Friday, July 19, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! We woke up to absolute chaos this morning in the form of a CrowdStrike update that has knocked out computers running Microsoft Windows around the world. In other news, we've got Biden targeting Elon Musk; HeadSpin's fire sale, and J.D. Vance's Venmo revealing all sorts of juicy details about his network. — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: oxygen / Getty Images

1. Crowdstrike update takes out half the world's computers: A faulty software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has knocked out millions of computers running the company's security software. Thankfully, it's only affected Microsoft Windows systems, but that's been enough to ground flights, shut down banks, disrupt news broadcasts and stock exchanges, take out railway systems, and more. CrowdStrike's CEO said this isn't a cyberattack, but this outage is so big, its full impact will only become apparent in the coming days. We have the low-down here and are working on more, so stay tuned. Read More

2. Elon Musk is a villain in Biden's campaign: Biden is taking advantage of Musk and other high-profile and wealthy Silicon Valley VCs supporting Trump's bid and donating millions in super PACs. The president says he's "sick of Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election," a sentiment that many are likely to share. Going after the richest man in the world and his "rich buddies" is a gamble, but it's on brand for Biden, who's been saying he wants to make billionaires pay more in taxes. Read More

3. HeadSpin gets bought in fire sale: TechCrunch got the scoop that Canadian private equity firm PartnerOne paid $28.2 million for HeadSpin, the mobile app testing startup whose founder was sentenced for fraud earlier this year. HeadSpin had previously raised $117 million, so this low-ball number has got to hurt. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Christoph Wagner / Getty Images

🤓 Online community college is a venture opportunity now: How did Campus, a startup that is also a fully accredited, two-year, online community college, raise $55 million from big names like Sam Altman and Jason Citron? By pitching education as a high-risk, high-reward problem that needs solving. It probably helped that the company's learning software disrupts a legacy industry, too. Read More

🚕 Waymo's gearing up for SFO rides: TechCrunch has exclusively learned that Waymo is ramping up efforts to offer pickups and drop-offs at San Francisco International Airport. Rides to and from airports are serious money-makers in the ride-hailing industry, and robotaxis that can't make those trips are missing out on a huge opportunity. Getting approval is going to be a lengthy process, but Waymo is pressing ahead. Read More

🍎 Apple really wants you to buy a Vision Pro: The company is launching a lineup of immersive video content for the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, including behind-the-scenes footage of the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, a performance by The Weeknd, and "Boundless," a series that lets you experience adventures around the world. Could any of this content go viral enough to attract more people to these headsets? We'll see. Read More

💰 Paytm's struggles won't end: The Indian fintech's Q1 revenue declined by a third and its loss more than doubled in the first quarter as it deals with a regulatory clampdown that has curtailed business at its payments bank subsidiary. It's another hit for Paytm, which pioneered mobile payments in India but has seen its market share erode due to competition from PhonePe and Google Pay. Read More

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Around the web

📲 Cellebrite helped FBI break into Trump shooter's phone: Bloomberg reports that Cellebrite gave the FBI unreleased technology so investigators could access the Trump shooter's phone. The device was a newer Samsung model that runs Android. Read More

🧑‍🎓 J.D. Vance's Venmo paints a different picture than he'd prefer: The U.S. senator and Trump's pick for VP apparently forgot to make his Venmo account private, and Wired perused the account to give us a glimpse into his extensive network of connections. Those connections span GOP heavyweights, wealthy financiers, technology executives, prestige press and fellow grads at Yale Law School — the exact kind of elites that Vance publicly rails against. Read More

🔐 Big Tech bands together to secure AI: The biggest names in AI – Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia and Intel – have teamed up to promote the development of "secure-by-design" AI, according to a statement from OASIS Open. The goal is to address software supply chain security for AI systems, prepare for a changing cybersecurity landscape, and develop best practices for AI security governance. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

🪦 RIP Fandango founder: J. Michael Cline, co-founder of Fandango and many other startups, recently died after falling from the 20th story of a Manhattan hotel. Most millennials and Gen X folk probably used Fandango to check movie times and buy tickets in the 2000s and early 2010s. The website paved the way for the $37 billion online ticketing industry, and we will always fondly remember that original pumpkin-orange website color palette. Pouring one out for you, Cline. Read More