Author: TechBrunch

We see that decentralized social networks could also go down. On Thursday evening, Bluesky, a decentralized social network, experienced a major outage, with users unable to load the app on both web and mobile devices for about an hour. According to a message about the Bluesky status page, the company was aware of the outage caused by “major PDS networking issues.” (PDS means personal data server.) The first status message was posted at 6:55pm ET, and the second message indicating that the amendment was applied was shared at 7:38pm ET. A question that many may be asking now is how…

After all, the semiconductor giant Intel won't spin out its venture arm, Intel Capital. During Intel's first quarter revenue calls, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company reversed its decision to spin out its 34-year-old venture arm. Instead, Intel Capital will remain internal and will continue to invest with Intel's profits in mind. “We have decided to work with our team to monetize our existing portfolio rather than spinoff Intel Capital, but we are making new investments more selective to keep our balance sheet healthy and support the strategies needed to begin this year's deciphering process,” Tan said in the…

We are excited to announce that Robinhood co-founder and founder and CEO of AetherFlux, Baiju Bhatt will be joining a rare, intimate fireside chat on June 18th at Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park as part of TechCrunch's StrictlyVC Evening series. Like all StrictlyVc nights, this event presents a handful of selective conversations. Bats are something you don't want to miss. If I followed the transformation of retail investment over the past decade, I have seen Bhatt's fingerprints. As a co-founder of Robinhood, he helped redefine how millions interact with the stock market. We prioritize clean design, user-centric product thinking,…

Meta's latest social network and X competitor, Instagram threads, have officially moved from threads.com to the website threads.net. Transitions include custom feeds, saved posts, likes! Features that allow easy access to features such as features such as high quality of life improvements for threaded web apps, and other tools to create new columns, copying posts for redistrising, searching for thread X's favorite creators, and more. Meta first launched a new social app in July 2023 in a URL thread. This is because an alternative startup supported by Sequoia owned the Sthreads.com domain at the time. (The startup was sold to…

Chess.com reaches a new membership milestone as you approach your 20th birthday. Chess.com, an online chess platform founded in 2005 and launched in 2007, has over 200 million members. Of these 200 million members, 1.5 million pay for users. Over 20 million chess is played every day on the platform. “[Chess has] Chess.com's Chief Growth Officer, Albert Cheng, told TechCrunch. “It's been performing for over 1,500 years. And even Chess.com is not a brand new company. It's been around for almost 20 years. I feel it's really dynamic.” The company has expanded much since its roots as an online forum…

Facebook began lowering the scope of accounts that share spammy content, making them unqualified for monetization, Meta announced on Thursday. The company also says it is increasing efforts to adjust fake engagements and remove Facebook accounts that are pretending to be others. The move comes as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has promised to return to “OG Facebook.” Social network plans to crack down on spam content can be seen as an attempt to return to Facebook's glory day, where user feeds are filled with authentic content from real people. Meta acknowledges that some accounts on that platform are trying to…

Tiktok is deploying support for ALT texts in photo posts to make content more accessible to users with visual and cognitive disabilities. The company says creators provide descriptive text to their photos, helping users with screen readers understand visual content through spoken language. Tiktok told TechCrunch via email that Creators can add ALT text during the upload process or after the post is published. With this launch, Tiktok has joined many other social networks that support Alt text, including Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Mastodon, and Tumblr. Alt Text includes features such as automatic video content generation captions and…

Spotify announced on Thursday that it has expanded the availability of its AI playlist feature to more than 40 additional markets, including Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean countries. AI-powered tools, currently in beta for Android and iOS devices, allow listeners to create personalized playlists based on written prompts, such as “Workout Music to Make My Ex Exeal.” Spotify's AI will then curate the song's selection to suit such a vibe. The prompt can include a wide range of genres, decades, animals, colors, emojis, movie characters, and more. In April 2024, Spotify first launched its functionality for premium users in…

TechCrunch is blocking returns to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27th-29th. We are also inviting experts from Sewing Leaders, Founders, VCS and Tech to apply for the opportunity to take the stage at one of the most anticipated technical events of the year. The application is currently open to speak in 2025. There, over 10,000 technology leaders, investors and startup experts come together to shape the future of innovation. The application deadline is May 16th. Don't miss the chance to apply here and lead the conversation. Select the session format Looking for a speaker with a high impact…

Founder, the battlefield is open. And the boldest is moving forward. TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield 200 is embracing the launch of 2025, allowing startups to compete in the ultimate pitch showdown in front of over 10,000 technology leaders from around the world. This is not a normal pitch. This is a battle for visibility, capital and legacy. If your startup has a fire, now is the time to step into the spotlight. Come to your place on the battlefield – apply now. Salva Health co-founder and CEO Valentina Agudelo Vargas is the winner of the Startup Battlefield 2024 and will destroy…