Author: TechBrunch

Smartphones and navigation apps are commonplace these days. However, for people who are completely blind or have low vision, it is not so convenient. Haptic has been building a non-visual, non-verbal way to tell people where to go, and we decided it was time to scale it up and take it globally. Today, Haptic presented on stage as part of the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, showcasing the company's progress from concept to prototype to platform. The company was founded in 2017, and after a friend lost his eyesight in an accident, he started looking into ways groups of…

Ashton Kutcher, co-founder of Sound Ventures, believes that every company will become an AI company, but that there may be no winners in this space. The actor and investor spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Tuesday alongside Sound co-founder Guy Oseary and partner Effie Epstein and discussed what the company looks for in founders and startups. , and detailed how they believe fundamental AI companies are setting the stage for the future. “Foundation layer AI companies are going to be some of the most valuable companies in human history,” Kutcher said. He said it's easy to underestimate how important AI…

It looks fake, or at least like a good illusion. Gecko Materials founder Capella Karst has a bottle of wine dangling from her little finger, but the only thing keeping it from shattering is her startup's super-strong dry adhesive. It is. market. But it's not a trick. This is the result of years of academic research that Kerst built on by inventing a way to mass-produce the adhesive. Inspired by the way real-life gecko feet grip surfaces, you can think of it as a new kind of Velcro. The difference, however, is that you only need one side, it leaves…

Every startup starts with a founder with a germ of an idea. How does it grow into an actual business? Venture capitalists must scrutinize pitches every day to find the gems that become successful companies. At Disrupt 2024, Harness CEO and co-founder Jyoti Bansal, Glasswing Ventures founder and managing partner Rudina Seseri, and prominent capital investor Chelsea Taylor discuss what they look for in early-stage companies. I'll explain what's going on. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagramTikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktokX: tcrn.ch/xThread: https://tcrn.ch/threadsFacebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebookBluesky: https://tcrn.ch/blueskyMastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdnRead more: https://techcrunch.com/ Source link

Emerging startups aiming to combat the scourge of deepfakes and evidence spoofing in the age of AI are showing off their products on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 this week. ForceField is building a set of “patent pending” APIs called MARQ. Its first API is designed to authenticate content. As background, a 2022 report from European law enforcement agency Europol predicts that by 2026, 90% of all online content will be generated by AI. The internet is already full of manipulated content, either completely machine-generated or created with the help of AI. — Big technology companies are…

We were joined by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who recently co-founded Sierra, a startup building customer experience AI agents, and talked about why he thinks AI agents will transform enterprise software. Taylor also talks about what it's like to move from a large company like Salesforce to a brand new startup, and how he's a change-maker in Silicon Valley, including serving as chairman of the board of several big-name companies, including Twitter and OpenAI. He also talked about his life as a change agent. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagramTikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktokX: tcrn.ch/xThread: https://tcrn.ch/threadsFacebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebookBluesky:…

Many celebrities have invested in startups, but the Chainsmokers are different. Instead of angel investing, Drew Taggart and Alex Paul launched a formal fund, Mantis Venture Capital, to invest from formal closed-end funds and invest in businesses such as security startups and analytics platforms that don't necessarily have big-name talent. You're supporting companies in industries that don't serve you. . Watch Taggart, Pall, and Chainguard founder Dan Lorenc discuss how their company can be an asset to B2B startups at Disrupt 2024. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagramTikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktokX: tcrn.ch/xThread: https://tcrn.ch/threadsFacebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebookBluesky: https://tcrn.ch/blueskyMastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdnRead more:…

The health of your tires has a huge impact on your truck's fuel efficiency and road safety. But despite all the arguably attractive solutions that offer driver assistance features and self-driving software, tires don't get the attention they deserve. At least that's what Ron Lee, director of business development at BANF, a startup that develops hardware and software to monitor tire health, says. South Korea-based BANF, which stands for Begin A New Feature, uses sensors to collect data on tire pressure, temperature, tread wear, wheel alignment, and even lug nut stability. That data is analyzed using machine learning to provide…

Google won't ship technology from Project Astra, a broad effort to build AI apps and “agents” that enable real-time, multimodal understanding, until next year at the earliest. Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed this schedule during his remarks at Google's third-quarter earnings conference today. “[Google is] We build experiences that allow AI to see and reason about the world around it,” he said. “Project Astra offers a glimpse into that future, and we are working to deliver experiences like this by 2025.” Project Astra, which Google demoed at its May 2024 I/O developer conference, includes everything from a smartphone app that…

Esthetic, a new fashion company aiming to be the “Shazam of clothes,” launched this week and uses AI to help people identify and shop for clothes on social media. With the fashion concierge “Alma”, you can easily buy clothes that are hard to find. Let's say you found your favorite outfit on Instagram. Send a link to your post in a direct message to the Aesthetic account on TikTok or Instagram. Alma replies with a link to view the content on the Aesthetic website. There, consumers can purchase looks and add them to collection boards called Lookbooks. “Our goal is…