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WordPress.org has lifted its ban on hosting provider WP Engine until October 1, after putting a block on it earlier this week. The block prevented several sites from updating their plug-ins and themes and exposing them to potential security risk. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, who has been in a tussle with WP Engine for over … Read more

We’re thrilled to welcome Bret Taylor to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. As the former co-CEO of Salesforce, founder of Quip, former CTO of Facebook, the co-creator of Google Maps, and current chairman of the board at OpenAI, Taylor needs very little introduction.  Bret Taylor is one of the most influential players in the world of enterprise … Read more

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was released from U.S. custody on Friday after serving out his four-month sentence in a low-security correctional facility. CZ’s sentence was the product of a federal investigation that found Binance had failed to stop widespread criminal activity on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. CZ pleaded guilty to the DOJ’s charges, … Read more

ChatGPT could get more expensive to use in coming years. The New York Times, citing internal OpenAI docs, reports that OpenAI is planning to raise the price of individual ChatGPT subscriptions from $20 per month to $22 per month by the end of the year. A steeper increase will come over the next five years; … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against three hackers working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), accusing the trio of a four-year-long hacking campaign that included this year’s hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.  On Friday, U.S. prosecutors published an indictment accusing Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yasar (Yaser) Balaghi of … Read more

EV startup Canoo has been hit with two new lawsuits from suppliers linked to the drivetrains that power its electric vehicles, just weeks after the company kicked off a major reorganization that included the departure of its chief technology officer. Canoo has also parted ways with senior director of advanced vehicle engineering Christoph Kuttner, who … Read more

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week was a busy one for the startup and VC world, with its fair share of funding news and, of course, the latest edition of YC’s … Read more

ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s next funding round, said to be around $6.5 billion, could close as soon as the end of next week. That’s according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, which also reveals that OpenAI’s rumored conversion from a nonprofit org into a for-profit company is now a virtual certainty. Investors in … Read more

Wordy is a new iOS app that offers a unique way to learning English. The app automatically translates and defines unknown words while you watch your favorite movies or TV shows. Wordy has over 500,000 titles available, including popular series such as HBO’s “The Penguin” and the new Disney+ show, “Agatha All Along.” Created by … Read more

LG has teamed up with Razer and MediaTek to develop a new Bluetooth gaming controller that could greatly reduce the input lag for cloud-based gaming. According to LG, it’s the first controller to utilize Ultra-Low Latency (ULL) Bluetooth technology — an in-development standard that aims to make wireless controllers as responsive as their wired counterparts. … Read more