Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app economy in 2023 hit a few snags, as consumer spending last year dropped for the first time by 2% to $167 billion, according to the latest “State…
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app economy in 2023 hit a few snags, as consumer spending last year dropped for the first time by 2% to $167 billion, according to the latest “State…
Toward the end of 2022, a number of entrepreneurs — some citing Elon Musk — told me they planned to bring back in-person work culture in the following year to help promote productivity and, in some cases, loyalty. One founder even told me over drinks that they weren’t worried about losing talent — claiming that…
Five years ago, Google backed away from a Pentagon government contract because thousands of employees protested that its tech might be used for lethal drone targeting. Today, however, Silicon Valley has far fewer qualms about developing tech for the U.S. Department of Defense. So said four investors — Trae Stephens of Founders Fund, Bilal Zuberi…
Four months after closing its largest fund to date, Kapor Capital wants more. The firm is under new leadership after co-founders Freada and Mitch Kapor stepped back from the outfit, which focuses on funding social impact ventures and founders of color. Now, led by Uriridiakoghene “Ulili” Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon, Kapor Capital is hoping to…
A group of 40 YouTube Music workers went on strike Friday. Employed by Alphabet subcontractor Cognizant, the striking workers allege that both companies’ management have leveraged unfair labor practices to get in the way of their union drive. “Right now, the vast majority of our department is ready to vote yes in a [National Labor…
A New York-based spyware maker has agreed to notify the individuals whose phones were compromised by its mobile surveillance software, following a deal with the New York attorney general’s office announced Thursday. Under the agreement, Patrick Hinchy, whose 16 companies promoted apps like PhoneSpector and Highster, will also pay $410,000 in civil penalties for illegally…
All social media companies are in a race to win the short video war and Google is showing some progress against TikTok and Instagram. The search giant said during its latest earnings call that YouTube Shorts has crossed 50 billion daily views. The company previously reported 30 billion daily views as part of its Q1…
Damus, one of the fastest-growing Twitter alternatives, has been pulled from China’s App Store just two days after the app was approved by Apple. The app, which runs atop the Jack Dorsey-backed decentralized social networking protocol Nostr, was removed from the China App Store per request by the country’s top internet watchdog because it “includes…
There’s no denying that the robotics startup world has taken a hit during the ongoing economic downturn. Recent numbers prove what we’ve all suspected for some time. But two things are true: 1) The lull is temporary; and 2) While robotics isn’t recession-proof, construction might as well be. This is certainly a theme of late…
