Author: TechBrunch

LTK (formerly LiketoKnow.it and RewardStyle), an influencer shopping app with 40 million monthly users, announced on Thursday the launch of a free direct messaging tool that lets creators instantly share pre-defined replies with their followers. The new tool, called LTK DM, is integrated into the posts section of the LTK app: when a creator shares an Instagram post and a follower comments on it with “Shop,” the tool will automatically send the follower a private message with a direct link to the creator's LTK page, allowing them to instantly purchase the products they're interested in. Image credit: LTK This new…

Key European Union lawmakers remain deadlocked over a controversial bill that could force millions of messaging app users to consent to having their photo and video uploads scanned by AI to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Critics of the plan include tech industry messaging giants like WhatsApp, to privacy-focused companies like Signal and Proton, legal, security and data protection experts, civil society and digital rights groups, and a majority of members of the European Parliament from all political sides, who warn that the proposal would break encryption and pose an existential threat to democratic freedoms and fundamental rights such…

Funding for robotics has cooled overall since its 2021-2022 peak, but many of the issues exposed by the pandemic remain persistent. The biggest driver of venture funding in the sector is the ongoing labor shortage. Analyst firm Garner predicts that half of large companies will have robots in their warehouses or manufacturing processes by 2028. Another key factor in favor of warehouse/logistics robots is that they have a proven track record: While many approaches to automation today have a theoretical ROI, many companies, including Amazon, are already using warehouse robots in the wild. GrayMatter is one company with a proven…

Auto retailers and car dealerships across the U.S. are facing another one-day outage after a second cyberattack hit CDK Global, a technology company that develops software for automotive customers and their fleet management. In a message to customers on Thursday, CDK said an additional cyberattack that occurred late Wednesday could result in a prolonged outage. “At this time, the expected time for the issue to be resolved is unknown, therefore dealers' systems will be unavailable until at least Thursday,” the message said. CDK said its customer support team “remains unavailable” as a precaution to maintain security. The company's website says…

Instagram is introducing a feature that will allow users to go live only with their close friends list, the company announced on Thursday. The new “Live with Close Friends” feature will allow users to go live with up to three users. According to Instagram, the new feature can be used to share thoughts, spontaneously catch up with friends, share memes, plan trips, do homework together, and just hang out in real time. Instagram launched Live streaming in 2016, and from the beginning, live streams were meant to be public and visible to all followers. The feature has been widely used…

We're excited to announce that we're adding a dedicated Space Stage to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Industry-specific stages for Fintech, SaaS, AI, and more will all come together under one big roof. We are also excited to announce that this year, as part of the event, we will be running a pitch competition called “The Space Challenge, powered by Aerospace.” More details on how space startups can apply will be available soon. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024's Space Stage Agenda As the space industry accelerates, new opportunities for founders, investors and customers are proliferating. Not only are the once-astronomical costs of doing business…

Gynger, a platform that lends companies money to buy technology, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures, it told TechCrunch exclusively. The funding brings the total venture capital raised by the New York-based startup to $31.7 million, with participation from Gradient Ventures (Google's AI-focused venture fund), Velvet Sea Ventures, BAG Ventures, and Deciens Capital. In addition to the equity offering, Ginger has secured debt facilities under an agreement to receive up to $100 million in funding from Community Investment Management (CIM). Gynger was born out of m]x[vCapitalaNewYork-basedearly-stageventurefundfoundedbyMarkGhermezianinJune2021GhermezianalsopreviouslyfoundedBrazeacloud-basedcustomerengagementplatformformultichannelmarketingTherehetoldTechCrunchduringthecompany'slastfundraisehewitnessedfirsthandhowdifficultitwastosellsoftwareandontheflipsidehowdifficultitwasforbuyerstobuythesoftware[vCapitalaNewYork-city-basedearly-stageventurefundfoundedbyMarkGhermezianGhermezianalsopreviouslyfoundedBrazeacloud-basedcustomerengagementplatformformultichannelmarketingTherehetoldTechCrunchthetimeofthecompany'slastraisehesawhowdifficultitwastosellsoftwareand—ontheflipside—howdifficultitwasforbuyerstobuythesoftware[vCapitalから生まれた。ガーメジアン氏は以前、マルチチャネルマーケティングのためのクラウドベースの顧客エンゲージメントプラットフォームであるBrazeも設立している。そこで同氏は、同社の最後の資金調達の際にTechCrunchに、ソフトウェアを販売することがいかに難しいか、そしてその反対に、購入者がソフトウェアを購入することがいかに難しいかを目の当たりにしたと語った。[vCapitalaNewYork-citybasedearly-stageventurefundfoundedbyMarkGhermezianGhermezianalsopreviouslyfoundedBrazeacloud-basedcustomerengagementplatformformultichannelmarketingTherehetoldTechCrunchatthetimeofthecompany’slastraisehesawhowdifficultitwastosellsoftwareand—ontheflipside—howdifficultitwasforbuyerstopurchasethesoftware Gynger works with both buyers and sellers…

OpenAI rival Anthropic is releasing a powerful new generative AI model called Claude 3.5 Sonnet, but it's more of an incremental step than a breakthrough. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can not only analyze both text and images, but also generate text. At least in theory, it is Anthropic's best model to date. Across several AI benchmarks for reading, coding, math and vision, Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms its successor, Claude 3 Sonnet, and outperforms Anthropic's previous flagship model, Claude 3 Opus. Benchmarks aren't necessarily the most useful measure of AI progress, in part because many of them test esoteric edge cases that…

Lightspeed Ventures-backed audio platform Pocket FM announced it has partnered with audio duplication company ElevenLabs to use AI to quickly convert scripts and other text content into audio series. Pocket FM, which raised $103 million in Series D funding in March, told TechCrunch at the time that it was already experimenting with a feature to convert text content into speech using ElevenLabs' technology. Now, the India-based company is expanding its partnership and plans to make the conversion tool available to all creators in the coming weeks. In its testing phase, Pocket FM has already used Eleven Labs' AI technology to…

As the U.S. Surgeon General calls for social media sites to display warning labels similar to those found on tobacco products, a startup is unveiling a set of new tools that give users the power to fight app addiction. Designed for iOS, Roots improves on traditional screen time apps by measuring not only the time you use your device, but also the quality of time you spend in different apps with a “digital dopamine” tracker. Other features let users lock themselves out of their most addictive apps and add reminders to stop the algorithmic scrolling of their social feeds. Co-founded…