News
Silicon Valley news.
- You can now customize Siri’s pace and expressivity in the latest iOS 27 beta
The new controls let you control how quickly Siri speaks and expressive its voice is.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- The running list: major tech layoffs in 2026 where employers cited AI
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.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Amazon competitor Bookshop.org says Kobo eReader support will happen this year after all
Bookship.org seemed to delay this anticipated partnership again, but tells TechCrunch that it has settled business terms and is working on integration.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- If you use Google, you’re training its AI. Here’s how to opt out.
PSA: A change to Google's privacy settings let it train its AI on more of your data. Here's how to opt out.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Tencent's Apache-licensed Hy3 takes on GLM-5.2 at half the size — and wins everywhere except coding
For the past year, the awkward secret of the open-weight model boom has been that many of the strongest Chinese releases were off-limits to a large slice of the enterprises most interested in them. License terms that excluded the European Union, the United Kingdom and South Korea meant legal teams killed deployments before engineering teams finished their evals — not just for companies headquartered there, but for any enterprise serving traffic into those regions. For IT teams weighing open mode
VentureBeat · 7/6/2026
- Apple brings back card payments for Apple Account purchases in India after a four-year hiatus
Apple has started a phased rollout of card payments for Apple Account purchases in India after adapting to the country's payments framework.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Seattle’s Cascade PBS spins out Local Public, a tech platform that builds streaming apps for stations
The goal is to provide local PBS stations nationwide their own branded, station-curated streaming apps — plus tools for fundraising and audience data — as an alternative to a one-size-fits-all national app. Read More
GeekWire · 7/6/2026
- Microsoft lays off nearly 5,000 employees across Xbox, commercial sales
Microsoft cut around 4,800 roles, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday — the latest in a series of layoffs that’s stoking fears of AI replacing jobs. The layoffs will hit Xbox and commercial sales the hardest.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Reddit is using LLMs to solve a problem LLMs largely created
In the AI era, platforms have no choice but to fight fire with fire to cull spam.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- What billions of AI predictions taught Expedia before the age of AI agents
There's an important distinction between AI that just works today, and AI that lasts at scale. Many companies optimize hard for the first one without ever asking whether they're building the second.Velocity without discipline and strategic direction is a liability, not an asset. The hardest part of building AI at scale isn't getting a model to work once. It's building systems that continue to work, scale beyond individual teams and use cases, and improve consistently over tim
VentureBeat · 7/6/2026
- Canadian spy agency says it hacked drug traffickers, extremists, and a ransomware gang last year
The hacking operations disclosed in a Canadian spy agency's annual report underscores some pressing national security threats facing the country and its top allies.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- A ‘painful’ reset for Xbox: 3,200 job cuts, studio spinoffs, and a vow to return to growth in 2027
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma calls it the most significant restructuring in Xbox history: 3,200 job cuts, four studio spinoffs, a new COO, and a flattened management structure — all aimed at turning around a division she says has been losing 64 cents on every dollar invested in its studios. Read More
GeekWire · 7/6/2026
- How to reserve and change your WhatsApp username
WhatsApp now lets users reserve usernames ahead of the feature’s full rollout, making it possible to connect without sharing a phone number once usernames go live.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, about 2% globally, revamps salesforce and launches massive Xbox overhaul
Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs and overhauling its Xbox gaming business in what its new gaming CEO calls the biggest restructuring in Xbox history, while reshaping its sales and consulting division amid record AI spending and a 30% stock slide. Read More
GeekWire · 7/6/2026
- Station F ramps up as a launchpad for Europe’s hottest AI startups
Station F, a Paris-based startup hub founded by French billionaire Xavier Niel, is gearing up for a new edition of its F/ai accelerator program in a bid to strengthen its positioning as a stepping stone for promising AI startups.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Smart glasses maker Even Realities hits $1B valuation with $150M funding led by Meituan, Tencent
Even Realities, an ex-Apple team building camera-free smart glasses, raised $150 million from Meituan and Tencent at a $1 billion valuation.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- This humanoid robotics company is going public, but its CEO isn’t promising a robot in your home anytime soon
While other humanoid startups chase sky-high valuations, Agility Robotics is betting its future on execution — and a SPAC.
TechCrunch · 7/6/2026
- Uber’s European expansion plans may have hit a speed bump
Back in February, Uber announced ambitious plans to launch in seven new European markets in 2026 — but now five of those launches are reportedly on hold.
TechCrunch · 7/5/2026
- Trump memecoin investors lost $3.8 billion, analysis finds
Nearly 1 million people have lost a total of $3.8 billion after buying President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin, while Trump made $636 million.
TechCrunch · 7/5/2026
- Amazon will stop accepting new customers for Mechanical Turk
These may be the last days of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.
TechCrunch · 7/5/2026
- Etzioni on AI: Elon Musk promised humanoid robots, but China delivered
While American tech giants are valued for the anticipation of perfect prototypes, Chinese manufacturers are winning the robotics race by getting paid for delivery. Read More
GeekWire · 7/5/2026
- Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026
See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026. Read More
GeekWire · 7/5/2026
- 5 desk gadgets that can make your workday better
The right desk gadgets can help you reduce clutter, stay focused, and add a little extra convenience to your day.
TechCrunch · 7/5/2026
- What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that’s now public
Bending Spoons remains largely unknown, even as its portfolio of products has served more than a billion people.
TechCrunch · 7/5/2026
- Almost 90 new unicorns have been minted so far this year — here they are
With AI igniting an investor frenzy, more startups are achieving unicorn status every month.
TechCrunch · 7/5/2026
- New Google commercial imagines a Declaration of Independence written with help from AI
Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial asks: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Google Workspace?
TechCrunch · 7/4/2026
- Xbox at a crossroads: 25 years later, Microsoft is done playing around
Microsoft is pressing its Xbox business for growth and stronger profits after 25 years of losses and thin margins. Here's the math and the strategy behind the reset, with Xbox layoffs expected as soon as next week. Read More
GeekWire · 7/4/2026
- How America's 250th birthday became a test of AI-powered collective intelligence
Imagine if you could bring 250 people together in a massive room and have them discuss and debate an important issue, arguing the points and counterpoints, and converging on answers that accurately reflect their collective knowledge, wisdom, values, and sensibilities.Now imagine that you convened this debate on America’s 250th birthday and asked 250 randomly selected Americans to come up with the top three innovations that America has contributed to the world over the last 250 years. What would
VentureBeat · 7/4/2026
- Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal the details of their AI usage
As part of an ongoing legal dispute with three Hollywood studios, Midjourney is seeking to compel those studios to reveal how they use AI themselves.
TechCrunch · 7/4/2026
- Trunk Tools' stack cut document review from 60 days to 10 by ditching general-purpose models
Most verticals aren’t clean, well-oiled SaaS databases; the reality is ugly documents, proprietary schemas, implicit workflows, and long‑running tasks that most general-purpose models struggle with. This prompted construction project management company Trunk Tools to build a specialized, three-layer architecture — perception, semantics, agents — based on highly-detailed data to support high-accuracy, highly-relevant industry automation.Their purpose-built stack has shrunk review cycles from mont
VentureBeat · 7/4/2026