If you didn’t know legendary tennis player and seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams had an eye for interior design, consider this your heads up.
Walmart announced in October 2023 that it was developing an interior design assistant that leverages generative AI and AR technology.
Palazzo has ambitious plans for its platform and wants to expand beyond generative AI-powered offerings.
The company will bring on retail partners to include inventory on the platform for Vinci to suggest to potential customers.
Most notably, Palazzo is bringing in notable interior design companies (like V Starr) to contribute designs on the platform and be compensated for their work.
It did so, however, with the ambitious goal of creating a walking bipedal robot in a year’s time.
Humanoid robots are having a moment.
The goal of the deal is to “develop next generation AI models for humanoid robots,” according to Figure.
“We are excited to collaborate with Figure and work towards accelerating AI breakthroughs,” says Microsoft Corporate VP, Jon Tinter.
Mechatronics are easier to judge in a short video than AI and autonomy, and from that perspective, the Figure 01 robot appears quite dexterous.
That’s why software developer Adam Whitcroft built a dead simple to-do app called Twodos that doesn’t remind you of your pending tasks.
Whitcroft, who has worked at a16z-backed Rewind and Shopify, wanted to have a non-noisy app for his tasks.
You can add tasks, mark them as done using a swipe gesture, and check the archive to clear all tasks.
Last decade’s simple to-do hit Clear, launched a new version called Clear 2 last month.
Clear’s developer Phill Ryu said that the app still follows simple gestures for navigation and task management without overloading the app with features.
These doorbell cameras are, however, still available elsewhere.
Consumer Reports says EKEN did not respond to their emails reporting these issues.
Despite these flaws and Consumer Reports warning online marketplaces about them, the doorbells remain available for sale on Amazon, Sears, and Shein.
But Consumer Reports claimed there are similar doorbells, likely whitelabels of EKEN doorbells, still available on Walmart.
After TechCrunch shared five listings flagged by Consumer Reports with Walmart, Forrest said the company took down three of the five, while two had already been removed.
Bfree, a tech-enabled debt collection startup based in Nigeria, was founded to automate and introduce ethical debt recovery processes after its founders witnessed the use and adverse effects of aggressive retrieval techniques, such as incessant calling and debt-shaming, by predatory digital lenders.
It also launched a loan collection management SaaS dubbed Workflow, which targets companies with in-house collection teams or those that are not keen to outsource.
Bfree to create secondary market for loansIts current loan portfolio stands at over $400 million, out of which it has managed to collect 12.5%.
He added that they also have an analytics solution for banks to help them gain insights into secondary debt markets.
“We foresee the growing prominence of credit management and are confident that Bfree will spearhead the creation of a secondary market on the continent for distressed assets.
Decentralized social network Mastodon has updated its official app for Android to let users easily share their profiles with QR Codes.
To share the QR code, users can go to their profile tab and tap the QR icon next to their name to get a code related to the profile others can scan.
Mastodon has also updated prompts for blocking and muting to explain the effects of taking those actions on a profile.
Users trying out Mastodon have complained about the complicated nature of having different servers on the ActivityPub network.
The company will have to work on making it easier for users to understand and navigate the decentralized social world.
An internal congressional memo viewed by TechCrunch casts strong doubt on Rocket Lab’s claim that its Neutron rocket will be ready for launch in time to meet a crucial contract deadline from the Space Force.
In response to industry feedback, Space Systems Command changed its procurement strategy for the next batch of national security launch contracts to accommodate newer launch providers.
Neutron is Rocket Lab’s medium-lift vehicle and is being added as a complement to its successful small Electron rocket.
Uncertainties around Archimedes’ hot fire tests are “the biggest issue” in Rocket Lab’s claims, the memo argues.
It also highlights proprietary timelines shared by other launch providers that suggest there is much work left to be included in RFPs by the VCSFA.
Finding people who share your active passion — to go hiking, biking, running, whatever — is a pretty enduring problem.
Step forward Liveliness, a Spanish startup building a community app around shared sporting passions.
There’s a chat function and the ability for users to set up events other users can sign up to join.
In the last three months people really started to use the app, making plans, creating events.”Users range in age from young to middle aged.
“We just tried to make the app as simple as possible so people understand and know how to use it,” he added.
WhatsApp announced today that it is rolling out a “search by date” function for individual and group chats on Android devices.
Users can only search for a chat on a particular date instead of specifying a date range.
To use the feature, users have to go a one-on-one or group chat details by tapping on the contact or the group name.
To search by date, they have to tap on the search button and then tap the calendar icon.
Users can already search through conversations by media type such as links, media, and docs through the conversation detail page.
Here at 4YFN at the MWC tradeshow we spotted a new one: A stick-on patch for tracking athletes’ sweat to monitor salt loss and help them tailor their rehydration strategy.
Analysis of the patch wearers’ “sweatprofile” is sent to a companion app where they access their tailored hydration plan.
Proper hydration can boost sportspeople’s performance by helping to maintain energy levels and endurance, as well as reducing the risk of cramps, per Ortrega Tañá.
Sweanty’s wearables are not yet available for athletes to buy but the startup expects to launch them in Spain by the end of April.
(Swimmers or other sports where the user is immersed in water are an exception; they will have to stick with manual methods for tracking salt loss such as weighing themselves before and after their session.)
