Thursday, March 13, 2025

Intro Hey, everyone, welcome to TC PM! We've got a lot to go through this afternoon, including our thoughts on Apple's Lockdown Mode, what Meghan Markle is up to, Spotify's independent book publishing plans, and much more. Let's go!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg / Getty Images

🤨 Hmmm: OpenAI is taking shots at DeepSeek, describing the Chinese company as "state-subsidized" and "state-controlled" in a new policy proposal. It naturally recommends the U.S. banning some of its models, as well as other operations supported by China.

🎮 Google games: Google is launching new features for PC games on mobile and PC devices, like new developer tools that will make all mobile games on PC available in the Play Store. Google also announced new PC-optimized titles such as Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Sonic Rumble, and Odin: Valhalla Rising.

🙋 We have questions: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai has some thoughts on Apple's Lockdown Mode and whether the so-called privacy protection feature is actually any good. While it's good for security, three years after its launch, much about it still remains in mystery, and so much of it is still so confusing.

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Afternoon must-reads

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👋 Meghan Markle is back — again: Fresh off the somewhat-success of her Netflix show, the duchess announced she is launching a podcast focused on the journeys of female entrepreneurs. Her own lifestyle company, As Ever, is set to launch sometime this spring.

🧑‍🏫 Learning curve: Google announced a personalized Gemini tool that lets its chatbot draw on other Google apps to learn user preferences. It will integrate with Google Search and will soon expand to Photos and YouTube.

👾 Fine, this is cool: Xbox announced it's experimenting with AI, of course, and launched a new gaming tool powered by AI for mobile users. It says the feature can offer real-time tips or advise a player on what their next move should be.

🤑 IPOs are so back: Fervo Energy, a geothermal company, is looking to go public within the next two years. The company last raised more than $400 million and has been trying to bring down the cost of drilling.

📚 Book-ify: Spotify is now letting independent authors publish audiobooks. Authors can submit short stories they would like to see turned into audiobooks as part of another expansion of Spotify's audiobook offering.

🤝 Spring fever: The end of winter brings forth new beginnings and, of course, a new crop of YC companies to watch. We made a list of our favorite 10 companies that presented at Demo Day. Most of them are working on, you guessed it, AI.

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Around the web

🛍️ Personalized shopping is spreading: WSJ reports that Etsy and eBay are looking to capitalize on personalized shopping tactics to help boost their sales. Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram are already pioneers in this space.

👀 Who watches the watchmen? DOGE is obscuring some of the details on its website, making it harder to find its mistakes. The New York Times has mapped out some new errors it found as the group makes its way through the federal government.