Lauren Forristal, Author at TechCrunch

Style DNA gets a generative AI chatbot that suggests outfit ideas based on your color type

Lauren Forristal — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 15:15:04 +0000

Style DNA, an AI-powered fashion stylist app, creates a personalized style profile from a single selfie. The app is particularly useful for people interested in seasonal color analysis, a process used to determine the best colors to complement an individual’s skin tone. This service can be expensive, with experts charging upwards of $300. However, the […]

Influencer shopping app LTK gets an automatic direct message tool

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 18:13:49 +0000

LTK (formerly LiketoKnow.it and RewardStyle), the influencer shopping app with 40 million monthly users, announced on Thursday the launch of a free direct message tool for creators to instantly share preset responses with followers. The new tool, called LTK DM, is integrated into the posts section of the LTK app. When a creator shares an […]

YouTube confirms crackdown on VPN users accessing cheaper Premium plans

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:55:44 +0000

YouTube appears to be taking a firm stance against Premium subscribers who attempt to use a VPN (virtual private network) to access cheaper subscription prices in other countries. This week, a number of users took to Reddit to express their frustration after their Premium plans were canceled for using a VPN to purchase the subscription […]

Spotify quietly lets all podcasters upload videos, surpasses 250K shows

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Non-hosted podcasters can now upload videos to Spotify. Over 250K video podcasts are on the platform.

Meet Seen, a new app for friends to record reactions to TikToks and other content

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:31:35 +0000

We all know the feeling when we send a funny TikTok video, anticipating a response from a friend, only to receive a basic laughing emoji or, worse, no reaction at all. Seen aims to solve this with its new social app, where friends record a live video reaction to content you send them. The video […]

Arc now features a live calendar button to help you stay punctual for meetings

Lauren Forristal — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 15:41:07 +0000

The Browser Company’s Arc, a web browser that aims to have a less cluttered user interface, launched a “Live Calendar” feature to ensure you never miss a call or run late to a meeting. The feature rolled out yesterday on Mac and is available in the latest Arc update with version 1.47.1. The new feature […]

Spotify announces an in-house creative agency, tests generative AI voiceover ads

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 19:14:11 +0000

Spotify announced on Thursday that it’s venturing further into the ad space with its first in-house creative agency called Creative Lab, helping brands create custom marketing campaigns. It will also begin testing generative AI ads, the company said. The launch of Creative Lab shows that Spotify is ramping up its efforts to attract advertisers to […]

YouTube creators can now test multiple video thumbnails

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:21:30 +0000

YouTube announced this week the rollout of “Thumbnail Test & Compare,” a new tool for creators to see which thumbnail performs the best. The feature first launched to select creators last year but is now widely available. When creators publish a new video (or update an existing video), they can test up to three thumbnails, […]

Here are all the devices compatible with iOS 18

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:30:30 +0000

iOS 18 will be available in the fall as a free software update.

Apple TV+ introduces InSight, a new feature similar to Amazon’s X-Ray, at WWDC 2024

Lauren Forristal — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 18:21:13 +0000

To use InSight, Apple TV+ subscribers can swipe down on their remote to bring up a display with actor names and character information in real time.

Twitch DJs will now have to pay music labels to play songs in livestreams

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Twitch has come up with a solution for the ongoing copyright issues that DJs encounter on the platform. The company announced Thursday a new program that enables DJs to stream millions of tracks in a new DJ Category, giving them more clarity on which songs are safe to use in their streams. The only catch […]

Punk singer Shira Yevin pushes for fair pay with InPink, a women-focused job marketplace

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 13:18:53 +0000

It’s been 20 years since Shira Yevin, the lead singer of punk band Shiragirl drove a pink RV into the Vans Warped Tour grounds, the now-defunct punk rock festival notorious for being male-dominated. In response to the festival’s lack of female-fronted bands, Yevin’s band crashed the festival and set up an impromptu all-female stage. This […]

Substack brings video to its Chat feature

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 17:06:05 +0000

Newsletter platform Substack is introducing the ability for writers to send videos to their subscribers via Chat, its private community feature, the company announced on Wednesday. The rollout of video in Chat comes two months after the newsletter platform brought videos to Notes, its X/Twitter copycat that lets users share short-form content. Substack continues to […]

eBay debuts AI-powered background tool to enhance product images

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 13:51:07 +0000

eBay’s newest AI feature allows sellers to replace image backgrounds with AI-generated backdrops. The tool is now available for iOS users in the U.S., U.K., and Germany. It’ll gradually roll out to Android users over the coming months. Following in Amazon’s and Google’s footsteps, the e-commerce company announced on Tuesday the launch of its new […]

True Fit leverages generative AI to help online shoppers find clothes that fit

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

True Fit, the AI-powered size-and-fit personalization tool, has offered its size recommendation solution to thousands of retailers for nearly 20 years. Now, the company is venturing into the generative AI space with “Fit Hub,” a new tool that aims to improve the way online shoppers find clothing that fits their body type. Sizing issues continue […]

Discord and TuneIn partner to bring live radio to the social platform

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 15:30:00 +0000

Audio streaming service TuneIn is teaming up with Discord to bring free live radio to the platform. This is TuneIn’s first collaboration with a social platform and one that is likely to help it reach a larger audience. Discord has a vast user base of 200 million, while TuneIn today touts 75 million monthly active […]

Shopify acquires Checkout Blocks, a checkout customization app

Lauren Forristal — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 16:46:41 +0000

Commerce platform Shopify has acquired Checkout Blocks, allowing Shopify Plus merchants to make no-code customizations in their checkout to enhance customer experience and potentially boost sales. Checkout Blocks, which debuted on Shopify in September 2022, lets merchants customize their checkout by adding things such as AI recommendations, custom content (like information banners, images, headlines, and […]

You can no longer use Tumblr’s tipping feature

Lauren Forristal — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Tumblr officially shut down “Tips,” an opt-in feature where creators could receive one-time payments from their followers. As of today, the tipping icon has automatically disappeared from all posts and blogs with the feature enabled. Creators that use the feature should note that June 15 is the last day they can withdraw money they received […]

Former Priceline execs debut Plannin, a booking platform that uses travel influencers to help plan trips

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 30 May 2024 13:05:00 +0000

With Plannin, creators can tell their audience about their latest trip, which hotels they liked and post photos of their travels.

Amazon is rolling out AI voice search to Fire TV devices

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 30 May 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Amazon is rolling out its AI voice search feature to Alexa, which lets it answer open-ended questions about content.