Hey, people, welcome to Week in Evaluation (WiR), TechCrunch’s common roundup of the previous week in tech. Too busy to verify the headlines this week? Don’t sweat it. That’s why WiR exists — we’ll get you caught up to the mark.
This version of WiR options items a few pretend AI-generated “South Park” episode; the surging downloads of Threads, an app that shares the identical identify as Meta’s Twitter competitor; and Tesla’s first Cybertruck construct. We additionally recap the CEO of OnlyFans stepping down; Wix’s new device that may create web sites on the fly, utilizing generative AI; and Plex’s free Winamp-inspired music participant.
That’s quite a bit to cowl, so let’s get cracking. Oh, and in the event you haven’t already, enroll right here to get WiR in your inbox each Saturday.
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Poor timing for AI-generated TV: AI startup Fable Studios demoed its platform this week, utilizing it to create a full, pretend “South Park” episode through which Cartman tries to use deepfake expertise to the media business. The tech was spectacular, Devin writes, however — juxtaposed in opposition to the continuing strike of creatives in TV and movie — the stunt got here throughout as a tad inartful.
Not a superb search for Microsoft safety: Microsoft nonetheless doesn’t know — or need to share — how China-backed hackers stole a key that allowed them to stealthily break into dozens of e-mail inboxes, together with these belonging to a number of authorities companies. The corporate first disclosed the incident final Tuesday, attributing the monthlong exercise to a newly found espionage group it’s calling Storm-0558, which it believes has a powerful nexus to China.
The opposite Threads surges to new heights: Instagram’s Twitter clone Threads loved a reasonably fruitful first week in existence, crusing previous 30 million customers within the first 24 hours. But it surely’s had the unintended impact of thrusting Threads, an unrelated app first pitched as a Slack different, into the highlight. Threads (the Slack different) reportedly racked up greater than 880,000 downloads on iOS between July 6 and July 12, after Meta’s Threads launched, having had few downloads prior thus far.
Telsa unveils the primary Cybertruck construct: Tesla over the weekend stated its first, much-anticipated Cybertruck got here off the manufacturing line in Texas. The debut of the long-delayed, futuristic-looking pickup truck comes within the lead-up to Tesla’s second-quarter 2023 earnings name.
OnlyFans CEO steps down: After about two and a half years on the helm, Ami Gan is leaving OnlyFans. Chief technique and operations officer Keily Blair will take over as CEO. As Amanda writes, OnlyFans is probably the best-known creator platform that helps grownup content material; in keeping with Gan, the corporate paid out $10 billion to creators whereas she was CEO.
New websites, generated by AI: Wix, a longtime fixture of the web-building area, is betting that in the present day’s prospects don’t notably care to spend time customizing each side of their website’s look. The corporate’s new AI Website Generator device, introduced this week, will permit Wix customers to explain their intent and generate an internet site full with a homepage, interior pages and textual content and pictures — in addition to business-specific sections for occasions, bookings and extra.
Plex makes its Winamp-inspired participant free: Plexamp, the music participant initially incubated by the Labs division of media firm Plex, is now free. The venture was first launched in 2017 as a subscription-based spin on the traditional Winamp media participant app, providing visualizations to accompany your tunes, instruments for programming mixes, and extra lately, a ChatGPT-powered “Sonic Sage” characteristic that builds distinctive playlists from customers’ music libraries.
VanMoof e-bikes, saved: Since struggling e-bike startup VanMoof confirmed it has requested for a deferment of fee in Holland, there’s been a query hanging over the VanMoof bikes on the market within the wild. Using to the rescue, considerably improbably, is Cowboy, VanMoof’s e-bike competitor over the border in Belgium. Cowboy’s “Bikey” app allows VanMoof riders to generate their distinctive digital key and maintain using, Mike writes.
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TechCrunch’s roster of podcasts is, as the youngsters say, giving. Tune in for nice new content material this week.
On Fairness, PitchBook enterprise guru Kyle Stanford got here to riff with the crew on the enterprise capital in Q2 2023: the nice, the dangerous, and the late stage.
The most recent episode of Discovered, in the meantime, spotlighted Catherine Tabor, the founder and CEO of Sparkfly, an organization that helps manufacturers with advertising and buyer engagement. Tabor talked about constructing an organization fluid sufficient to adapt to altering expertise developments during the last decade and the way she was dismissed by enterprise capitalists regardless of touchdown notable prospects.
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TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you realize in the event you’re already a subscriber. If you happen to’re not, take into account signing up. Listed below are a couple of highlights from this week:
Electrical utilities drive prospects to startups: Of all the businesses that ought to be desirous to embrace the electrical transition, electrical utilities would appear to be on the prime of the record. But additionally they seem like among the most hesitant. Startups are making the most of the scenario, Tim writes.
Combined-gender founding groups elevate over a billion {dollars}: U.S. startups with mixed-gender founding groups — which means they’ve no less than one feminine founder — raised $24.1 billion within the first half of 2023, which breaks right down to $17.2 billion in Q1 and $6.9 billion in Q2, per the newest PitchBook knowledge. That’s a giant deal — nevertheless it’s essential to notice that startups with all-women founding groups are nonetheless struggling to boost cash this 12 months.
Ripple’s XRP case and the dearth of regulatory readability: Final week, the crypto group celebrated a U.S. federal court docket case that dominated Ripple’s XRP token doesn’t make up unlawful securities gross sales — however solely in some instances. Although many celebrated the ruling, it’s not a real win for crypto — Jacquelyn explains why.
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