Author: TechBrunch
OpenAI seems to be in the holiday spirit. The series of ChatGPT rollouts, dubbed “12 Days of OpenAI,” will be livestreamed every weekday through December 23 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. So far, we've seen the full version of OpenAI's $200/month subscription plan, ChatGPT Pro, released. The long-awaited public release of its “inference” o1 model and text-to-video generator Sora. We don't know what other announcements or product launches are planned, but we could see details about updates to Advanced Voice Modes, potential work on AI agents, and other surprises. there is. Below, we'll explain how you can watch the event…
U.S. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden announced a new plan aimed at protecting the U.S. telephone network and Americans' communications in response to a massive hack of telecommunications providers allegedly carried out by Chinese government hackers. announced the bill. Wyden announced the Secure America Communications Act in a press release Tuesday. The bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission to “implement certain cybersecurity requirements” and require telecommunications providers to conduct annual tests to assess network vulnerabilities. Hiring independent auditors to ensure carriers are compliant with new FCC cybersecurity rules. and submit documentation from tests and audits, as well as statements from…
Over the past few months, nuclear power may have received the most attention from energy-hungry technology companies, including Google. But these new reactors don't seem to be enough for AI's ambitions. Google is currently working with partners to build gigawatts of renewable power, battery storage, and grid upgrades to power its data centers. Google announced Tuesday that it has signed a deal with renewable energy developer Intersect Power and investment fund TPG Rise Climate to ramp up enough carbon-free electricity to power multiple gigawatt-sized data centers. Investments in renewable power total approximately $20 billion, and Intersect has already funded the…
Instagram is officially rolling out “Trial Reels,” a way for creators to test new content by publishing videos that aren't visible to followers. The feature, which began testing in May, allows creators to try new ideas and see what works best without worrying about how their followers will react. Trial Reels are visible to more than just your followers, and creators who are happy with how their content is performing can choose to share it with their followers. This feature could give Instagram a bit of an edge over TikTok, which currently doesn't offer users a way to experiment with…
TikTok's e-commerce shop feature is now live in Spain, the company announced Tuesday, marking the first step in a broader rollout in Europe. The announcement shows that TikTok's parent company ByteDance is accelerating the expansion of TikTok Shop in European markets as a possible ban in the United States looms. Users in Spain will be able to make in-app purchases through shoppable videos and live shopping streams in the For You feed, as well as while browsing the catalog on the digital storefront. Spanish businesses and creators will soon be able to sell their products directly through the app. TikTok…
Players, please be careful. Are you about to take on a new challenge, but before you do, do you know how to speak Korean? In preparation for Season 2 of “Squid Game,” one of Netflix's most popular Korean thriller series, the streaming giant announced on Tuesday that viewers will be able to learn the Korean language ahead of its Dec. 26 premiere. It announced that it has partnered with the learning app Duolingo. In addition, the companies released an exclusive TikTok filter inspired by the show's “Red Light, Green Light” game. The collaboration will bring more than 40 keywords and…
Developers expect technology vendors to provide software development kits (SDKs) with their products, making it easy to create apps using those products. However, many vendors only offer APIs, which are simply protocols that allow software components to communicate with each other. Stainless founder Alex Rattray believes AI can help in this area. Stainless uses AI to automatically generate SDKs from APIs, primarily on the fly. As Rattray explained to TechCrunch, without an SDK, API users would have to read the API documentation and build everything themselves. However, there is no easy way for vendors to create SDKs for their APIs…
The cruel reality is that only about 3% of the world's fresh water is available, and only a small portion of it is readily available. But as droughts intensify in the world's arid regions, more and more people are turning their attention to the remaining 97% that roam the oceans. Islands, cities, and water districts have used desalination to remove salt from seawater for more than a century, but it wasn't until the 1970s that the technology became more widespread. Producing water through reverse osmosis, the most widely used technology, requires approximately 1.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity for every 100 gallons.…
Data protection startup Cohesity has completed a merger with Veritas' enterprise data protection business, creating a single entity valued at $7 billion with 12,000 customers. The partnership was originally announced in February 2024, CRN reported. Cohesity valued Carlyle's Veritas' data protection business at $3 billion at the time, CRN reported. Cohesity declined to comment on pricing. The new company will have annual recurring revenue of $1.5 billion and will be led by an executive team drawn from Cohesity and Veritas in addition to outsiders. The deal was funded by a Series H round led by Haveli Investments with participation from…
Languages are usually taught by first practicing reading and writing, but native speakers always start learning a language by listening and speaking. Speak has built a language teaching platform that focuses on how native speakers learn. The startup uses AI to generate voice conversations and listen to user responses to improve language comprehension. Now, Speak is announcing milestone funding that further strengthens its progress. A Series C of $78 million would bump the valuation to $1 billion. The funding round is led by Accel, with participation from previous backers OpenAI (via Startup Fund), Khosla Ventures, and Y Combinator. This funding…