TechCrunch Industry News

At Apple’s (virtual) hardware event today, the company announced a significantly redesigned iPad Air with a new look and tiny bezels. In a move portentous for other Apple products, Touch ID has returned — inside the power button on the top of the tablet. For the 10th anniversary of the iPad, the new 4th-generation Air […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple announced a ton of new devices and features today at its September hardware event, but no word on its upcoming iPhones. That’s expected later in the month, maybe next. In case you missed Apple’s hour-long keynote, here’s everything that was announced — including some things you might have missed. Apple Watch One of Apple’s […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoi...

If this was a normal year, we would be settling in for an iPhone event right about now. This is, however, very much not a normal year. And while we are, in fact, getting an Apple hardware event tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET, it’s looking entirely possible — even likely — that we […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A former Facebook data scientist dropped a detailed, damning memo on her last day there, calling the social network out for what she describes as an arbitrary, slow, and generally inadequate response to fake accounts and activity affecting politics worldwide. BuzzFeed News acquired the full memo and has published excerpts in this report, which is […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast...

One thing I’ll say for in-person events: they compelled companies to cram in a lot of news. After all, if you’re going to ask an auditorium full of people to travel from around the country — or world — you want to give them a lot of bang for their buck. Samsung did manage that […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Glasses/sunglasses with built-in speakers have been a thing for a shockingly long time now. They’ve never been particularly popular, mind, but at the very least, they’re an interesting enough concept for companies to continue taking a sporadic stab at the category, whose primary appeal seems to be not being forced to purchase both glasses and […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

WildType, the startup making lab-grown salmon, is opening up a pre-order list for select chefs. Although the company is as much as five years out from commercial production, according to founders, the company is looking to partner with select chefs around the country who want to incorporate their sushi-grade salmon product into their menus . […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

If you know one thing about Mint Mobile, it’s probably the fact that it’s owned by Pizza Place guy turned Pikachu voice, Ryan Reynolds. The actor’s been building a nice investment portfolio for himself, beginning with a piece of the Aviation American Gin company in 2018 and an ownership stake in Mint last year. The […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monthly financing isn’t an entirely new concept in the world of Xbox. Microsoft offered a similar plan for the Xbox One S a few years ago. The idea is pretty simple: pay a monthly fee for hardware and software for two years until you outright own the device. What’s new here, however, is that the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year’s Motorola Razr reboot should have been a slam-dunk. An iconic name attached to a cutting edge form factor — what could possible go wrong? A lot, turns out, especially in the world of foldables where nothing seems to go according to plan. Some questionable design choices gave rise to a poorly reviewed device […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  I quite like the iPad Pro 11 inch with the Magic Keyboard. In the Land of Pandemic where every day is Saturday, the tablet is king. With no real purchase on the chaotic flow of life, the rules — any rules — of the road are very dear to me. Structure is arbitrary but […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The other day I took a moment to count the number of stories we’ve done on TechCrunch on the DoD’s $10 billion, decade-long, winner-take-all, JEDI cloud contract. This marks the 30th time we’ve written about this deal over the last two years, and it comes after a busy week last week in JEDI cloud contract […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TikTok, the popular short video sharing app, has joined the European Union’s Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech. In a statement on joining the code, TikTok’s head of trust and safety for EMEA, Cormac Keenan, said: “We have never allowed hate on TikTok, and we believe it’s important that internet platforms are held […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoi...

Newly released teaser images of Volkswagen’s upcoming all-electric ID.4 compact SUV reveals an interior that leans in on tech such as touchscreens and ambient lighting used to talk to the driver without erasing every toggle or knob from automotive’s yesteryear. In short: the ID.4 appears to have struck a balance between stark minimalism and a […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

It was just days ago that cries of “stocks only go up,” and “no it makes sense that Tesla is going up because it split” and other bits of unironic stupidity were the only thing you could read online about the equities markets. Today, and yesterday, that all went to hell. Stocks, it turns out, can […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quick, what was the first portable gaming system Nintendo made? If you said “Game Boy”… solid guess, but not quite. For nearly a decade before Nintendo released that iconic gray beast, it was making the Game & Watch — a collection of handheld devices, each dedicated to playing just one or two simple games and, […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this week, in Brooklyn, near the waterfront, Amazon opened what looks from the outside like a typical Whole Foods store. It isn’t open to the public, however; it’s a fulfillment center. “Grocery delivery continues to be one of the fastest-growing businesses at Amazon,” the company said in a statement about the location, noting that […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices...

Amid a racial justice reckoning following countless events of police brutality (justice for Breonna Taylor), it’s high time companies and investors in the tech industry do more than just say “Black Lives Matter,” but show that Black lives matter. As Human Utility CEO Tiffani Ashley Bell aptly put it, “Make the hire, send the wire!” […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...

Yesterday’s overflow Galaxy Unpacked event was about one thing and one thing alone: the Galaxy Z Fold 2. Honestly, it was a bit anticlimactic after its predecessor found Samsung unveiling five new devices. But the singular focus wasn’t for lack of new stuff to show off. In fact, the company just unleashed a whole slew […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As far as launches for revolutionary products are concerned, the Galaxy Fold could have gone a lot better. It’s not for lack of hype, of course. Years of prelude punctuated by Samsung’s own breathless expectations provided plenty of build-up, but in the end, the device felt like a partially baked disappointment. A number of early […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho...

2020 was going to be the year 5G went truly mainstream. Things obviously haven’t gone according to plan these past several months, but this is undoubtedly the year Samsung went all-in on the next generation technology. After being one of the first to market with a 5G device, it’s since made its way across the […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Digital locker service Movies Anywhere is today officially launching its movie-sharing feature dubbed “Screen Pass,” which lets you lend out one of your purchased movies to a friend or family member. The feature was rushed into beta testing this March, followed by a more open public beta trial in April, thanks to increased demand from […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...

  Much was made during the Republican Convention of the lack of a party platform. The media characterized this as a capitulation to the Cult of Trump phenomenon, but the questioned begged was: so what? If you’re running as a candidate to disrupt the status quo…. But beneath the media framing, an important question emerges. […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Smart Clock Essential really blurs smart display lines. Aesthetics aside, Lenovo’s news device probably has more in common with the Echo Dot with Clock than it does the company’s first generation Smart Clock. In fact, at $50, it’s actually $10 less expensive than Amazon’s offering. Lenovo Smart Clock review Essentially the Essential is a […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

If you can’t keep up with the latest rumor mill on TikTok’s impending doom acquisition, my suggestion is simple: don’t. Or instead, enjoy it for what it is: one of the most absurd bakeoff deals in investment banking history. Walmart and its always low prices are in the fray. Oracle is looking to find synergies […] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices