Former head of Facebook app Fidji Simo defends company following whistleblower testimony

The former head of the Facebook app, who reported directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Fidji Simo, defended the social network at the start of an interview at the WSJ Tech Live event this afternoon. The exec was there to discuss her new role as Instacart CEO and her vision for the future of food delivery, […]

Google makes calling businesses less painful with features for seeing wait times, phone tree options and more

Alongside today’s release of the new Pixel 6 smartphones, Google has again upgraded one of the device’s most basic — but often overlooked — functions: the ability to make phone calls. In previous years, Google Assistant learned to screen your calls and make your reservations by phone via a technology called Duplex. Last year, it […]

CISA, NSA, FBI say BlackMatter ransomware group is targeting the US food industry

A joint advisory issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) has warned that the BlackMatter ransomware group has targeted “multiple” organizations deemed critical infrastructure, including two organizations in the U.S. food and agriculture sector. The agencies did not name did not name […]

One-time TikTok rival Byte relaunches as Clash, an app for video creators and their top fans

When the Trump administration announced it would ban TikTok in the U.S., a number of alternative short-form video apps began to flourish, as users hedged their bets on a potential TikTok exit. Among these was Byte, an app co-created by Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann, which topped 1.3 million downloads in its first week alone. But […]

Apple releases iOS 15.0.2 with a security fix for a bug ‘under active exploitation’

Apple today released its second minor update to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, which includes an “important security update” for a zero-day bug under active exploitation. Both iOS 15.0.2 and iPadOS 15.0.2, which are available to download on supported devices now, include a fix for a memory corruption vulnerability that allowed an application to execute […]

SiriusXM partners with Audio Up to develop new original podcasts

SiriusXM is partnering with audio entertainment production studio Audio Up to develop new original scripted podcasts. The two companies have entered into a creative programming and strategic agreement, under which Audio Up is expected to create new podcasts for SiriusXM and its platforms, including the SXM app, Pandora and Stitcher. Audio Up, which was established […]

The growing pains of Apple’s subscription addiction

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, we talked about how YouTube has managed to skate along while Facebook has gotten pummeled over platform responsibility concerns. This week, we’re looking at another slippery slope Apple is dancing on the edge of. If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can […]

Facebook and Instagram went down again this afternoon

It’s been a rough week for Facebook, and it seems that Friday afternoon had no mercy for the tech giant. After one of their longest outages in company history on Monday, Facebook went down again on Friday afternoon. The outage affected all Facebook properties, including WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. ut oh pic.twitter.com/NqA3xpWKsN — Matt Navarra […]

Welcome debuts a smarter city guide app on iOS, backed by $3.5M led by Accel

When you’re exploring a city — whether one you’re visiting on your travels or your own — there are a number of tools that can help you find out where to go, what to see and what to do, like Google Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor and others. But a startup called Welcome thinks that today’s set […]