Author: TechBrunch
On Thursday, Instagram announced it will be rolling out Blend, a new feature that allows you to create custom, personalized reel feeds for you and your friends. Blends are only invited and can be created with peculiar friends and group chats. Custom feeds are updated daily with new content. The launch is no surprise, as TechCrunch reported in March 2024 that social networks were developing the feature. By joining or accepting Blend Invite, you can view selected reels in chat. When someone in the group responds to the reel, Instagram will notify you, so you can continue the combo with…
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In Meta's antitrust trial on Wednesday, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tiktok's success was a risk to Meta's business, a “first priority” when it arrived in 2018 and a “very urgent” competitive threat, according to Bloomberg and other outlets. The report comes from the first week of packing of testimony in the US Federal Trade Commission trial against the social networking giant. If the FTC lawyer wins, the trial could require META to spin out Instagram or WhatsApp as separate companies. In particular, Zuckerberg confirmed on Wednesday that Tiktok's arrival had a direct impact on the meta. His company said…
Building an app dedicated to helping people to consolidate and read news, articles and social media posts in one place is a tough proposal these days. Smashing, an AI-powered app that can curate news and posts that users want to read, is shutting down because it cannot scale rapidly. “We simply didn't grow quickly enough to continue. We couldn't expand it to a sustainable product,” the company announced the closure in an email to customers. Otis Chandler, founder of Goodreads, launched Smashing last June and aims to use AI and the community to curate news articles, blog posts, podcasts and…
Crisk Revs, a former top Trump Cybersecurity official, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview Wednesday that he vowed to fight back against the federal investigations President Trump ordered him to do so. In an interview, Krebs said he would resign from his position at cybersecurity company Sentinelon to challenge a federal investigation that alleges that the 2020 elections were consolidated and stolen. The order also stripped Krebs of his security clearance. “It's about the government's challenge and pulling levers to chase the profits and business relationships of the company,” Krebs told the Journal. Trump hired Krebs in 2018…
In Meta's antitrust trial this week, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Snapchat would have grown faster if he accepted his company's offer to buy social networks in 2013, Business Insider reports. Court documents revealed that Meta, later called Facebook, had offered to buy Snapchat for $6 billion (reports at the time stated that the dollar amount was $3 billion). In response to a question from an FTC lawyer, Zuckerberg said he believes Snapchat “isn't increasing the likelihood” and believes his company has improved the app. “As to what it's worth, I think if we had bought them we'd accelerated their…
Apple has released new software updates throughout its product line to fix two security vulnerabilities. The company said it could be actively used to hack customers iOS running mobile software. A security advisory posted to the website confirmed that Apple has fixed two zero-day vulnerabilities. Bugs are considered zero days. Because they are misused and are not known to Apple. It remains to be seen who is behind the attack, how many Apple customers were targeted, or what was successfully breached. An Apple spokesman did not return a TechCrunch investigation. Apple has confirmed the discovery of one of two bugs…
Aura, a digital photo frames company founded by early Twitter employees, is introducing the latest model Aspen, which adds new technology to devices and accompanying mobile apps. In addition to hosting digital photos on a 12-inch HD display, this device now allows you to add captions to photos when they appear in frames. Meanwhile, the mobile app has added a search feature for people that makes it easy to find the photos you want to view. Aura was founded by former Twitter employees Abdur Chowdhury and Eric Jensen. Its vision was to provide a more elegant and upgraded digital frame…
Aura, a digital photo frames company founded by early Twitter employees, is introducing the latest model Aspen, which adds new technology to devices and accompanying mobile apps. In addition to hosting digital photos on a 12-inch HD display, this device now allows you to add captions to photos when they appear in frames. Meanwhile, the mobile app has added a search feature for people that makes it easy to find the photos you want to view. Aura was founded by former Twitter employees Abdur Chowdhury and Eric Jensen. Its vision was to provide a more elegant and upgraded digital frame…
According to the latest report from the Data Provider Pitchbook, Startups has won $91.5 billion in venture capital funding. This figure not only represents the second highest quarter investment in the last decade, but also represents the second-highest quarterly investment in the last decade. Despite this seemingly positive news, Pitchbook's lead US venture capital analyst Kyle Stanford appears to be the most bearish about VC trading since he began covering the market 11 years ago. Stanford's source of negativity? The shattering of 2025 as a key exit will create a cycle in which IPOs and massive acquisitions generate large amounts…