Roku is launching an ad-free subscription streaming service called Howdy. The service costs $2.99 per month and features a library of nearly 10,000 hours of content from its partners, including Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise, alongside select Roku Original titles. The company says subscribers will be able to watch titles like “Mad Max: Fury…
Finding product-market fit isn’t a milestone — it’s a messy, make-or-break journey. And at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, a founder who’s been through the fire and two investors who’ve helped startups hit escape velocity will break down how to do it right. On the Builders Stage, Rajat Bhageria (Founder & CEO, Chef Robotics), Ann Bordetsky (Partner,…
A cybercriminal tricked a Cisco representative into granting them access to steal the personal information of Cisco.com users, the company said on Tuesday. Cisco said it discovered the breach on July 24, blaming the incident on a voice phishing or “vishing” call. The hackers accessed and exported “a subset of basic profile information” from the…
The semiconductor industry’s rollercoaster year continues with another major development. President Donald Trump said on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday that his administration is planning to announce tariffs on semiconductors and chips as soon as next week. However, the specifics of these tariffs remain unclear. Such tariffs could cause quite a disruption for U.S. hardware…
The AI audio-generation unicorn ElevenLabs announced a new model on Tuesday that allows users to generate music, which it claims is cleared for commercial use. This move marks ElevenLabs’ expansion beyond its main focus thus far in its three years of existence, which has been building AI audio tools. ElevenLabs is a leader among companies…
Cognition, the AI coding startup that acquired rival company Windsurf three weeks ago, laid off 30 employees last week and is offering buyouts to the roughly 200 remaining employees on the team, reports The Information. This is the latest bout of whiplash that Windsurf employees have faced after a tumultuous stretch for the company. The…
WhatsApp is introducing new features to help people spot scams on the messaging service, the company announced on Tuesday. The company also said it has taken down over 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts linked to criminal scam centers targeting people around the world. The new features are designed to help detect scams in both group and…
Google’s AI note-taking app is now open to younger users, having previously been limited to users 18 and older. The tech giant announced that NotebookLM is available to Google Workspace for Education users of any age and for consumers ages 13 and up. The removal of age restrictions is intended to provide younger students with…
The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, known as the EU AI Act, has been described by the European Commission as “the world’s first comprehensive AI law.” After years in the making, it is progressively becoming a part of reality for the 450 million people living in the 27 countries that comprise the EU. The EU…
Sales automation startup Clay has raised a $100 million Series C at a $3.1 billion valuation in a round led by CapitalG, confirming TechCrunch’s report from June. The financing follows a $1.25 billion Series B round from six months ago and a $1.5 billion Sequoia-led tender offer announced a couple of months ago, which allowed…