Bing allows users to generate images using 'very latest DALL-E models'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Happy Tuesday Crunch, you beautiful, strong, and smart people. So glad to have you with us! Let's get to it! — Christine and Haje Image Credits: Haje Kamps

The TechCrunch Top 3 Image prompts: Microsoft is enabling Bing users to tap into their most creative selves — through AI, of course, via the use of OpenAI's DALL-E image creator, Frederic reports. Frederic also writes about two additional features, Visual Stories and Knowledge Cards. "Best I can tell, Microsoft has been testing these quite a bit in recent weeks since they've been popping up in my searches with some frequency." Look who's getting into generative AI: Firefly is Adobe's approach to generative AI and "will be made up of multiple AI models 'working across a variety of different use cases,'" Kyle writes. More Adobe news in Big Tech. Get in line: Speaking of generative AI (because that's really all we've been talking about for weeks now), Google opens early access to Bard, its AI chatbot. You can join the waitlist. Romain has more.

Startups and VC The worlds of technology and medicine are making big bets on AI playing a central role in the delivery of healthcare in the future. Today, a startup out of Durham, North Carolina, called Bionic Health — built by two early movers in the commercializing of AI — is throwing its hat into that ring to build out its approach, Ingrid reports. It raised $3 million for its AI health clinic. Last week, the FBI arrested a man alleged to be "Pompompurin," the administrator of the infamous and popular BreachForums, Lorenzo reports. Days after the arrest, the cybercrime website's new administrator announced that they are shutting down the forum for good. Another handful of stories worth mentioning: Baby owl, doo do doo do do doo: Natasha M reports that Duolingo is working on a music app. Fund-ception: Roundtable raises funding round on Roundtable, Romain reports. Data-peepin': Kyle reports that Sifflet raises cash to expand its data observability platform. Yeah, but did they patent the technology: IPRally is a patent search engine powered by explainable AI. Today, Paul reports that it raised $10.8 million. Seeing red: eToro secures $250 million at a $3.5 billion valuation after scrapping SPAC and seeing slower growth, Mary Ann reports. Come fly with me: Mapping drone startup Wingtra is charting a new future after landing $22 million, Catherine reports.

SaaS is still open for business, but it's going to take longer to buy and sell More than 225,000 tech workers have been laid off in the last year, which is having a direct effect on SaaS renewal and purchase cycles. SaaS customers that reduced headcount are buying fewer seat licenses, and sales cycles are taking a little longer than they used to, says Ryan Neu, CEO and co-founder of SaaS-buying platform Vendr. “Over the last three years, our data has shown a steady decline in multi-year deals," he writes. “Yet we have also seen a significant increase in [average contract value] from purchase to renewal in mission-critical and sticky software categories, like CRM or email.” Three more from the TC+ team: Losing steam, still: Even the hottest startup categories are not immune from the venture slowdown, report Alex and Anna. Learn from others' mistakes: Jonathan Martinez suggests that, when it comes to early-stage growth marketing, it's often better to imitate than innovate. Web100M: Web3 gaming will onboard up to 100 million gamers in the next 2 years, Polygon and Immutable presidents predict, Jacquelyn writes. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: Ruslan Malysh/EyeEm / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Well, this is an interesting turn of events in the age of credit: DoorDash is adding support for cash. Sarah writes that it's only being rolled out as a DoorDash Drive feature, but that when it was tested, about 20% of U.S. customers ordering pizza paid with cash. She notes that the cash option has helped attract customers who aren't a fan of handing over their payment information. Meanwhile, Devin wants to have some words with Amazon, which he reports is shutting down DPReview, "the best camera review site on the web." He writes that the company's team was let go as part of Amazon's latest round of layoffs and that "DPReview is hardly the first media property to get the axe during these turbulent times, but it is surely one of the oldest and most unique. Here's hoping the talented and knowledgeable team lands on their feet, and Amazon comes to regret its decision." And we have five more for you: Control, I like to have a lot: And a lot you shall have. A new WhatsApp feature gives admins an easier way to control who can join a group, Aisha reports. Over at Adobe: There is much to unpack. Ivan writes about Adobe Express' enterprise tier, while Frederic has a look at the Experience Cloud. And Kyle writes that there are some new generative AI tools aimed at marketers, and Ron reports on artist compensation for works used to train Adobe's generative AI product. Car talk: Ford unveiled its €45,000 Explorer EV for the European market, Matt writes. And Ferrari says a ransomware attack exposed customers' personal data. Carly has more. Poised in the face of adversity: Before speaking in front of Congress, TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew shared that the streaming giant has 150 million active users in the U.S., Ivan reports. Meanwhile, Aisha writes that TikTok overhauls its community guidelines, adding some new policies on AI and climate misinformation. Priorities: Some goods and services might be more expensive amid inflation, but a new Counterpoint study shows consumers are still splurging on premium smartphones. Ivan has more.

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Amazon CEO says laying off 9,000 more workers 'is best for the company long-term'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Monday, March 20, 2023

🚚 Trucking is a vital industry and yet the majority of operations are operating on outdated platforms. AtoB thinks it has the solution and its co-founder says the company is essentially Stripe for transportation. If you wanna learn more, dial in to our TechCrunch Live episode on Wednesday at 12 p.m. PDT / 3 p.m. EDT. ✌️ Happy equinox. May your spring blossom with a million flowers and infinite prosperity. — Christine and Haje Image Credits: Nathan Stirk / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 A surprising turn of events: Paul has the latest on Amazon, which confirmed another round of layoffs, this time impacting 9,000 people in AWS (see below), Twitch (see Big Tech) and other units. This comes just a couple months after Amazon revealed 18,000 layoffs. The AWS part had some colleagues scratching their heads, with Paul writing, "[C]ompanies are looking to cut costs due to the economic downturn, which translates into fewer dollars spent on things like cloud computing — even though AWS remains a hugely profitable entity for Amazon." Like looking into a crystal ball of startup exits: PitchBook has a new tool that uses AI to predict which startups will successfully exit, Kyle writes. The tool assigns an "opportunity score" out of 100 and even shows through which method the exit might happen. OMG AWS: As you read above, AWS took a hit in the latest round of Amazon layoffs, and Ron provides more insight on what went down.

Startups and VC Banking stocks are whipsawing this morning in the wake of the UBS–Credit Suisse deal and First Republic's continued woes — and much more, on this morning's utterly excellent episode of our Equity podcast. Apropos podcasts: Maximum Fun's owner is selling the podcast company that he founded almost 20 years ago. Rather than surrendering the network to a Big Tech company or media conglomerate, he is selling it to its workers, as a worker-owned co-op, Amanda reports. You want more? Y'all are hella greedy. But we are nothing if not kind, so fine — here's an omakase menu of yumminess: Rawr?: Harri reports on Green Li-ion's $20.5 million round to scale its recycling tech. Foiled again: Hydrofoiling ferries coming to an urban basin near you soon, as Haje reports that Candela raises another $20 million. Can't (re-)touch this: Natasha L reports that Glaze protects art from prying AIs. Lights, camera, AI-ction: Filmustage leverages AI to break down film scripts, create shooting schedules and more, Lauren reports. Going to America: Consumer electronics reseller Reebelo adds to Series A as it lays down roots in US, Christine reports.

The cloud backlash has begun: Why big data is pulling compute back on premises For most of the Information Age, companies that wanted to scale invested in server farms and hired massive operations teams to keep them running. The relatively recent shift to cloud computing promised to lower costs and boost productivity, but “cloud-first strategies may be hitting the limits of their efficacy, and in many cases, ROIs are diminishing,” writes Thomas Robinson, COO of Domino Data Lab. Because “the great repatriation” now taking place among public companies also has direct implications for startup DevOps teams, Robinson shares suggestions for “a few things that can be done to ensure future flexibility for where workloads are created.” Three more from the magnificently magnificent TC+ team: Dude, where's my IPOs?: To Alex’s infinite chagrin, we're probably not getting tech IPOs until later this year. Poor Alex. De-risking hardware: Haje talks with a market research expert to collect 10 tips for de-risking hardware products. Succession: Natasha M invites us to talk about succession plans. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: lim_pix / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Microsoft is getting in on the mobile games craze with its own app store. Ivan writes that the software giant is going where Apple and Google have gone before, even banking on some new regulations in the European Union to help its cause, noting that "Microsoft has had a difficult time creating the user experience it wants with its Cloud Gaming app on Apple devices because the iPhone maker required users to download each game available to play on Microsoft's cloud offering, including Fortnite. So Microsoft now asks people to sign in through Safari and follow instructions, which are not as easy as downloading an app from the App Store." It's Monday, so as a special treat, we have six more for you: The layoffs keep coming: Taylor is following the developing story over at Twitch, which is laying off 400 employees. Asset allocation: Flagstar Bank agreed to buy some Signature Bank assets, but not crypto operations, Romain reports. Let's see some identification: Sarah writes that some new Twitter features show the social media giant may be testing government ID–based verification. Game on: Netflix is not playing around. It plans to release 40 more games this year, including Monument Valley in 2024. Aisha has more. ICYMI: The Biden administration's pressure on TikTok is growing by the day. The Justice Department is now investigating TikTok over a journalist spying incident, Taylor reports. We're feeling it: Devin writes that Monarch may be the next big thing in Braille.

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Technical Lead, Application Management - Computing Services at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) Software Engineer Full Stack at Groopit (Seattle, WA, USA) Senior Full Stack Developer at Moseley Technical Services (Huntsville, AL, USA) Business Intelligence Analyst at Creatd, Inc. (New York City, NY, USA) Senior Systems Performance Engineer at IEEE (Piscataway, NJ, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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