation news of the week, it’s worth pointing you to a couple of articles that are focused on Elon Musk, the CEO … Read more
Women’s health and its startups building connected breast pumps, period trackers, and other apps and hardware designed for women have collectively pulled in more than $5 billion in funding in the last five years, but the market is tight, and now, two of the trailblazers in the space are coming together as consolidation beckons. Willow, … Read more
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week reminded us that creative accounting doesn’t only happen in Hollywood. Some hopes were dashed, but startups are delivering on all sorts of promises, from nuclear … Read more
Despite the stealthy nature of spyware, security researchers keep detecting Pegasus spyware attacks in part because of sloppy ‘operational security.’
This week, OpenAI launched a new image generator in ChatGPT, which quickly went viral for its ability to create Studio Ghibli-style images. Beyond the pastel illustrations, GPT-4o’s native image generator significantly upgrades ChatGPT’s capabilities, improving picture editing, text rendering, and spatial representation. However, one of the most notable changes OpenAI made this week involves its … Read more
Lucid Motors plans to resume customer deliveries for its new all-electric Gravity SUV at the end of April. Getting the Gravity into customer hands is a big milestone for Lucid, whose success will hinge on being able to offer vehicle types popular with American drivers. The Gravity is Lucid’s second vehicle and its first SUV … Read more
Mark Zuckerberg may not be the most likable figure in Silicon Valley, but we can empathize with him on this: it would feel really weird if someone made a movie about your life. On YouTubers Colin and Samir’s podcast, Zuckerberg spoke about the one and only time he saw “The Social Network.” “It was weird, … Read more