Pan-African VC Verod-Kepple closes its first fund at $60M
Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) plans to back up to 21 growth-stage companies across the continent after closing its first fund at $60 million. The pan-African VC hit the milestone following fresh...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/verod-kepple-closes-first-fund-at-60m/
Shure MV7+: The best USB podcast mic gets better
I was happy — excited, even — to check out Shure’s latest USB microphone. Its predecessor, the MV7, has been my default podcasting mic since it was launched toward to end of 2022. I’ve recorded more t...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/shure-mv7-the-best-usb-podcast-mic-gets-better/
Metalab goes from quietly building the internet to investing in it
With Metalab Ventures, the venture arm will play the role of a long-term value investor, essentially “putting our money where our mouth is,” CEO Luke Des Cotes said.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/product-design-ua-metalab-seed-venture-fund/
Ransomware gang’s new extortion trick? Calling the front desk
Ransomware gangs are increasingly calling up victim organizations to extort and intimidate rank-and-file employees.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/ransomware-gang-fail-calling-front-desk-extortion/
Symbolica hopes to head off the AI arms race by betting on symbolic models
In February, Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google‘s DeepMind AI research lab, warned that throwing increasing amounts of compute at the types of AI algorithms in wide use today could lead to diminishing ...
Lucid Motors ekes out a new delivery record as it searches for more EV buyers
Lucid Motors delivered more EVs in the first quarter of 2024 than it has in any other quarter, though it set the record by a very slim margin. The Saudi-backed, California-based electric vehicle compa...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/lucid-motors-first-quarter-deliveries-production/
Google bets on partners to run their own sovereign Google Clouds
Google is renewing its focus on data sovereignty. For the time being, though, it looks like its emphasis is on partnerships, not building its own sovereign clouds.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/google-bests-on-partners-to-run-their-own-sovereign-google-clouds/
Google’s Gemini comes to databases
Gemini in Databases is a bundle of AI-powered, developer-focused tools for Google Cloud customers who are creating, monitoring and migrating app databases.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/googles-gemini-comes-to-databases/
Google launches Code Assist, its latest challenger to GitHub’s Copilot
Code Assist will be available through plug-ins for popular editors like VS Code and JetBrains.
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Google injects generative AI into its cloud security tools
Many of the announcements had to do with Gemini, Google's flagship family of generative AI models.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/google-injects-generative-ai-into-its-cloud-security-tools/
Google Workspace users will soon get voice prompting in Gmail and tabs in Docs
Google is also launching a new feature in Gmail for Workspace that can instantly turn rough email drafts into a more polished email.
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Nvidia’s next-gen Blackwell platform will come to Google Cloud in early 2025
In addition to the new custom Arm-based Axion chips, most of this year's announcements are about AI accelerators, whether built by Google itself or from Nvidia.
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Google releases Imagen 2, a video clip generator
Imagen 2 can now create short, four-second videos from text prompts, along the lines of AI-powered clip generation tools like Runway, Pika and Irreverent Labs.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/google-releases-imagen-2-a-video-clip-generator/
Google looks to monetize AI with two new $10 Workspace add-ons
The jury is still out on how much AI increases individual productivity, but companies are now trying to monetize it as they build more advanced AI features into their software. Last year, Microsoft ma...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/google-looks-to-monetize-ai-with-two-new-10-workspace-add-ons/
Chrome Enterprise goes Premium with new security and management features
With Chrome Enterprise, IT departments get the ability to manage employees' browser settings, the extensions they install and web apps they use.
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With Vertex AI Agent Builder, Google Cloud aims to simplify agent creation
AI agents are the new hot craze in generative AI. Unlike the previous generation of chatbots, these agents can do more than simply answer questions. They can take actions based on the conversation, an...
Google’s Gemini Pro 1.5 enters public preview on Vertex AI
Its headlining feature is the amount of context that it can process: 1 million tokens, which is equivalent to around 700,000 words or around 30,000 lines of code.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/googles-gemini-pro-1-5-enters-public-preview-on-vertex-ai/
The Complete Side Events Lineup At TC Early Stage 2024
Get ready to amplify your Early Stage 2024 experience with the electrifying lineup of Side Events taking Boston by storm during the week of April 22–28. As the countdown to TechCrunch Early Stage begi...
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/the-complete-side-events-lineup-at-tc-early-stage-2024/
New Google Vids product helps create a customized video with an AI assist
All of the major vendors have been looking at ways to use AI to help customers develop creative content. On Tuesday at the Google Cloud Next customer conference in Las Vegas, Google introduced a new A...
Google open-sources tools to support AI model development
Google is launching Jetstream, a new engine to run generative AI models, and MaxDiffusion, a collection of reference implementations of various diffusion models.
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https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/09/google-open-sources-tools-to-support-ai-model-development/