- Critical NASA rocket test ends early with a shutdownA critical NASA rocket test ended with a shutdown on Saturday, a little over a minute into what was planned to be an eight-minute test. This trial run was a vital checkpoint ... read more
- After a record year for Israeli startups, 16 investors tell us what’s nextIsrael’s startup ecosystem raised record amounts of funding and produced 19 IPOs in 2020, despite the pandemic. Now tech companies across industries are poised for an even better year, according to more than a dozen ... read more
- No one knows what anything is worthWelcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free, and made for your weekend reading. Click here if you want it in your ... read more
- Human Capital: Labor issues at GitHub, Facebook’s new civil rights exec and a legal battle against Prop 22This week kicked off with a report of a GitHub worker who was fired after cautioning his coworkers in the DC area to stay safe from Nazis during the assault on the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, ... read more
- Facebook suspends ads for weapon accessories until at least January 22ndIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has updated its Inauguration Day preparations to include a temporary ban on ads that promote weapon accessories and protective equipment at least through January ... read more
- Stay gold, ‘Plaid for X’ startupsA failed acquisition usually triggers the same series of questions: What does this mean for early-stage startups in the sector? Will a chilling effect occur and hurt ... read more
- Ford reportedly delays some deliveries of its Mustang Mach-EPhoto by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Ford will delay deliveries for hundreds of its Mustang Mach-E vehicles to perform quality checks, Electrek reported. The automaker began delivering the Mach-E SUV in ... read more
- Startups look beyond lidar for autonomous vehicle perceptionLast CES was a time of reckoning for lidar companies, many of which were cratering due to a lack of demand from a (still) non-existent autonomous vehicle industry. The few that excelled did so by ... read more
- Some Twitter employees have reportedly locked their accounts fearing reprisal from Trump supportersIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Some Twitter employees have set their accounts to private and scrubbed their online biographies over concerns they may be targeted by supporters of President Trump, ... read more
- The Verge Awards at CES 2021: can’t touch thisIllustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Rating the all-digital Consumer Electronics Show Continue reading… ... read more
- Unlike Airbnb, VRBO reportedly won’t cancel reservations in DC during inauguration week
- This Week in Apps: Parler deplatformed, alt apps rise, looking back at 2020 trendsWelcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 218 ... read more
- The tech trends we saw kick off at CES 2021Image: Razer Another CES is in the books. Going all-virtual meant that it was a smaller show than usual — and since it was already a show that’s been on the decline ... read more
- Watch NASA test fire its massive new rocketThe B-2 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. | NASA Four huge rocket engines will roar to life on Saturday, in a crucial test for NASA’s ... read more
- CES showed off the COVID-19 mask gimmick arms raceIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Millions of people in the US started buying face masks in 2020, and companies, unsurprisingly, rushed to take advantage of the surge of demand for ... read more
- Cyberpunk 2077 full development reportedly didn’t start until 2016Image: CD Projekt Red A new report looking into what went amiss with the rollout of Cyberpunk 2077 points to overconfidence from management at CD Projekt Red as a key problem, and ... read more
- The deals are slow, but we got some exclusives for youImage: Logitech Welcome to the weekend. If I’m being honest, this week’s assortment of deals was just as spotty as last week’s. So, to make it a little better, we’ve worked with ... read more
- Checkout wants to be Rapyd and Fast
- I want to float in the void of this car’s paint jobDriving around a car that looks like it’s made from the fabric of space is now slightly more possible, as demonstrated in this modified black paint job that DipYourCar applied to a ... read more
- The FAA just greenlit this drone to fly autonomously without a human nearbyIn October, the FAA took a major stride towards letting increasingly smart drones fly themselves, letting Skydio’s self-flying drones inspect any bridge in North Carolina for four years, as long as humans ... read more
- Medium acquires eBook company GloseMedium has announced its acquisition of the social-based ebook company Glose. Glose is a platform where users can buy and read books, then share notes and highlights with friends. In the press ... read more
- Extra Crunch roundup: antitrust jitters, SPAC odyssey, white-hot IPOs, moreSome time ago, I gave up on the idea of finding a thread that connects each story in the weekly Extra Crunch roundup; there are no unified theories of technology news. The stories that left ... read more
- Facebook is blocking events near the White House through Inauguration DayPhoto by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images Facebook won’t let people create events that take place “in close proximity” to the White House, the US Capitol building, or any state capitol buildings through Inauguration ... read more
- Facebook blocks new events around DC and state capitols
- Biden’s First Spending BlowoutHe doubles Obama’s 2009 plan even as the economy is poised to take off in 2021. ... read more
- Boss Madigan Falls at LastIllinois gets a new House speaker, but the system of public-union dominance survives. ... read more
- Betsy DeVos’s Education RecordShe did much good for school choice and due process on campus. ... read more
- The 1776 ReportA Trump commission tries to correct the historical record. ... read more
- GitLab oversaw a $195 million secondary sale that values the company at $6 billionGitLab has confirmed with TechCrunch that it oversaw a $195 million secondary sale that values the company at $6 billion. CNBC broke the story earlier today. The company’s impressive valuation comes after its most recent ... read more
- GitLab raises $195M in secondary funding on $6B valuationGitLab has confirmed with TechCrunch that it raised a $195 million secondary round on a $6 billion valuation. CNBC broke the story earlier today. The company’s impressive valuation comes after its most recent 2019 Series ... read more
- Apple is blocking Apple Silicon Mac users from sideloading iPhone appsThe error message in macOS 11.1. | Screenshot: Jay Peters Apple has turned off users’ ability to unofficially install iOS apps onto their M1 Macs (via 9to5Mac). While iOS apps are still ... read more
- The pandemic was top of mind in the tech of CES 2021Of course COVID-19 was bound to be an unavoidable topic during the first-ever all-virtual CES. After all, the topic is at front of mind regardless of the topic these days. Close to a year into ... read more
- Daily Crunch: WhatsApp responds to privacy backlashWhatsApp delays enforcement of a controversial privacy change, Apple may get rid of the Touch Bar in future MacBooks and Bumble files to go public. This is your Daily Crunch for January 15, 2021. The ... read more
- Twitter’s vision of decentralization could also be the far-right’s internet endgameThis week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey finally responded publicly to the company’s decision to ban President Trump from its platform, writing that Twitter had “faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance” and that he did not ... read more
- Viant Technology Files S-1 Ahead of IPOAd software provider Viant Technology Inc. filed an S-1 on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of an initial public offering as the company positions itself for future growth. The company anticipates ... read more
- Apple is reportedly prototyping foldable iPhone screensPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple has started work on a foldable phone, and it’s begun prototyping foldable screens internally, according to Bloomberg. A final device is likely still years ... read more
- Mainstream Media Partisanship Comes to Voice of AmericaVOA aired a ‘news’ report in Pakistan that was no more than a repackaged Biden campaign ad. ... read more
- How the Left Hijacked Civil RightsFor centuries black Americans debated how to overcome racism—but they always emphasized human agency and individual responsibility. ... read more
- What WHO Won’t Learn From ChinaBeijing likes the story that Covid began elsewhere but at least it could tell us about the virus in China today. ... read more
- ViacomCBS And Dish Media Deliver Addressable Ads In Live National Broadcast TVCould addressable ads for live nationally broadcast linear TV be coming soon? Incremental progress in that direction happened Thursday when ViacomCBS and DISH Media each said that they have successfully tested the first addressable campaign ... read more
- Marc Lore leaves Walmart a little over four years after selling Jet.com for $3BMarc Lore, the executive vice president, president and CEO of U.S. e-commerce for Walmart, is stepping down a little over four years after selling his e-commerce company Jet.com to the country’s largest retailer for $3 ... read more
- WandaVision is an ode to sitcomsImage: Disney When times are tough, the sitcom is a refuge. Like late-night talk shows, the multicamera sitcom is one of the oldest formats in television. It’s affordable and efficient for the ... read more
- Vergecast: CES 2021 and Samsung’s S21 lineupPhoto by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge This year’s Consumer Electronics Show was unsurprisingly all virtual. Typically, The Verge is in the thick of it in Las Vegas, but this year, we’re ... read more
- Coinbase commits to a “better customer experience” following complaintsCoinbase has a problem. As interest in bitcoin has soared along with its price, the popular cryptocurrency exchange has found itself the target of a growing spate of angry customers who haven’t been able to ... read more
- Apple doesn’t make a MagSafe car charger — here are your optionsPhoto: Belkin Getting a MagSafe car charger for your iPhone seems like a simple process, but the current landscape is one of trade-offs: there are no all-in-one solutions that will wirelessly hold ... read more
- 15 steps to fundraising a new VC or private equity fundShare on Twitter David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. More posts ... read more
- Lessons from Top Hat’s acquisition spree
- Group Nine’s SPAC goes publicGroup Nine Media revealed last month that it was forming a SPAC (short for special purpose acquisition corporation) in order to raise money for acquitions. The company has now moved forward with those plans, announcing ... read more
- WarnerMedia extends its 20 percent discount on HBO Max subscriptions
- Apple is extending Apple TV+ trials againIf you’ve got an Apple TV+ trial that’s set to expire sometime between now and June, good news: you’re getting some free bonus time. Apple TV+ first launched in November of 2019, alongside a one-year ... read more
- Apple is again extending TV Plus trials to JulyImage: Apple According to 9to5Mac, Apple will be extending its free year-long trials of its TV Plus service to customers until July 2021. The trials were originally included with the purchase of ... read more
- Desktop Metal buys fellow 3D printing company EnvisionTEC for $300MDesktop Metal this morning announced its intention to purchase fellow 3D printing company EnvisionTEC. Founded in Germany in 2002, EnvisionTEC specializes in photopolymer additive manufacturing, putting its technology in more direct competition with the likes ... read more
- The Biden BlowoutWho voted for this? ... read more
- WhatsApp delays enforcement of privacy terms by 3 months, following backlashWhatsApp said on Friday that it won’t enforce its new data-sharing policy to users until May 15, weeks after news about the new terms created confusion among its users, exposed the Facebook-app to a potential ... read more
- WhatsApp to delay new privacy policy amid mass confusion about Facebook data sharingPhoto by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge WhatsApp on Friday announced a three-month delay of a new privacy policy originally slated to go into effect on February 8th following widespread confusion ... read more
- Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson says wisdom lies with your developers
- Tracy Chou launches Block Party to combat online harassment and abuseBlock Party, an anti-harassment startup that aims to help folks feel safer on social media founded by Tracy Chou, launched today. Currently only available for Twitter, Block Party helps people filter out the content they ... read more
- Apple reportedly planning big iMac redesign and half-sized Mac ProPhoto by Dieter Bohn / The Verge In addition to revamped MacBook Pros that ditch the Touch Bar and resurrect MagSafe, Apple is also said to be planning to announce its long-awaited ... read more
- Hitman 3 players on Google Stadia will be able to share custom scenarios with just a URLA screenshot from Hitman 3. | Image: IO Interactive Hitman 3 and the World of Assassination trilogy launch on January 20th, and at launch, Google Stadia players will be able to share ... read more
- Fired GitHub employee who warned coworkers about Nazis is seeking legal counselOn the day a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, a worried GitHub employee warned his co-workers in the D.C. area to be safe. After making a comment in Slack saying, ... read more
- DOT evaluated 11 GPS replacements and found only one that worked across use casesThe United States’ GPS system, which is operated by the Defense Department, offers every one of us critical infrastructure around what is known as positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Positioning and navigation is obvious every ... read more
- Humble Store winter sale discounts Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Dirt 5, and moreThe Humble Store has kicked off its winter sale. Starting today and lasting until January 28th at 10AM PT / 1PM ET, the digital storefront is running a slew of discounts across ... read more
- GitHub still won’t explain if it fired someone for saying ‘Nazi,’ and employees are pissedPhoto by Win McNamee / Getty Images GitHub employees are protesting the firing of a Jewish colleague who was let go two days after he warned co-workers in Washington, DC to stay ... read more
- The ‘Common Carrier’ Solution to Social-Media CensorshipRailroads can’t refuse to carry passengers for their political views. The same rule should apply to online monopolies, legal scholar Richard Epstein argues. ... read more
- In its third season, American Gods is the most fascinating disaster on TVOne of the miracles of any good television show is that it even works at all. First consider the countless people working across departments and disciplines needed to make a single episode ... read more
- New York, I Love You, but We Can’t Go On Like ThisThe Empire State and its biggest city need a financial and political intervention before it’s too late. ... read more
- Bumble files to go publicThe dating and networking service Bumble has filed to go public. The company, launched by a former co-founder of the IAC-owned Tinder, plans to list its share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, using the ticker symbol ... read more
- US consumers spent record amounts on video games in 2020, NPD reportsPhoto by James Bareham / The Verge Spending on video games set a new record of $56.9 billion in 2020 in the US, according to a new NPD Group report, a 27 ... read more
- Corporate credit card platform Moss raises $25.5 million
- Signal outage is keeping messages from sendingIf you’re having trouble sending messages in the secure messaging app Signal, it may be due to technical difficulties the company says are affecting the app on Friday. Signal allows for ... read more
- California man faces prison time after hitting police helicopter with a droneA California man is facing jail time for hitting a police helicopter with his drone. Andrew Hernandez pleaded guilty yesterday to unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft, a charge that carries up ... read more
- EMA warns over doctored COVID-19 vaccine data hacked and leaked onlineThe European Medical Agency (EMA) has warned that information on COVID-19-related medicines and vaccines, which was stolen in a cyber attack last December and leaked online earlier this week, includes correspondence that’s been manipulated prior ... read more
- Uber planning to spin out Postmates’ delivery robot armAnother Uber spinout is in the works. Postmates X, the robotics division of the on-demand delivery startup that Uber acquired last year for $2.65 billion, is seeking investors in its bid to become a separate ... read more
- It’s Official: YouTube No Longer Accepts Third-Party PixelsAs of Thursday, all campaigns on YouTube are required to enable Ads Data Hub linking in order to be eligible for third-party measurement. Any campaign that doesn’t could experience disruptions to their third-party measurement going ... read more
- Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro are a solid AirPods alternativeI suspect it will be a while before I get excited over wireless earbuds. It’s not for a lack of trying on the part of manufacturers. In fact, quite the contrary. The category actually matured ... read more
- Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro review: the right balanceThey don’t win at any one thing, but they strike a great mix in terms of sound quality, ANC, and comfort Continue reading… ... read more
- Pandemic-Affected Global Theatrical Movies Drops 72% To $12.2 BillionThe biggest movie globally in this period was WarnerMedia's "Wonder Woman 1984" with a $132.1 million haul. ... read more
- Pandemic-Affected Global Theatrical Drops 72% To $12.2 BillionThe biggest movie globally in this period was WarnerMedia's "Wonder Women 1984" with a $132.1 million haul. ... read more
- Video game spending increased 27% in 2020If you’ve been following the gaming space – or just the state of the world, generally – over the past 12 months, this shouldn’t come as a major surprise. Spending saw big increases pretty much ... read more
- As home sales skyrocket and IPO looms, Diane Yu joins fintech Better.com as CTOThe pandemic might have wiped out whole swaths of the economy, but one area that is pulsating with activity is home sales. Driven by remote work and changing commute patterns, home sales skyrocketed last year, ... read more
- Rapid growth in 2020 reveals OKR software market’s untapped potentialLast year, a number of startups building OKR-focused software raised lots of venture capital, drawing TechCrunch’s attention. Why is everyone making software that measures objectives and key results? we wondered with tongue in cheek. After ... read more
- WandaVision welcomes a new line of Earth’s first defense in the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWandaVision, the first original television series produced by Marvel Studios, isn’t quite like anything Marvel has released before. It’s absurdist and pays authentic tribute to some of the best American sitcoms ... read more
- Cognito Taps Weiner As Chief Insights OfficerMark Weiner has joined financial and technology marketing agency Gognito as Chief Insights Officer, overseeing its recently launched research-based consulting practice, Cognito Insights. ... read more
- Everlywell raises $75M from HealthQuest Capital following its recent $175M Series D roundAt-home health testing kit startup Everlywell has raised $75 million, following the close of the $175 million Series D it announced in December. The new funding comes from HealthQuest Capital, and sees the fund’s founder and ... read more
- Crossbeam raises $25M to back startups built on ‘platform economies’
- A brief chat with StorymodebaeBriana became Storymodebae when she started her Twitch channel in January 2018. Back then she was still a year away from graduating from college, and in her own words, got the idea ... read more
- How to delete your Facebook accountillustration by Alex Castro / The Verge \If you’ve finally given up on the world’s most popular social media network, it’s not too complicated to remove yourself from the service. But before ... read more
- Canvas' Woolmington Reflects On Lessons Learned During Covid EraThe Canvas CEO does so organizing those lessons within what he terms "P" buckets-Purpose, People, Product and Profound Gratitude. ... read more
- Apple said to be planning new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with MagSafe and Apple processorsApple has planned new upgraded MacBook Pros for launch “later this year” according to a new report from Bloomberg. These new models would come in both 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, with new and improved Apple ... read more
- Want a job in tech? Flockjay pitches its sales training service as an on-ramp to tech careers
- Amazon Taps Bigalow From Fox, For Devices OTT Partner MarketingBigalow will support joint marketing efforts between Amazon and content providers such as Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and Discovery Plus for Amazon's Fire TV, tablets and other devices. ... read more
- Microsoft to fix Windows 10 bug that can corrupt a hard drive just by looking at an iconImage by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft says it’s planning to fix a bizarre Windows 10 bug that could corrupt a hard drive just by looking at an icon. Security researcher ... read more
- COVID-19 Has Changed Business Forever: Dentsu’s NaryaniSINGAPORE – Vaccines may be rolling out but, even when something like normality arrives, few are expecting the world to function in quite the same way it did before COVID-19. Case in point – the ... read more
- Innovid Gets MRC Accreditation For Rendered Display TV ImpressionsThis expands the omnichannel ad server's existing accreditations in video and OTT. ... read more
- Zocdoc offers COVID-19 vaccine scheduler to health care organizationsPhoto by Spencer Platt/Getty Images Medical appointment company Zocdoc is offering to handle COVID-19 vaccine scheduling logistics for hospitals and health systems, many of which have spent the early days of the ... read more
- Amazon’s newest product lets companies build their own Alexa assistantAmazon is selling access to the underlying technology stack of Alexa to let companies — starting with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — build their own intelligent assistants with unique voices, skills and wake words. The new ... read more
- Guest-Host Stunt, Trebek Tributes Putting 'Jeopardy' In JeopardyLet this "TV Blog" serve as an alarm: Our national TV treasure known as "Jeopardy!" is under threat. ... read more
- How to cancel your account at Netflix, Amazon Prime, and othersLet’s face it: some of us are so busy these days — what with pandemics and presidential elections and attempted overthrows of the government — that we don’t pay enough attention to ... read more
- Amazon opens Alexa AI tech for the first time so car makers can build custom assistantsIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is giving car companies the unprecedented privilege of accessing the core artificial intelligence underpinning its Alexa digital assistant, a first for the company’s AI ... read more
- Intel has to be better than ‘lifestyle company’ Apple at making CPUs, says new CEOIntel’s new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, doesn’t start his new role until February, but he’s already prepping the company to take on Apple’s M1 chips. The Oregonian, a local newspaper in Oregon where ... read more