Ivan Mehta, Author at TechCrunch

Apple acquires AI startup specializing in overlooking manufacturing components

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 04:06:05 +0000

Apple has added another AI startup to its acquisition list with Canada-based DarwinAI, which specializes in vision-based tech to observe components during manufacturing to improve efficiency, Bloomberg reported. While Apple or DarwinAI haven’t announced this deal, several members of the startup’s team joined Apple’s machine learning teams in January, as per their LinkedIn profiles. DarwinAI […]

Amazon now lets sellers create listings through a URL by using AI

Ivan Mehta — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 06:54:27 +0000

Amazon launched generative AI-powered features last year to help sellers quickly create listings by entering just a few words about the product. The company is now making it easier for sellers to create listings if an item is already listed on their website. The e-commerce giant’s new tool uses AI to parse details from an […]

Dev-focused note-taking startup Stashpad launches Google Docs alternative you can use without any login

Ivan Mehta — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 10:39:44 +0000

Stashpad, a developer-focused “DM to yourself”-styled notebook app, is now pivoting to a docs app that you can use without logging in. The company will still maintain its original notes app and call it “Stashpad Lists.” StashPad Docs is the company’s new offering that doesn’t require any login and supports Markdown formatting. The product is […]

Google Play will show AI-powered FAQs and recent YouTube videos for games

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:00:16 +0000

Google announced a number of new features for Google Play listings for games, including AI-powered FAQs, displaying the latest YouTube videos, new immersive ad formats and support for native PC game publishing. The announcements were made at the Google for Games Developer Summit held in San Francisco. As part of the announcement, the company is […]

Code suggests that TikTok could be building an app for photos

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 13:12:43 +0000

After rivaling music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple music with TikTok Music, ByteDance might be looking at creating an Instagram competitor named TikTok Photos, code found in the TikTok app suggests. As spotted by The SpAndroid blog, TikTok’s APK file — an installable file format for Android — contains references and icons to a […]

Telegram founder says the company will become profitable next year

Ivan Mehta — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 13:03:20 +0000

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that the company expects to hit profitability next year with eyes on going public in the future. The chat app, which crossed 900 million users, is making “hundreds of millions of dollars” through ads and subscriptions, Durov told the Financial Times in an interview. While global investors have offered the […]

Feeeed is a reader app that goes beyond tracking RSS feeds

Ivan Mehta — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:40:51 +0000

In the last 12 months, reader apps have adopted AI to change how users consume news. Instagram co-founders’ now discontinued Artifact introduced AI-powered summaries and headlines. Newer apps like Bulletin and former Twitter engineers’ Particle are taking similar approaches. However, developer Nate Parrott’s app Feeeed (it’s four Es), which is available for iPhones and iPads, […]

Creator wishlist startup Throne is doing so well that it returned investor money

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 16:00:42 +0000

Throne, which lets fans gift items to creators from their wishlist, is launching a new gifting portal for family and friends called Happy Wishlist. However, the more interesting bit of the story is that last year, the company returned the money it had raised from investors and opted for the bootstrapped route. Starting Throne The […]

X now allows Premium+ users and organizations to publish articles

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 10:18:41 +0000

X announced a new long-form post format called Articles today. The feature, which is only available to Premium+ subscribers and verified organizations, lets users publish posts with text formatting, other X posts and embedded videos and images — akin to a post on a WordPress-like content management system or an article on Medium. The company’s […]

Apple is rolling out VisionOS 1.1 with improved personas

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 05:28:38 +0000

Apple released VisionOS 1.1 on Thursday with the most notable feature being improved personas of users. Specifically, the new update improves hair and makeup appearance, neck and mouth representation, and rendering of the eyes for EyeSight, which lets others see your eyes when you’re wearing the headset. Additionally, users can also now set up their […]

Oura starts selling its products on Amazon

Ivan Mehta — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 17:00:20 +0000

Smart fitness ring maker Oura announced a partnership with Amazon today to sell its products through the e-commerce site. The company said that both its rings — Horizon in six finishes and Heritage in four finishes — will be available on Amazon. The Heritage ring starts from $299 and the Horizon ring starts from $399. The […]

Telegram now lets users convert personal accounts to business accounts

Ivan Mehta — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 06:42:40 +0000

Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced Wednesday that users on the chat app with personal accounts can now convert them into business accounts by paying a monthly fee. This gives users the ability to list information such as location and opening hours, which might be helpful for small cafes and shop owners. Some of the other […]

Apple releases a new API to fetch transactions from Apple Card and Apple Cash

Ivan Mehta — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:37:45 +0000

Apple’s iOS 17.4 update is primarily about adapting iOS to EU’s Digital Market Act Regulation. But the company has also released a new API called FinanceKit that lets developers fetch transactions and balance information from Apple Card, Apple Cash and Savings with Apple. At launch, the company has partnered with YNAB, Monarch and Copilot. In […]

Spotify submits an update to show pricing information to iOS users in EU

Ivan Mehta — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 05:00:27 +0000

Spotify said today that it has submitted a new version App Store that shows pricing and feature information about the audio company’s different plans in the EU. The update, which is pending approval from Apple, also includes a link for users to buy subscription plans from Spotify’s website. Earlier this week, the European Commission fined […]

Competition in AI video generation heats up as DeepMind alums unveil Haiper

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:30:54 +0000

AI-powered video generation is a hot market on the back of OpenAI’s releasing the Sora model last month. Two DeepMind alums, Yishu Miao and Ziyu Wang, have publicly released their video-generation tool Haiper with its own AI model underneath. Miao, who was previously working at TikTok in the Global Trust & Safety team, and Wang, […]

MacPaw’s new app helps you remove redundant photos from your iPhone

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:00:37 +0000

MacPaw, the developer of popular Mac and iOS apps, has released a new iPhone app called CleanMyPhone, which helps users free up storage by removing duplicate photos and other unwanted images. The app is divided into three main tabs: declutter, organize and network. Declutter detects and scans your photo library on your local device to […]

Google temporarily restores Indian firms’ apps on Play Store after regulatory intervention

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 03:10:49 +0000

Indian firms whose apps were delisted by Google last week have begrudgingly started to comply with Play Store billing rules to get their apps back on the store.

Google’s latest Pixel Drop will let users post high-quality photos, videos on Instagram

Ivan Mehta — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 19:00:52 +0000

Google today announced its latest set of Pixel-related features for phones tablets, and watches, such as 10-bit video support for Instagram, expansion of the Circle to search feature, automatic workout detection on the original pixel watch and selective app screening for multiple pixel devices. Pixel phone updates The company is now allowing users to capture […]

Airbnb has a new label to denote its top (and worst) listings

Ivan Mehta — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:00:43 +0000

Airbnb already has labels like “Guest favorites” and “Superhost” to indicate the quality of a property or the host. Now the company is adding a new label for the top 25% and top 1% properties on the listing page. Usually, Airbnb releases updates twice a year with so-called winter and summer releases. But this time, […]

Apple announces new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with M3 chip

Ivan Mehta — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 13:12:00 +0000

Apple announced new MacBook Air models with 13-inch and 15-inch screen sizes with its own M3 chip. The 13-inch model starts at $1,099 ($100 less than the M2 Air model) and the 15-inch model starts at $1,299. Both variants are available for preorders in the U.S. starting today, with general availability slotted for March 8. […]