Online creators and their business models have been on our minds this week after mega-popular YouTuber MrBeast announced his company is buying fintech startup Step, followed by Hollywood studios sending ByteDance a flurry of cease-and-desist letters over the launch of its new Seedance 2.0 video generation model. These seemingly unrelated headlines suggest a media landscape … Read more
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Spiegel for this site. In preparation for the interview, I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks going through Spiegel’s records, esp The expanding universeher 1980 masterpiece that combines synth experimentalism with early examples of what would eventually be called ambient music and algorithmic … Read more
Following the first preview of iOS 26.4, Apple Music 5.2 entered beta earlier this week with three new features. Playlist Playground uses generative artificial intelligence to “create a new playlist with just an idea in seconds.” You can access it from the top right corner of the Library tab. The top half of this new … Read more
For nearly three decades, Bill Gurley has been one of the most influential voices in Silicon Valley — a general partner at Benchmark whose early bets on companies like Uber, Zillow and Stitch Fix helped define what modern venture capital looks like. Now that the native Texan has moved to Austin and stepped back from … Read more
This week Apple Podcasts, CarPlay Apple TV and the real F1, not the movie featured here – Image Credit: Apple This week’s “Reboot” column features the unintended consequences of video on Apple Podcasts, Apple TV and AI on CarPlay, and Apple’s big F1 crossing your iPhone screen. Restart is a new weekly column covering some … Read more
One of the main features of Apple Intelligence to date has been Visual Intelligence. It started in a fairly limited capacity through Camera Control, but with iOS 26, the company expanded it to include screenshots. I’ve found these options very useful so far, and I’d like to see Apple take it even further. With iOS … Read more
Quantum computers will not replace supercomputers in 2026, let alone reach industrial scale. And yet investor interest in companies chasing the elusive quantum advantage hasn’t eased—it’s increased. Quantonation Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on quantum and physics startups, has closed its overwritten second fund at 220 million euros, or about $260 million. That’s more … Read more
In his Turn on today’s newsletter BloombergMark Gurman said that Apple will have a three-day stretch of product announcements from Monday, March 2 to Wednesday, March 4. In total, he expects Apple to introduce “at least five products.” A week ago, Apple invited select journalists and content creators to an “Apple Experience” in New York, … Read more
President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that Netflix will “pay the consequences” if it does not fire Susan Rice, who has served on the company’s board since 2018. Trump’s comments came after Rice — a former ambassador to the United Nations who held diplomatic and advisory roles in the Obama … Read more
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get it delivered to your inbox, sign up here for free – just click on TechCrunch Mobility! Earlier this month Waymo chief security officer Mauricio Pena appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee as part of a … Read more