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Portrait Light: You can change up the lighting in your portrait selfies after you take them by opening them up in Google Photos, tapping the Edit button, and heading to Actions > Portrait Light. This adds an artificial light you can place anywhere in the photo to brighten up your face and erase that 5 o’clock shadow. Use the slider at the bottom to tweak the strength of the light. It also works on older Portrait mode photos you may have captured. It works only on faces.Health and Accessibility FeaturesCough & Snore Detection (Tensor G2 and newer): On the Pixel…
This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here.Stop me if you have heard this before, but it bears repeating: When OpenAI debuted ChatGPT in November 2022, it introduced an existential problem that, even after more than three years, has yet to find a solution.In short, answer engines rely on the copious availability of quality data to fuel their responses, which they draw from content creators, like publishers. Yet in answering users’ questions without sending those users back to…
Etsy is selling Depop, a secondhand clothing app popular with Gen Z and millennials, to eBay for $1.2 billion in cash, the company announced on Wednesday. Etsy says the deal will allow it to focus on its own marketplace. The deal comes nearly five years after Etsy acquired Depop for $1.62 billion, at a time when secondhand clothing apps were gaining in popularity. Founded in 2011, Depop generated approximately $1 billion in gross merchandise sales — the total value of goods sold through its platform — in 2025. In the U.S., the company saw nearly 60% year-over-year growth. As of…
Ask anyone what Nvidia makes, and they’re likely to first say “GPUs.” For decades, the chipmaker has been defined by advanced parallel computing, and the emergence of generative AI and the resulting surge in demand for GPUs has been a boon for the company.But Nvidia’s recent moves signal that it’s looking to lock in more customers at the less compute-intensive end of the AI market—customers who don’t necessarily need the beefiest, most powerful GPUs to train AI models, but instead are looking for the most efficient ways to run agentic AI software. Nvidia recently spent billions to license technology from…
Def Con, one of the largest and longest-running hacking conferences in the world, announced on Wednesday that three people linked to Jeffrey Epstein are no longer allowed to attend. The conference justified adding Pablos Holman, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Joichi Ito to its public list of banned individuals, citing the three as appearing in the Department of Justice’s latest release of files related to its investigation of the late investor and convicted sex offender. Def Con also cited an article in Politico based on emails that the three exchanged with Epstein. Joan Vollero, a spokesperson for Iozzo, told TechCrunch in a…
While I’ve tested a lot of gaming headsets meant for sitting on a couch or at a desk, very few are easy to pocket and take on the go. The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds fill that need, and are perfectly matched for consoles like the Nintendo Switch 2 and ROG Xbox Ally. They’re currently marked down to just $160 at Best Buy, a $40 discount from their usual price.Photograph: Eric RavenscraftSteelSeriesArctis GameBudsWhile most gamers prefer over-ear headsets for the sound isolation and comfort, these earbuds have some special features that help them bridge the gap. The Arctis mobile app has a…
Startup founders are being pushed to move faster than ever, using AI while facing tighter funding, rising infrastructure costs, and more pressure to show real traction early. Cloud credits, access to GPUs, and foundation models have made it easier to get started, but those early infrastructure choices can have unforeseen consequences once startups move beyond free credits and into real cloud bills. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Darren Mowry, Google Cloud’s vice president of global startups who is right at the center of those tradeoffs. Watch as they discuss what Mowry’s seeing across the startup ecosystem,…
Bose helped write the book on noise canceling when it entered the market way back in the 1970s. Lately, the brand has been on a tear, with the goal of creating the ultimate in sonic solitude. The QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 are Bose’s latest and greatest creation, offering among the very best noise canceling we’ve ever tested.Just as importantly, they’re currently on sale for $50 off. Now, this might not seem like a huge discount on a $450 pair of headphones, but this is the lowest price we’ve seen on these headphones outside of a major shopping holiday. So if…
Taboola, the native advertising giant known for placing sponsored content modules beneath news stories on sites like USA Today and NBC News, has named Krishan Bhatia its first chief business officer.At Taboola, Bhatia will be charged with driving revenue through global sales and partnerships across Taboola’s full product portfolio.Most recently, Bhatia served as vice president at Amazon, where he scaled Prime Video’s advertising business to new markets across the world, built out a brand partnerships team, and expanded the company’s live sports offering.Prior to his time at Amazon, Bhatia spent over a decade at NBCUniversal, where in his role as…
SeatGeek announced on Wednesday a new integration with Spotify, bringing a seamless ticket-buying experience for Spotify users. Now, when Spotify users browse an artist’s page or upcoming tour dates, they will see ticket links powered by SeatGeek for concerts at these participating venues, allowing for a streamlined purchase process. Currently, the integration is available for a select group of venues where SeatGeek serves as the primary ticket seller. Specifically, it covers SeatGeek’s 15 major U.S. venue partners, including State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Nissan Stadium in Nashville, and AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (So, although SeatGeek is a major player in…
Like many Silicon Valley companies today, Scout AI is training large AI models and agents to automate chores. The big difference is that instead of writing code, answering emails, or buying stuff online, Scout AI’s agents are designed to seek and destroy things in the physical world with exploding drones.In a recent demonstration, held at an undisclosed military base in central California, Scout AI’s technology was put in charge of a self-driving off-road vehicle and a pair of lethal drones. The agents used these systems to find a truck hiding in the area, and then blew it to bits using…
TikTok has reversed course on a plan to phase out seller-fulfilled shipping in the U.S. for TikTok Shop, pausing previously announced deadlines, according to an email sent to merchants and reviewed by ADWEEK.In the email, sent Tuesday, the company said, “At this time, Seller Shipping remains unchanged, and previously shared deadlines are not going into effect. In the meantime, please continue operating as usual” TikTok corroborated the content of the email. “Sellers have a choice of fulfillment options, including Seller Shipping, Upgraded TikTok Shipping, Collections by TikTok (CBT) or Fulfilled by TikTik (FBT), ” a company spokesperson told ADWEEK. TikTok…
Amazon has hundreds of thousands of robots in its warehouses, but that doesn’t mean all of its robotic initiatives are a success story. The ecommerce giant has halted its Blue Jay warehouse robotics project just months after unveiling the tech, as originally reported by Business Insider and confirmed by TechCrunch. Blue Jay, a multi-armed robot designed to sort and move packages, was unveiled in October for use in the company’s same-day delivery facilities. At the time, the company was testing the robots at a facility in South Carolina and said it took Amazon significantly less time to develop Blue Jay…
Just after 8:00 pm on Sunday night, Evie Magazine’s first live event was finally getting started. The women’s magazine, which was founded in 2019 and once described itself as a “conservative Cosmo,” welcomed eager fans to celebrate the publication, generally, and its new issue, specifically, during New York Fashion Week at the Standard Hotel’s Boom in Chelsea.Guests lined up outside, hugging fur coats around formal dresses, as hosts scanned a list for their names. One blonde woman begged for access to the VIP section; an event planner ran downstairs to tell her coworkers that someone’s hair had caught on fire.…
A trifecta of factors led television viewing in January to a record 12-month high, according to Nielsen’s monthly gauge report.The report, which provides a snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption, revealed that overall TV viewing was up +3.7% compared to the last month of 2025. This was due to win-or-go-home sporting situations, returning broadcast dramas, and colder winter temperatures that kept audiences indoors.The cable segment was the biggest beneficiary during this period, seeing a +9% increase in viewership compared to December. It also had the largest monthly viewing increase across Nielsen’s The Gauge, rising +1.0% to 21.2% from December’s…
Google on Wednesday introduced its latest entry-level Pixel smartphone. The $499 Pixel 10a launches with new AI software capabilities and minor hardware updates. The smartphone is available for preorder now with shipments starting March 5. It comes in Lavender, Berry, Fog, and Obsidian. The Pixel 10a features a completely flat back, which means the camera bar blends with the back of the phone and lies flat when you place it down on a surface. Google notes that the smartphone’s 6.3-inch Actua display is 11% brighter than the Pixel 9a. It also has faster charging than its predecessor, with more than…