Fusion power darling Commonwealth Fusion Systems raises another $1B
Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1 billion as the startup moves toward its first commercial fusion power plant.
The Download: failed social media bans, and extending pets’ lives
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. Kids are outsmarting social media bans. That’s not a problem we need to solve. —Michal Luria, Aliya Bhatia, and Danah Boyd Social media bans are stacking up. In July, France joined…
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Forward-deployed engineers are the AI industry’s latest talent obsession
A new study estimates only 2,000 U.S. engineers have the expertise to deliver meaningful AI ROI, as enterprises race to hire forward-deployed engineers to implement AI at scale.
In the Hugging Face breach, OpenAI’s hacker was noisy and fast — but not unstoppable
Cybersecurity experts told TechCrunch that one of the biggest lessons to be taken from the OpenAI hack against HuggingFace has nothing to do with AI, but traditional cybersecurity defense.
A Couple Was Sent Cockroaches and a Bloody Pig Mask by eBay Employees. They Just Won a $48 Million Settlement.
Former eBay employees sent live cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig mask to silence a couple’s reporting.
Personal Bankruptcies Are Up Nearly 50% Over the Past Three Years, But Is That a Bad Thing? ‘People Don’t Understand How Good a Deal It Is’
More than half a million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy last year, and researchers say the stigma is fading.
How Cereal Milk Matcha and Pink Mermaid 7 Fizz Are Fueling 7 Brew’s Biggest Growth Yet: ‘The Industry Hasn’t Been Disrupted in a Long Time’
7 Brew didn’t exist in 2017. It’s now closing in on 1,000 locations with customer volume one franchisee calls ‘insane.’
This Startup Wants to Build the Weirdest-Looking Passenger Jet Since the Concorde. The U.S. Government Just Invested $3 Billion In It.
With four aisles and no windows, the airliner would be the first real challenger to Boeing’s U.S. monopoly in decades.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s biggest stage features leaders from Amazon, Replit, Tether, with much more to come
The Disrupt Stage is where many of the biggest conversations in technology happen, with a legacy that stretches back for more than a decade.
For Two Years, I Was Using AI Wrong. Fixing It Is Why My Clients Are Winning While Other Brands Fall Behind.
Premium personal brands do not need more AI content — they need AI used as a thought partner, as brand infrastructure and as a way to turn real audience data into messaging that actually lands.
Silence in a Meeting Isn’t Alignment. It’s Fear. Here’s How to Build a Team That Tells You the Truth
Employees wear workplace “masks” when they don’t feel psychologically safe, and leaders who consistently model honesty, invite candid dialogue, and build trust create teams where people contribute their full potential instead of simply performing.