Building owners are often in the dark about their carbon pollution.
A new algorithm could shed light on itStarting this year, thousands of buildings in New York City will have to start reducing their carbon emissions.
There are plenty of tools out there that can convert an electric bill into estimated carbon emissions, but many are based on rough estimates.
It’s why Nzero, a carbon-tracking startup, developed a new algorithm, giving building owners reports that estimate carbon pollution down to the hour.
From there, the company’s software helps building owners identify upgrades and retrofits that will reduce emissions while also being the most cost effective.
The “AI ClipHero” feature creates short clips from livestreamed selling events, which often last for hours.
“Shoppable ‘explainer’ videos are the most powerful video commerce medium right now, with TikTok and Instagram becoming the primary way Gen Z discovers, learns about products and purchases products.
However, creating shoppable videos [requires] significant production times,” CommentSold CEO Guatam Goswami told TechCrunch.
AI-powered clipping software isn’t new, but not many companies have developed AI-powered tools specifically designed for live commerce.
Since launching in 2017, CommentSold now helps over 7,000 small- and mid-sized businesses deliver live shopping and e-commerce experiences.
TikTok is rolling out its Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes, in select markets.
The app is available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in Canada and Australia, the company said.
Starting today, TikTok Notes is available for download and limited testing in Australia and Canada.
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) April 17, 2024“We hope that the TikTok community will use TikTok Notes to continue sharing their moments through photo posts.
Earlier this month, TechCrunch reported that the Bytedance-owned company’s Instagram competitor is likely to be named TikTok Notes.
After its IPO, the platform is planning a slew of product features for the year ahead, and — spoiler alert — most of them are powered by AI.
“I think the IPO was an important milestone, but we’re just focused on building for our users,” Reddit Chief Product Officer Pali Baht told TechCrunch.
Reddit’s product roadmap includes faster loading times, more tools for moderators and developers, and an AI-powered language translation feature to bring Reddit to a more global audience.
According to Reddit’s IPO filing, in December 2023, 50% of Reddit’s daily active unique users were from non-U.S. countries.
The company will build on those updates with other new tools, like an LLM that’s trained on moderators’ past decisions and actions.
Truth Social, the social media platform owned by Donald Trump’s media company, has announced plans to launch a live TV streaming platform.
The streaming service will launch in three phases.
The company first plans to introduce Truth Social’s CDN (content delivery network) for streaming to the Truth Social app for Android, iOS and the web.
Next, Truth Social plans to release over-the-top (“OTT”) streaming apps for phones, tablets and other devices.
Truth Social went public last month after shareholders approved a merger of TMTG and Digital World Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
It’s against this backdrop that Evolution Equity Partners, a growth capital investment firm based in NYC, on Tuesday launched a $1.1 billion cybersecurity and AI fund, the third such fund in Evolution’s history.
The fund, called Evolution Technology Fund III, was oversubscribed, with participation from existing and new endowments, sovereign investors, insurance companies, foundations, fund of funds, family offices and angels.
“The Evolution Technology Fund III has already backed fifteen leading cybersecurity companies, initiating its investment period over 12 months ago,” Seewald said.
“We believe that provides private markets investors with diversified exposure to cybersecurity opportunities.”ESG will be another factor, according to Seewald.
Evolution’s 30-person teams manages around $2 billion in assets and has backed 60 companies to date; its previous fund was $400 million.
Apple is opening up web distribution for iOS apps targeting users in the European Union from today.
Apple’s walled garden stance has enabled it to funnel essentially all iOS developer revenue through its own App Store in the past.
An Apple rep described this as a baseline safety and security standard which they said iOS users expect to help ensure their device is protected from external risks.
Given Apple has only just started implementing web distribution for iOS apps it remains to be seen whether the EU will step in for a closer look at this aspect of its DMA compliance too.
It’s also unclear how much demand there will be among iOS developers for direct web distribution.
When prolific venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Lerer Hippeau announced in early 2024 they were pivoting away from consumer tech, it sparked a social media debate about whether there are still opportunities.
Jumping in, Maven will be there helping to build the next game-changing health AI company or robotics AI consumer business, he said.
Scheinman started the firm in 2013 and brought in Deshpande soon after to focus on consumer AI and personalized medicine.
They brought in investment partner Robert Ravanshenas in 2015, and again in 2020 after a stint in a startup operating role, to focus on fintech, longevity and consumer AI.
Together the trio remains committed to seeding similar consumer tech trends, including applications of AI, personalized healthcare, climate and sustainability, family technology and fintech.
Spotify isn’t the only one to dabble with AI playlists — on Tuesday, Amazon announced it would do the same.
Amazon Music is now testing Maestro, an AI playlist generator, allowing U.S. customers on both iOS and Android to create playlists using spoken or written prompts, which can even contain emojis.
Amazon suggests that in addition to emojis, customers can write prompts that include activities, sounds, or emotions.
While Spotify’s AI generator is starting its tests in the U.K. and Australia, Amazon’s product is launching to a “subset” of free Amazon Music users, as well as Prime customers and Unlimited Amazon Music subscribers on iOS and Android in the U.S. for the time being.
To access Maestro, users will need the latest version of the Amazon Music mobile app and will tap on the option for Maestro on their home screen.
Now that humanoids are all the rage in the robotics industry, Boston Dynamics on Tuesday officially retired theirs.
Boston Dynamics has been focused on commercializing technologies for a number of years now.
Boston Dynamics was, of course, well ahead of the current humanoid robotics curve.
Another wrinkle in today’s news is that, as of February, Boston Dynamics was still showcasing Atlas’ capabilities.
Meantime, in lieu of a gold watch, Boston Dynamics is offering up a video featuring some of Atlas’ greatest hits and most spectacular falls.
