Author: TechBrunch
Lumen Orbit, a startup looking to build data centers in space, was able to close its recent seed round in just a few days amid strong investor interest. The Redmond, Washington-based company closed an $11 million seed round at a $40 million valuation, marking the company as one of the hottest startups in Y Combinator's summer 2024 batch. , corroborating TechCrunch's previous reporting that it had raised a competitive double-digit round. The deal was led by NFX (NFX general partner Morgan Beller will join the company's board of directors), with participation from venture capital firms such as Fuse.VC and Soma…
The idea that government should be run like a business is not new. But with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of making government more efficient, it's worth taking a closer look at whether business principles can be applied to government. Today on Equity, Rebecca Beran discusses the intersection of technology, business, and politics with Columbia Business School professor Michael Morris. Morris is also the author of Tribal: How the cultural instincts that disparing us can help be one one, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Financial Times Business Book of the Year award. Listen to the full episode…
Snapchat is rolling out several new features for users and Snapchat+ subscribers for the holiday season, the company announced Wednesday. Features include expanded chat options, new app themes, and more. Snapchat users now have the option to save conversations for seven days instead of deleting them after 24 hours. Snap says this feature will allow users to create holiday lists without worrying about them disappearing. Snapchat also says the feature could be used if you're planning a holiday surprise in a group chat and need to reconsider the details. Image credit: Snapchat Paid users will now have access to new…
Google's next major AI model comes to compete with OpenAI's slew of new products. On Wednesday, Google announced Gemini 2.0 Flash. The company says it can natively generate images and audio in addition to text. 2.0 Flash can also use third-party apps and services, allowing you to use Google search, run code, and more. The experimental release of 2.0 Flash is available starting today through the Gemini API and Google's AI developer platforms, AI Studio and Vertex AI. However, the audio and image generation feature will only launch for “early access partners” ahead of a wider rollout in January. Google…
Google on Wednesday announced Project Mariner, a research prototype from its DeepMind division, the first-ever AI agent capable of performing actions on the web. Gemini-powered agents take control of your Chrome browser, allowing you to use and navigate websites like a human by moving the cursor around the screen, clicking buttons, and filling out forms. Google says the company is starting by releasing the AI agent to a small number of pre-selected testers on Wednesday. Google continues to experiment with new ways for Gemini to read, summarize, and use websites. A Google executive told TechCrunch that this is part of…
AI Overviews, which are AI-generated summaries that Google provides for specific Google search queries, is a collection of AI-generated summaries that Google provides for specific Google search queries. The company says it will be able to process searches soon. This expanded functionality is powered by the newly launched Gemini 2.0 model, which Google says should also improve search speed and quality. Limited testing of the new AI Overview feature began this week and is expected to be broadly rolled out early next year. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post provided to TechCrunch, “Our AI Overview is now…
Google has upgraded its chatbot platform, Gemini, with the ability to “reason” about research questions and create comprehensive reports. The updated Gemini now offers a feature called “Deep Research,” which Google says uses “advanced inference” and “long context features” to generate research summaries. The summary appears in the Gemini app and can be exported to Google Docs for further editing. For now, Deep Research is exclusive to Gemini Advanced, the more sophisticated version of Gemini behind the $20/month Google One AI premium plan. dive deep Google says Deep Research acts as a kind of research assistant, able to analyze information…
Financial advisors have a big hurdle when it comes to finding new clients. Cold lobbying rarely works. Often, the only way to find good leads is to network and get a warm introduction, or search platforms like LinkedIn, Pitchbook, ZoomInfo and hope they'll attend a meeting, but the I don't know if it will lead to conversion or not. Eden Obadiah learned this while helping major financial institutions with their growth strategies at Boston Consulting Group:[Financial advisors] There is no way to identify these leads or reach a specific niche at scale, and as a result, it takes an average…
Military operators must make quick decisions in high-stakes environments, but are often challenged by technology that doesn't provide accurate information about their surroundings. While military leaders have made it clear they are prioritizing the military's “decision advantage,” actually shipping new technology and getting it into the hands of end users can be even more difficult. be. Reveal Technology is one standout company to watch in this effort. The six-year-old startup has worked with multiple departments of the U.S. Department of Defense to bring its flagship software product into the hands of carriers. Its software, called Farsight, can quickly convert video…
Apple announced Wednesday that iOS 18.2 is now available. It includes exciting image generation features such as Apple's Image Playground, which creates cartoon-like images from text descriptions. Here's what you need to know about Apple Intelligence features, including what they are and how to use them. What is Image Playground? Image Playground is part of Apple Intelligence, Apple's suite of AI-driven tools. This new feature allows users to enter a text prompt and the AI generates a cartoon-like image. You can access Image Playground from a dedicated image creation app, or from the Messages app by clicking the plus (+)…