Fintech startup Mesa has shut down its Homeowners Card, which awarded points to cardholders for paying their mortgages. A message on the Mesa website states that as of December 12, “all Mesa Homeowners Card accounts are closed,” adding, “All credit cards have been deactivated and you are no longer able to make any new purchases … Read more
Grok’s track record is spotty at best. But even by the very low standards of xAI, its failure in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia is shocking. The AI chatbot has repeatedly misidentified 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who heroically disarmed one of the shooters, and claimed the … Read more
Absynth is something of a cult classic in the soft synth world. It was originally released in 2000, and quickly found an audience among the growing cadre of people making music on computers. But its last major update, Absynth 5, was released in 2009, and Native Instruments officially discontinued the instrument in 2022, citing a … Read more
Whether or not Netflix’s $82.6 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. goes through, the deal encapsulates a fraught moment for Hollywood, as the entertainment business is increasingly overshadowed by tech giants. On the latest episode of the Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec and I discussed the deal’s implications, both for Netflix and the larger Hollywood ecosystem. Kirsten … Read more
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Senior reporter Sean O’Kane popped over to Palo Alto to check out Rivian’s Autonomy & AI Day, which some insiders told … Read more
By 2010, the iPhone era was in full swing. Smartphones were still a new and unfinished idea — the iPhone had only just gotten copy and paste! — but it was clear that these big slabs of glass were going to change the way we did pretty much everything. Apple was also already on an … Read more
Here’s a thought: what if the next-generation Siri is awesome? Not just awesome for setting timers and dictating text messages (though that would be nice), but so awesome and fun to talk to that people actually start falling in love with their iPhones. We may not be prepared for what happens next. On this episode … Read more
I still wouldn’t buy an Xbox Ally, and I still don’t think the tweaked version of Windows that shipped with it is ready for primetime. The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) needs work. But two months after I panned the cheaper $600 white Xbox Ally and wasn’t quite sold on the $1,000 black one, one … Read more
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on smartphones and digital imagery — real or otherwise — follow Allison Johnson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. Remember the early days of AI image generation? … Read more
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 109, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’re staying warm, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Google Maps and shopaganda and life as a pop … Read more