Author: TechBrunch

The Internet is full of great websites, some of which are very interesting and useful, so it's no wonder people want to preserve them for posterity. Bookmark managers, notes apps, and read-later services like Pocket are great for collecting and organizing links, but in reality, there are so many links across so many platforms and apps that it's easy to keep track of them. You can not. Former Twitter engineer Joe Fabisevich built an app called Plinky that aims to address this problem with a new approach that prioritizes customization. Available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac, Plinky lets…

WhatsApp is updating its mobile app to give it a fresh, more streamlined look, as well as introducing a new “darker dark mode,” the company announced Thursday. The messaging app has primarily focused on adding utility to its apps over the years, and says that while the product continues to grow, its design needs to evolve as well. The messaging app introduces a new color palette after considering over 35 colors. WhatsApp focused on deeper tones to reduce eye strain in low light. The popular app's dark mode has been turned a little darker to make messages easier to read.…

Google I/O begins Tuesday with a keynote at 10 a.m. PT. As always, this presentation provides a glimpse into the latest versions of the company's software platforms, including Android, Wear OS, and Android TV. I have high hopes for AI as well. A lot, a lot. Gemini will take center stage with CEO Sundar Pichai as it seeks to establish its dominance in a space marked by stiff competition from the likes of Microsoft and OpenAI. You can get a complete overview of what we expect here. A developer keynote will be held a few hours later at 1:30pm PT.…

For cancer patients, medicines given in clinical trials can help save or prolong their lives. However, even though thousands of clinical trials are conducted in the United States each year, only 3% to 5% of eligible patients participate in investigations of new treatments. Generative AI startup Triomics claims it can significantly reduce the time it takes for doctors to match patients with clinical trials. A doctor's recommendation is often the key to patient enrollment. However, busy oncologists and nurses often do not have time to learn about all the clinical trials that may be appropriate for their patients. I'm not…

Reddit announced new policies Thursday aimed at balancing licensing content to big tech companies like Google with protecting user privacy. The newly announced Public Content Policy joins Reddit's existing privacy and content policies and governs how commercial entities and other partners can access and use Reddit's data. In conjunction with this, the company also announced a subreddit dedicated to researchers working with Reddit data. The announcement comes on the heels of Reddit's stock market debut, and signals that the company stands to grow revenue not only from the advertising and developer usage of its APIs that run on the platform,…

Eva Ho plans to retire from her role as general partner of Fika Ventures, the Los Angeles-based seed company she co-founded in 2016. Sources said Mr. Fika informed LPs in an email of Mr. Ho's intention to exit after the firm's current fund, Fund III, ends. Fika confirmed his transition to TechCrunch earlier this week and released a blog post mentioning the transition this morning. Fika's other founding general partner, TX Zhuo, will remain with the fund. “Eva has decided to withdraw due to personal reasons. She trusts the existing team to take it forward,” a spokesperson for the foundation…

Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, a man of immense wealth who bought up a small Airbnb in the center of Amsterdam where he lived during the COVID-19 pandemic, Are you spending your days? At first glance, it looks like you're building an AI-powered meeting summary app. Go figure. In this week's post on Vogels' personal blog, he details Distill, an open source app he built with his “OCTO'' (Office of the CTO) team to transcribe and summarize conference calls. . Distill takes audio recordings of meetings (in formats like MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc.), analyzes them, and generates summaries along with a…

Paris-based Mistral AI, a start-up working on open source large-scale language models that are the building blocks for generative AI services, has tripled its December valuation to 60% to compete more aggressively with the likes of OpenAI. The company is raising funds at a valuation of $1 billion. TechCrunch learned from multiple sources. We understand from sources close to us that DST, General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners are all considering participating in this round. DST — a leading investor led by Yuri Milner and a prominent backer of tech industry giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify, WhatsApp, Alibaba…

Developer season has officially begun, and Google I/O 2024 is just days away. The short answer to the question of what to expect is two letters. It's “AI”. Google I/O? Similar to Google A/I. Almost every Google announcement in recent years has included an element of artificial intelligence/machine learning, but this time CEO Sundar Pichai will be sick of the topic by the time he leaves the stage. Things begin May 14 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. That's the big keynote, and that's what comes to mind when you think about the event. “See how we're furthering our mission to…

Dating apps and other social friend-finding apps are in the spotlight: Dating app giant Bumble is considering more acquisitions. The company said on Wednesday's first-quarter earnings call that it plans to use M&A “opportunistically” to better prioritize inorganic growth. Unlike rival Match, which has historically dominated popular dating app brands left and right, Bumble hasn't been very aggressive in pursuing growth through M&A. Its first acquisition was French dating app Fruititz in February 2022, followed by the acquisition of couples app Official in 2023 for $10 million. Neither of them are becoming the next Tinder, to put it kindly. Bumble…