Author: TechBrunch
Amazon researchers have trained the largest text-to-speech model ever. This model claims to exhibit “emergent” properties that improve the ability to speak naturally even in complex sentences. A breakthrough could be just what technology needs to get out of the uncanny valley. These models are constantly growing and improving, but the researchers specifically hoped to see the kind of jump in power that was observed when language models got beyond a certain size. For unknown reasons, as LLMs grow beyond a certain point, they become more robust and versatile, capable of performing tasks for which they were not trained. This…
the [checks calendar] One and a half weeks left until Mobile World Congress 2024 [mild panic creeps in]TechCrunch returns to Barcelona again for a big phone show [soothing memories of tapas past]. This event is always a big one for major carriers, mobile phone manufacturers, and European startups alike. As always, we are particularly interested in the last category. Above all, this show serves as a great opportunity to get some hands-on time with startups that couldn't or couldn't attend his CES last month. If you run an interesting or innovative startup, MWC 2024 could be the perfect opportunity to…
Meta is in turmoil after announcing plans to remove politics from recommendations across Instagram and Threads (a new Twitter-like app for text-based posts). This leaves a window of opportunity for startup Bluesky. The company's CEO, Jay Graber, recently said Meta's decision was based on the types of problems that can arise when “one company runs one algorithm,” and how Bluesky's app works. He explained that it symbolizes how different things are. “It's kind of a black box, and companies can do whatever they want, but users don't really have a choice,” Graeber said in an interview on the podcast Techmeme…
I have been discussing for a long time That it's scary for VCs to get excited about climate change, and that the goal of startups is to cease to exist. But I haven't been particularly successful in outlining what startup founders can actually do to build more sustainable companies in a world hurtling toward the climate crisis. Introducing Amit Paul and Nils von Heine. They've spent the last few years thinking about how companies are set up and whether there's a different approach we could take. In their native Sweden, the duo devised an alternative organizational structure aimed at redefining…
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that robotics is as much a software problem as a hardware problem. Naturally, programming is overshadowed by the allure of mechatronics, but without the right software solution you're little more than an expensive paperweight. The path to widespread adoption of robotics is fraught with unforeseen challenges that could ultimately hinder real-world use. There are many problems that require software solutions. Jacobi Robotics was founded in 2022 with a specific problem in mind: singularity. Confusingly, this word has a very different meaning in robotics than it does in the world of Ray Kurzweil's…
Today may be Valentine's Day here in the US, but the dating app market doesn't seem as promising as it used to. As of January of this year, global downloads of dating apps have grown only modestly year-on-year, with 128 million installs, according to new analysis from app intelligence provider data.ai. However, the increase was only 1.9% compared to 29% to reach 128 million installs. An increase seen during the same period last year. Growth has also slowed in the United States, reaching approximately 12.7 million installations as of January 2024, an increase of 2.38% year-on-year, slowing from the approximately…
A misconfigured cloud storage server at auto giant BMW exposed sensitive company information, including private keys and internal data, a TechCrunch investigation found. Can Yoleri, a security researcher at threat intelligence firm SOCRadar, told TechCrunch that he discovered the exposed BMW cloud storage server while regularly scanning the internet. Yorelli said that the Microsoft Azure-hosted storage servers (also known as “buckets”) exposed in BMW's development environment were “incorrectly configured as public instead of private due to a misconfiguration.” . Yoleri added that the storage bucket contained “a script file containing Azure container access information, a private key to access the…
As a customer, it's not fun to interact with a bot when it's clearly a bot that you're engaging with. Rasa is a startup that claims to have developed an infrastructure that enables developers at large enterprises to build “robust” generative, conversational AI assistants. This makes interactions feel more personal and meaningful to users. The company says it accomplishes this by providing infrastructure, CALM (Conversational AI with Language Models), and a low-code user interface. The company's technology has helped it acquire many large customers, primarily in the financial services and telecommunications sectors. These clients include two of his top three…
This is a transcript of the latest episode of Equity, TechCrunch's venture capital-focused podcast. New episodes of Equity air every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. To catch up on Wednesday's show, listen above or read below. On this show, we discuss the week's major startup and venture capital news. transcript 0:10 Hello. Welcome to the TechCrunch podcast Equity. In this podcast, we unpack the numbers and nuances behind the headlines. Today is February 14, 2024. Happy Valentine's Day. Eat some chocolate and relax on the couch. Because you are worth it. This is our Wednesday show, where we dig into the…
If you think growing leaves is easy, think again. Lettuce is not the world's most difficult crop, but as any farmer knows, there are many problems that can arise between planting and harvest. They range from pests to pathogens to rain, but there's no such thing as too little or too much. To protect tender vegetables from the cruel world, many growers are bringing their crops indoors. Vast greenhouses and noisy warehouses provide new homes for crops of all kinds. However, the devil lurks indoors as well, and profit and loss accounting has recently begun. In reality, there are more…