For some time, American companies including Microsoft, Google, and IBM have established research labs in China to tap into local AI talent and to keep track of technological trends. Now, as tensions and restrictions continue to ramp up, some observers wonder if the days of those outposts may be numbered.The US Commerce Department imposed new…

For years, Helene Mickey Wilson—Dr. Mickey to those who know her—has had two main sources of income. Wilson, a licensed marriage and family therapist in California’s Orange County, owns a small private practice. She’s also contracted with a company to oversee and train therapists working toward final certification, for which they need 3,000 hours of…

We're living in the golden age of STEM toys. This year's CES floor is host to dozens of companies all hoping their edu-taining STEM-related toys will make it your kids' playroom later this year.One welcome trend we've seen here at CES is a return of tactile toys. Every app-driving toy we saw had some real-world…

After a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani last week, the online world saw two nations tumbling toward a war that could consume the globe—the long-prophesied World War III. Some Americans celebrated President Trump taking a stand against an old perceived enemy. Some planned protests. Many, including President Trump and Iranian foreign minister…

Nine years after the launch of the game-streaming platform Twitch, the content that hardcore gamers most vocally reviled has officially become its most watched: just talking.A new report from stream management site StreamElements indicates that in December, Twitch viewers watched 81 million hours of “Just Chatting,” Twitch’s category for streamers who do exactly that, plus…

The Trump administration Wednesday reaffirmed its policy to maintain a light touch in regulating self-driving vehicles, with a new document that is long on promoting the industry and silent on rules governing testing or operating the vehicles. “The takeaway from the [new policy] is that the federal government is all in” on automated driving systems,…

Days before Christmas, at the height of the last-minute holiday shopping rush, an ominous message appeared on Amazon.com. It warned shoppers who used a popular browser extension called Honey that the service, which promises to track prices and discount codes, was “a security risk.”“Honey tracks your private shopping behavior, collects data like your order history…

Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s culture news roundup. Now that the holiday season is officially behind us, the Hollywood studios are back in action, making deals and making content. And for some extra help with that, it looks like Warner Bros. will start using machine learning and predictive data. Crazy,…

Cherry has long been the de facto standard for mechanical keyboard switches. Since mechanical keyboards are, almost by default, significantly more expensive than membrane or dome-switch keyboards, that has kept…

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we had TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm and Danny Crichton on hand…