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Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.

A running look — in reverse chronological order — at the bigger tech companies that have announced significant layoffs this year with AI as a stated factor.

The lawsuit will likely renew debates about whether term employment agreements are enforceable under California. law

An awe-inspiring hacktivist who hacked two controversial government spyware makers may be the most prolific hacker to have never gotten caught. What do we know about Phineas Fisher?

Elon Musk's tunneling startup is reportedly in talks for a major new funding round.

Kalshi claims the trailer is “defamatory” and contains “both fabricated documents and false and misleading statements.”

At libraries around the country, "Avoiding AI" workshops have elicited unprecedented demand.

A close call in Northern Virginia revealed just how poorly data centers respond to grid disruptions. Here's how to fix the problem.

OpenAI's fancy new AI keypad will be a lot of fun for some, while many others are probably not going to touch it.

The company ticked off a few more boxes on the second Starship V3 flight, but appears to have had another issue relighting the booster's rocket engines.

The neolab is betting that automating routine computer tasks will soon outpace coding as AI's biggest use case.

Money has evolved into far more than the cash in your wallet or your bank account. And at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, we’re devoting an entire stage to that progression.

Australia was the first country to issue a ban in late 2025, aiming to reduce the pressures and risks that young users may face on social media, including cyberbullying, social media addiction, and exposure to predators.

The contract between the two companies ends in May 2028, Uber told TechCrunch.

The indictment, which was unsealed Friday, alleges the Volkswagen engineers used confidential insider information to buy stock in Rivian.

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Ryan Gosling on stage at Comic-Con | Image: Marvel Studios While perhaps less dramatic than in years past, Marvel nonetheless had some big reveals lined up for Comic-Con. The highest profile was certainly the announcement that Ryan Gosling would be joining the MCU as Ghost Rider, with the Shawn Levy-directed ( Deadpool & Wolverine ) standalone feature set to drop sometime in 2028. The studio also brought out Ryan Coogler, who officially confirmed Black Panther III is slated for release on December 15th, 2028. He also introduced David Jonsson ( The Long Walk , Alien Romulus ) as T'Chala's son

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things vertical video, follow David Pierce . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started For a while, every social and media platform had its own identity. YouTube was for clips of TV shows and movies, and the home of so many members of a burgeoning creator community. Instagram was mostly pictures. Netflix was trying to be the on-demand HBO. Facebook was about friends. Twitter

Google's Vice President of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, all but confirmed in an interview with 9to5 Google that its next Pixel phone would cost more than the Pixel 10. Considering the ongoing RAM supply issues due to the explosion of AI data centers, the rumored price hike is not a complete surprise. Companies from Apple to Nintendo , Microsoft to Roku , have all raised their prices in response to the soaring cost of memory. Barkat said that Google had "shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible," but that the "economics have fundamentally shifted and

Oli Freke is a musician and journalist whose works have appeared in Sound on Sound , The Quietus , and Mixmag . This has included using math to explore the melodic potential of the Western 12-tone scale and deep dives on effects plug-ins . He's even written a book tracing the evolution of the synthesizer from 1963 through 1995, charting the change from analog to digital and back. His new project is Beat Gems , a coffee-table visual history of drum machines from publisher Bjooks . Like other Bjooks titles, Beat Gems is loaded with gorgeous photos, fascinating historical tidbits,

Teenage Engineering’s OP-XY has a huge number of functions. | Photo by Terrence O’Brien / The Verge With elements from synthesizers, loopers, and effects pedals, Teenage Engineering’s devices lie somewhere between musical instrument and modern art. These grooveboxes, as they’re often called, are capable of helping you produce songs in real time from a single unit, with an eye-catching design language. A wide swath of the brand’s offerings are 30 percent off at Guitar Center when you use code TE30 , at Amazon when you click the on-page coupon for whichever product you’re interested in, and B&H Photo (discount applied

You don’t have to upload your video to the cloud or pay a monthly fee to secure your home. These security cameras record locally.

Friendly hobby machine or serious production tool? Here’s how to know which one is for you.

These e-readers are more useful in their old age than you might think.

I packed these Leatherology totes with laptops, chargers, and everything else my workday demands. Months later, they’re still the bags I keep reaching for.

Plus: Russian hackers are trying to steal US nuclear scientists’ emails, the State Department bans known scammers from entering the United States, and more.

I’ve been reviewing laptops for over a decade, and here's my advice on how to find the right laptop for you.

Over the last several years, the Imax format has taken on a few different forms—but only a few dozen theaters are capable of screening it in its full glory.

GoPro’s New Mission 1 cameras bring action cameras to a higher level with a larger sensor and more cinematic footage.

Scientists identified the first known cancer transmissible among freshwater fish in a lake that spans the US and Canada.

Electrolyte powders promise better hydration, energy, and recovery. But unless you’re losing serious fluid, water and food probably have you covered.

Flames burned through the Deep Space Communications Complex near Madrid, but NASA has been unable to assess the damage as a wildfire emergency grips the region.

Big Tobacco studied nicotine analogs like 6-methyl-nicotine for decades but never marketed them. Now, Chinese vape makers are using them to sidestep US regulations.

This climate phenomenon could cause a massive global temperature spike and cause economic losses of $10 trillion by 2032.

On this episode of Uncanny Valley, we dive into accusations that China’s Moonshot AI stole from Anthropic, and how the US Army needs to cut back on AI use.

The AI “startups” worth billions of dollars are raising alarm bells about Chinese AI. The smaller players have a totally different take.

These are the AC units we’ve trusted to cool our homes for months, if not years.

The TK705STi’s highly responsive, low-latency performance makes gameplay ultra-realistic. For movies and TV? It’s a purely average home projector.

Never mind the “heat death of the universe.” Entropy is just a bridge between two levels of reality.

From musical instruments and games to play pieces that encourage balance and dexterity, these toys will engage your child’s mind and body.

“I think it should stand for artificial idiot,” one 9-year-old says. Here’s why kids of all ages are calling AI “disgusting” and “creepy.”

Analysis of satellite images of Myanmar shows dozens of alleged scam compounds have appeared in recent months, despite a purported crackdown on the criminal organizations.

If you’re tired of sponsored and AI-summarized search results, Kagi gives you a curated—and human-centric—way to find what you’re looking for.

After Trump publicly backed pillow salesman turned election denier Mike Lindell for governor of Minnesota, the local GOP pushed back strongly.

EU law gives researchers unprecedented rights to scrutinize social media data. Researchers say TikTok, X, and Meta impede their attempts to look inside.

Outside experts—some with a vested interest in peptides—recommended adding a number of the amino acids to the FDA’s bulks list, including the “Wolverine stack” touted by Joe Rogan and other influencers.

The clip features the David Bowie track “Five Years,” which includes lyrics such as “Earth was really dying (dying).”

MSG’s sprawling surveillance system can monitor guests down to the second. Its owners made an exception for the pop star’s rehearsal dinner.

The European Commission claims that Google boosted its own apps and products to the top of search rankings to the detriment of its competitors.

Deck out your room and make class a cinch with these WIRED-tested favorites.

Cordless, handheld, robot, and traditional—we tested them all to find the vacuum that’s fantastic for fur.

The slim and convenient magnetic wallets you’ll actually want stuck to the back of your phone.

The EPA has proposed a rule change that would let states decide how much input the public has on air pollution permits. It would be a huge boon for data centers increasingly reliant on fossil fuels.

Gas prices are up, and US car dealerships are full of hybrids. Customers are going for it.

Here are the best delivery services and meal kits in 2026, including Martha Stewart’s meal service, a GLP-1–supportive plan, and a budget-friendly option.

MAGA-coded adult content playing off immigration crackdowns, white supremacy, and obeying the “natural order” is finding rabid audiences on X.

The next time you’re locked out of your Google account, you can use your face as part of the account recovery process.

The risks are real. But banning children from the internet could create new problems without solving the ones that really matter.

I cranked Apple’s iOS 27 beta to maximum transparency on my iPhone and enjoyed every warped second.

With “blessings” from the original Jibo founders, iKairos is a wearable or desk-mounted “AI journal” that turns your family moments into AI images and video.

Hear from six pediatricians in measles hot spot Utah, as the US faces infection levels not seen in over three decades and prepares to lose its status as a country that eliminated the dangerous disease.

The cyclospora diarrhea outbreak isn’t an isolated incident. It’s part of a pattern of leafy greens wreaking digestive havoc.

There’s a debate going on in the Trump administration over how to handle increasingly powerful Chinese AI models.

Save on WIRED-tested LED therapy devices from TheraFace, HigherDose, and more.

Elon Musk and the online right convinced themselves that Christopher Nolan’s “woke” epic would go down in flames. Now they’re crashing out.

As access to Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s frontier models becomes more restricted, Chinese labs are pitching their open-source alternatives as stable, accessible, and increasingly capable.