Author: Jason

Counsel for plaintiffs in a copyright lawsuit filed against Meta allege that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave the green light to the team behind the company’s Llama AI models to use a data set of pirated ebooks and articles for training. The case, Kadrey v. Meta, is one of many against tech giants developing AI… Read more

A security researcher found a bug in a Facebook ad platform, which gave him access to the company’s internal infrastructure. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Read more

Volkswagen-backed startup Scout Motors broke cover just a few months ago, and at this week’s CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, they hold the honor of being one of the only American automakers with a presence at the show.  That’s not the only thing that stands out about Scout being here, though. In a sea… Read more

TV providers and streamers’ real competition isn’t each other, it’s social video. Or at least that’s what the president of Comcast Advertising, James Rooke, said during an interview on Wednesday at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. The ad exec was speaking about the company’s Monday launch of “universal ads,” a solution that lets marketers buy… Read more

Google searches for how to cancel and delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts have seen explosive rises in the U.S. since Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will end its third-party fact-checking system, loosen content moderation policies, and roll back previous limits to the amount of political content in user feeds.  Experts see… Read more

In an FAQ obtained by TechCrunch, PowerSchool confirms it negotiated with the threat actors responsible for the breach. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Read more

Google is testing a new “Daily Listen” feature that automatically generates a podcast based on your Discover feed. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that Daily Listen is a personalized AI-powered audio experience that is designed to help you stay up to date on the topics you care about.  The feature is currently rolling out on… Read more

Finnish startup Doublepoint launched its free app, WowMouse, for the Apple Watch this week at CES 2025. The app uses the wearable’s sensors, compass, and accelerometer to turn your hand into a mouse that can control devices through hand gestures. The Apple Watch already uses a similar technology for the double tap feature it released… Read more

Video editing app Captions is looking to cash in on uncertainty around TikTok and ByteDance’s video editing app CapCut’s future in the U.S. by turning to a freemium model. The app, backed by Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz, has been a paid-only app until now. However, the company is changing its course to… Read more

A startup hoping to provide a credible alternative to Amazon has picked up funding to double down on the gap in the market. PrettyDamnQuick (PDQ) provides tech to retailers to let them customize and test different shipping and checkout flows, and now it has picked up a deal of its own: a $25 million Series… Read more