Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
Crypto
Apple doesn’t want you trading NFTs on your phone (unless it makes them money)
12:09 PM PDT • October 27, 2022
Apple is no stranger to asserting its dominance. That’s exactly what the tech giant did this week when it announced new, stringent guidelines for NFT…
Welcome back to Chain Reaction, TechCrunch’s weekly offering for the crypto curious.
Gaming
Physical ‘copies’ of the new Call of Duty are just empty discs
11:58 am PDT • October 27, 2022
Cartridges and discs used to be how you got the latest games, but that’s been changing as downloads have become more convenient and reliable. But some people prefer the sure…
Featured Article
Dawn of the tentacle
Fair warning, it’s going to be a quick one from me today. I caught the thing again, roughly three months after the last time I caught the thing. They say, “third time’s the charm,” and I now recognize that they were referring to chest pain and a general light-headedness. Turns out it doesn’t get easier.…
11:30 am PDT • October 27, 2022
Government & Policy
Google filing says EU’s antitrust division is investigating Play Store practices
11:19 am PDT • October 27, 2022
A Google regulatory filing appears to have confirmed rumors in recent months that the European Union’s competition division is looking into how it operates its smartphone app store, the Play…
Snapchat has changed the way it pays creators through its Spotlight reward fund. Creators that use Snapchat’s TikTok clone, Spotlight, will now be paid millions per year, a source familiar…
Apps
Uber to freeze fake rider account names, pilot front-facing video recording
11:00 am PDT • October 27, 2022
Uber is releasing a suite of new safety features geared toward the driver, including freezing fake rider account names and piloting a front-facing video recording tool to replace a driver’s…
Social
Clubhouse’s Paul Davison on Twitter, the impact of hype and what happened
11:00 am PDT • October 27, 2022
Clubhouse CEO and co-founder Paul Davison came to TechCrunch Disrupt to talk about life after the hype and its most formidable competitor, Twitter.
Social
YouTube’s ad revenue is declining, but creator economy experts aren’t worried
10:51 am PDT • October 27, 2022
The social platforms that power the creator economy might seem like they’re starting to slip. YouTube’s quarterly ad revenue declined 1.9% year over year, per Google parent company Alphabet’s quarterly…
Transportation
The Tesla Cyberquad for Kids is being recalled over safety concerns
10:47 am PDT • October 27, 2022
The Tesla Cyberquad for Kids, a $1,900 mini ATV inspired by the yet-to-be produced Cybertruck, is being recalled due to safety concerns flagged by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Radio…
Where we’ll be next
Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
Social
Google acquires Twitter-backed AI avatar startup Alter for $100 million
10:18 am PDT • October 27, 2022
Google has acquired Alter, an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar startup that helps creators and brands express their virtual identity, for about $100 million, a source familiar with the matter told…
Meta is not changing course even after shedding more than half of its value from 2021 highs amid public calls from investors for a course correction.
Telegram announced today that will it hold an auction for usernames — for both individual accounts and channels — through a marketplace built on top of the TON blockchain. In…
Apps
Apple pauses gambling ads on App Store product pages after developer outcry
9:39 am PDT • October 27, 2022
It’s hard to imagine anyone but advertisers being happy with Apple for putting more ads on the page in App Store listings, but the way they rolled it out was…
Nearly five years ago, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched Neptune, a service for running apps that need a graph database to store and query connected datasets. Now, to keep up…
Gaming
VR gaming startup ForeVR Games raises $10M to grow its library of Wii Sports-like titles
9:00 am PDT • October 27, 2022
While Meta tries to convince users to attend virtual work meetings in its metaverse, ForeVR Games, a VR gaming startup with casual games like bowling, darts and cornhole, is a…
Startups
The UserTesting sale to private equity is bad news for unicorns
9:00 am PDT • October 27, 2022
The lessons of UserTesting’s sale to private equity are pretty simple and not great for yet-private unicorns.
Enterprise
Thoma Bravo, Sunstone Partners to acquire UserTesting for $1.3B and combine it with UserZoom
8:45 am PDT • October 27, 2022
Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Partners announced today that they’re acquiring customer insight platform UserTesting for $1.3 billion in an all-cash deal. The acquirers say they plan to combine it with…
For investors Annie Case, Sheel Mohnot and Jomayra Herrera, the founders who manage to capture their attention are the ones who come to the pitch process prepared.
Fintech
Uber alum rakes in $9.7M to curb finance-related fights between co-parents
8:02 am PDT • October 27, 2022
The daughter of divorced parents herself, Uber alum Jacklyn Rome founded Onward to help co-parents more easily manage their shared expenses.
