Lauren Forristal, Author at TechCrunch

AI music startup Suno claims training model on copyrighted music is ‘fair use’

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 21:50:57 +0000

Following the recent lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against music generation startups Udio and Suno, Suno admitted in a court filing on Thursday that it did, in fact, train its AI model using copyrighted songs. But it claimed that doing so was legal under the fair-use doctrine. The RIAA filed the lawsuit […]

Twitter disappears from Mac App Store

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:32:04 +0000

X (formerly Twitter) can no longer be accessed in the Mac App Store, suggesting that it has been officially delisted. Searches for both “Twitter” and “X” on Apple’s platform no longer surface the app. The URL no longer works, either. Instead, it displays a pop-up message indicating that it is unavailable. This means new users […]

Match Group cuts 6% of staff as it shuts down livestreaming in dating apps

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:54:19 +0000

Match Group announced Tuesday that it has discontinued livestreaming services in its dating apps, resulting in a 6% reduction in workforce. The news was delivered during the dating app giant’s second-quarter earnings report. The move finds Match shifting its focus to other offerings, including generative AI. The decision to end livestreaming will directly impact dating apps […]

Date Like Goblins, a new dating platform, allows users to virtually date and play video games

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 13:04:10 +0000

Date Like Goblins is geared toward the gaming community and allows users to connect through voice chat while playing video games.

Spotify expands lyrics access for free users

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:50:03 +0000

Back in May, Spotify quietly started putting lyrics behind a paywall, limiting free users to lyrics for three songs per month. The move was a bid to push more users to pay for the service. After receiving numerous complaints, the company is now expanding the monthly limit. Starting today, Spotify is raising the limit on […]

Luxury fashion startup The Floorr empowers personal stylists with tools to grow their businesses

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 20:16:08 +0000

The Floorr offers tools for conducting sales, hosting tailored styling sessions, creating mood boards, and engaging in text or voice chats with clients, all in one place.

Google Play gets ‘Comics’ feature for manga readers in Japan

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 13:05:00 +0000

Alongside a slew of announcements for Play — such as AI-powered app comparisons and a feature that bundles similar apps — Google has introduced new “Curated Spaces,” hubs dedicated to specific topics. Announced Wednesday, “Comics” is designed to appeal to manga fans. Positioned at the top of the screen in between “For You” and “Top […]

Google adds AI-powered comparisons, collections and more data controls to Play Store

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Play Store is getting AI-powered app comparisons, automatically organized categories for similar apps, dedicated hubs for content, data personalization controls, support for playing multiple mobile games on PCs, and more features.

Flashfood users can now save money on groceries at their local grocery store in addition to bigger chains

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Grocery app Flashfood's new offering is designed for independently owned grocery stores that want to reduce food waste and consumers who want to save money.

The Scene’s new app helps New Yorkers find dining and nightlife spots

Lauren Forristal — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 17:14:55 +0000

Choosing between New York City’s nearly 25,000 restaurants can be overwhelming. The pressure is especially high when you’re trying to impress a first date (or investor) or entertain family from out of town. A new app launched over the weekend to address precisely that. The Scene, an iOS-only “pocket concierge service,” uses machine learning to […]

Apple Vision Pro debuts immersive content featuring NBA players, The Weeknd and more

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 20:14:59 +0000

Apple on Thursday announced its upcoming lineup of immersive video content for the Vision Pro. The list includes behind-the-scenes footage of the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, an immersive performance by The Weeknd, new series, films, concerts and more. The headset launched in February with more than 150 3D movies and immersive titles. Apple is adding […]

Meta puts a halt to training its generative AI tools in Brazil

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:47:08 +0000

Meta has suspended the use of its AI assistant after Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) banned the company from training its AI models on personal data from Brazilians. The move puts a dent in Facebook’s attempt to build out its AI products in Brazil, a market with more than 200 million people. As cited […]

Tinder’s AI Photo Selector automatically picks the best photos for your dating profile

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Tinder revealed last year that it was testing a photo-selection feature that uses AI to help users choose the best photos for their dating profiles. Now dubbed “Photo Selector,” the Match-owned dating app officially launched the feature on Wednesday. It’s now available to all users in the U.S. and will roll out to international markets […]

YC-backed CrowdVolt shakes up the secondary ticket market with its bid-ask model

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 14:00:00 +0000

CrowdVolt operates on a model similar to sneaker resell marketplace StockX, meaning buyers submit bids on tickets, and sellers set asking prices.

Uber just added a way to search for rides in other cities— here’s how to use it

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000

As Uber gears up for the summer travel season, the company announced Tuesday a new feature to ease the planning process for riders. The feature offers a convenient way for users to search for destinations in another city and reserve rides in advance before their plane even lands. Uber’s new feature addresses the surge in […]

Here are all the devices compatible with iOS 18

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:02:00 +0000

iOS 18 will be available in the fall as a free software update.

Vimeo joins YouTube and TikTok in launching new AI content labels

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 13:00:50 +0000

Vimeo joins TikTok, YouTube and Meta in implementing a way for creators to label AI-generated content. The video hosting service announced on Wednesday that creators must now disclose to viewers when realistic content is created with AI. The new updates to Vimeo’s terms of service and community guidelines ensure that videos that are AI-generated, synthetically […]

Bumble users can now report profiles that use AI-generated photos

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:07:19 +0000

Bumble’s new reporting option arrives at a time when, unfortunately, AI-generated photos on dating apps are common

Etsy adds AI-generated item guidelines in new seller policy

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 12:09:07 +0000

Etsy has been grappling with an influx of generic “junk” and AI-generated products on its platform. The service revised its seller policy on Tuesday, introducing new labels that clarify whether a seller made, designed, sourced or handpicked an item. This marks the first time it has dealt directly with artificial intelligence in its seller policy, […]

Ex-Googler joins filmmaker to launch DreamFlare, a studio and streaming platform for AI-generated video

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:00:00 +0000

A startup called DreamFlare AI is emerging from stealth on Tuesday with the goal of helping content creators make and monetize short-form AI-generated content. The company, co-founded by former Google employee Josh Liss and documentary filmmaker Rob Bralver, does not make or sell its own AI technology to create video. Rather, it’s envisioned as a […]