Author: GT

Silicon Valley folks tend to write off the startup market across the pond as too small or not hungry enough, but that sentiment could not be more different from how Europeans view their potential. Helsinki’s annual Slush conference this year showed a venture market that feels like it is on the brink of transformation, one that’s ready for its first trillion-dollar startup. Founders, venture investors and government officials alike acknowledged the hurdles that have traditionally held Europe back from reaching its true scale and potential. For many years, European founders moved to the U.S. to start their companies or exited…

A worker repairs a power line in Austin, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2021.Thomas Ryan Allison | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe rapid expansion of data centers in Texas is driving electricity demand higher during the winter, compounding the risk of supply shortfalls that could lead to blackouts during freezing temperatures. The Lone Star state is attracting a huge amount of data center requests, driven by its abundant renewable energy and natural gas resources as well as its business friendly environment. OpenAI, for example, is developing its flagship Stargate campus in Abilene, about 150 miles west of Dallas-Forth Worth. The…

Just weeks before Australia’s social media ban for users under 16 takes effect, the country’s watchdog, eSafety, has added Twitch to the list of banned platforms. Pinterest, however, was excluded, in line with Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age (SMMA) rules. Twitch will no longer allow Australians under 16 to create accounts starting December 10, a Twitch spokesperson told TechCrunch. Existing accounts for users under 16 will be deactivated on January 9. Globally, Twitch is open to users 13 and older, and anyone under the legal age of adulthood in their region must have a parent or guardian involved, the spokesperson…

The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 along party lines on Thursday to scrap rules that required U.S. phone and internet giants to meet certain minimum cybersecurity requirements. The FCC’s two Trump-appointed commissioners, chairman Brendan Carr and his Republican colleague Olivia Trusty, voted to withdraw the rules that require telecommunications carriers to “secure their networks from unlawful access or interception of communications.” The Biden administration had adopted these rules prior to leaving office earlier this year. The FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, dissented. In a statement following the vote, Gomez called the now-overturned rules the “only meaningful effort this agency…

SpaceX rolled out an upgraded version of its Starship rocket booster in South Texas on Thursday to begin testing, and just a few hours later, something inside it exploded. Livestreamers who watch SpaceX’s Starbase complex closely caught the explosion in the pre-dawn hours Friday, around 4:00 a.m. local time. Other creators in the area have since captured photos that offer a closer look at the damage. Unlike the more fireball-type explosions SpaceX has dealt with while developing its rockets in the past, this one appears to have blown out an entire side of the lower section of the booster —…

The Trump administration revealed this week a revamped organizational chart for the Department of Energy, one which dumps several offices focused on renewable energy while elevating fusion. The shakeup eliminates the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, the Office of State and Community Energy Programs, the Grid Deployment Office, and the Office of Federal Energy Management programs.  On the other side of the ledger, the DOE has created a new Office of Fusion and merged geothermal and fossil fuels under the Hydrocarbons and…

In the early days of social media, posting a rant about the latest episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” on Myspace felt like the ultimate Thursday night activity. And discovering a Facebook group called “Team Jacob Forever” was one of the best finds. Nowadays, finding that perfect niche community can seem impossible, but a new social app called Phictly aims to change that. Available on iOS and Android devices, the app lets users form clubs centered on their favorite books, TV shows, and movies, creating niche communities where people can discuss their specific interests without judgment. For instance, users can dive into…

Hi, thanks as always for reading TechCrunch. We want to talk with you quickly about something important. A growing number of scammers are impersonating TechCrunch reporters and event leads and reaching out to companies, pretending to be our staff when they absolutely are not. These bad actors are using our name and reputation to try to dupe unsuspecting businesses. It drives us crazy and infuriates us on your behalf. It ebbs and flows. Judging by the increased number of emails we’re receiving, asking, “Does this person really work for you?” it appears to be happening more actively at the moment.…

Elon Musk’s X has begun rolling out a new feature for user profiles that will display information about the account, including where it’s based, how many times the account has changed its username, the account’s original join date, and how the user downloaded the X app. The new information is meant to reduce inauthentic engagement on the platform, where bots often pretend to be humans — a problem that could get even harder to police in the age of AI. X’s plans for the feature were first announced in October, when X’s head of product Nikita Bier said the company…

Google has confirmed that hackers have stolen the Salesforce-stored data of more than 200 companies in a large-scale supply chain hack. On Thursday, Salesforce disclosed a breach of “certain customers’ Salesforce data” — without naming affected companies — that was stolen via apps published by Gainsight, which provides a customer support platform to other companies.   In a statement, Austin Larsen, the principal threat analyst of Google Threat Intelligence Group, said that the company “is aware of more than 200 potentially affected Salesforce instances.” After Salesforce announced the breach, the notorious and somewhat-nebulous hacking group known as Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, which…