Universal Music Group and TikTok renew agreement to combat unauthorized AI music
For years, UMG has pushed platforms, streaming services, and AI companies to implement stricter content moderation policies
The Download: AI-generated lawsuits and virtual power plants for data centers
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How courts are coping with a flood of AI-generated lawsuits Most days in her chambers, Judge Maritza Braswell, a federal magistrate judge in Colorado, sifts through stacks of documents written by…
May 2026
Spotify now lets you stream narrated magazine articles, too
Spotify is adding narrated magazine articles to its app as it expands beyond music into audiobooks, podcasts, AI audio, and more.
He Loaned Elon Musk $1 Million When Tesla Was Nearly Bankrupt — Now He’s About to Make $140 Billion
Elon Musk’s best friend Antonio Gracias bet early on Musk. His 7.3% SpaceX stake could soon make him one of the 50 wealthiest people alive.
Apple’s Top Executive Uses a Whoop — What That Says About the Company’s $100 Billion Apple Watch Problem
Apple Watch has dominated fitness trackers, but its leaders are retiring, talent is fleeing and innovation has stalled, Bloomberg reports.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Early Bird ticket rates end May 29
Save up to $410 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass before prices increase on May 29 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Register here to join the tech epicenter in San Francisco.
The Man Who Built 7-Eleven Into a Global Empire Had One Three-Word Motto —Here’s What It Was
Toshifumi Suzuki, known as “The God of Retail,” started with one Tokyo store and built up an empire with tens of thousands of locations.
7-Eleven data breach affects over 185,000 people’s personal data
The data breach included names, dates-of-birth, postal addresses, and Social Security numbers, according to a state government listing.
The Download: puncturing the AI jobs panic
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A reality check on the AI jobs hysteria Despite the growing hysteria over AI’s threat to white-collar jobs, there’s still scant evidence that the technology has had a large-scale impact on…
Amazon fulfillment competitor Stord raises $250M at $3B valuation
Stord was founded in 2015 by then-college students CEO Sean Henry and CTO Jacob Boudreau while they were still at Georgia Tech.
A reality check on the AI jobs hysteria
Haven’t you heard? White-collar jobs are going away, decimated by AI. Waves of layoffs in the tech sector (most recently at Coinbase and Meta and Cisco) are said to presage what will soon come for all of us knowledge workers. But before you quit your job as a software developer or financial analyst—or tech journalist—and…