Technology

Generative AI is coming for videos. A new website, QuickVid, combines several generative AI systems into a single tool for automatically creating short-form YouTube, Instagram TikTok and Snapchat videos. Given as little as a single word, QuickVid chooses a background video from a library, writes a script and keywords, overlays images generated by DALL-E 2, and […]

QuickVid uses AI to generate short-form videos, complete with voiceovers by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

As Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisition of VR fitness developers Within, the tech giant is making another acquisition. Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that it is purchasing Luxexcel, a smart eyewear company headquartered in the Netherlands. The terms of the deal, which was first reported in the Belgian paper De Tijd, have not been […]

Meta acquires Luxexcel, a smart eyewear company by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

Interoperability and decentralization have been major themes in tech this year, driven in large part by mounting regulation, societal and industrial pressure, and the hype trains that are crypto and web3. That rising tide is lifting other boats: an open standards-based communication protocol called Matrix — which is playing a part in bringing interoperability to […]

Inside Matrix, the protocol that might finally make messaging apps interoperable by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

What do the people of the United States sound like? Census language data would give you one kind of answer. But numbers don’t capture all the factors in play—assimilation, the past and present of language, whose voices are prioritized. It’s this gap that multidisciplinary artist Ekene Ijeoma and his group Poetic Justice at the MIT…

This was a tumultuous year for micromobility, both within the shared and private spheres. As we predicted last year, 2022 brought with it a rise in the sale of electric bikes, the adoption of smarter e-scooters that can detect poor riding behavior and the drying up of VC funding for scooter and bike companies. We […]

E-bike subsidies, consolidation and IPOs: Our 2023 micromobility predictions by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

For many startup founders, a “founder-friendly” investor is one who stays relatively hands off. But in today’s climate, we need the opposite.

Redefining ‘founder-friendly’ capital in the post-FTX era by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch

Over 2,000 years ago, Baiae was the most magnificent resort town on the Italian peninsula. Wealthy statesmen including Mark Antony, Cicero, and Caesar were drawn to its natural springs, building luxurious villas with heated spas and mosaic-tiled thermal pools. But over the centuries, volcanic activity submerged this playground for the Roman nobility—leaving half of it…