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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into Waymo after its robot taxis were repeatedly spotted illegally passing stopped school buses in at least two states. The NTSB said in a post to X on Friday that it was specifically focused on more than 20 incidents in Austin, Texas. “Investigators will travel to Austin to gather information regarding a series of incidents in which self-driving vehicles failed to stop to pick up or drop off students,” the NTSB said in a statement to TechCrunch. A preliminary report is expected to be submitted within 30 days, and the…
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Deal, a human resources and payroll startup, for allegedly hiring corporate spies to leak information about its biggest rival, Rippling, the Wall Street Journal reported. In an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Deal said: “We are not aware of any investigation. We will always cooperate with relevant authorities and provide any necessary information in response to valid inquiries.” Diehl’s statement then makes its own case against Rippling. The company pointed to its own lawsuit alleging that competitors are waging a “smear campaign” and claims it has an advantage over its competitors in…
Just when you thought 2025 couldn’t get any crazier, the streaming world had one more surprise in store for you before the year was out. Netflix, already the largest streaming platform with over 325 million subscribers, has taken the bold step of acquiring Warner Bros. Also includes film and television studios, HBO, HBO Max, and other properties. The deal, announced in early December, will bring together some of the most legendary franchises under one roof, including Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and DC Comics. The size of this mega deal surprised industry observers. Not only is its scale historic, it…
A failed December effort to take down parts of Poland’s energy grid was the work of Russian government hackers known for causing energy disruptions in the past, according to a security research firm that investigated the incident. Poland’s Energy Minister Milos Motyka told reporters last week that hackers targeted two thermal power plants in attempted cyberattacks on December 29 and 30, attempting to disrupt communication links between renewable energy facilities such as wind turbines and electricity distribution companies. Motyka called the incident “the strongest attack” on Poland’s energy infrastructure in years, and the Polish government blamed Moscow for the attempt.…
Humans, not glaciers, carried Stonehenge’s megaliths across Britain and to their current location in southern England, a new study has confirmed.Scientists have believed for decades that the iconic stones of this 5,000-year-old monument came from present-day Wales and as far away as Scotland, but there is still debate as to how the stones ended up on Salisbury Plain in southern England.Now, analysis of microscopic mineral particles taken from rivers around Stonehenge reveals that glaciers did not reach the area during the last ice age (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), rejecting an idea known as the “glacial transport theory” that…
Google Photos now lets you create memes using your own images. Google on Thursday introduced a new AI-powered generation feature called “Me Meme.” This will allow you to generate meme images by combining photo templates with your own images. The new feature, which will be available to US-based users first, was originally discovered during development last October by the blog Android Authority. This was officially announced by Google on Thursday via its Photo Community site. Google says the feature is experimental, so the resulting image “may not be an exact match to the original photo.” For best results, we recommend…
Meta announced today that it will temporarily suspend access by teenagers to its AI characters in its apps worldwide. The company exclusively told TechCrunch that it’s not abandoning its efforts and wants to develop an updated version of its AI characters for teens. The move comes just days before the case against Meta goes to trial in New Mexico. The lawsuit accuses the company of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation on its apps. Wired reported Thursday that Meta is seeking to limit findings about social media’s impact on teens’ mental health. The company previewed parental controls for AI…
Harpoons made from the bones of humpback and southern right whales indicate that indigenous peoples in what is now Brazil were hunting whales 5,000 years ago.The discovery, which includes 118 whale bones and crafted artifacts, reveals that prehistoric whaling was not limited to people in temperate or polar climates in the northern hemisphere, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications on January 9.”Whaling has always been shrouded in mystery,” Andre Carlo Colonese, study co-author and head of research at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told Live Science, because bone tools made from actively hunted and left behind…
Colossal monsters lurk in the centers of all galaxies. Known as supermassive black holes, these gravitational beasts can have millions to billions of times more mass than the sun.For decades, astronomers have wondered where these behemoths came from and how they got so huge. Early on, physicists thought that supermassive black holes formed like other, smaller black holes do — with large stars collapsing and becoming sun-size black holes that slowly devoured surrounding matter and merged with one another over billions of years.But it has become increasingly clear this model is broken. You may like The James Webb Space Telescope…
Emily is a college student during the day, but works night shifts at a strip club to pay for her education. She thought no one would find out her secret, until one day a mysterious English teacher showed up! Did he recognize her? Will her secret be revealed? You can pay 60 “tokens” to see what happens next, watch ads, or… you can buy a VIP pass for $20 per week and skip ads entirely. These stories are pulpy and exaggerated, full of cringe-worthy acting and writing. But these “microdramas” (TikTok-like shows where episodes are about a minute long) are…