It's official - Elon Musk has sealed the deal on Twitter, and we're bringing you a bonus episode to talk through it all. In case you missed it, Alex took to Twitter Spaces with Darrell Etherington, Amanda Silberling, Anita Ramaswamy, and Taylor Hatmaker to process some of what’s gone done, and what comes next on a special joint Equity/TechCrunch Podcast episode, so have a listen and be sure to read all about the Elon era at Twitter on TechCrunch.

TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, and one that dives into the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week Darrell talks with Taylor Hatmaker about Elon Musk officially buying Twitter. He also talks with Amanda Silberling about Youtuber MrBeast’s business and why a billion-dollar-plus valuation for it makes us nervous. Plus he chats about the scoop of the week with Kirsten Korosec who broke the news that Argo is shutting down. And as always, he breaks down the biggest news in tech this week.

Articles from the episode:

• Is MrBeast actually worth $1.5 billion?
• Ford, VW-backed Argo AI is shutting down
• Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far
• Read all of TC’s coverage on Mosk buying Twitter here

Other news from the week:

• WhatsApp back after massive global outage that lasted for two hours
• Tesla said to face criminal investigation by the Department of Justice over self-driving claims

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week was TechCrunch Disrupt and the whole team zeroed in on the event so we have a bite-sized episode. Darrell is talking with Jordan Crook about her TechCrunch Disrupt interview with tennis GOAT and investor Serena Williams. And as always, Darrell will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

Articles from the episode:

• Check out all of our coverage of TechCrunch Disrupt 
• Watch Serena Williams talk about the biggest investment she missed out on and more
• How Serena Williams brings her killer instinct to early-stage investing

Other news from the week:

• Kanye West to acquire ‘uncancelable’ social media platform Parler
  • Kanye West and Elon Musk provide a new exit path: The billionaire tantrum
• Netflix launches new ‘Profile Transfer’ feature to help monetize account sharing
• Watch Google’s Ping-Pong robot pull off a 340-hit rally

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week Darrell talks with Taylor Hatmaker about her adventure into the metaverse at the Meta Connect event. And Haje Jan Kamps comes back to take the guest seat and talk about a Dutch Court’s ruling that employee productivity monitoring using webcams is a human rights violation. And as always, Darrell will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

Articles from the episode:

•  My virtual torso went to Meta Connect 2022 
• Here’s what you missed at Meta Connect 2022 
• It’s painful how hellbent Mark Zuckerberg is on convincing us that VR is a thing 
• Meta announces legs 
• Meta’s vision for the future of VR is a worse version of the past 

Other news from the week:

• Microsoft brings DALL-E 2 to the masses with Designer and Image Creator
• Netflix’s ad supported tier is coming November 3
• Federal gig worker proposal tanks Uber, Lyft and DoorDash stocks

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week Haje Jan Kamps, stepping in for Darrell, talks with Dominic-Madori Davis about how conservative VCs are shaping the startup landscape and, by extension, the world. He also talked with Taylor Hatmaker about all things Elon, from his cringey tweets to his most recent flip-flopping on will-he-or-won’t he buy Twitter. And as always, we’ll catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

TechCrunch Disrupt is coming up on October 18-20, live in San Francisco. We’ll be hearing from guests like Dylan Field, Serena Williams, and Kevin Hart. Use code TCPOD all one word to get 15% Off Passes. 

Articles from the episode:

• It’s official, Elon Musk is buying Twitter
• Here are some of the cringiest revelations in the Elon Musk text dump
• Just before Musk backtracked, a judge said Twitter could hunt for secret chats with whistleblower
• Conservative capitalists are funding their vision of the future 

Other news from the week:

• Let’s not defend Kim Kardashian for shilling crypto
• Kim Kardashian charged by SEC for pushing crypto, reaches $1.26M settlement
• Tesla’s robot is a real robot now, not just a guy in a suit
• Spotify cancels 11 original podcasts, lays off under 5% of podcast staff

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week Amanda Silberling comes on to talk about the rumor that porn may be coming back to Tumblr (spoiler alert: it’s not) and Devin Coldewey discusses if NASA’s DART spacecraft could really save us from a planet-threatening asteroid. And as always, Darrell will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

If you recently were laid off, TechCrunch is offering a free expo pass to Disrupt (Oct. 18-20) in San Francisco.  No strings attached. These tickets get you access to the expo floor, breakout sessions, and plenty of networking opportunities like partner roundtables and parties. For more info, check out this page.

Articles from the episode:

• No, Tumblr is not bringing back porn
• Watch the asteroid-smashing DART spacecraft make its 6-million-mile shot today
• NASA’s DART anti-asteroid satellite successfully smashes into space rock

Other news from the week:

• UK police arrest teenager suspected of Uber, GTA 6 hacks
• Interpol issues red notice for Terra founder Do Kwon
• Here are all of the new features and updates coming to Google Maps
• The OG App promised an ad-free Instagram feed then got pulled from App Store

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week is all about hacks. First, Carly Page comes on to talk about the “completely compromising” Uber hack and then we’re joined by Jordan Crook to go over what we know about the Grand Theft Auto 6 video leak. And as always, Darrell will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

Articles from the episode:

• Massive GTA 6 gameplay video leak depicts male and female playable characters
• Rockstar Games confirms GTA 6 footage leak
• Uber investigating cybersecurity incident after hacker breaches its internal network
• How do you stop another Uber hack?

Other news from the week:

• Google’s new Chromecast costs $30 — and it has a remote
• Revolut confirms cyberattack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users
• Kitty Hawk, the electric aircraft moonshot backed by Larry Page, is shutting down
• Kia, Hyundai sued after viral TikTok causes rise in thefts
• Apple Watch Ultra first impressions

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week Matthew Panzarino tells us about his week on the dynamic island with the new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro. We’re also joined by Becca Szkutak talking about the unpredictable state of VC as we enter the fall. And as always, Darrell will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

Articles from the episode:

• Review of Apple’s iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro: They’re leaning into it
• VC fundraising gets weird as autumn nears

Other news from the week:
 

• Adobe snaps up Figma for $20B, taking out one of its biggest rivals in digital design
• Ethereum switches to proof-of-stake consensus after completing The Merge
• Google cancels half the projects at its internal R&D group Area 120
• Uber investigating cybersecurity incident after hacker breaches its internal network
• Now that the Ethereum Merge is behind us, what’s next?

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

Welcome Back to the TechCrunch Podcast! This week we have an extra special guest host, Haje Jan Kamps walking us through the top TC stories of the week and talking to the writers who wrote them. He talks with Natasha Mascarenhas about YC demo day, executive changes, and the shrinking diversity in the accelerator’s cohort. He’s also joined by Anita Ramaswamy to talk about Ethereum’s impending Merge and what it means for its users and the world of blockchains at large.  And of course, Haje will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

Articles from the episode:

• Garry Tan’s return is a full circle moment for Y Combinator
• Delving into YC’s diversity data following a category shakeup
• Catch up on all of TechCrunch’s YC demo day coverage here.
• How the upcoming Ethereum Merge could change crypto’s rewards, costs and reputation

Other news from the week:

• Check out all the TechCrunch coverage of the Apple iPhone event here
• Juul agrees to pay $438.5M in a record settlement, while a newer vape maker gains steam
• Elon Musk can lean on the Twitter whistleblower but he can’t push the trial date back

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell. 

This week we’re talking to  Kyle Wiggers is back to talk about Stable Diffusion, a new open source AI generator that allows for unfiltered creation and has led to a deepfake free for all. Brian Heater also comes on to talk about what we can expect from Apple’s iPhone event and what we know so far about the reported antitrust lawsuit against Apple . And as always, Darrell will catch you up on the tech news you may have missed this week.

Articles from the episode:

• Deepfakes for all: Uncensored AI art model prompts ethics questions 
• What we expect from Apple’s iPhone 14 event
• Justice Department in early stages of filing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, says report

Other news from the week:

• Twitter’s attempt to monetize porn reportedly halted due to child safety warnings
• Royal Caribbean will equip all its cruise ships with Starlink internet
• Snap cuts 20% of staff amid major restructuring

Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell.