• TikTok finalizes deal to create new US entity and avoid ban

    January 24, 2026

    TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has signed a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to form a majority American-owned joint venture to keep the social app operating in the U.S. The deal ends a six-year political saga that started in 2020 when President Donald Trump tried to ban the app over national security concerns during his first term. Adam Presser, who was TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will be the CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. TikTok CEO Shou Chew will serve as a director. The venture’s three managing investors, Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based…

  • Apple accuses Europe of ‘delay tactics’ following alternative app store collapse

    January 24, 2026

    Following the shutdown of an alternative app store, Apple has accused the European Commission (EC) of using “political delay tactics” as an excuse to probe and fine the company, Bloomberg reported. Apple issued the statement preemptively as commission is reportedly preparing to blame Apple for the shutdown of third-party app store Setapp due to what the developer called “still-evolving and complex business terms.” As part of an EU ruling, Apple was forced to allow third-party marketplaces for apps once the Digital Markets Act (DMA) took effect in 2024. Apple agreed to allow such stores, but implemented fees of €0.50 per…

  • TikTok-like microdramas are going to make billions this year, even though they kind of suck

    January 24, 2026

    Emily is a college student by day, but she works the night shift at the strip club to pay her tuition — she doesn’t think anyone will find out her secret, until one day, her mysterious English teacher shows up! Did he recognize her? Will her secret get out? Pay 60 “tokens” to see what happens next, or you can watch an ad, or… just buy a VIP pass for $20 per week and skip the ads altogether. These stories are pulpy and exaggerated, bursting with cringeworthy acting and writing. Yet these “microdramas” — TikTok-like shows with episodes about a…

  • Why would Apple want to make an AI pin?

    January 24, 2026

    Apple is reportedly working on an AI pin of its very own to compete with OpenAI’s non-existent pin. No, it doesn’t really make much sense to us, either. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget Managing Editor Cherlynn Low discuss why Apple might be quick to jump on the AI pin trend, even before it jumps into smart rings. Also, we dive into Sony’s Bravia TV deal with TCL, and the aftermath of Verizon’s massive service outage. Subscribe! Topics TCL is taking over Sony’s Bravia TV business in a new joint venture – 0:58 Last week’s Verizon outage was resolved after…

  • This startup will send 1,000 people’s ashes to space — affordably — in 2027

    January 24, 2026

    Ryan Mitchell, the founder of a startup called Space Beyond, remembers looking at the night sky while camping at a state park and wondering what he should do next. A manufacturing engineer who worked on NASA’s space shuttle program before spending nearly a decade at Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, Mitchell was considering his options. In those jobs, he had seen the cost to access space come down dramatically, thanks in large part to Blue Origin’s rival SpaceX. Those stars in the sky, he thought, seemed closer than ever. Mitchell told TechCrunch that an idea finally clicked when he…

  • Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 drop back down to a record-low price

    January 24, 2026

    AirPods Pro 3 have returned to an all-time-low price. You can pick them up for $200 right now, which is $50 off and the best discount we’ve seen since the earbuds came out at the end of last year. We gave these AirPods a score of 90 out of 100 in our review and we consider them the best wireless earbuds for iPhone users. The third generation model is a substantial update to an already impressive product, bringing new features like live translation to the table. Apple Upgrade to the new AirPods Pro 3 while they’re on sale for an…

  • Apple iPhone just had its best year in India as the smartphone market stays broadly flat

    January 24, 2026

    Apple’s iPhone is gaining ground fast in India, shipping about 14 million units in 2025, based on market data shared exclusively with TechCrunch. Yet the country’s overall smartphone market stayed largely flat at around 152–153 million devices. That means that across the full-year of 2025, Apple’s market share of shipments rose to a record 9%. This is up from 7% in 2024, Counterpoint Research data shows, making it the iPhone’s strongest year yet in the world’s second-largest smartphone market by volume. The gains were driven by the iPhone’s product portfolio, growing aspirational demand and wider availability across sales channels, Counterpoint…

  • How Machine Learning and Semantic Embeddings Reorder CVE Vulnerabilities Beyond Raw CVSS Scores

    January 24, 2026

    def visualize_results(df, priority_scores, feature_importance): fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 3, figsize=(18, 10)) fig.suptitle('Vulnerability Scanner - ML Analysis Dashboard', fontsize=16, fontweight="bold") axes[0, 0].hist(priority_scores, bins=30, color="crimson", alpha=0.7, edgecolor="black") axes[0, 0].set_xlabel('Priority Score') axes[0, 0].set_ylabel('Frequency') axes[0, 0].set_title('Priority Score Distribution') axes[0, 0].axvline(np.percentile(priority_scores, 75), color="orange", linestyle="--", label="75th percentile") axes[0, 0].legend() axes[0, 1].scatter(df['cvss_score'], priority_scores, alpha=0.6, c=priority_scores, cmap='RdYlGn_r', s=50) axes[0, 1].set_xlabel('CVSS Score') axes[0, 1].set_ylabel('ML Priority Score') axes[0, 1].set_title('CVSS vs ML Priority') axes[0, 1].plot([0, 10], [0, 1], 'k--', alpha=0.3) severity_counts = df['severity'].value_counts() colors = {'CRITICAL': 'darkred', 'HIGH': 'red', 'MEDIUM': 'orange', 'LOW': 'yellow'} axes[0, 2].bar(severity_counts.index, severity_counts.values, color=[colors.get(s, 'gray') for s in severity_counts.index]) axes[0, 2].set_xlabel('Severity') axes[0, 2].set_ylabel('Count') axes[0, 2].set_title('Severity Distribution') axes[0, 2].tick_params(axis="x",…

  • All the bells and whistles

    January 24, 2026

    At their core, refrigerators are relatively simple devices. If you’re the type of person to view every extra feature as a component that could potentially go wrong, basic iceboxes are probably the kind you go for. But for those on the other end of the spectrum, Samsung’s latest Bespoke Refrigerators with AI inside have more bells and whistles than you might think possible — including an optional 32-inch screen. Editor’s note: The model we tested for this review came out in the second half of 2025 and will continue to be on sale throughout 2026. Hardware will remain the same,…

  • Legal AI giant Harvey acquires Hexus as competition heats up in legal tech

    January 24, 2026

    Harvey, the high-flying legal AI startup, has acquired Hexus — a two-year-old startup that builds tools for creating product demos, videos, and guides — as the company continues its aggressive expansion amid fierce competition in the legal tech market. Hexus founder and CEO Sakshi Pratap, who previously held engineering roles at Walmart, Oracle, and Google, tells TechCrunch that her San Francisco-based team has already joined Harvey, while the startup’s India-based engineers will come onboard once Harvey establishes a Bangalore office. Pratap adds that she will lead an engineering team focused on accelerating Harvey’s offerings for in-house legal departments. “What we’re…