Discord is finally giving you the power to customize your desktop app's interface with various themes for its latest beta test. The messaging app has introduced Themes — one of its most requested features — with 16 pre-made options to choose from. The not-so-good news? You'll only be able to apply them if you're paying for Nitro, its most expensive subscription option. Nitro does have other perks, including a bigger file-sharing limit, 4K and 60fps streaming, as well as the ability to send messages up to 4,000 characters in length. But if you don't really need any of...

The first app to harness GPT-4’s image-recognition capacity has been described as ‘life-changing’ by visually-impaired users. Be My Eyes, a Danish startup, integrated the AI model in a new feature for blind or partially sighted people. Named “Virtual Volunteer,” the object-recognition tool can answer questions about any image that it’s sent. Imagine, for instance, that a user is hungry. They can simply photograph an ingredient and request related recipes. If they’d rather eat out, they can take an image of a map and get directions to a restaurant. On arrival, they can snap a...

Trombone Champ is a blast to watch, but a beast to play even compared to some other rhythm games — you try nailing a slide during the "William Tell Overture." Thankfully, developer Holy Wow Studios is putting the game within reach of more players. It's introducing an "Autotoot" option that takes away the need to press buttons. If you have hand mobility issues, you'll have a better chance of squonking your way to an S rank. Your score is halved to prevent leaderboard cheating, but you can advance the story.The update is also more streamer-friendly, with icons warning when a tune might be muted...

Bloober Team has provided an in-depth look at its reimagined Layers of Fear collection. It comprises the original Layers of Fear, Layers of Fear 2, all the expansions for both and a fresh chapter that promises to give fans "a new perspective" on the first game's story. All the series' events will be connected with the help of a new character called The Writer, who is the focus of the 11-minute gameplay video.The footage shows The Writer exploring a gloomy lighthouse. It doesn't take too long before spooky things start to happen. Your lantern is an important defensive tool against...

Standalone sequencers are something of a luxury in the modern music-making landscape. These days, even the cheapest synths and samplers have at least rudimentary sequencing capabilities. And while many MIDI controllers have on-board sequencers, they’re usually meant to back up live performance rather than replace it. Of course, there are a few exceptions to this rule (Arturia’s BeatStep Pro remains incredibly popular even eight years after it was introduced), but you have to start looking into the complex and often intimidating world of Eurorack and modular synths to regularly come across...

Google is facing pushback from some of its 12,000 laid-off employees. CNBC has learned that over 100 ex-staffers have formed a "Laid off on Leave" group asking Google to pay for the full leaves they were approved to take before the January 20th layoff announcement, including parental, medical and caregiver leave. While the company said in early 2022 that it was extending all parental leave to 18 weeks for full-time staff (24 weeks for birth parents), it told terminated employees that they'd get 16 weeks of severance pay plus two weeks for every added year of employment, with paid time off...

If you’ve owned your iPhone or iPad for a while, there’s a good chance there are apps, contacts and settings that you either don’t use anymore or aren’t serving you as well as they could. This guide will take you through how to reclaim your notifications and your device’s storage.Delete your unused appsIgor Bonifacic / EngadgetYou don’t need me to tell you to delete apps you don’t use to free up space on your iPhone, but you might not know that iOS has a dedicated tool to help you do this. You can access it by opening the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, then tapping “...

The Biden administration has recently ramped up pressure on TikTok over national security concerns stemming from its ties to China, and apparently the Justice Department and the FBI are also applying pressure of their own. Forbes first reported that the agencies are actively investigating ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. The investigation was reportedly initiated after some […]The Justice Department is investigating TikTok over journalist spying incident by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

When Porsche partnered with venture studio Up.Labs, the mission was to create six startups over three years all designed to solve the German automaker’s biggest problems and be compelling enough as a standalone business it that can attract other customers. On Porsche’s list: software that helps manage and automate the performance of EVs. Pull Systems, […]Pull Systems launches out of Up.Labs-Porsche partnership to tackle EV performance by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.Daily Crunch: With just $2.2B in remaining liquidity, SVB’s parent company files for bankruptcy by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

For many people around the world, braille is their primary language for reading books and articles, and digital braille readers are an important part of that. The newest and fanciest yet is the Monarch, a multipurpose device that uses the startup Dot’s tactile display technology. The Monarch is a collaboration between HumanWare and the American […]The Monarch could be the next big thing in Braille by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is promising significant changes to the way Windows manages which apps open certain files by default and how users can select programs to pin to their Start menu on the Windows desktop or on the taskbar. A new Settings deep link URI scheme will let developers send users directly to the right spot in Settings to change which program is the default for particular file or link types. Image: Microsoft Microsoft’s nonfinal concept design for the button that would let you confirm pinning an app tile to your Windows taskbar. Separately, Microsoft will...

Image: Team Meat The next title in the ultra-hard Super Meat Boy series is going to be, of all things, a puzzle game. The new game, Dr. Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine, is a match-four puzzler that’s clearly inspired by Sega’s Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, but it will have some Super Meat Boy-esque flair.“As you’re trying to get your color-coded clones to the bottom of the screen and build combos, you’ll have to deal with buzzsaws, missiles and a host of other hazards primed to destroy your clones if you don’t play with the precision that the Super Meat Boy series has always...

Green Li-ion says its battery recycling machines are the “size of a small house,” so it’s no wonder the Singapore-based startup needed to top up on funds. It’d only raised about $15 million ahead of its latest cash infusion. This week, Green Li-ion announced a $20.5 million “pre-Series B” round led by climate-tech investor TRIREC. […]Rawr? Green Li-ion recharges with $20.5M to scale its recycling tech by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

As a serial entrepreneur who has famously endured some ups and downs, Parker Conrad he has nearly seen it all. Or so he might have thought until last week. Certainly, he never imagined a run on Silicon Valley Bank that so abruptly upended the operations of Rippling, his six-year-old workforce management company, that it would […]A $500 million term sheet in 12 hours: how Rippling struck a deal as SVB was melting down by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch

It’s a very modern conjurer’s trick: Create an SXSW talk out of thin air, with the help of generative AI. That’s what whurley did this year in Austin. It took nine weeks for whurley — a staple of the Austin tech scene — to create and prepare for a keynote at SXSW 2018, where he […]Strangeworks might be the first startup to rely on AI to create everything it brought to SXSW by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

With SVB’s contagion contained, the VC community seems open to writing smallish checks for pre-revenue startups.TechCrunch+ roundup: 7 VCs who are taking pitches, AI best practices, zero-based budgeting by Walter Thompson originally published on TechCrunch

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Select iPad models go on sale quite regularly. | Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge While the best iPad deals come around during major sale events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon Prime Day, you can still find plenty of great discounts at all times of the year if you know where to look. Whether you’re after the high-end iPad Pro or the most affordable entry-level iPad, there’s likely a sale going on somewhere that you may be interested in.Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly where you can find the most notable deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily...

Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit investor in climate-tech startups including BlocPower and ChargerHelp, says it’s “doubling down” in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank‘s collapse. Elemental intends to pump $43 million more into climate-tech startups — $13 million of which will be set aside for its twelfth accelerator program, beginning in October. The investor hasn’t secured all of […]Elemental aims to pump $43M into climate startups with ‘deep community impact’ by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

The CFO stack has some investors quite excited, but the data so far describes a trend that may not be in these companies' favor.Will software for CFOs create a bright spot in a battered fintech market? by Anna Heim originally published on TechCrunch

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the company is rolling out Meta Verified on Instagram and Facebook in the U.S. The subscription service, which first launched in Australia and New Zealand, allow users to add the coveted blue check mark to their Instagram and Facebook accounts for a monthly fee. Meta Verified costs $11.99 […]Meta launches paid verification on Instagram and Facebook in the US by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch

TikTok and Major League Soccer (MLS) have announced a multi-year partnership that will bring exclusive content, in-app programming and more to the app. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Throughout the season, fans will be able to search “MLS” on TikTok and get access to the “MLS Hub,” which will feature new content […]TikTok and MLS enter multi-year partnership to deepen the league’s presence on the app by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch

YouTube announced today that former President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel will no longer be suspended. The account had been restricted in the week after the January 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol building. Following the lead of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, YouTube said at the time that Trump’s social media accounts could be used […]YouTube reinstates Donald Trump’s account by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

Silicon Valley Bank's collapse reminds us of the entrepreneurial art of balancing ambitious risk and necessary caution.Banking isn’t the only ‘single point of failure’ entrepreneurs should be rethinking by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch