Author: TechBrunch
See the cutting edge of hard technology innovation in a special session hosted by HAX at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024. This session, led by SOSV General's partner Duncan Turner and his HAX chief scientific officer Dr. Susan Schofer, and moderated by SOSV's Sabriya Stokes, will provide detailed information. Enter the world of hard tech entrepreneurs. Focused on solving challenges in climate change, industrial independence, and healthcare, HAX brings together expertise and investment to drive impactful change. Learn first-hand how HAX helps startups commercialize their breakthrough research. Duncan and Susan share insight into HAX's investment philosophy and the exciting opportunities they…
Facebook on Wednesday announced new full-screen videos designed to provide a more consistent design and experience for all types of video lengths, including short-form Reels, long-form videos, and even live content. The company says it will announce the player. The upgraded player was first released in the US and Canada and is intended to streamline the experience of both viewing and sharing video content. But more importantly, you'll now see videos in portrait mode by default, and Facebook will also show you which videos are most relevant to watch next, no matter what type of video (long, short, live, etc.)…
Yesterday, news of Yahoo's acquisition of Artifact stirred the technology water cooler. Artifact was an interesting app that employed AI to help users discover and consume more and more targeted news. Although it had some devoted fans, it never reached the scale that would make it an attractive long-term project. So the founders who built Instagram decided to retire the service. TechCrunch's parent company, Yahoo, then decided to capitalize on the technology. The app itself hasn't been around for that long, but the deal is still an echo of an older era when Yahoo was famous for acquiring small, mobile-focused…
Cynicism is an almost taken-for-granted trait in technology journalism, and we're certainly as guilty as the next publication. But the risks and promise of technology are both real, and a new documentary series seeks to emphasize the latter without downplaying the former. “A Brief History of the Future,” hosted by Ali Wallach, also has the appealing property of being completely free as a PBS production. The show's theme is that while the dangers and disappointments of technology (often due to its subversion by business interests) are worth considering and documenting, the other side of the coin should also be highlighted.…
Zip describes itself as “the leading ingestion and procurement orchestration platform and ingestion-to-pay suite.” It doesn't seem like the most exciting space for a startup, but if you've ever worked at a large company, you know how complicated the process of purchasing even the most basic things can be. This is a hassle for employees and difficult to manage for procurement, finance, and legal teams who have to juggle various applications that barely communicate with each other. To make all of this easier, Zip today announced a new set of enterprise features, Zip Premier, and a new low-code feature that…
The European Union and the United States will announce cooperation on AI at Friday's EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting, according to a senior European Commission official briefing reporters ahead of the meeting. This mood music comes as major US companies like OpenAI continue to have a highly polarized commercial picture in terms of developing strategies to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by powerful AI technologies. , indicating growing cooperation between lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic. It dominates cutting-edge AI development. The TTC was established several years ago after the Trump administration to provide a…
Since its founding in Israel eight years ago, venture firm Maniv has grown in nearly every dimension, from its investor base and portfolio of 40 startups to its geographic focus, footprint, and fund size. I have accomplished it. But even with a just-closed $140 million fund in the vaults and a new office in New York City, founder Michael Granoff says Maniv is still essentially a seed-stage company. is just a fund that “sometimes breaks its own rules,” he said. What this means is pretty much the same as when we launched in 2016. In other words, it's an early-stage…
A few months ago, OpenAI captivated the tech world with Sora, a generative AI model that transforms scene descriptions into original videos without the need for cameras or film crews. But Sora has been severely limited so far, and the company appears to be targeting deep-pocketed creators like Hollywood directors rather than hobbyists or small marketers. Alex Mashrabov, former head of generative AI at Snap, saw an opportunity. So he launched his Higgsfield AI, an AI-powered video creation and editing platform designed for more customized and personalized applications. Higgsfield's first app to leverage a custom text-to-video model, Diffuse lets you…
To give female academics and others focused on AI their well-deserved and overdue spotlight time, TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews highlighting notable women who have contributed to the AI revolution. Start. As the AI boom continues, we'll be publishing several articles throughout the year highlighting key research that may go unrecognized. Click here for a detailed profile. Kathi Vidal is an American intellectual property attorney and former engineer who serves as Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Vidal began his career as an engineer at General Electric and Lockheed Martin, working in the fields…
Agnes Kozera and David Kieszkowski, co-founders of podcast sponsorship marketplace Podcorn, today launched their newest app, Storiaverse. Storiaverse is a short-form entertainment platform that combines animated videos and written content to provide a multi-format reading experience. Available on iOS and Android devices, Storiaverse caters to graphic novel readers and adult anime fans who want to discover original stories in animated short form. “Our mission is to make Storiaverse the largest storytelling platform and make reading more immersive and engaging,” Kozera told TechCrunch. He is also the co-founder of the YouTube marketing platform FameBit (which Google acquired in 2016). “We believe…