Amanda Silberling, Author at TechCrunch

Bereave wants employers to suck a little less at navigating death

Amanda Silberling — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 19:30:00 +0000

If death and taxes are inevitable, why are companies so prepared for taxes but not for death? “I lost both of my parents in college, and it didn’t initially spark this interest to go start a business around my experience,” said Bereave co-founder Elijah Linder. In the immediate aftermath of Linder’s loss, founding a company […]

A social app for creatives, Cara grew from 40k to 650k users in a week because artists are fed up with Meta’s AI policies

Amanda Silberling — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:44:33 +0000

Artists have finally had enough with Meta’s predatory AI policies, but Meta’s loss is Cara’s gain. An artist-run, anti-AI social platform, Cara has grown from 40,000 to 650,000 users within the last week, catapulting it to the top of the App Store charts. Instagram is a necessity for many artists, who use the platform to […]

Elon Musk’s X: A complete timeline of what Twitter has become

Amanda Silberling, Cody Corrall, Alyssa Stringer — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 20:45:00 +0000

Welcome to Elon Musk’s X. The social network formerly known as Twitter where the rules are made up and the check marks don’t matter. Or do they? The Tesla and SpaceX CEO announced his bid to buy Twitter in April 2022, zealously driven to rid the platform of spam bots and protect free speech. Musk […]

Cameo fumbles on Ms. Rachel fundraiser as fans receive credits instead of videos

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 17:03:06 +0000

Ms. Rachel isn’t a household name, but if you spend a lot of time with toddlers, she might as well be a rockstar. She’s like Steve from Blues Clues for the next generation — instead of a network TV show, she has a YouTube channel with 10 million subscribers. A music teacher named Rachel Accurso […]

General Catalyst-backed Jasper Health lays off staff

Marina Temkin, Amanda Silberling — Fri, 31 May 2024 23:10:44 +0000

Jasper Health, a cancer care platform startup, laid off a substantial part of its workforce, TechCrunch has learned.

Canva’s rap battle is part of a long legacy of Silicon Valley cringe

Amanda Silberling — Fri, 31 May 2024 15:09:38 +0000

You thought the hottest rap battle of the summer was between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. You were wrong. It’s between Canva and an enterprise CIO. At its Canva Create event last week, Canva unveiled its new enterprise offerings. But few people would be talking about that if not for an unexpected rap battle that took […]

This founder says meme tech is the next big thing

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 29 May 2024 16:00:01 +0000

Alex Taub, a longtime founder with multiple exits under his belt, believes it’s time to disrupt the meme industry. “I have this big thesis that meme tech is going to be the next big category,” Taub told TechCrunch. “Like, there’s health tech, there’s proptech, there’s adtech, there’s fintech… I think meme tech is about to […]

Discord has become an unlikely center for the generative AI boom

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 29 May 2024 13:41:11 +0000

In the video, a crowd is roaring at a packed summer music festival. As a beat starts playing over the speakers, the performer finally walks onstage: It’s the Joker. Clad in his red suit, green hair and signature face paint, the Joker pumps his fist and dances across the stage, hopping down a runway to […]

Using memes, social media users have become red teams for half-baked AI features

Amanda Silberling — Fri, 24 May 2024 00:21:39 +0000

“Running with scissors is a cardio exercise that can increase your heart rate and require concentration and focus,” says Google’s new AI search feature. “Some say it can also improve your pores and give you strength.” Google’s AI feature pulled this response from a website called Little Old Lady Comedy, which, as its name makes […]

Ticketmaster antitrust lawsuit could give new hope to ticketing startups

Amanda Silberling — Thu, 23 May 2024 15:58:01 +0000

The United States Department of Justice and 30 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, for alleged monopolistic practices. Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010, creating a dominant entertainment machine that controls the majority of ticket sales and venue bookings in the country. But Taylor Swift […]

The Biden campaign is looking to hire a seasoned meme lord

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 22 May 2024 22:32:15 +0000

President Joe Biden needs a meme manager.

Meta’s new AI council is composed entirely of white men

Dominic-Madori Davis, Amanda Silberling, Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 22 May 2024 21:37:23 +0000

Meanwhile, women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by irresponsible AI.

Farcaster, a crypto-based social network, raised $150M with just 80K daily users

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 21 May 2024 19:58:43 +0000

Farcaster, a blockchain-based social protocol founded by two Coinbase alumni, announced on Tuesday that it closed a $150 million fundraise. Led by Paradigm, the platform also raised money from a16z crypto, Haun Ventures, USV, Variant, Standard Crypto and others, according to a blog post by founder Dan Romero. Farcaster, the social protocol, invites developers to […]

As a US ban looms, TikTok announces a $1M program for socially driven creators

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 21 May 2024 15:42:24 +0000

TikTok is pulling out all the stops to prevent its impending ban in the United States. Aside from initiating legal action against the U.S. government, that means shaping up its public image. On Tuesday, the platform announced its TikTok Change Makers Program, which includes 50 global creators who “create a positive impact on and beyond […]

Mark Zuckerberg’s makeover: Midlife crisis or carefully crafted rebrand?

Amanda Silberling — Thu, 16 May 2024 18:58:19 +0000

For Mark Zuckerberg’s 40th birthday, his wife got him a photoshoot. Zuckerberg gives the camera a sly smile as he sits amid a carefully crafted re-creation of his childhood bedroom. It’s appropriately childish — a lava lamp, a participation trophy, a white stuffed dog — yet the surroundings foreshadow the culture-shifting, technological force Zuckerberg would […]

On Elon’s whim, X now treats ‘cisgender’ as a slur

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 14 May 2024 16:33:34 +0000

If you write the words “cis” or “cisgender” on X, you might be served this full-screen message: “This post contains language that may be considered a slur by X and could be used in a harmful manner in violation of our rules,” the warning says. You can continue to publish the post or delete it. […]

Nintendo finally confirms the Switch 2 is on the way

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 07 May 2024 12:35:00 +0000

In the most anticlimactic way possible, Nintendo on Tuesday confirmed years of rumors: The Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way. “We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year,” wrote Shuntaro Furukawa, the president of Nintendo, on X. This wasn’t the actual announcement of the console, mind. […]

This year’s Met Gala theme is AI deepfakes

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 07 May 2024 01:58:00 +0000

Whether you love or hate celebrity culture, the Met Gala is an event. Those less jaded among us get to see all of the biggest stars take their boldest fashion risks of the year; unlike an award show, it’s an event that encourages avant-garde extravagance. And if you find the whole thing vapid, then you […]

The Kendrick-Drake feud shows how technology is changing rap battles

Dominic-Madori Davis, Amanda Silberling — Mon, 06 May 2024 22:50:00 +0000

It seems we’re all in agreement: Kendrick Lamar defeated Drake in one of the most engrossing rap battles of the decade. To add insult to injury, Drake also threw himself into legal hot water when he deepfaked the late rapper Tupac. The tension between Lamar and Drake goes back decades, but this latest flare-up began […]

How to play Pokémon and other Game Boy games on your iPhone

Amanda Silberling — Fri, 03 May 2024 17:45:23 +0000

Apple finally updated its App Store guidelines to allow global developers to host retro game emulators on iOS. Now, you don’t need to jailbreak your iPhone or download any sketchy software — you can get a sophisticated emulator right in the palm of your hand for free on the App Store. No one is more […]