TechCrunch Top 3

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1. Don't be the next CrowdStrike: The cybersecurity company took down much of the world because of a buggy piece of code, even though it likely has a robust developer operations team. But what happened to CrowdStrike could happen to any software firm, especially if there's a large engineering group and few standardized practices across teams. We talked to some experts about why such incidents happen and how companies can stop letting buggy software slip through the cracks. Read More

2. Tesla's robotaxi woes: Elon Musk said he'd show off Tesla's purpose-built "robotaxi" prototype on October 10 after scrapping a previous plan to reveal it next month so that Tesla could make changes to the design of the vehicle's front. The robotaxi is at the core of Tesla's future, and during the company's earnings call on Tuesday, Musk said everything beyond autonomy is "in the noise." That's convenient because Tesla's primary profit center of selling EVs is at risk: its Q2 profit fell 45% from a year earlier. Read More

3. Proton embraces crypto: Proton is launching its first cryptocurrency product: a crypto wallet, called Proton Wallet, that's designed to help people get into bitcoin investing. It's a self-custody wallet, which means users remain in control of their private keys. It's also integrated with the rest of the Proton ecosystem, meaning you can send and receive crypto assets to other Proton Wallets with just their email address. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

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How much do we really know about the ocean floor? Not enough, according to Joe Wolfel, the co-founder and CEO of Terradepth, a startup that's working to map the ocean floor and build a platform to make that data easy to use. The former Navy SEAL joined TC's Becca Szkutak on this week's episode of Found to talk about building robots that can map the ocean floor, how difficult it can be to fundraise for such a niche hardware startup, and more. Listen Now

Helping companies get their ducks in a row: Vanta has raised a whopping $150 million Series C to go further than helping businesses automate their security and compliance processes. The maturing company is now building tools that integrate with other security tools to help companies flesh out their security programs, and will use the fresh cash to go upmarket. Read More

Countering Google's stranglehold on maps: I love seeing big tech companies work together to take down other big tech companies. That's exactly what's happening with Overture Maps Foundation, an initiative backed by Microsoft, Amazon and Meta that's developing interoperable and open map data. Others in Overture's corner include OpenStreetMap, TomTom, Esri, Hyundai, Niantic and TripAdvisor. Together, they're pooling myriad data sources, which is a painstaking process, as well as volunteering up engineers and product managers from their teams. Read More

Earnings Tidbits

Tesla delays humanoid robot timeline again: Before releasing its Q2 results on Tuesday, Elon Musk said that Tesla will start selling its Optimus humanoid robot in 2026, once again pushing back an over-optimistic timeline for a tough piece of tech. On the company's earnings call later, Musk estimated that the long-term demand for general purpose robots is more than 20 billion units! He is counting the 8 billion people on the planet as part of that all-but secured demand. Okay, dude. Read More

What's Spotify's holdup with premium? Spotify in 2021 teased a high-end subscription tier called Spotify HiFi that would upgrade its streamed audio to a "CD- quality, lossless audio format." Fast forward to mid-2024 and the company has yet to launch that feature. On the company's earnings call, CEO Daniel Ek pitched the vision for a better Spotify at $5 above the current premium tier to investors, but I'm wondering what's taking so long? Competitors like Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal and Amazon Music have been offering lossless audio streaming for years, at no extra cost. Read More

Waymo to get a $5B boost: Waymo's parent company, Alphabet, appears to be pleased with the robotaxi division's progress. On Alphabet's earnings call on Tuesday, its CFO pledged to invest another $5 billion in Waymo over the next few years. The investment is a huge vote of confidence for Waymo, arguably the leader in today's U.S. robotaxi space. (Take that, TCI Fund, which urged Alphabet to cut losses in Waymo two years ago!) Read More

Around the Web

Silicon Valley sees a beacon of hope in Harris: Under Biden, the government has criticized the tech industry at the bipartisan level, but some in Silicon Valley are hopeful that VP Kamala Harris could be friendlier for business, AI, crypto, and government startups. At least, that's what billionaire investor Mark Cuban told Politico. "Changing the policies changes the message and lets everyone know she is in charge and open, literally, for business," he said. Read More

The '90s is back, baby, and we're not just talking about low-rise jeans. Apple is reportedly working on a foldable flip phone that it might launch in 2026, according to The Information. The phone would fold widthwise like a clam, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Apple is apparently in contact with suppliers in Asia to make components for the device. Read More

First U.S. Ether ETFs open with strong debuts: Yesterday, the first spot-Ether ETFs received a warm welcome on the U.S. stock market: Over $1 billion shares were traded between the nine ETFs, according to Bloomberg. While that's far from the $4.6 billion that spot-Bitcoin ETFs enjoyed at launch in January, it's still significant. In fact, several of the funds finished the day among the top 50 highest-traded U.S. ETF debuts of all time. Read More

Before You Go

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Zuck wants creators to outsource fan outreach to a bot: After spending over 20 hours a week making new content and distributing it across social media, content creators don't really have the time to engage with their audiences. Mark Zuckerberg thinks AI could solve that problem. He's laid out a vision of creators having their own bots that capture their personalities and business objectives, and engage with people on their behalf. Sure, that's going to help creators actually connect with fans. Read More