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November 01, 2025

 

TechCrunch Top 3

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YouTube announces 'voluntary exit program' for US staff: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan told employees about the program via an internal memo on Wednesday. Read More

Hackers threaten to leak data after breaching University of Pennsylvania to send mass emails: As the hackers plainly stated in their message ("Please stop giving us money"), this breach appears motivated to suppress alumni donations. Read More

Bluesky hits 40 million users, introduces 'dislikes' beta: As users "dislike" posts, the system will learn what sort of content they want to see less of. This will help to inform more than just how content is ranked in feeds, but also reply rankings. Read More

 

This Week's Must-Reads

VC Vinod Khosla says the US government could take 10% stake in all public companies to soften the blow of AGI

VC Vinod Khosla says the US government could take 10% stake in all public companies to soften the blow of AGI: Vinod Khosla has a bold vision for how society could be reconfigured to share the abundance created by AI technology. Read More

CEO of spyware maker Memento Labs confirms one of its government customers was caught using its malware: Security researchers found a government hacking campaign that relies on Windows spyware developed by surveillance tech maker Memento Labs. When reached by TechCrunch, the spyware maker's chief executive blamed a government customer for getting caught. Read More

Former L3Harris Trenchant boss pleads guilty to selling zero-day exploits to Russian broker: Prosecutors confirmed Peter Williams, the former Trenchant boss, sold eight exploits to a Russian buyer. TechCrunch exclusively reported that the Trenchant division was investigating a leak of its hacking tools, after another employee was accused of involvement. Read More

Nvidia is reportedly investing up to $1B in Poolside : Nvidia is an existing investor in the AI company and participated in its $500 million Series A round in 2024. Read More

Adobe launches AI assistants for Express and Photoshop: Adobe today released new AI assistants for Express and Photoshop that can help users with image creation and editing. Read More

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Last but Not Least

Roelof Botha explains why Sequoia supports Shaun Maguire after COO quit

Roelof Botha explains why Sequoia supports Shaun Maguire after COO quit: Sequoia's managing partner Roelof Botha defended his colleague's controversial comments that sparked an online backlash, arguing that the VC firm needs "spiky" people. Read More

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