VC legend Ron Conway quits Salesforce Foundation after Benioff’s National Guard comments
Ron Conway has been on the board of the Salesforce’s philanthropic organization for 10 years.
Waymo dips its wheels back into delivery, this time with DoorDash
Waymo has spent the past several years scaling up its robotaxi business. The partnership with DoorDash could mark a return to delivery.
EFF, unions sue Trump admin. over alleged mass social media surveillance of legal residents
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges the Trump administration is monitoring and punishing non-citizens who express social media views that the government disfavors.
Kayak launches an ‘AI Mode’ for travel questions, search, and bookings
Kayak is bringing AI directly to its main platform with a new “AI Mode” that lets travelers research, plan, and book trips through a built-in chatbot.
Why AI startups are taking data into their own hands
Where training sets were once scraped freely from the web or collected from low-paid annotators, companies are looking to proprietary training data as a competitive advantage.
Amazon’s Ring to partner with Flock, a network of AI cameras used by ICE, feds, and police
Agencies that use Flock can request that Ring doorbell users share footage to help with “evidence collection and investigative work.”
Meta to shut down Messenger desktop apps for Mac and Windows
Starting December 15, users will no longer be able to log into the apps and will be automatically redirected to the Facebook website to access Messenger.
Rent a Cyber Friend will pay you to talk to strangers online and will show off its platform at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
“Loneliness is the biggest disease in the world right now,” founder Francesco Vitali said. “So we built a platform where human time has value again, and a place where being human is important.”
The real reason Google DeepMind is working with a fusion energy startup
Google has invested in fusion startups as potential power suppliers. This latest move suggests Google sees them as potential customers, too.
A new wave of social media apps provide hope in a doomscrolling world
“The platforms that won were the ones that kept people scrolling the longest, not the ones that made them feel the most connected,” Zehra Naqvi told TechCrunch. “Now there is an abundance of content but a scarcity