Author: TechBrunch

Jordan Meyer and Matthew Dryhurst founded Spawning AI to create tools that give artists more control over how their work is used online, and their latest project, called Source.Plus, aims to curate “copyright-free” media for training AI models. The Source.Plus project's initial effort is a dataset of about 40 million public domain and Creative Commons CC0-licensed images, which allow creators to waive nearly all legal rights to their work. Meyer claims that the Source.Plus dataset is “high quality” enough to train state-of-the-art image generation models, despite being significantly smaller than other generative AI training data sets. “At Source.Plus, we're building…

TikTok, a social media leader that seems interested in challenging Google's dominance in search, confirmed to TechCrunch that it's testing a feature that lets users take or upload photos and then find similar products in the TikTok Shop. The feature, which was first spotted by X user Jonah Manzano, is available to all users in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Users who have access to the new feature will see it in the form of a camera icon in the search bar of the TikTok Shop. For example, say you're served a dish at a restaurant and you love it…

The biggest update coming to Apple's iMessage and Messages app in iOS 18 isn't AI Emoji, Genmoji, or the ability to send texts via satellite. It's finally the ability to send messages at a later date and time, and support for RCS, the next-generation messaging standard that replaces SMS, which makes texting with Android users a lot easier. Though they got lost amid a flurry of AI announcements and other user interface tweaks at WWDC 2024, these messaging features will have a major impact on how people communicate on a daily basis. For years, consumer demand for scheduled messages has…

After teasing it back in March, Google is finally bringing the Gemini Nano AI model to Pixel 8 and 8a users. Users will have access to the model as a developer option in the June Pixel drop. Other additions in the feature drop include Display Port connection support for Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a, reverse phone number lookup for unknown numbers, fall and collision detection for Pixel Watch 2, and doorbell notifications for Pixel tablets. Pixel smartphone updates The Gemini Nano model will allow for detailed summaries of transcriptions in the Recorder app, and beyond this, the company did not…

Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote was packed with new platform updates and the release of Apple Intelligence, the company's generative AI service, but it was a developer conference after all, and Apple is giving developers more tools to increase app revenue and promote their apps with win-back offers and the release of new commerce APIs. Taking back a subscription Apple plans to allow developers to reach out to subscribed customers of their apps and bring them back with new offers. Developers can set which customers they want to reach, and Apple will surface repurchase offers in the App Store based on…

Apple's WWDC 2024 was packed with announcements about iOS 18, the next version of the iPhone operating system that introduces a host of new features. Notable features include a suite of customization options, such as the ability to arrange apps and widgets on the home screen, customizing buttons, etc. Other features include new text effects, the ability to lock and hide apps, new ways to manage your email inbox, the introduction of iMessage via satellite, and a major redesign of the Photos app. Which devices support iOS 18? You may be wondering if your iPhone is compatible with the new…

Voodoo, a French mobile app and game publisher, has acquired BeReal for €500 million. As part of the acquisition, BeReal co-founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat will leave the company after a transition period. Aymeric Roffé, CEO of Wizz, one of Voodoo's social media apps, will become CEO of BeReal. BeReal, which has more than 40 million active users, has grown in popularity during the pandemic. Despite its early success, the company has struggled to grow its user base and was looking for a buyer after its funding dried up. “BeReal has achieved incredible user loyalty and growth, proving there's a…

As Apple prepares to introduce AI-powered features for the iPhone, another company is taking the opposite approach: instead of making phones with more tech, it's opting for less. Light, a maker of minimalist phones with e-paper screens, has unveiled its latest model, the Light Phone III. Like its predecessor, the Lite Phone III has a simple black-and-white display and no access to social media, the internet, or email, but unlike Lite's previous phones, the Lite Phone III has a larger OLED display and an NFC chip for future payment tools, as well as a camera for capturing those moments you…

Since April, hackers with a history of selling stolen data have claimed to have leaked billions of records from a US data broker, affecting at least 300 million people, in what could be one of the biggest data breaches this year. The data reviewed by TechCrunch is incomplete, but appears to be partially legitimate in itself: Advertised on a popular cybercrime forum, the stolen data is years old and purported to include full names, home address histories, and Social Security numbers of US citizens, data that is widely sold by data brokers. However, verifying the source of the suspected data…

Crunchbase has expanded its tagging options in Europe and has begun tracking how much venture capital funding goes to minority founders on the continent. Diversity Spotlight is a Crunchbase feature that allows businesses to add tags to their profiles to label them. For example, a business can be labeled as Black-owned or women-led. Crunchbase is currently offering this feature in Europe. I³ Investing, a queer and immigrant founder-focused firm, served as the exclusive launch partner for the feature in the UK and Europe. Other partners include Female Founders, Tech Nation, Black Tech Fest and Colorintech. Crunchbase first launched its Diversity…