TechCrunch Industry News

No, don’t think Bird Scooters. Think Bird, formerly MessageBird. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aaron Peskin says Garry Tan’s now deleted X post did “harm to democratic discourse." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google CEO Sudar Pichai said that the company’s Google One cloud storage service is ” just about to cross” 100 million subscribers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Universal Music Group (UMG), the label representing artists including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande, says that it’ll pull its music from TikTok tomorrow at midnight after failing to reach a deal with the platform’s parent company, ByteDance, over royalties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yelp is releasing new features as part of its winter release, which includes a more visual feed, AI-powered summaries of businesses, and number masking while contacting businesses for better privacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Media streamer Plex has raised new capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has resigned from the e-commerce group’s board, the two said Saturday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Count Spotify among those not thrilled with how Apple has chosen to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which sets the stage for sideloading apps, alternative app stores, browser choice, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The robotics industry loves a good, healthy debate. Of late, one of the most intense ones centers around humanoid robots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI has been criticized for the lack of diversity on its board. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Pokemon Company said Thursday it has not granted any permission to “another company,” referring to Palworld-developer Pocketpair, to use Pokemon intellectual property or assets and “intends to investigate and take appropriate measures” against the fast-growing survival game operator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta announced today that it is rolling out new DM restrictions on both Facebook and Instagram for teens that prevent anyone from messaging teens. Until now, Instagram restricts adults over the age of 18 from messaging teens who don’t follow them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BeReal, a rising social media app that emphasizes authenticity, is making its first outreach to brands and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

E-commerce site Etsy today launched “Gift Mode,” a new AI-powered feature to match you with tailored gift ideas based on specific preferences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple will pay additional royalties starting this month to artists if they have a spatial audio version on Apple Music, according to multiple reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Telegram is rolling out a bunch of upgrades as part of its January feature drop including “view-once” video and audio messages, the ability to pause recording while sending a video or an audio message, and new read-time controls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chronosphere, a startup that offers a cloud native observability platform, today announced that it has acquired Calyptia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sony called off the merger between its India unit and Zee Entertainment on Monday, ending a two-year acquisition deliberation that would have created a $10 billion media powerhouse in the South Asian market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bug on X, formerly Twitter, was causing numerous posts over the weekend to be flagged as “Sensitive Media,” thwarting the company’s own attempts to make its platform more approachable to advertisers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The state of Iowa is suing TikTok, alleging that the social media company misleads parents about the kinds of content available to young users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is it a “fearful vocaloid wednesday morning,” a “yearning cottagecore thursday afternoon,” or perhaps a “heartbroken karaoke friday evening”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Internal Meta documents about child safety have been unsealed as part of a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Department of Justice against both Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cleveland-based electric motorcycle startup Land Moto is looking to diversify by powering up the battery design side of its tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bad news if you want to move to the Moon or Mars: housing is a little hard to come by. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple’s iPhone has overtaken Samsung for the first time ever as the best-selling smartphone in 2023, according to a new report from IDC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices