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Bluesky, X’s competitor, reaches 2 million users; federation to launch in early next year

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Bluesky is a company building a decentralized alternative to Twitter/X. announced It now has 2 million users, an increase of another 1 million since September, despite still being an invite-only app. It also revealed deadlines for other important goals, saying it plans to have a public web interface up and running by the end of this month and start federation by early next year.

The latter is one of the most important differentiators between Bluesky and X, as it allows Bluesky to function as a more open social network. This means it works more like Mastodon, where users can choose which servers to join and move their accounts around freely. This is what Bluesky today claims is “billionaire-proof” and criticizes Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter, now known as X.

“Rather than being bound to the whims and black-box algorithms of private companies, you have the freedom to choose (and exit) at any time.” Explained in company blog post. “And wherever you go, your friends and relationships will be there too,” it states.

Similar to Mastodon, a decentralized service, federation allows anyone to run their own service and connect to other services running the same protocol. For Bluesky, this is done like this: AT protocol The company is also developing consumer services and mobile apps in parallel. But his other major decentralized social network, Mastodon, uses an established protocol, his ActivityPub, which has grown significantly in the months since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. It is attracting attention.

Since then, other companies have adopted ActivityPub and Mastodon, including Mozilla, Flipboard, Medium, and Automattic (WordPress.com’s parent company). Unless Bluesky makes the AT protocol and ActivityPub interoperable in some way, there could be challenges regarding Bluesky’s ultimate reach. Bridging Maybe the two of you Technically It’s possible, but it’s more likely to be in the future, not in the near future.

Meanwhile, Bluesky is working to make its services more accessible, including launching a public web interface later this month. This will allow anyone to view his Bluesky posts, even if they don’t have an account. This could make the network more promising in terms of being a true competitor to X in breaking news and conversation, but it could expose Bluesky users’ posts to the outside world in ways they are not ready for. There is also. (This app currently does not have an option to set your profile to “private” like Twitter/X does. some users is not Happy about this. )

Despite its growth, Bluesky’s reluctance to drop its invite-only status and open its network to more users has allowed other competitors of X to gain a foothold. Last month, for example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Instagram Threads, an alternative to X, had just under 100 million monthly active users. He believes he can reach 1 billion users in the next few years. Threads also plans to interoperate with ActivityPub in the future.

Bluesky’s announcement follows Threads’ rapid release of features to make the app more competitive with X, including a chronological feed, support for displaying likes, search, and (free) Includes an edit button, web version, voting, GIF support, and more. , topic tags, and soon a developer API. Mastodon also took advantage of the opportunity presented by the Twitter acquisition and launched an easier-to-use version of its service in September of this year. However, Mastodon currently has 1.6 million monthly active usersHowever, it is much smaller than a thread.

In addition to today’s news, Mr. Bluesky also provides mobile push notifications, shareable user lists, email verification, advanced feed and thread settings for sorting and filtering posts, a media tab in user profiles, and a user profile for your own users. We also mentioned other recently released features, such as a Likes tab for profiles. , the suggestions below, and various accessibility improvements.

Bluesky started life as a Twitter project under Jack Dorsey, but the company was spun off from Twitter. $13 million How to start research and development. Mr. Dorsey sits on its board of directors. This year, the company raised an $8 million seed round led by Neo to further its development and transformed from a public benefit LLC to a public benefit C Corp.

Source: techcrunch.com

Debut of 440-mile range All-electric Lucid Gravity SUV

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EV maker Lucid has completed the long-awaited Gravity. It’s an all-electric three-row SUV with the range to leave your Tesla Model X, Fisker Ocean, or Rivian R1S behind at a charging station.

The importance of Lucid Gravity, and more appropriately the recognition it receives, is essential for EV manufacturers. The company’s first EV, the Lucid Air sedan, has been well received. But demand has been weak this year, forcing automakers to cut prices and lower production estimates for this year.

Gravity could help Lucid regain its footing in the increasingly competitive EV industry. Of course, Lucid has to actually start the vehicle.clear delay In this respect, sedans and SUVs are no different. The company originally aimed to start manufacturing the Gravity SUV at the end of 2023, but in August the production date was changed to the end of 2024.

Lucid Gravity Basics

Image credits: clear

Lucid boasts that this EV “heralds the dawn of a new era for electric SUVs.” This tone has an explanation. As the sale of Lucid’s first vehicle (a luxury sedan called the Air) Not as good as that, its future now depends on whether Gravity can actually become a force in the EV market. But this is a new era for Lucid. And the all-electric SUV designed by the company has some notable attributes, including a rugged, low-slung design with a sport tail at the rear, all of which contribute to a drag coefficient of 0.24. I am. Its aerodynamic design is one element of his that contributes to battery life. Lucid also claims the vehicle accelerates from his 0 to 60 in less than 3.5 seconds. one more second longer than what Tesla claims for the Model X plaid.

Lucid Gravity features a compact powertrain with an EV motor and 900-volt electrical architecture. Payload capacity exceeds 1,500 lbs, plus 6,000 lbs. The company claims that the towing capacity is not sufficient. Lucid estimates Gravity’s range to be over 440 miles. Lucid boss Peter Rawlinson said in a statement that the expected range would be possible “with just over half the battery packs of our battery-hungry competitors.” If Lucid performs as suggested in real-world conditions, it will be the longest-range electric SUV on the market.

The vehicle appears to be able to charge like a Tesla, giving it 200 miles of range in about 15 minutes on a fast charger. The company says the seven-seat SUV will have a starting price of less than $80,000. If history is any guide, there will be plenty of add-ons and trim levels that far exceed that price point.

Inside the clear gravity

Image credits: clear

Inside, the SUV features a 34-inch curved OLED screen that floats above a redesigned steering wheel. Like the Air, the Lucid enhances the interior touches.

Of note is the seven-seater configuration and console that slides open for additional storage. Lucid said these sliding second-row seats, combined with an integrated convenient table, provide an “enhanced backseat experience.”

The company says the second- and third-row rear seats both fold flat for a total of more than 112 cubic feet of usable cargo space.

Source: techcrunch.com

Unity’s aim to provide developers with ethical and useful generative AI through Muse

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Unity is joining other companies in providing users with generative AI tools, but ensuring that those tools (unlike some) are built on a foundation that is not based on theft. I have been careful to check. Muse, a new suite of AI-powered tools, starts with texture and sprite generation and gradually moves into animation and coding as it matures.

The company announced these features at the Unite conference in San Francisco, along with Unity 6, the next big version of its cloud-based platform and its engine. After a turbulent few months that saw major product plans completely scrapped and a CEO ousted, you’re probably looking to get back to business as usual if possible.

Unity has traditionally positioned itself as a champion for small developers who lack the resources to adopt broader development platforms like rival Unreal. Therefore, the use of AI tools can be considered a useful addition for a developer who cannot afford to spend days creating, for example, 32 slightly different wooden wall textures in high resolution. can.

There are many tools out there to help you create and modify assets like this, but it’s often desirable to be able to say “make something more like it” without leaving your main development environment. The simpler your workflow, the more you can do without worrying about details like formatting or siled resources.

AI assets are also often used in prototyping, where things like artifacts and slightly wonky quality (which these days are common regardless of model) don’t really matter. However, illustrating your gameplay concept with original, well-made art rather than stock sprites or free sample 3D models can make the difference in communicating your vision to publishers and investors.

Examples of sprites and textures generated by Unity’s Muse.

Another new AI feature, Sentis, is a little harder to understand. “It enables developers to bring complex AI data models into the Unity runtime to create new gameplay experiences and features,” Unity’s press release states. So it’s kind of his BYO model, with some features built in, and it’s currently in open beta.

AI for animation and movement is in development and will be added next year. These highly specialized scripting and design processes can greatly benefit from generative first drafts or multiplicative helpers.

Image credits: unity

The Unity team emphasized that a big part of this release is to ensure that these tools are not overshadowed by future IP infringement lawsuits. Image generators like Stable Diffusion are fun to play with, but they’re built using assets from artists who never agreed to have their work taken and regurgitated.

“To provide usable output that is safe, responsible, and respectful of the copyrights of other creators, we challenged ourselves to innovate the training techniques for the AI ​​models that power Muse’s sprite and texture generation.” says a blog post on responsible AI. Techniques associated with presentations.

The company said it used a completely custom model trained with images owned or licensed by Unity. However, they essentially used stable diffusion to generate a larger synthetic dataset from the small, carefully selected datasets they had assembled.

Image credits: unity

For example, this wood wall texture may be rendered with several variations and color types using a stable diffusion model, but no new content will be added. At least that’s how it’s described to work. But as a result, new datasets are not only based on responsibly sourced data, but also one step removed from it, making it less likely that a particular artist or style will be duplicated.

Although this approach is more secure, Unity admitted that the quality of the initial models it was providing was reduced. However, as mentioned above, the actual quality of the generated assets is not necessarily important.

Unity Muse costs $30 per month as a standalone product. We’re sure you’ll soon hear from the community about whether this product is worth its price.

Source: techcrunch.com

Enhanced Google Maps now includes additional social features for planning outings with friends

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Google Maps get some new updates, includes social features designed to help people plan and collaborate with friends. The navigation platform also adds improved transit directions and emoji responses.

New social features are designed to take planning from group chats to Google Maps. The platform is updating its Lists feature to make it easier for people to share locations, make plans with friends, vote on group activities, and more. With this new feature, you can share locations in Maps with your friends, then create collaboration lists and start planning hangouts. Everyone in the group can add locations they want to visit and vote using emojis like hearts and thumbs up.

Image credits: Google

Google says the new feature will allow users to plan outings from start to finish within the Maps app. For example, you can invite your friends, make a list, and decide on all the activities you want to do this winter. Everyone can add activities that interest them, like ice skating at a specific rink or checking out the Holiday Market. Once people start voting, everyone will be able to see which activities are the most popular.

The new update will roll out globally on Android and iOS in the coming weeks.

When it comes to transportation improvements, Google Maps now makes it easy to see the best route to your destination based on factors such as ETA, number of connections, and trip length. We’ve also added the option to customize your route based on the type of transportation you want to use, or choose a route that requires minimal walking.

Plus, you’ll know exactly where the station entrances and exits are, which side of the street they’re on, and a clear walking route to and from the station. These updates will help ensure you’re on the right train in the right direction.

The transportation update will begin rolling out on Android and iOS in the coming weeks.

Google Maps also adds emoji reactions to photos, videos, and reviews. If you can’t find an emoji that sums up your feelings, you can sometimes create a mashup reaction like this: emoji kitchen. Emoji reactions begin rolling out globally today on Android and iOS.

Source: techcrunch.com

Morpheus Space’s new space mission design platform is user-friendly for everyone.

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Space propulsion developer Morpheus Space today announced its first software product, a mission simulation and design platform called Journey.

Morpheus product manager Jim Gianakopoulos said in a recent interview (and in a recent product walkthrough) that the product has been in the works for nearly two years. This was born out of the typical thruster sales process. Customers come to Morpheus to ask if the startup’s lineup of electric propulsion systems can meet their mission requirements. However, the process is highly technical, fragmented, and manual.

“We found that to be a deterrent,” Giannakopoulos said. “Just by giving the user a place of control to actually simulate the entire mission themselves, analyze and refine it, and see what kind of propulsion system fits, it empowers them. Masu. [their] needs. “

Journey aggregates all the data typically spread across Excel sheets, Python, and other systems and quickly spits out mission and system designs. The software allows customers to input measurements, operations, launch dates, and other requirements for a custom system. The software is designed to be easy to use, even for non-technical users, with templates for common attributes such as satellite size.

In particular, the Journey platform does more than just match customers to Morpheus’ unique propulsion system. Depending on mission requirements, we may also recommend third-party chemical propulsion systems and various subsystems such as attitude determination, control systems, and communications.

The platform’s first product is called Preliminary Mission Design (PMD), and the company also plans to roll out a higher-fidelity Advanced Mission Design (AMD). The platform is designed to support customers from mission conception through end-of-orbit operations.

Morpheus has five to six early customers who are using PMD products to inform early mission and system designs. AMD plans to release a closed beta within the next two weeks. Morpheus was founded in 2018 with offices in Germany and El Segundo, California. Last September, the company closed its $28 million Series A round led by Alpine Space Ventures.

Source: techcrunch.com

Blue Sky: A comprehensive guide to Twitter alternatives

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Is the grass greener next door? I’m not sure, but I’m sure the sky is bluer.

It’s been over a year since Elon Musk bought Twitter leading people to set up shop on alternative platforms. mastodon, post, pebble (already Shutter operation) and spill are presented as potential replacements, but few apart from the meta thread have achieved the growth rate that Bluesky has achieved. Bluesky is still invite-only in beta, but the hype is growing as more people visit the site. As you can see from apps like Clubhouse., the hype may not last forever. Meanwhile, Blue Sky has over 1 million users, according to Blue Sky’s Rose Wang. The app saw 8,300 first-time installs per day on average since its release in July 2023, but no substantive updates regarding download data have been released since then. And when Mr. Musk makes less-than-favorable changes to his X, Mr. Bluesky often checks record usage. During the launch of the site, many people asked for invitation codes (which were being bought on eBay) and it became more accessible as more people joined the app. Here we answer the most common questions about Bluesky Social.

What is Blue Sky? Bluesky is a decentralized social app conceptualized by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and developed in parallel with Twitter. This social network features a Twitter-like user interface with algorithmic selection, federated design, and community-specific moderation. Bluesky uses open source frameworks built in-house, specifically the AT protocol, which means that people outside the company get transparency into how the company is built and what is being developed. Dorsey introduced the Bluesky project in 2019, when he was still Twitter CEO. At the time, he said Twitter would fund “a small, independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers” responsible for building decentralized standards for social media, adding that he said the goal is for Twitter itself to adopt this standard. But that was before Elon Musk acquired the platform, and as of late 2022, Bluesky is completely divorced from Twitter. Mr. Dorsey even used Mr. Bluesky to express his dismay with Mr. Musk’s leadership. Twitter is funding a small, independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop open, decentralized standards for social media. The goal is for Twitter to eventually become a client of this standard. 🧵

How do I use Blue Sky? Once invited, users create a handle represented as @username.bsky.social and a display name that is prominently displayed in bold. If you feel like it, you can turn your domain name into your username. For example, his Darrell Etherington from TechCrunch is known on Bluesky as @etherington.com. The app itself functions a lot like basic Twitter, with the plus button allowing you to create 256-character posts. Posts can also include photos. The post itself can be replied to, retweeted, liked, reported from the Miscellaneous menu, shared to other apps via the iOS share sheet, or copied as text. Search for and follow others to see their latest updates on your Home timeline. Previously, the Bluesky app featured popular posts in the “What’s Hot” feed. That feed is then replaced by an algorithm, Personalized Discover feed, not just trending content. There’s also a Discover tab at the bottom center of the app’s navigation, offering more Who to Follow suggestions and a running feed of recently posted Bluesky updates. Image credits: Natalie Christman

How do I invite someone to Bluesky? New users will receive one invitation code for every two weeks they use the Bluesky app. The company monitors your social graph and further provides invitation codes to share with users, who have invited trusted participants. In the long term, Bluesky says the company considers the invitation code system to be part of the open source tools it is building to help server administrators manage and manage their communities.

Who is in Blue Sky? By early July 2023, instagram thread launched, Bluesky surpasses 1 million downloads across iOS and Android. App was officially released in September 2023 with 1 million users. High-profile figures have moved to Blue Sky, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Neil Gaiman, and Chelsea Manning. It is also home to organizations and journalists such as. X expulsion NPR, Taylor Lorenz and Jake Tapper.

Does Bluesky work like Twitter? In many ways, yes. However, Bluesky still lacks advanced tools such as DM and adding accounts to lists. In addition, Twitter supports ActivityPub and in Bluesky originally began as a project convened in 2019 when Jack Dorsey was CEO of Twitter. However, the social app has been an independent company since its founding in 2021.

Is Blue Sky free? Yes, but access is currently invite-only.

How does Blue Sky make money? Bluesky’s goal is to find other means to sustain the network outside of advertising through paid services, and to remain free for end users. On July 5, Bluesky announced an additional seed round of funding and a paid service that provides custom domains to end users who want to have their own domain as a handle for the service.

Is Bluesky decentralized? Yes. Bluesky’s team is developing a decentralized AT protocol that Bluesky is built on top of. In the beta stage, users can only join his bsky.social network, but Bluesky is planned to be federated. This means that an infinite number of independently operated communities can exist within an open source network. So if a developer other than Bluesky builds their own new social app using his AT protocol, Bluesky users can jump to the new app and port over their existing followers, handles, and data.

Is Blue Sky safe? In October 2023, Blue Sky added email verification. This is part of a larger effort to improve security and authentication of accounts on our network. This addition is an important step forward in making Bluesky more competitive against larger networks like X with more robust security controls.

Is Bluesky customizable? Yes. In May, Bluesky released custom algorithms, or what the company calls “custom feeds.” Custom His Feed allows users to subscribe to multiple different algorithms that showcase different types of posts that users want to see. You can pin custom feeds that appear at the top of your timeline as different tabs to choose from. Pinned or saved feeds can be found in the app’s sidebar under the “My Feeds” menu.

Is Bluesky available on iOS and Android? Yes. Bluesky is available on Android and was released on April 20th and was initially released for iOS users in late February. Users can access Bluesky on her web here. Bluesky also recently released the following third-party apps: gray sky It will launch on iOS and Android.

Are Bluesky’s posts really called “skeet”? Technically, the post doesn’t have a name, but Internet users have adopted the name “Skeets,” a combination of “tweet” and “sky.” Despite protests from Blue Sky CEO Jay Graeber and other who don’t find the slang for semen funny, users still widely refer to the posts as “skeet.”

How does Blue Sky deal with misinformation? After an October update, the app now flags misleading links and warns users. If a link shared in a user’s post doesn’t match its text, the app will show the user a “potentially misleading” warning that the link may be leading the user somewhere they don’t want to go. Warn you that there is. Image credits: Bluesky on Github

Has Blue Sky had any controversy? Bluesky has been plagued by moderation issues since its initial launch. The app has been criticized for failing to protect marginalized users and moderating racist content. Continue controversy frustrated that the app allows racial slurs in account handles, users launch a “posting strike,” and guardrails are established to warn against slurs and other offensive terms in usernames. refused to engage with the platform until further notice.

What was the “thread of hell”? Basically, too many people were replying to one thread, breaking notifications for everyone in the thread, making it impossible to mute posts, and causing the thread to split in a bunch of different subthreads. It was chaotic. you had to be there.

What is the difference between Blue Sky and Mastodon? Bluesky’s architecture is similar to that of Mastodon, but many users find Bluesky more intuitive, while Mastodon may seem less accessible. Mastodon makes choosing which instances to participate feel like an impossible task, and long-time users are very defensive about established posting standards. , it…

Source: techcrunch.com

Civitai, a generative AI content marketplace with millions of users, receives backing from Andreessen Horowitz

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A community that has a large following is stable diffusion, particularly among those experimenting with new AI technologies and creating their own models. Now, there is a platform called Chibitai, a startup that allows members to share their AI image models and content with other enthusiasts. The name “Chibitai” is a word play on “Civitas,” meaning community. Chibitai CEO Justin Maier recognized the need for such a platform after working on web development projects at Microsoft. He saw the potential for creating AI-generated images and posted them on platforms like Reddit and Discord, but felt the need for a centralized community to share and discover AI image models.

Chibitai became the go-to place for sharing AI models and images in 2023 and has since grown to over 3 million registered users and receives about 12-13 million unique visitors every month. The company has even raised $5.1 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in June 2023.

The platform allows users to upload images to create their own AI image models, and with each image generated, metadata is provided that includes details such as prompts and resources used. However, concerns have been raised about artists’ work being used without consent to train AI models, which Chibitai is working to address by allowing artists to flag resources they believe are using their work. Additionally, there are also concerns about non-consensual pornographic AI images being shared on the platform, which the company is working to address.

In the future, Chibitai aims to expand to other modalities beyond AI image models and to create a consumer-facing mobile app that will act as a repository for AI images. The company also plans to enable users to monetize their creations, but for now, everything on the site is free to use.

Source: techcrunch.com

Obskur’s Character Creator and Marketplace Simplifies VTuber Experience

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To stream as them My mysterious alter ego is a VTuber named Mai. M41H41, typically had to juggle at least four to seven different programs. However, doing everything at once was not only mentally exhausting, but also taxed the computer and could cause it to overheat in the process. If the program crashes, you have to destroy the characters to fix it. “In many cases, you don’t actually need to use all the programs,” Mai told TechCrunch during a Discord call. “So I literally told the community, ‘Sorry, you can’t like, throw videos, chat interactive videos today. Because we literally can’t do it right now.” ” VTuber A portmanteau of “virtual YouTuber,” who streams as a 2D or 3D model rather than showing his or her actual face. This burgeoning genre has produced some highly successful streamers, but the barrier to entry has been high due to the upfront costs and technical skills required to stream as an animated character. Obscur, an all-in-one broadcast application, wants to make VTubers more accessible by allowing users to create 3D models and interactive environments without any technical skills. The company premiered several new features at TwitchCon, including Character Creator, which was officially released last week. Obskur’s broadcast software essentially combines multiple different programs into his one platform, which can be easily integrated with Twitch. This is a big attraction for her VTubers like Mai. Obskur’s Character Creator and user-generated content marketplace is particularly unique in the VTuber space. Character Creator allows users to customize his 3D model by choosing free hairstyle, facial features, and body type. Users can adjust features to change their shape and size using sliders, and select feature colors from a color wheel. For further customization, users can browse an integrated marketplace where artists sell ready-made models and his 3D assets such as costumes and interactive backgrounds. “It needs to be advanced enough that people can create a character that’s so unique that they feel like, ‘This is me and this is my brand.’ But it also needs to be easy enough that they don’t need to know anything. ” Obskur co-founder Andranik Aslanyan told TechCrunch. “It’s like you don’t have to understand rigging, modeling, textures, etc. Just select a few options and it feels like a video game. If you can play The Sims, our application You should be able to use it.” Image credits: Provided by Obscur Mai says she started using Obksur regularly after testing the demo at TwitchCon. Previously, I used up to 12 applications to run streams. One is for running models, who often have flowing seafoam-colored hair, pink moth-like antennae, and ruffled black tops; It is meant to improve body tracking. Additional software was required to perform basic animation. For example, something as simple as a VTuber making a model cry or flirting with a subscriber by bouncing her chest can involve technical subtleties that viewers rarely see behind the scenes. . Mai has to use third-party programs for her chat interactions, such as being able to throw things at viewers or sprinkle flower petals, and also says that she has to use third-party programs to make those interactions a part of her Twitch earnings. It was necessary to use additional third-party software to integrate with the features. She also needed a program to upload models into her 3D backgrounds, ranging from a basic living room to an extraterrestrial planet. “And that’s before you even think about the type of content you’ll create that day,” Mai continued. “And you need to learn how each of them works as an application on its own, but also how it works as an application in conjunction with other applications you’re running. There are a variety of models. There were probably 10 to 12 applications that I downloaded for the part.” Next is cost. When Mai first became interested in her VTuber last year, she tried to create her own models by drawing with a mouse using her free software VRoid Studio. They said it was impossible and “looked all sorts of awful.” They ended up paying another artist about $100 to $120 (the industry’s “absolute rock bottom”) to model. A high quality She 2D model can cost thousands of dollars or more, depending on the quality of the original artwork, custom She mesh and textures, and various animations. Even 3D models that are less complex to animate are still expensive to commission. Additional assets such as new costumes, hairstyles, and backgrounds are expensive and difficult to source. While many artists focus on custom commissions, others sell preset assets on Etsy, Patreon, or other online marketplaces scattered across the internet. Some large marketplaces, like Booth, are “absolute monsters in and of themselves,” Mai said, as they are offered entirely in Japanese. “In that case, you have to download them and hope they’re in the right file format. If you don’t speak the language, no one will understand,” Mai said. Aslanyan pointed out that chat interactions are not only cumbersome to use, but also difficult to look at. On Twitch, users can purchase bit, prices start at $3.00 for 300 pieces and go up to $308 for 25,000 pieces. Twitch pays streamers 1 cent per Bit, so streamers typically offer special perks to viewers who spend Bits while streaming. VTubers often encourage their viewers to consume Bits by providing certain interactive features. A viewer can, for example, “throw” objects such as electronic money to her VTuber by spending 100 bits, and change her outfit by spending 1,000 bits. Streamers needed to get into character and engage with their viewers while manually triggering interactions in the third-party software they were using. Image credits: Provided by Obscur Obskur’s Twitch extensions and apps make features like viewer interaction more seamless for both streamers and viewers. The app allows streamers to determine different stages of interaction, which are automatically triggered when a viewer consumes a Bit. Obskur receives the standard 20% developer share set by Twitch. Aslanyan hopes that by making the process more seamless, monetization opportunities will become more accessible for streamers. “The idea behind it is to give viewers a reason to spend some money, because if you look at the return on bits compared to things like subscriptions and direct donations, it’s on the lower side. ” Aslanian said. “The reason is that there is no real incentive to donate to Bit.” It may be easier for streamers to monetize their work, but do artists risk losing their commissions? VTuber 2D and 3D design has grown into a digital cottage industry since 2020, with many artists looking to make full use of it. Time relies on commissions for its income. Neither Mai nor Aslanyan are worried about Obscur’s Character Creator pushing out artists. Instead, they said, the platform’s user-generated marketplace creates opportunities for artists to expand their clientele. Mai described Character Creator as a “baseline” opportunity for complete beginners to step into her VTuber career without paying a fortune or learning complex animations. “I think there’s still a lot of desire for specific art styles with specific designs that are unique only to individual artists. They’re still doing that craft in other mediums, and a lot of artists are moving into this field. “I mainly work in Obscur because the marketplace allows you to make money from the assets you’ve already created,” Mai said. Additionally, if streamers want to use more complex and highly specialized models for their streams, they can import commissioned works into Obskur. Image credits: Provided by Obscur Image credits: Courtesy of Obxul Aslanyan added that Obskur considered feedback from artists when designing Character Creator. An artist known as the art director of Obscur. art gunis known for designing the model for Ironmouse, one of North America’s most popular VTubers. According to Aslanyan, she oversaw the development of the character creator and also helped launch the marketplace. “From my point of view as a creator, the market size is expanding,” Aslanyan continued. “The basics are one-to-one. In our case, we can create a cool jacket, and then in the marketplace people have almost instantaneous access to the character, and we can sell that jacket many times over, and we’re able to sell that jacket many times over. You can potentially generate more revenue than spending months creating a jacket for a single character. It’s more of a scale business than…

Source: techcrunch.com

McLaren Healthcare discloses ransomware attack resulting in 2.2 million patient data theft

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Michigan-based McLaren Healthcare has confirmed that the sensitive personal and health information of 2.2 million patients was compromised in a cyberattack earlier this year. Later, a ransomware gang took credit for the cyberattack.

in New Data Breach Notification McLaren said in a filing with the Maine attorney general that hackers breached its systems over a three-week period from July 28 to Aug. 23, before the health care company noticed it a week later on Aug. 31. He said that he had done so.

According to McLaren, the hackers accessed a wealth of medical information, including patients’ names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, as well as invoices, billing and diagnostic information, prescription and drug details, and information about diagnostic results and treatments. It is said that he did. Medicare and Medicaid patient information was also collected.

McLaren is a healthcare provider with 13 hospitals in Michigan and approximately 28,000 employees. McLaren, which touts cost-efficiency efforts on its website, made more than $6 billion in revenue in 2022.

News of the incident broke in October when the Alphv ransomware group (also known as BlackCat) claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, claiming that millions of patients’ personal information was stolen. day to day after a cyber attack Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel warned residents that the breach “could potentially impact a large number of patients.”

TechCrunch has reviewed several screenshots posted by ransomware gangs on dark web leak sites, which show the company’s password manager, internal financial statements, some employee information, and patient-related information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers. Confirmed that it showed access to spreadsheets of personal and health information. , social security number, and diagnostic information.

Alphv/BlackCat claimed in the post that the gang had been in contact with McLaren representatives, but provided no evidence of this.

Contacted via email, McLaren spokesperson David Jones declined to comment beyond the company’s official statement or answer our questions about the incident. A spokesperson declined to say whether the company had received any payment requests or paid the hackers. McLaren’s chief information security officer, George Goble, declined to make him available for an interview.

What McLaren is currently facing is At least 3 class action lawsuits In connection with cyber attacks.

Source: techcrunch.com

Revival of Startup Valuations Possible with AI Automation

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AI technology is According to , it helps startups become leaner and more cost efficient. Latest report from Battery Ventures. Conversely, Battery expects low-burn startups to become even more valuable if growth rates remain attractive.

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That’s an interesting paper. When we think of AI from a startup perspective, we tend to think about what AI-powered software startups themselves build. If we turn the question of what AI software does, for Battery sees a future where startups are worth many times their revenue. This could allow more emerging technology companies to receive venture-backed or full-stop support, and increase the chances that existing startups can grow to their previous valuations.

exchange banner sq grn plusThe issue is the amount of software revenue. The story of a rebound in tech stock prices from 2021’s market gluts is a familiar one by now, and startups can’t get any hotter than they once were when money was cheap and plentiful. The same view applies.

But what’s the point of a profitable startup if it can’t grow quickly? Seems unlikely. So what venture investors want above all, and founders do too, is a world where every dollar of revenue a startup generates is worth more. This situation will help the venture math pencil to draw more neatly.

It’s much easier to invest in a cash-burning startup when the revenue you’re building is worth, say, $9 instead of $6. Or $4.

The Battery argument looks like this:

Source: techcrunch.com

The Rise of Inversion Art as the Y Combinator of the Art World

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for many startups, qualifying for an accelerator program like Y Combinator or TechStars is like winning the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Accelerators offer a wealth of opportunities that can make the difference between a great idea that fails to reach its potential and a great idea that leads to an IPO.

We’re used to seeing accelerators work for companies that disrupt travel, payment processing, and cloud storage, but what if that model could work outside the confines of the VC factory? Artists What if you could use a little investment, a lot of mentoring and hands-on support, a ton of referrals, and a ton of faith to help you in your career?

That’s exactly right inverted art Trying to.

“Y Combinator changed my life,” Inversion Art co-founder Joey Flores told TechCrunch. “I am very grateful for this program and thought it would be great to do something like that for artists.”

Mr. Flores is a Y Combinator alumnus. Music Marketing Platform EarBits It graduated from the program in 2010 and was sold in 2015. Although Flores is not a professional artist, art is a very important part of his life, and a chance comment by a VC in a 2020 conversation set him on the path to finding an artist. It’s his way of supporting artists who have the drive and passion to make art a lifelong career, but need help to achieve it. As part of his research, he connected with co-founder Jonathan Neal and together they seek to change the way artists find success and recognition.

“Artists have always relied on others, such as collectors, museums and galleries, to build their careers and define success,” Neal said. “In our opinion, we are the first organization to actually sit at the same table with artists in all of their negotiations and activities and truly help them define success for themselves.”

Source: techcrunch.com

Elon Musk Biopic to be Directed by Darren Aronofsky, According to Sources

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An Elon Musk biopic is being produced at New York-based studio A24 and is being directed by “Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky, according to sources.

A24 has secured the rights to the biopic of the world’s richest man, Walter Isaacson, the people said, adding that the Musk biopic will be produced by Aronofsky’s production company Protozoa Pictures.

“I’m glad Darren is doing it. He’s one of the best players,” Musk said in an X post on Friday.

The studio previously worked with the director on the film The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser, which won Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Makeup and Best Hairstyling.

A24 received 18 Academy Award nominations for six films this year, ranking second behind entertainment giant Walt Disney.

Isaacson’s book about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was made into a film of the same name by Universal in 2015, starring Irish actor Michael Fassbender as the late tech tycoon.

A24 has secured the rights to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk.
AP
“I’m glad Darren is doing it. He’s one of the best players,” Musk said in an X post on Friday.
Reuters

A book about Mr. Musk was released in September by book publishing giant Simon & Schuster, which is owned by private equity firm KKR.

The person told Reuters the deal was highly competitive, with top studios and filmmakers also competing.

Mr. Musk is the head of rocket maker and satellite communications company SpaceX, the head of Tesla, the world’s most valuable carmaker, and the head of tunnel construction company The Boring Company and brain chip company Neuralink.

The person told Reuters the deal was highly competitive, with top studios and filmmakers also competing. Darren Aronofsky, top.
Reuters

The billionaire acquired social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) for $44 billion last year after a six-month acquisition spree.

Source: nypost.com

UK News: Government Urges Targeted Vaccination for Individuals Most Vulnerable to Gonorrhea and Monkeypox

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British scientists are urging the government to implement routine vaccines for those most susceptible to monkeypox and gonorrhea, marking the world’s first immunization program against the latter. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has recommended to Rishi Sunak that both programs be offered opportunistically to those who need it most.

Professor Andrew Pollard, Chair of the JCVI, expressed, “The UK’s gonorrhea prevention program is a world-first and is expected to significantly reduce gonorrhea levels, which are currently at record highs. In addition, we recommend implementing routine monkeypox vaccinations to prevent a recurrence of the outbreaks seen in early 2022. Both vaccines should be offered to those at highest risk.”

The JCVI also advises that recommended vaccination programs against gonorrhea should primarily target gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men, who are at higher risk of contracting the disease. This comes in light of a 50.3% increase in gonorrhea diagnoses in 2022 compared to 2021, totaling 82,592 cases, according to Health and Safety Executive sexually transmitted infection (STI) statistics. Additionally, the number of gonorrhea cases in the UK last year was reported to be up by more than a fifth from pre-pandemic levels.

Greg Fell, chairman of the Association of Public Health Officers, told Sky News: “The recent rise in sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea is extremely worrying and today’s advice from the JCVI is undoubtedly a prudent course of action. However, this increase in numbers is also a result of more people visiting clinics and other diagnostic services for testing, which has led to higher demand for sexual health services.”

“As we said in June, we are concerned that the current level of funding for sexual health services provided by public health grants in England will not be able to meet this increase in demand. The new vaccination program will therefore be planned with this in mind and backed by appropriate funding and resources to ensure that existing services remain intact and people can be vaccinated in a timely and dignified manner as needed.”

Source: news.sky.com

YC-Powered Voice API Platform Empowers Productivity App Bots with Super-Powerful Pivot

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Calendar apps are essential to productivity, but it’s difficult to differentiate them enough from their core use cases to sustain growth. Powered by Y Combinator super powerfulan AI-powered meeting note-taking tool that does not require bot recording, has overcome this obstacle and is currently Vapian API provider, makes it easy for anyone to create natural, voice-based, AI-powered assistants.

Superpowered was founded in 2020 by Jordan Deersley and Nikhil Gupta. But Dearsley said after three years of work, the team wanted to work on a more challenging product. Superpowered is profitable, the startup said, and the company has no intention of shutting down its first product and is in the process of hiring someone to run it. Y Combinator announced in June that more than 10,000 people use the product each week, but the company did not provide updated numbers.

Image credits: Vapi

To date, Superpowered/Vapi has raised $2.1 in seed money from investors including Kleiner Perkins and Abstract Ventures.

Pivot to Vapi

The company offers Vapi as an API that allows developers to create bots using only a prompt and putting it behind a phone number. Additionally, SDK integration is also provided, allowing developers to embed bots on their websites and mobile apps.

Dearsley told TechCrunch via email that the idea to build Vapi stemmed from a personal problem. He moved to San Francisco and began to miss his friends and family in different time zones. He built his AI bot that connects to the other party’s phone number to have a conversation with someone to organize their thoughts.

“I liked it, but I was constantly annoyed by how unnatural it was. It didn’t feel like talking to a person. The audio cut out, it took a long time to respond, and when I was talking it would interrupt me. ” he said.

“So I kept working on it and went for walks with it. Eventually, we fell in love with this conversation problem. It’s really hard to make something feel human. Voice assistants. today It’s clunky and turn-based, so I wanted to create something with a human touch. ”

Technically, Vapi is currently integrating a number of third-party APIs to build a robust voice conversation platform. For example, we use solutions from Twilio for phone calls, Deepgram for transcription, Daily for audio streaming, and OpenAI for responses. PlayHT For text reading.

ScaleConvo, a 2024 YC Winter Batch startup, is already using Vapi to launch conversational bots for sales teams and property management companies. However, Vapi did not reveal other customers.The company publishes his API Current Vapi Phone and Vapi Web products.

Vapi challenges

According to Magnus Revan, former Gartner analyst and chief product officer at multimodal conversation startup Openstream.ai, one of the startup’s biggest challenges is reducing latency.

“OpenAI models take between 2 and 10 seconds to generate a response. On the phone, the gold standard is 700 milliseconds between when the user finishes speaking and when the ‘bot’ begins speaking. And with capable models (high parameter count open source models like LLaMA2 70B) it is very difficult to achieve sub-second latencies,” he says.

Currently, Vapi’s latency is between 1.2 and 2 seconds depending on various factors. Dearsley expects that Vapi’s own efforts and improvements to his OpenAI will bring latency down to below a second for him in the next month.

Mohamed Musbah, an angel investor at Vapi, also said that the startup’s solution will be improved by overall advances in APIs.

“As OpenAI and other companies improve their models, Vapi’s platform will become more powerful, with a better knowledge base, code execution capabilities, and a larger context window. “As demand grows, Vapi’s focus on solving the biggest friction areas in voice communications will be a strength for the company,” he said.

However, this puts the responsibility on improving other solutions, not Vapi itself. Dearsley said the reliance on other APIs will make Vapi less defensive if large companies start moving into the space. But the team said it has an advantage in that it has built the infrastructure to handle thousands of calls simultaneously. Dearsley emphasized that with the general availability of Vapi’s web and phone APIs, the team will also look to build proprietary models for his audio-to-audio solutions.

Source: techcrunch.com

Lunar.dev seeks to assist developers in controlling the expenses associated with using third-party APIs

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Developers are increasingly using third-party APIs to build applications, and the cost of some APIs can quickly increase. It has been difficult for businesses to understand and find ways to manage these costs.

That’s where Lunar.dev comes in. It’s a tool designed from the ground up to help developers monitor, manage, and take control of their API billing. Today, the company is releasing an open source version of the tool and also announcing a $6 million seed investment.

Lunar CEO Eyal Solomon said that businesses are increasingly relying on third-party APIs to quickly add functionality to applications such as payments, instant messaging, and access to large language models. Masu. These APIs make it easy to add this type of advanced functionality, but can have an impact in terms of monthly usage costs. “As enterprises expand their use of APIs, we’re seeing them build their own internal solutions to better manage and enforce control over the use of third-party APIs,” Solomon told TechCrunch. told.

They weren’t aware of a viable product for managing the use of third-party APIs, so they set out to build one. “The way we look at things is that we focus solely on consumption to help businesses reduce costs and maintain flawless performance and efficiency when it comes to using APIs,” he said.

Installation involves starting a Docker container that loads the Lunar proxy and Lunar interceptor. This allows you to see API traffic flowing through your development pipeline to your API provider. Lunar does not need to connect directly to the API to understand usage. After installation, it will automatically start intercepting your API traffic. Through a command line interface, developers can set usage policies, such as the maximum cost allowed, and those policies are implemented as traffic flows through the interceptor. A graphical interface for policy configuration is planned in the roadmap.

“We are in the developer pipeline, between the natural traffic from production to the API provider, where all the policies and policies are implemented and enforced,” Solomon said. says.

The company decided to start with an open source version of the tool to increase developer buy-in. In the future, we plan to build managed services for companies that don’t want to deal with raw open source, and this is ultimately how we make money. Lunar releases open source products in the following ways: MIT licenseAnd Solomon says open source components are important to his company and its development.

“We are open source, and being open source is some of the key building blocks on our platform. It’s something we’re dedicated to. [offering] our community of developers and engineering teams,” Solomon said.

The company is currently a small company with eight employees split between locations in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, but is currently hiring and seeking R&D and marketing personnel.

The $6 million seed was led by Uncork Capital, with participation from Angular Ventures.

Source: techcrunch.com