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Twitter’s head of trust and safety Ella Irwin has resigned, the now-former executive confirmed to Reuters on Thursday. Irwin took over for Yoel Roth, who famously left the company during the early days of Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover. While Roth clashed with Musk over the new Twitter owner’s hands-off approach to content moderation, Irwin […] Twitter’s trust and safety lead Ella Irwin resigns by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch... →

Boeing and NASA said Thursday that the first crewed flight test of the Starliner capsule would be further delayed due to a new crop of technical issues with the spacecraft. The first crewed mission was scheduled to fly two NASA astronauts on July 21 after being pushed back from an earlier April launch date. Officials […] NASA, Boeing delay the first crewed flight test of the Starliner capsule…again by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch... →

A story about a simulated drone turning on its operator in order to kill more efficiently is making the rounds so fast today that there’s no point in hoping it’ll burn itself out. Instead let’s take this as a teachable moment to really see why the “scary AI” threat is overplayed, and the “incompetent human” […] Turncoat drone story shows why we should fear people, not AIs by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch... →

Fidelity, the lead investor in Reddit’s most-recent funding round, has slashed the estimated worth of its equity stake in the popular social media platform by 41%, the latest high-profile write-down amid a weakening worldwide economy on public markets. Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund’s stake in Reddit was valued at $16.6 million as of April 28, […] Fidelity cuts Reddit valuation by 41% by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch... →

Rocket Lab’s mission to Venus, which was originally scheduled to launch last month, is “not imminent,” a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. That means the mission will likely move ahead no earlier than January 2025, the only publicly stated back-up window for launch. “Our focus right now is on delivering customer missions as a priority,” the […] Rocket Lab’s private mission to Venus slips to 2025 by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch... →

As Salesforce delves deeper into AI, the data exhaust from its core products could eventually be its most valuable asset. Salesforce could be repositioning itself as a data company by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch... →

BonusXP, the game studio that worked with Netflix to kick off its gaming initiative and introduced “Stranger Things” titles on mobile devices as well as desktop and consoles, is shutting down. The Texas-based studio announced the closure through its social media channels on Wednesday evening. “We have begun the difficult process of ceasing operations at […] Stranger Things game developer BonusXP is shutting down by Jagmeet Singh originally published on TechCrunch... →

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...... →

Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto news, memes and more. Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Although there are a lot of builders in the crypto space, the total money being invested into the crypto market has hit 32-month lows in May. Cryptocurrency monthly exchange volume, which calculates spot market volume across all crypto […] Monthly crypto exchange volume tumbled in May, hitting 32-month low by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch... →

Nearly a decade after its launch, ETA’s simple drive times app is finally making its way to Apple’s CarPlay. The newly updated app, which offers an alternative first step to planning a trip, isn’t meant to directly compete with mobile maps or other navigation apps. Instead, it serves as more of a “location dashboard” that […] Drive times app ETA brings its handy location dashboard to CarPlay by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch... →

You’ll have to forgive me, I spent most of the morning thinking and writing about VR. In the lead-up to Apple’s expected headset announcement at WWDC next week, I did a one-person crash course into the world of extended reality, from its birth in the laboratories in the ’50s and ’60s to the current crop […] Meet me at the dog run by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch... →

The Department of Defense said Thursday it is buying more Starlink terminals from SpaceX for use in Ukraine, as the conflict between that country and Russia wages well into its second year. The Pentagon provided little other details about the order, however, including the number of terminals it would purchase or pricing. SpaceX did not […] More SpaceX Starlink terminals will go to Ukraine following new order from Pentagon by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch... →

Some high-profile venture capital and private equity firms are slashing the valuation of their holdings, causing billions in apparent profits to evaporate as the economic downturn undermines the sustained growth of the last 13 years. The California Pension System, the largest pension system in the U.S. whose investments are sprinkled across the globe, injected $368.8 […] Tech investment portfolios suffer write-downs amid global economic slowdown by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch... →

Stripe wants to make it easier for businesses to access credit. The private financial infrastructure giant announced a new charge card program today from Stripe Issuing, its commercial card issuing product, Denise Ho, head of product for BaaS at Stripe, told TechCrunch exclusively. The company originally launched its Issuing product in 2018 and since then, […] Fintech giant Stripe is getting into the credit game by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch... →

Germany’s antitrust watchdog made some interesting comments vis-a-vis the programmatic advertising market yesterday — which question the appropriateness and sustainability of the (still dominant) tracking-and-profiling ad targeting business model. In a statement accompanying publication of a sectoral report (the full report is here in German), the Federal Cartel Office’s (FCO) president, Andreas Mundt, wrote: We […] Germany’s antitrust watchdog questions the future of behavioral advertising by Natasha Lomas... →

In addition to news of a $499 Quest 3 headset arriving this fall, Meta today announced over 15 new titles for Quest VR headsets at the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase today. The games include “Stranger Things VR,” a new version of “NFL Pro Era,” “Assassin’s Creed: Nexus VR” and “Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord.” […] Meta announces over 20 new games for Quest headsets by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch... →

This Chilean startup used the side door to break into the mining industry, which is slow to adopt new technologies. Ceibo unearths $30M Series B to extract more copper out of existing mines by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch... →

The Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky said that hackers working for a government targeted its employees’ iPhones with unknown malware. On Monday, Kaspersky announced the alleged cyberattack, and published a technical report analyzing it, where the company admitted its analysis is not yet complete. The company said that the hackers, whom at this point are unknown, […] Kaspersky says attackers hacked staff iPhones with unknown malware by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai originally published on TechCrunch... →

Verizon announced Thursday a new streaming bundle through its +Play subscription-aggregation hub that will combine Netflix’s premium plan and Paramount’s upcoming merged streaming service, Paramount+ with Showtime. This marks the first time that rivals Netflix and Paramount+ have been offered in a bundle together. The limited-time deal will cost $25.99 per month– a 19% discount […] Verizon’s +Play is the first to bundle Netflix and Paramount+ with Showtime by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCru... →

WordPress.com is taking on Substack and others with today’s news that its Newsletter product will now support paid subscriptions and premium content. First launched in December, WordPress.com Newsletter allows writers to automatically send out posts via email to connect directly with their audience, while still being able to leverage WordPress.com’s other capabilities. Writers can opt […] WordPress.com challenges Substack with launch of paid newsletters by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch... →