Image Credits: Artur Widak/NurPhoto / Getty Images
Google announced on Monday that it’s bringing its AI technology Gemini to teen students using their school accounts, after having already offered Gemini to teens using their personal accounts. The company is also giving educators access to new tools alongside this release.
Google says that giving teens access to Gemini can help prepare them with the skills they need to thrive in a future where generative AI exists. Gemini will help students learn more confidently with real-time feedback, the company believes.
Google claims it will not use data from chats with students to train and improve its AI models, and has taken steps to ensure it’s bringing this technology to students responsibly. Gemini has guardrails that will prevent inappropriate responses, such as illegal or age-gated substances, from appearing in responses. It will also actively recommend teens use its double-check feature to help them develop information literacy and critical thinking skills.
Image Credits: Google
Gemini will be available to teen students while using their Google Workspace for Education accounts in English in more than 100 countries. Gemini will be off by default for teens until admins choose to turn it on.
In addition, Google announced that it’s launching its Read Along in Classroom feature globally. The feature helps students build reading skills and get real-time support. Educators can assign reading activities for students based on their grade level or phonics skills. They can then see insights on their students’ reading accuracy, speed and comprehension. Google is also piloting the ability to generate personalized stories tailored to student needs.
Google is making it easier for educators to create, manage and share interactive lessons. Plus, educators are getting the ability to manually mark assignments as missing or complete, and perform bulk scoring actions.
WhatsApp has announced the release of a filter called “Favorites” to let you quickly find chats from the people and groups that matter most and directly connect with them over a call from the top of the calls tab.
The “Favorites” filter started rolling out on Tuesday and will be available to all WhatsApp users in the coming weeks. It lets you keep all the chats from your best friend or family group under one roof for quick access. The instant messaging app has also added a “Favorites” section to the calls tab to speed-dial your favorite contacts without requiring you to go through the recent call logs or find their contact from the contacts book.
To add a contact or group to your favorite list, select the “Favorites” filter from your chats screen or tap the “Add favorite” option after selecting the particular contact or group from the calls tab. You can also add a chat to your favorites by long-tapping it and selecting “Add to favorite.” Similarly, WhatsApp has provided an option to manage your favorite contacts and groups by going to Settings > Favorites > Add to Favorite. You can also reorder them based on your preference at any time.
WhatsApp was spotted testing the feature to select favorite contacts on iOS and the web in February, as reported by WABetaInfo. It also appeared on Android in April.
The latest update comes three months after WhatsApp introduced chat filters. The Meta-owned app initially released “All,” “Unread” and “Groups” as the three filters. However, adding “Favorites” makes chat filters even more useful as people relied on alternative ways to quickly call or video chat with their favorite contacts via WhatsApp in the absence of the native filter.
Back in May, Spotify quietly started putting lyrics behind a paywall, limiting free users to lyrics for three songs per month. The move was a bid to push more users to pay for the service.
After receiving numerous complaints, the company is now expanding the monthly limit. Starting today, Spotify is raising the limit on the number of lyrics free users can view. Users worldwide will begin seeing the change.
A company spokesperson told TechCrunch, “At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.”
Spotify declined to disclose the exact number of lyrics per month for free users, but it will likely be significantly higher than the previous limit of three songs. Many users on X/Twitter are celebrating the change.
lyrics on spotify are…BACK???
— Nova !! || bbokari enthusiest ! || ATE 🥠 (@yongbokkies_) July 30, 2024
Spotify began testing a paywall for lyrics in September 2023. It’s uncertain whether the paywalling of lyrics contributed to an increase in paid subscribers. Since the company decided to remove the restriction, however, any impact was likely insignificant.
In the second quarter of 2024, the company reported having 626 million monthly active users, including 246 million premium subscribers.
Turkey appears to have restored access to Meta-owned Instagram, after blocking the app on August 2.
Abdulkadir Uraloglu, the country’s minister of transport and infrastructure, posted today that the ban would be lifted at 9:30 p.m. Turkish time.
Cybersecurity monitor NetBlocks says, “Live metrics show that Instagram is being gradually restored on internet providers in #Turkey after authorities and Meta negotiate the removal of terrorist content and the reinstatement of unfairly closed accounts.”
The ban came after a Turkish official had accused Instagram of censoring condolence posts related to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Uraloglu wrote today that the Turkish government blocked Instagram because the company “did not respond to our requests due to the policies it implemented within the scope of catalog crimes” (translation via Google). He added that following discussions with Instagram, “our demands, especially regarding catalog crimes, will be met and they have promised to work together on the censorship imposed on users.”
Uraloglu’s post does not specify which crimes or content censorship were discussed. Instagram did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Turkey appears to have restored access to Meta-owned Instagram, after blocking the app on August 2.
Abdulkadir Uraloglu, the country’s minister of transport and infrastructure, posted today that the ban would be lifted at 9:30pm Turkish time.
Cybersecurity monitor NetBlocks says, “Live metrics show that Instagram is being gradually restored on internet providers in #Turkey after authorities and Meta negotiate the removal of terrorist content and the reinstatement of unfairly closed accounts.”
The ban came after a Turkish official had accused Instagram of censoring condolence posts related to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Uraloglu wrote today that the Turkish government blocked Instagram because the company “did not respond to our requests due to the policies it implemented within the scope of catalog crimes” (translation via Google). He added that following discussions with Instagram, “our demands, especially regarding catalog crimes, will be met and they have promised to work together on the censorship imposed on users.”
Uraloglu’s post does not specify which crimes or content censorship were discussed. Instagram did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Back in May, Spotify quietly started putting lyrics behind a paywall, limiting free users to lyrics for three songs per month. The move was a bid to push more users to pay for the service.
After receiving numerous complaints, the company is now expanding the monthly limit. Starting today, Spotify is raising the limit on the number of lyrics free users can view. Users worldwide will begin seeing the change.
A company spokesperson told TechCrunch, “At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.”
Spotify declined to disclose the exact number of lyrics per month for free users, but it will likely be significantly higher than the previous limit of three songs. Many users on X/Twitter are celebrating the change.
lyrics on spotify are…BACK???
— Nova !! || bbokari enthusiest ! || ATE 🥠 (@yongbokkies_) July 30, 2024
Spotify began testing a paywall for lyrics in September 2023. It’s uncertain whether the paywalling of lyrics contributed to an increase in paid subscribers. Since the company decided to remove the restriction, however, any impact was likely insignificant.
In the second quarter of 2024, the company reported having 626 million monthly active users, including 246 million premium subscribers.
Image Credits: Artur Widak/NurPhoto / Getty Images
Google announced on Monday that it’s bringing its AI technology Gemini to teen students using their school accounts, after having already offered Gemini to teens using their personal accounts. The company is also giving educators access to new tools alongside this release.
Google says that giving teens access to Gemini can help prepare them with the skills they need to thrive in a future where generative AI exists. Gemini will help students learn more confidently with real-time feedback, the company believes.
Google claims it will not use data from chats with students to train and improve its AI models, and has taken steps to ensure it’s bringing this technology to students responsibly. Gemini has guardrails that will prevent inappropriate responses, such as illegal or age-gated substances, from appearing in responses. It will also actively recommend teens use its double-check feature to help them develop information literacy and critical thinking skills.
Image Credits: Google
Gemini will be available to teen students while using their Google Workspace for Education accounts in English in more than 100 countries. Gemini will be off by default for teens until admins choose to turn it on.
In addition, Google announced that it’s launching its Read Along in Classroom feature globally. The feature helps students build reading skills and get real-time support. Educators can assign reading activities for students based on their grade level or phonics skills. They can then see insights on their students’ reading accuracy, speed and comprehension. Google is also piloting the ability to generate personalized stories tailored to student needs.
Google is making it easier for educators to create, manage and share interactive lessons. Plus, educators are getting the ability to manually mark assignments as missing or complete, and perform bulk scoring actions.
WhatsApp has announced the release of a filter called “Favorites” to let you quickly find chats from the people and groups that matter most and directly connect with them over a call from the top of the calls tab.
The “Favorites” filter started rolling out on Tuesday and will be available to all WhatsApp users in the coming weeks. It lets you keep all the chats from your best friend or family group under one roof for quick access. The instant messaging app has also added a “Favorites” section to the calls tab to speed-dial your favorite contacts without requiring you to go through the recent call logs or find their contact from the contacts book.
To add a contact or group to your favorite list, select the “Favorites” filter from your chats screen or tap the “Add favorite” option after selecting the particular contact or group from the calls tab. You can also add a chat to your favorites by long-tapping it and selecting “Add to favorite.” Similarly, WhatsApp has provided an option to manage your favorite contacts and groups by going to Settings > Favorites > Add to Favorite. You can also reorder them based on your preference at any time.
WhatsApp was spotted testing the feature to select favorite contacts on iOS and the web in February, as reported by WABetaInfo. It also appeared on Android in April.
The latest update comes three months after WhatsApp introduced chat filters. The Meta-owned app initially released “All,” “Unread” and “Groups” as the three filters. However, adding “Favorites” makes chat filters even more useful as people relied on alternative ways to quickly call or video chat with their favorite contacts via WhatsApp in the absence of the native filter.
Amid the generative AI boom, companies are spending a lot on cloud infrastructure — and they’re concerned about it. According to a 2024 survey from cloud cost monitoring platform CloudZero, less than half of companies think that they have “healthy” cloud costs, with 58% saying their costs are too high.
A number of public cloud providers, including AWS, Google Cloud and Azure, offer savings plans and reserved instances designed to incentivize companies to spend on infrastructure by passing along discounts. But unlocking these discounts requires committing to multi-year agreements, which not every customer is in a financial position to do.
Aran Khanna was an AI engineer at AWS when he realized that there might be a way around this.
Khanna is the CEO and co-founder of Archera, a startup that passes along savings from cloud providers’ discount plans but cuts the commitment term to as few as 30 days. It does this by “transforming” cloud providers’ savings plans and reserved instances — specifically AWS plans and reserved instances — into short-term, insured commitments and charging customers a fee when they save.
“We make money by customers opting in to use our insured commitments as part of their cloud purchasing strategy,” Khanna said. “We charge a variable premium per commitment based on the risk we are underwriting; this is our secret sauce developed over more than five years.”
While working at AWS (and, prior to that, Azure), Khanna struggled to get customers to buy long-term compute instance commitments. He even tried to get a commitment forgiveness program created at AWS, but it ultimately didn’t go anywhere, he says.
So Khanna teamed up with Nikhil Khanna, his younger brother, who previously worked in quantitative pricing at Uber and the investment management firm D.E. Shaw, to found Archera. Aran and Nikhil started the company in 2019 and spent the first three years developing an automated underwriting model before scaling up the business.
Archera provides visualizations and dashboards to show cloud usage and available discounts.Image Credits: Archera
Today, in addition to insured commitments, Archera provides consulting services to help build purchasing strategies for customers to optimize their cloud usage. From a dashboard, companies can customize commitment plans, including or excluding infrastructure and setting policies to trigger renewals and purchases automatically.
Aran claims that Archera’s offerings comply with “all service provider rules and guidelines” and that the company “works closely” with public cloud providers.
“For smaller organizations, Archera may serve as the primary cost optimization tool due to its low-investment, high-return model,” Aran said. “In larger organizations, Archera often functions as a secondary tool within the broader cloud cost management strategy, enhancing overall efficiency and savings.”
Archera, which has around 400 customers, is making $7 million in annual revenue and anticipates that number more than doubling this year. The startup has been “net profitable” since mid-2023, according to Aran; now it’s gearing up for a major expansion.
Archera on Thursday announced that it raised $17 million in a Series B funding round led by Highsage Ventures with participation from Ridge Ventures, Amplify Partners and PSL Ventures, bringing the company’s total raised to $27.5 million. Aran wouldn’t give Archera’s post-money valuation but said that the startup was valued in the “hundreds of millions” of dollars pre-money.
Coinciding with the fundraising, Archera is firming up a relationship with insurance provider Relm to access reinsurance and lending capacity of just over $100 million, which Aran says will support the creation of new insurance-backed solutions.
“The new funding will enable Archera to offer additional cloud financing and commitment insurance products,” Aran said. “These upcoming products require partnerships with lending and reinsurance providers, who require Archera to have a stronger balance sheet to engage effectively. Raising funds now ensures that Archera can meet these requirements and launch their innovative products successfully.”
Aran says that Archera will put its new cash and credit toward products that support Azure and Google Cloud in addition to AWS (including multi-cloud products), growing its 22-person Bellevue, Washington-based workforce and expanding its financial reporting services for enterprise clients.
“We’ve grown our development organization twofold, and are announcing the general availability of multi-cloud support this month, starting with the release of cost management and insured commitments for Azure,” Aran said. “Additionally, we plan to launch insured commitments for Google Cloud later this year, along with new, in-the-works commitment insurance and financing products.”
Asked about competition in the cloud cost management space, also known as FinOps, Aran said that he thinks Archera is well-positioned to head off rivals. He acknowledged that a number of firms, including Big Tech companies, provide tools to help manage cloud costs. But he asserted that they can’t beat the savings Archera delivers.
“Despite the broader slowdown in the tech industry, Archera has experienced increased interest due to the global shift towards efficiency,” Aran said. “This strategic positioning creates a substantial moat against upstarts and other competitors in the cloud cost management space, ensuring that we are well-prepared to weather potential headwinds.”
Image Credits: Neil Godwin / T3 Magazine (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Update: Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia offered TechCrunch the following statement:
Today, Amazon Ring has announced that it will no longer facilitate police’s warrantless requests for footage from Ring users. Years ago, after public outcry and a lot of criticism from EFF and other organizations, Ring ended its practice of allowing police to automatically send requests for footage to the email inbox of users, opting instead for a system where police had to publicly post requests onto Ring’s Neighbors app. Now, Ring hopefully will altogether be out of the business of platforming casual and warrantless police requests for footage to its users. This is a step in the right direction but has come after years of cozy relationships with police and irresponsible handling of data (for which they reached a settlement with the FTC). Ring has been forced to make some important concessions — but we still believe the devices can enable end-to-end encryption by default and turn off default audio collection, which reports have shown collect audio from greater distances than initially assumed. We are also still deeply skeptical about law enforcement’s and Ring’s ability to determine what is, or is not, an emergency that requires the company to hand over footage without a warrant or user consent.
Amazon today announced that it is end-of-lifing Request for Assistance (RFA), a controversial tool that allowed police and fire departments to request doorbell video through Ring’s Neighbors app.
“Public safety agencies like fire and police departments can still use the Neighbors app to share helpful safety tips, updates, and community events,” Neighbors app head, Eric Kuhn, noted in a blog post. “They will no longer be able to use the RFA tool to request and receive video in the app. Public safety agency posts are still public, and will be available for users to view on the Neighbors app feed and on the agency’s profile.”
The feature has been a major concern for privacy advocates for a number of years. In 2021, Amazon made police requests public as part of its biannual transparency report. That year, it received 3,147 legal requests from agencies representing a 65% increase over the previous year.
Public officials have also raised concerns about the practice. In 2019, for instance, Massachusetts senator Ed Markey penned an open letter to then-CEO Jeff Bezos, noting:
Although Amazon markets Ring as America’s “new neighborhood watch,” the technology captures and stores video from millions of households and sweeps up footage of countless bystanders who may be unaware that they are being filmed. I am particularly alarmed to learn that Ring is pursuing facial-recognition technology with the potential to flag certain individuals as suspicious based on their biometric information.
Markey also cited biases in facial recognition software as a major issue, expressing concern around a disproportionate misidentification among people of color.
“As stated in Ring’s law enforcement guidelines, Ring reserves the right to respond immediately to urgent law enforcement requests for information in cases involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person. Emergency disclosure requests must be accompanied by a completed emergency request form,” the company wrote in its own letter. “Based on the information provided in the emergency request form and the circumstances described by the officer, Ring makes a good-faith determination whether the request meets the well-known standard, grounded in federal law, that there is imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requiring disclosure of information without delay.”
Today’s news marks a key change in policy that is likely to be heralded as a win for privacy advocates.
