Author: TechBrunch

Meta is reportedly planning to release standalone apps for AI assistant Meta AI to better compete with AI-powered chatbots such as Openai's ChatGpt and Google's Gemini. According to CNBC, Meta was able to launch the standalone Meta AI app immediately in the company's next financial quarter (April to June). Meta AI is currently only available to users via websites including Facebook and WhatsApp and Meta's family apps. Meta will also be testing Meta AI's paid subscription service that adds unspecified functionality to its assistants on a per-CNBC basis. The publication could not learn the price. With over 700 million active…

Snowflake is set to expand its startup accelerator on Thursday with an additional $200 million commitment. A new infusion of capital follows a series of activities by Snowflake over the past few months, indicating the company's growth ambitions. Snowflake Startup Accelerator, formerly known as the Powered By Snowflake Funding program, invests in a wide range of early-stage startups. In particular, Accelerator is investing in startups building AI-based, industry-specific products on Snowflake. Accelerator startups receive access to technical support and co-marketing opportunities from Snowflake, as well as Amazon's Public Cloud AWS credits. Alumni from the previous cohort include Coalesce, Landingai of…

Meta has fired 20 employees “almost” for leaking confidential information, Verge reports. “We tell employees when they join the company and provide regular reminders, providing them with anything that goes against the policy of leaking inside information regardless of their intention,” Meta told the publication. “We recently conducted an investigation that led to around 20 employees being fired to share sensitive information outside the company. We take this seriously and continue to take action when identifying leaks.” The move comes in response to a surge in news stories sharing details about Meta's internal meetings and unpublished product plans. Following the…

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy released an open letter on Thursday, summarizing the plans for the platform for 2025. Notably, Clancy revealed that Twitch has open subscriptions and “bits.” This is a virtual item viewers buy to cheer on streamers, and “most” creators regardless of “most” followers The change is aimed at democratizing the monetization process on Twitch, allowing a wider range of creators to capture as they attract audiences. Previously, only Twitch affiliates and partners had access to subscriptions and bits and had to meet certain criteria to qualify. This includes having at least 50 followers, maintaining an average of…

A little-known phone surveillance operation called Spyzie has compromised over 500,000 Android devices and thousands of iPhones and iPads, according to data shared by security researchers. Most affected devices owners may not know that their phone data is corrupted. Security researchers told TechCrunch that Spyzie is vulnerable to the same bug as Cocospy and Spyic, two nearly identical but different branded stalkerware apps that share the same source code and publish data for over 2 million people, as reported last week. This bug allows anyone to access phone data, including messages, photos, location data, and more extracted from any device…

AI is attracting attention for all kinds of future technologies, from humanoid robots to autonomous warships. However, in a very traditional industry, there is a quieter boom. accounting. VCs are excited by the prospect of using AI on funding companies such as last year's figures and Kick to automate expensive human labor. The latest startup to ride this wave is Quanta, selling AI-powered accounting platforms to software companies and raising a $4.7 million seed round led by Accel. Other investors include Basecase, Comma Capital and San Francisco Angel investor Elad Gil. Quanta traces its origins to the time of Helen…

There is a shady industry for those who want to monitor and spy on their families. Several app makers sell software (sometimes called stalkerware) to jealous partners who can use these apps to remotely access victims' phones. But despite how sensitive this data is, the number of these companies is on the rise in massive decline. According to TechCrunch's Tally, counting Spyzie's latest data leaks shortly after Cocospy and Spyic's data exposures, it has been known to have been hacked since 2017, or leaked data data from customers and victims online. That's not a typo. At least 24 Stalkerware companies…

On Thursday, Apple announced a variety of new initiatives designed to allow parents and developers to use Apple devices to create safer experiences for children and teens. In addition to the ease of setting up a child's account, parents can share information about their child's age and accessed by app developers to provide age-appropriate content. The App Store will also introduce a new age rating set to help developers and App Store users gain a more detailed understanding of the app's aptitude for a particular age range. The product pages for third-party apps in the App Store will also be…

On Thursday, Apple announced a variety of new initiatives designed to allow parents and developers to use Apple devices to create safer experiences for children and teens. In addition to the ease of setting up a child's account, parents can share information about their child's age and accessed by app developers to provide age-appropriate content. The App Store will also introduce a new age rating set to help developers and App Store users gain a more detailed understanding of the app's aptitude for a particular age range. The product pages for third-party apps in the App Store will also be…

When it comes to AI software, you can build something smart, but it's not always the same as building something secure. With so many software written by AI now, having a window into security can be a challenge. This is the premise of Archipelo, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup, which today emerges from stealth with $12 million in funding. The pitch of Archipelo is that it has a platform for what is called “Developer Security Astute Management” (DEVSPM). “We discovered there was no developer security attitude tools, and that's what we built,” said Matthew Wise, CEO and co-founder of Archipelo.…