Crunch Hype

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has been sharing regular updates about how his agency is approaching the rapidly changing global coronavirus pandemic situation. This week, NASA escalated its response multiple times due to changing circumstances, including changing the state of working conditions at all of its facilities across the country. On Friday the agency summarized the […]

The restaurant industry might look a lot different once we come out of this pandemic. As social distancing and lockdowns ripple across the nation in an attempt to fight COVID-19, some restaurants won’t be able to handle the lack of income and might tip into bankruptcy. Some might never reopen again. Earlier today, New York […]

In response to the COVID-10 outbreak, Hulu is adding a free, live news stream to its app for customers who only subscribe to its on-demand service, not its live TV add-on. The news coverage is provided in partnership with ABC News Live, and brings live news 24/7 to Hulu on-demand subscribers as part of their […]

In a career spanning several decades, artificial intelligence researcher and professor Stuart Russell has contributed extensive knowledge on the subject, including foundational textbooks. He joined us onstage at TC Sessions: Robotics + AI to discuss the threat he perceives from AI, and his book, which proposes a novel solution. Russell’s thesis, which he develops in […]

Robocalls have been targeting the vulnerable and unsuspecting for years, so it’s no surprise that the scumbags would take advantage of the current global catastrophe to enhance their scams. The FCC warns that it has received numerous reports of coronavirus-related robocall cons in the wild — here’s what to look for. While previous robocall scams […]

As society comes to grips with the growing worldwide crisis related to the COVID-19 virus, many companies are stepping up in different ways. Today, two major tech companies — Amazon and IBM — each announced programs to encourage developers to find solutions to a variety of problems related to the pandemic. For starters, AWS, Amazon’s […]

During two of this week’s White House briefings, President Trump referred specifically to two potential treatments that have been identified by medical researchers and clinicians, and that have undergone various degrees of investigation and testing in the ongoing fight against the global coronavirus pandemic. It’s important to note upfront that regardless of what you may […]

When it comes to the entertainment industry, the COVID-19 outbreak isn’t just affecting movie theaters – it’s also halted TV and film production around the world. For Netflix, that’s included production on high-profile titles like “The Witcher” and “Stranger Things.” So the streaming company just announced that has created a $100 million fund that it says […]

One of the obstacles to accurately estimating the prevalence of sickness in the general population is that most of our data comes from hospitals, not the 99.9 percent of the world that isn’t hospitals. FluSense is an autonomous, privacy-respecting system that counts the people and coughs in public spaces to keep health authorities informed. Every […]

Elon Musk tweeted Friday that Tesla and SpaceX employees are “working on ventilators” even though he doesn’t believe they will be needed. His confirmation on Twitter that both of the companies he leads are working on ventilators comes a day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made a direct plea to Musk to […]

28% of a nurse’s time is wasted on low-skilled tasks like fetching medical tools. We need them focused on the complex and compassionate work of treating patients, especially amid the coronavirus outbreak. Diligent Robotics wants to give them a helper droid that can run errands for them around the hospital. The startup’s bot Moxi is […]

In recent weeks, the novel coronavirus has permeated nearly every aspect of our lives, from the work we do, to the food we buy, to the simple things we’ve tended to take for granted, like leaving our homes and socializing. Even the stories I write that are ostensibly not about the virus are always — […]

Uber Eats is waiving delivery and activations fees in the UK to support restaurants hit by decreasing demand during the coronavirus crisis. The measure will apply until March 31 when it says it will review it. On Monday the on-demand food delivery giant announced a similar waiver of delivery fees in the US. The announcement […]

Even as the Trump Administration calls for states to not release unemployment data for the month of March, Goldman Sachs on Thursday issued its own predictions on the jobs market and the broader health of the U.S. economy on Friday. The financial services giant is predicting unemployment claims to spike to just over 2 million […]

In a public health emergency that relies on people keeping an anti-social distance from each other to avoid spreading a highly contagious virus for which humans have no pre-existing immunity governments around the world have been quick to look to technology companies for help. Background tracking is, after all, what many Internet giants’ ad-targeting business […]

Last Friday, President Trump, together with Vice President Pence and White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Brix, announced that we would soon see a new website go up that would be at the core of the government’s testing strategy. This website, which was supposedly being built by 1,700 Google engineers, was meant to help […]

There is an immediate need for startups to handle the crisis around the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, from diagnostics to identify potential carriers of the virus to assisting the treatment of patients with respiratory symptoms. As we get a grip on this crisis though, what’s going to help the world stop the next pandemic […]

Streaming services will reduce video quality in Europe, we get our hands on the new MacBook Air and Anthony Levandowski pleads guilty. Here’s your Daily Crunch for March 20, 2020. 1. Netflix will reduce streaming quality in Europe for 30 days EU Commissioner Thierry Breton has called for Netflix to reduce streaming quality in Europe […]

Coronavirus quarantines are hurting local businesses, but Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger wants to help them keep revenue rolling in. Krieger and his wife Kaitlyn this week launched SaveOurFaves, a directory of Bay Area restaurants selling gift certificates to offset lost income amidst ‘shelter in place’ orders across the region. Users can search for restaurants or […]

French startup October wants to reduce the pressure on small and medium companies going through the coronavirus crisis. In order to give them some headroom, companies that have borrowed money on October won’t have to pay back their loans for the next three months. October works with small companies in France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and […]

Dating may be proving next to impossible for many during this era of mass social distancing, but Tinder’s hoping to leverage an existing feature to help bring people closer together. Virtually, at least. The dating app is waving fees for Passport, a feature designed to let premium users connect with people outside of their dating […]

Following moves by Netflix and YouTube, Amazon announced today that it, too, will be throttling streaming bitrates in Europe in an effort to conserve bandwidth. The online giant confirmed the move in a statement to TechCrunch, writing, We support the need for careful management of telecom services to ensure they can handle the increased internet […]

At-home diagnostics startup Scanwell, which produces smartphone-based testing for UTIs, is working on getting at-home testing for the novel coronavirus into the hands of U.S. residents. The technology, which was developed by Chinese diagnostic technology company INNOVITA and has already been approved by China’s equivalent of the FDA and used by “millions” in China, can […]

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week’s episode was a testament to making do, as we’ve had to cancel some trips, juggle a few guests, and get up and running as a podcast that have guests dial in without losing our stride. So, […]

YouTube has switched to standard definition streaming by default in Europe. We asked the company if it planned to do this yesterday — today a spokeswoman confirmed the step. The move was reported earlier by Reuters. It’s a temporary measure in response to calls by the European Commission for streaming platforms to help ease demand […]

NASA has temporarily paused work on the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule that will be used for its forthcoming Artemis missions, which will ultimately return the next American man and the first American woman to the surface of the Moon. The rocket and spacecraft were undergoing production and testing activities ahead of the […]

Let’s address the elephant in the room. There’s an undeniable irony reviewing an ultraportable laptop when you’re not allowed to leave your house. Of course, Apple didn’t see this coming. None of us did, with the possible exception of Bill Gates, I suppose. I bring this up not as a reminder of everything that’s wrong […]

Work in the time of COVID-19, a disease caused by the coronavirus, is driving huge growth in videoconferencing as scores of office workers go remote and log on to meetings from home. Zoom, which offers a range of slick features like auto-transcription and virtual backgrounds, has been a key beneficiary of this viral boom. Back […]

Claimer, a London-based startup that makes it easy for companies to claim R&D tax credits in the U.K., has raised £300,000 in seed funding. Backing the already revenue-generating company is Ben Holmes (who was previously at Index Ventures), Nick Telson and Andrew Webster (the founders of DesignMyNight, which recently exited), Rupert Loman (founder of Gamer […]

Disney said on Friday that it is postponing the launch of its eponymous streaming service in India, one of the largest entertainment markets, after the biggest local attraction, Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, was rescheduled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company, which is launching the streaming service in India through its local streamer […]

In a press conference this evening, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered “all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence” to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus disease. Earlier this week, Mayor London Breed issued a shelter in place for six Bay Area counties, including San […]

The social media giant TikTok said that it would donate $3 million to After-School All-Stars, a charity founded by actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to feed families whose food security was affected by the close of public schools in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. TikTok said in a statement Thursday that families in […]

Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur who was at the center of a lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, has pleaded guilty to one count of stealing trade secrets while working at Google under a plea agreement reached with the U.S. District Attorney. While Levandowski still faces a possible prison sentence of between […]

American Airlines today announced that it will fly a handful of cargo-only flights to Europe, using its standard 777-300 passenger planes, over the course of the next few days. The company says these flights will carry medical supplies, mail for active U.S. military, telecommunications equipment and electronics, as well as packages from e-commerce firms. This […]

If there’s one face of scientific authority in the U.S. in the throes of COVID-19 chaos, it’s Dr. Anthony Fauci. One of the world’s top HIV/AIDS researchers, Dr. Fauci has served in his post as director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, helping steer the federal response to viral diseases […]

Instead of accepting more investment, we chose to cut costs. This included a consolidation of some of our offices and a painful 76% reduction of our workforce.

The dating startup world is notorious for few exits, and a similarly slim number of buyers. There’s Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, and there’s Spark Networks, which owns Christian Mingle, JSwipe, Jdate and Zoosk. Dating.com Group also owns a slew of dating brands, like Dil Mil, a dating app for South Asians. […]

Instagram is finally preparing to copy Snapchat’s most popular feature, and one of the few it hasn’t already cloned. Instagram has prototyped an unreleased ephemeral text messaging feature that clears the chat thread whenever you leave it, a Facebook spokesperson confirms to TechCrunch. That could make users more comfortable with having rapid-fire, silly, vulnerable, or […]

This is a difficult time. Whoever and wherever you are, your life is likely already changing in ways you never could have anticipated as the world grapples with the fast-spreading global outbreak of a virus we don’t yet fully understand. It’s weird and hard and we’re feeling it too. Now more than ever, diving into […]

Scopely, the mobile gaming publisher behind titles including Marvel Strike Force, Scrabble Go, Yahtzee with Buddies and Star Trek Fleet Command, has added another $200 million to its hoard of cash for mergers and acquisitions. While some startups are fearing a cash crunch, other businesses seem to be preparing to go on a shopping spree. […]

Large developers can come out unscathed, but smaller apps and developers who can’t wait six months for their launch moment need to do something.

This week, Extra Crunch hosted a call with General Catalyst managing director Niko Bonatsos to discuss a number of startup topics, including what the novel coronavirus is doing to investing in the Valley, as well as his thoughts on robotics, homeschooling, edtech, SMBs, international investing and what he’s looking to see today in startups. Joining […]

In an effort to ensure that the latest updates related to COVID-19 are as visible as possible, YouTube announced today that they’re launching a dedicated hub on the YouTube home page for stories related to the coronavirus outbreak. For YouTube, the dedicated shelf is a means of promoting “authoritative content” to users. In the U.S., […]

Tesla will suspend production at its Fremont, Calif., factory beginning March 23, days after a shelter in-place order went into effect in Alameda County due to the COVID-19 pandemic and sparked a public tussle between the automaker and local officials over what was consider an “essential” business. Some basic operations that would support Tesla’s charging […]

At TechCrunch, we aim to deliver a great show no matter what. We’re constantly looking at ways to broaden the reach of Disrupt — in 2018, for instance, we added several new pricing tiers to make sure the show is as accessible as possible. That’s why today we’re announcing plans to offer access to Disrupt […]

NVIDIA is making its Parabricks tool available for free for 90 days (with the possibility of extension, depending on needs) to any researcher currently working on any effort to combat the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic and spread of COVID-19. The tool is a GPU-accelerated genome analysis toolkit, which leveraged graphics processing power to take a […]

The wild ride that has been U.S. stock market over the past couple of weeks may be settling down — at least for the moment — from the whiplash-like swings that helped set global markets on edge. The new economic normal that the pandemic has brought to countries across the world seems to be settling on […]

The U.S. State Department has issued an unprecedented “do not travel” warning to U.S. citizens, as the number of coronavirus-related infections jumped sharply overnight. The advisory said U.S. citizens should “avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19,” the coronavirus strain which last week was declared a global pandemic. The advisory added […]

It was, it seems, only a matter of time before something like this happened. As we noted in yesterday’s FreshDirect story, not everyone has the ability of being able to shelter in place during the spread of COVID-19. In fact, the more of us who stay put, the more strain we’re going to put on […]

UK takeout marketplace Just Eat has announced a 30-day emergency support package for restaurants on its platform to help them through disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis. From tomorrow (March 20) until April 19 the package — which Just Eat says is worth £10M+ — will see funds directed back to UK partner restaurants in […]