Author: TechBrunch

The new Pixel 9 lineup took center stage at the Made by Google 2024 event on Tuesday morning. Alongside the unveiling of the Pixel 9 Fold Pro, the company also announced three additional size options: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL. The Pro has the same 6.3-inch display as the base-model Pixel, but with a higher resolution (1280 x 2856 instead of 1080 x 2424). The new Pro XL model is essentially an updated version of last year's 8 Pro, with a 6.8-inch display (1344 x 2992 pixels). It's good to have another option. The…

Google's big hardware event, “Made by Google,” is taking place today, where the company will unveil its new Pixel phones, as well as a bigger role for Gemini AI. The flagship from Google is the Pixel 9 smartphone. The main Pixel lineup currently has three phones: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL. Apparently the new Pro is similar in dimensions to the regular Pixel, so it can be thought of as the standard-sized option with better specs, while the Pro XL is more powerful and larger in size. If you're looking for a phone that…

At Tuesday's Made by Google event, Gemini solidified its place as the default assistant on Pixel devices. While the company has previously allowed users to choose to replace Google Assistant with its generative AI platform, the newly announced Pixel 9 smartphone will be the first device to ship that way by default. Google says that if users aren't happy with the as-yet-unfinished, hallucinogenic platform, they can revert their new devices to what it calls “legacy Assistant,” though that name isn't entirely apt: Google recently reaffirmed that Assistant will remain as part of its Nest/Home business. This side of Google's hardware…

The era of generative AI gadgets has been disappointing at best. Devices like Humane's AI Pin and Rabbit R1 underwhelmed at launch and fell victim to their own hype cycles. Generative AI has a future in consumer hardware, but you'd be hard pressed to believe it doesn't. The technology has been gaining traction in mobile phones, and headphones are a natural extension of that trend. The Pixel Buds Pro 2, announced at Tuesday's Made By Google event, is an attempt to take the next step. The earbuds arrive a little over two years after the company released its first-generation product,…

A federal appeals court has ruled that geofencing warrants are unconstitutional, a decision that could limit the use of controversial search warrants in several US states. A ruling Friday from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, said geofencing warrants are “blatantly prohibited by the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Civil rights and privacy advocates applauded the ruling, which currently effectively makes the use of geofencing warrants illegal in three US states. Geofencing warrants, also known as “reverse” search warrants, allow police to draw a shape on a map of a…

The one and only Parker Conrad stopped by TechCrunch's Found this week to talk about his company, Rippling, and the X controversy that's making waves in Silicon Valley. When I asked him about his experience founding Rippling, an all-in-one workforce management platform, after he was forced out of his previous company, Zenefits, he didn't hesitate to talk about it. In some ways, he said, Rippling is the company he always wanted and would have allowed him to stay at Zenefits, except for a few differences. “One of the great things you can do as an entrepreneur when starting a company…

Labeling and annotation platforms may not get as much attention as flashy new generative AI models. But they're essential: the data that many models train on must be labeled, otherwise the models will not be able to interpret that data during the training process. Annotation is a massive task, with the large, sophisticated datasets in use requiring thousands or even millions of annotations. To ease that burden, Eric Landau and Ulrik Hansen founded Encord, which they call a “data development” platform for businesses to manage and prepare data for AI models. Now the company has raised another $30 million in…

Asia-Pacific has long been an important market for wealth managers, thanks to its many developing countries and a fast-growing retail investment market. But there is still a huge market to be captured: About 40% to 45% of retail financial assets in the region will be held in cash and deposits as of 2023, according to a McKinsey report. Singapore-based investment platform Syfe has been working to make wealth management more accessible in the region by offering a range of investment products and options through its smartphone app. The company has now raised $27 million in a Series C round to…

Following on from launching photo and text Stories last year, Twitch is now introducing video Stories, allowing streamers to shoot 60-second videos in the Twitch mobile app or upload videos from their camera roll. Twitch sees the new feature as a way for streamers to take their audience with them when they're on the go or away from their streaming environment. Streamers typically share short, behind-the-scenes content in places like Instagram Stories and maybe TikTok, but now Twitch wants streamers to share on its own platform as well. Snapchat popularized the Stories format over a decade ago, and since then…

Outside of science fiction movies, there's no precedent for AI systems being used to kill people or launch cyberattacks, but some lawmakers want to put in place safeguards before bad actors can make that dystopian future a reality. California's bill, SB 1047, aims to prevent real-world disasters caused by AI systems and is due for a final vote in the state senate in late August. While this seems like a goal we can all agree on, SB 1047 has drawn the ire of Silicon Valley players big and small, including venture capitalists, major tech industry associations, researchers, and startup founders.…