Instagram will shut down its companion app Threads by year end

Instagram’s standalone messaging app Threads is shutting down. The app will no longer be supported by the end of December 2021, the company confirmed to TechCrunch after reports began circulating via social media of its impending closure. Instagram is planning to alert its existing Threads users with an in-app notice beginning on November 23, which […]

Even more reasons you need to be at TC Sessions: SaaS 2021

We’re less than two weeks out from TC Sessions: SaaS 2021, a day-long exploration of software as a service. If you want to thrive in this tough, competitive market, join your colleagues and tap into current thinking and future trends. Come to hear, meet and engage with the industry’s brightest minds, makers and investors. Expand […]

Inkitt books $59M investment, wants to turn its data-driven, self-publishing platform into a multi-media powerhouse

Book sales during the pandemic went up, and it seems the amount we are reading did, too. Now Inkitt, the startup that operates a free, popular platform of the same name for anyone to write and publish stories — stories that Inkitt then analyses using data science to determine which of them to take to […]

Alexa’s new features will let users personalize the A.I. to their own needs

Amazon is preparing to roll out a trio of new features that will allow consumers to further personalize their Alexa experience by helping train the Alexa A.I. using simple tools. In a few months’ time, consumers will be able to teach Alexa to do things like identifying specific sounds in their household, such as a […]

Can the path to equitable healthcare avoid insurers?

There are few challenges messier and more fraught than the U.S. healthcare system, but a growing number of startups are looking at ways to address shortcomings in standards of care through tech.

Lessons from COVID: Flexible funding is a must for alternative lenders

Alternative lending is any lending that occurs outside of a conventional financial institution. These lenders offer different types of loans such as lines of credit, microloans and equipment financing.

Twitter taps crypto developer to lead ‘bluesky’ decentralized social network effort

Twitter’s ambitious upstart decentralized social media working group “bluesky” took an important step Monday as the social media company appointed a formal project lead who will direct how the protocol develops moving forward. Crypto developer Jay Graber was tapped by Twitter to helm the initiative, which the company hopes will eventually create a decentralized social […]