Mobile

Hello old friend. I knew you would be back. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew we would be reunited again. It turns… Read More »The headphone jack is back for the Google Pixel 3a

Last week’s earnings didn’t go the way Alphabet wanted. The fault primarily lies at the feet of the company’s ad business, but the hardware side… Read More »Google’s budget Pixel 3a starts at $399, available in ‘purple-ish’

A next-generation Google Assistant that can handle more complex tasks across apps — quickly switching from hailing a ride, to checking the weather, to taking… Read More »Next-generation Google Assistant is coming to new Pixel phones this year

Digital ad spending in the United States exceeded $100 billion for the first time last year, according to the latest internet advertising report from the… Read More »US digital advertising exceeded $100B in 2018 (IAB report)

Sitting silently with your eyes closed isn’t fun, but it’s good for you… so you probably don’t meditate as often as you’d like. In that… Read More »Journey launches its real-time group ‘Peloton for Meditation’

A security lapse at Canada’s fourth largest cell network, Freedom Mobile, exposed customer data. Security researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar found an Elasticsearch server… Read More »Freedom Mobile server leak exposed customer data

Spotify has launched its instant listening app Stations on iOS, but only in Australia for the time being. The release comes nearly a year and… Read More »Spotify’s leanback instant listening app Stations hits iOS

The Pixel 3a is arriving next week at Google I/O. That statement felt like all but a given before, and now that the handset is… Read More »Google’s budget Pixel 3a XL pops up at an Ohio Best Buy

LG was once a stalwart of the smartphone industry — remember its collaboration with Facebook back in the day? — but today the company is… Read More »Once a major name in smartphones, LG Mobile is now irrelevant — and still losing money

Podcast monetization company Acast is launching a new way for publishers to put their podcasts behind a paywall. Until now, podcasts have not been well-suited… Read More »Acast launches Acast Access to make paywalled podcasts available on any player

In Facebook’s dreams, it’s a clean and private place. People spend their time having thoughtful discussions in “meaningful” Groups, planning offline meetups with Events, or… Read More »Facebook pivots to what it wishes it was

We’ve captured much of Niantic’s ongoing story in the first three parts of our EC-1, from its beginnings as an “entrepreneurial lab” within Google, to… Read More »Nine lessons on how Niantic reached a $4B valuation

Ticketing startup SeatGeek has a new CTO. Brian Murphy previously held the same position at Tumblr (which, like TechCrunch, is owned by Verizon Media) and… Read More »SeatGeek names former Tumblr and NYT exec Brian Murphy as CTO