Author: TechBrunch
Spotify announced on Wednesday an update to an app designed to give users more control over their listening experiences and recommendations. Refresh Experience introduces some new features that gradually roll out users and premium subscribers to Spotify users and premium subscribers, including helping them create queues, current listening experiences, and playlists. This change often leans heavily towards algorithmic recommendations and helps balance the apps that suggest music and play by giving the user the power to shape what was played, when and how often. For premium users, Spotify's queue has been revamped. The new design will make it easier to…
Photography and video editing platform VSCO launched an AI-powered collaboration mood board on Wednesday, expanding the way photographers and artists use their products. This mood board, called Canvas, allows you to import and edit photos using standard VSCO editing tools. Therefore, you can adjust settings such as shadow, brightness, exposure, temperature, shade, grain, blur, vibrantness, and tint. AI chops work when you want to generate images using a text prompt. Also, using the mood board, you can select some of the images and use the Region Prompt menu to allow AI to recreate those parts using a text prompt. Regional…
Netflix officially unveiled the feature at Wednesday's Tech and Product event after hinting at a new AI-powered search experience during its recent revenue call. This new search experience utilizes Openai's ChatGpt to provide users with a conversation discovery experience. Users can enter their preferences using natural phrases such as “I want something interesting and bright” or more detailed requests such as “I want something scary but it's not too scary and maybe a little less interesting, but haha isn't funny.” This feature is set to be deployed to iOS users as an opt-in beta this week. As Bloomberg reported last…
Netflix announced Wednesday that it was testing its short video feature, indicating that even the streaming giant with over 300 million subscribers is worried about losing time for viewers who spent mobile on apps like Tiktok, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels. The company debuted its feature at its first product and high-tech event. There, we also revealed some other future plans for the service. These plans include AI-powered search tools, redesigning the TV homepage and improving real-time recommendations. Netflix's new mobile-only vertical feed allows users to scroll through clips of the original title with ease. Within this feed, users can…
Ulili Onovakpuri, managing partner at Kapor Capital, said yesterday that she was leaving the company. Onovakpuri started as the principal of Kapor Capital over a decade ago, and went through the ranks and became a managing partner, eventually taking over the reins (with Brian Dixon) from the company's co-founders Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein. In the RinkedIn Goodbye Post, Onovakpuri said that during his stay in Capo, he co-formed a $126 million fund to support more than 70 companies. “I really miss you,” she wrote. “This is not a goodbye to invest or funding founders who will build critical…
As “vibe coding” gains popularity and tech companies are hiring developers to embrace generative AI tools, platforms that scan code vulnerabilities in AI-generated code have raised new funding. OX Security, which models risk with both AI- and human-generated code, announced on Wednesday it will close its $60 million Series B. The round was led by DTCP with participation from IBM Ventures, Microsoft, Swisscom Ventures, Evolution Equity Partners and Team8, increasing the OX total to $94 million. Neatsun Ziv and Lior Arzi founded OX in 2021, based in New York and Tel Aviv. Software and IT engineers met at a checkpoint…
According to partner Panospapadopoulos, Marathon Venture Capital, a venture company in Athens that is proud to be a “first day partner of Greek technology partners,” has closed its latest fund for 75 million euros with a capital commitment. The vehicle will increase the company's total assets to 175 million euros. This is a meaningful amount for a 8-year-old seed stage investor in Greece, and is a significant exit reflection. Among them was the marathon portfolio company Augmenta sold to CNH last year. CNH is a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment in a cash transaction valued Augmenta at $110…
According to partner Panos Papadopoulos, Marathon Venture Partners, a venture company in Athens, boasts that it is “first day partner of Greek technology partners.” The vehicle will increase the company's total assets to 175 million euros. This is a meaningful amount for a 8-year-old seed stage investor in Greece, and is a significant exit reflection. Among them was the marathon portfolio company Augmenta sold to CNH last year. CNH is a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment in a cash transaction valued Augmenta at $110 million. The Marathon also sold stocks in a secondary transaction to investment company Carlisle…
The Spyware Maker NSO Group will need to pay WhatsApp more than $167 million in damages for its 2019 hacking campaign against more than 1,400 users. On Tuesday, after a five-year legal battle, ry judges ruled that the NSO group must pay $167,256,000 in punitive damages and about $444,719 in compensatory damages. This is a major legal victory for WhatsApp, which was demanding more than $400,000 in compensatory damages, based on the time employees had to patch attack fixes, investigate, and patch vulnerabilities abused by NSO groups and focus on unspecified punitive damages. WhatsApp did not immediately respond to requests…
If you're a Subsac publisher who doesn't like not turning on the camera while live streaming, you're in luck. Substack announced on Tuesday it will launch an audio-only livestream feature for publishers who want a low-pressure way to connect with their followers. This is also great for those who want to remain anonymous. To use the feature, publishers must click on the camera icon to turn off the video while it's live. They can re-enable the video at any time during the stream. It is worth noting that listeners can comment and subscribe like they do in a normal live…