Apple has just bought up the talent it needs to make talking toys a part of Siri, HomePod, and its voice strategy. Apple has acquired PullString, also known as ToyTalk, according to Axios’ Dan Primack ... read more

Hotel chain giant Marriott will now let you check if you’re a victim of the Starwood hack. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that it has put in place “a mechanism to enable guests to look ... read more

Watch out, starwhales. There’s a new weapon for the interstellar dwellers whom you threaten with your planet-crushing gigaflippers, undergoing testing as we speak. This small-scale version may only be good for removing dangerous orbital debris, ... read more

Big videogame makers Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive are learning that their blockbuster titles need staying power to capitalize on the games-as-a-service trend. ... read more

Thanks to environmentally conscious young buyers, throwaway culture is dying not only in the U.S., but also in Latin America – and startups are poised to jump in with services to help people recycle used ... read more

Amazon.com has climbed aboard the electric-vehicle bandwagon, leading a $700 million investment round for car-making startup Rivian Automotive. ... read more

When does “delete” really mean delete? Not always or even at all if you’re Twitter . Twitter retains direct messages for years, including messages you and others have deleted, but also data sent to and ... read more

The housing market is predicted to cool this year, but the market for startups selling houses? It seems to be heating up. Opendoor, the company that aims to bypass real estate agents and brokers by providing ... read more

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Did ... read more

NYC and Boston were handed huge setbacks this week when Amazon and GE decided to bail on their commitments to build headquarters in the respective cities on the same day. But it’s worth pointing out that ... read more

Ahead of its anticipated initial public offering this year, Uber reported a net loss of $865 million in the fourth quarter. That figure, however, was aided by a tax benefit that saved the company from ... read more

Streaming service Hulu is adding an element of ’authenticity’ to its marketing with a campaign where endorsers reveal they are getting paid to be on air. ... read more

Clarification hasn’t always been Twitter’s strong suit. Fittingly, there’s a bit of confusion around the long standing succession that the service could add an “edit” button in order to save users from silly typos and, ... read more

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest international hub, briefly suspended flights because of the suspected presence of a drone, the latest in a string of global airports to have to ground flights. ... read more

Rivian, the electric automaker that debuted its first two vehicles just three months ago, has raised $700 million in a round led by Amazon . The news follows a report earlier this week by Reuters ... read more

For homeowners that want to go green, but have trouble figuring out how to do it, Palmetto Clean Technologies has the answer. The company has an army of salespeople to pitch the benefits of solar power ... read more

Earlier today, Dubai’s International airport shut down flights for roughly half an hour, owing to the sighting a drone flying nearby. Departures were halted from 10:13 a.m. and 10:45 a.m over  “suspected drone activity,” those ... read more

Three cities, three dead urban unicorn renewal projects. In just the past few days, we’ve had Foxconn renege on Wisconsin, Amazon renege on NYC, and GE renege on Boston. Each followed the Anna Karenina principle ... read more

If you’re a Coinbase user, you may have seen some new tokens on your account. The Bitcoin Cash chain split into two different chains back in November. It means that if you held Bitcoin Cash ... read more

Ramez Naam Contributor More posts by this contributor The Ultimate Interface Is Your Brain The Green New Deal has burst onto the American stage, spurring more conversation ... read more

Nvidia reported a 24% drop in quarterly revenue and signaled work ahead to shake off a funk in cryptocurrency mining and revive demand for its chips used by videogamers and data centers. ... read more

3DEN is building spaces for what it calls the “in-between moments” of your day. The name (pronounced “Eden”) comes from the idea of the “third place” — a space that’s neither home nor work. Founder ... read more

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week was a treat. We had TechCrunch’s own Connie Loizos in the studio along with your ... read more

Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor Africa ... read more

Bixby’s been on a bunch of phones and several appliances. Until now, however, Samsung’s smart assistant has been largely MIA on the company’s tablets. Of course, I’ve never pretended to have the faintest idea of ... read more