Tesla is about to start giving every customer in the U.S. a one-month trial of its $12,000 driver-assistance system, which it calls Full Self-Driving Beta, provided they have a car with the compatible hardware.
The company is also reportedly mandating, at CEO Elon Musk’s request, that prospective buyers are given a demo of the software before they purchase a new Tesla.
The full-court press to promote FSD Beta software, an upgraded version of the Autopilot system that comes standard in all Tesla vehicles, is happening at an interesting moment for the company.
It’s the end of the first quarter of 2024, and Tesla usually pulls out all the stops — including having executives help deliver cars to customers — to meet or beat its sales goals.
The decision to temporarily increase access to the FSD Beta software comes as Tesla has been rolling out a new “V12” version of the software that ditches the previous code in favor of a system that runs entirely on neural networks.
Meta announced on Thursday that its beta experience of sharing Threads accounts to the fediverse is now open to users ages 18 and up with public profiles.
To opt into the fediverse beta experience on Threads, go to account settings and toggle on fediverse sharing.
This gives you the chance to connect with other people who may not be on Threads but use alternative social networking apps.
For instance, beta users on Threads can’t see people in the fediverse who replied or liked their posts.
Users also can’t share posts with polls.
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
Hello and welcome back to the TechCrunch Crypto newsletter.
This week in web3Crunching numbersThis week the crypto market prices were lower, but still relatively strong compared to previous months.
Bitcoin was down 6.5% on the week at $67,300 and 32% higher on the month, at the time of publication.
This kickstarted her career in web3, data and AI solutions.
Adobe is making it easier for users to create and publish social content on mobile, as the company announced today that it’s launching the latest version of the Adobe Express app in beta.
With this update, Adobe is bringing its Firefly AI models directly into the app, allowing users to quickly create and edit social content using generative AI tools.
The Adobe Express app lets you preview and publish content to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Since Apple restricts the number of beta users in apps, iOS users need to sign up to get access to the beta app.
Today’s announcement comes a few weeks after Adobe and TikTok announced that TikTok’s AI-powered Creative Assistant is now available directly within Adobe Express.
A team led by former Twitter engineers is rethinking how AI can be used to help people process news and information.
The startup was founded last year by former Senior Director of Product Management at Twitter, Sara Beykpour, who worked on products like Twitter Blue, Twitter Video, and conversations, and had spearheaded the experimental app, twttr.
She had been at Twitter from 2015 through 2021, growing her position from software engineering to that of a senior director of product management.
The premise behind Particle, as Beykpour explained last month, is to make it easier to keep up with news using AI.
We’re hoping to talk in more detail about how Particle vets its sources closer to a public launch.
The Space Development Agency is the mystery customer behind Rocket Lab’s up-to $515 million, 18-satellite order announced in late December, the two firms announced today.
In a regulatory filing from December 21, Rocket Lab said it would “design, manufacture, deliver and operate 18 space vehicles” for an unnamed U.S. government customer.
Under the contract, Rocket Lab will deliver and operate a prototype constellation in two orbital planes of nine satellites each.
Rocket Lab will not be providing the communications payload, and company executives declined to name that provider during a press release Monday.
“We welcome Rocket Lab as the newest member of Team SDA and our third performer on the T2TL- Beta program,” said Derek Tournear, SDA director.
Spill, a platform founded by ex-Twitter employees, is closing out its first year on the market by opening up its beta to all users, whether they’re on iOS or Android.
Spill is like the polar opposite of X, a platform that continues to alienate users with platform policies that make the app actively less inclusive.
Around his one-year anniversary of being laid off from Twitter, Spill CEO Alphonzo Terrell told TechCrunch that the app has amassed around 200,000 users.
Spill may not be growing as quickly as other Twitter competitors like Bluesky, Mastodon or Threads, but Terrell isn’t worried.
“People are looking for something new,” Terrell told TechCrunch last month.
The top YouTuber in the U.S., MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) co-founded the new analytics platform ViewStats, which is now available in beta.
Similar to tools like Socialblade, ViewStats uses the YouTube API to unveil detailed stats about channels that both creators and their fans can see.
So, if he thinks certain metrics are a must-have for an analytics platform, they’re probably important.
Founded alongside Chucky Appleby, a creator who works with MrBeast, ViewStats is differentiating itself with this star power.
Appleby said that the platform will add more tools in the future, including thumbnail analytics tools.
HUSSLUP is a new job search and networking app for creative professionals in the media and entertainment industry. The app allows users to connect with studios and production companies looking…
Cosmonic’s new WebAssembly platform-as-a-service offering makes it easier than ever to integrate Wasm into existing applications, while also adding a number of new features to make integration even more seamless.…
