A team of astronomers has just detected the fastest star in the galaxy. Its anomalous speed has a more unsettling explanation: It orbits Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, the mass of which is equivalent to four million times that of the sun. S301, as astronomers have named…
I traveled to Las Vegas in May to watch the Enhanced Games — a one-of-a-kind sports competition that lets athletes compete while using the kind of performance-enhancing drugs typically banned in professional sports. The games, derided as the “steroid Olympics,” were put on by a telehealth company backed by the likes of Peter Thiel and…
The Pixel 11 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro now have the same starting price: $1,099 with 256GB of storage. That makes the comparison unusually direct. Google emphasizes Gemini and long-range still photography, while Apple leans on professional video tools and its wider device ecosystem. At the same price, the choice comes down to which strength…
A new viral video shows an Amazon Prime delivery landing in some hot water — literally. In a short, 11-second video making the rounds on social media, a Prime Air delivery drone from Amazon can be seen arriving over a backyard pool in Texas. As an onlooker records and curses, the drone opens its delivery…
Not even 24 hours after dating app Bumble announced it was getting rid of its trademark feature that requires women to make the first move, Robin H.’s inbox was already attracting unwanted attention. “This guy responded to my prompt, and he wasn’t a person I would have swiped on. I can’t believe some of these…
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is built around one question for founders: How do you build an enduring company in the AI era? For investors, it’s the opposite: How do you find that company before someone else does? At Disrupt, the volume and competition are the point for investors, not a drawback. Year after year, investors who’ve…
ChatGPT can quiz you without a special quiz app or paid add-on. In a regular conversation, tell it the topic, difficulty, question format, and whether you want answers revealed immediately or only after you respond. For a more structured session, Study Mode adds Socratic questions, hints, step-by-step guidance, and knowledge checks. OpenAI says Study Mode…
The best gaming monitor deals at a glance: Gaming hardware might come with major sticker shock, but upgrading your gear can truly make a world of difference in how you experience your favorite games. If your current setup is feeling lifeless, I’ve spotted a few deals on gaming monitors that’ll take some of the pain…
Results were not particularly impressive. With both organic and synthetic debris, the Poolease X1 was only typically able to collect 70 to 80 percent of leaves and other matter on the floor of my pool, leaving material scattered randomly all around. That’s better than I expected, but worse than it sounds. If your gardener left…
Days after reporting an incident affecting a number of its customers, enterprise data giant Alation on Thursday confirmed a cyberattack. Alation makes data software that its enterprise customers use to search for files and data using natural language queries. In recent years, the company has expanded into AI, allowing customers to turn large amounts of…
