The Maytag Man is one of the most enduring characters in American advertising, lonely because no one needs his help repairing a Maytag appliance. The Maytag brand, too, has endured—going back to the days when Frederick Maytag’s washers involved wooden tubs and cranks. Maytag was the first company to put an agitator at the bottom…
AI hasn’t just changed how startups build; it’s broken how they sell, secure their data and customers, and scale it more rapidly than ever before. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, the AI Stage is back to dig into the single hottest topic in the community for the past few years, presented by Google for Startups. This…
Apple sold more iPhones even as the global smartphone market moved sharply in the opposite direction. The iPhone 17 was the world’s best-selling smartphone in the second quarter of 2026, accounting for 6% of global smartphone unit sales, according to Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker. The result marks the second straight quarter in…
For years, spotting a scam was supposed to be a cinch. The email came from a suspicious address, the spelling was primary school level, the promise was hilariously unlikely, and somewhere in the middle sat a link that was an alphanumeric stew. Ignore it, delete that, and carry on. Right? That advice still has some…
A federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration from designating Anthropic a national security risk over a dispute about the use of its AI models, ruling that the designation amounted to unconstitutional retaliation. The decision handed down by US district judge Rita Lin in California vacated the February 27 decision by defense secretary Pete…
Mark your calendars: on Thursday night, September 10, StrictlyVC — TechCrunch’s boutique evening series — is heading to New York’s West Village (the real one — brownstones, cobblestones, and all — not the Mission Bay stretch of San Francisco that’s earned the nickname “Vest Village” for all the Patagonia-clad VCs roaming around). It’s our first…
Bill Gates has spent decades betting on technology to change the world. Now, he argues that AI should not be allowed to replace people in certain jobs, even when it can. In an essay published Aug. 26 titled “The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical,” Gates warns that the…
Finally, a real, authorized look at the most anticipated game of the year, Grand Theft Auto VI! After more than a decade since its predecessor was released, years of wild speculation, postponed release dates, and a leaker posting over a dozen leaked clips, Rockstar Games teamed up with Netflix to provide fans with an official…
There’s also an array of clothes you can equip your characters with, which Rockstar has apparently coordinated with real-life fashion designers to put in the game. Some of these, however, may only come with the $100 Ultimate Edition that people are very mad about. Maybe Don’t Hit and Run The NPCs in the game appear…
Rivian’s chief financial officer Claire McDonough is resigning her position at the end of October, the company announced in a regulatory filing Thursday. The company said McDonough is stepping down to “pursue a new opportunity and relocate to the East Coast to be closer to her family.” McDonough has been hired as CFO at Massachusetts-based…
