The internet today has a permissions problem. As non-humans — chatbots, AI agents, and automated systems — have proliferated on the web, so has the need to provide them with credentials, permissions, and identities. That’s one major reason identity and access management startups that help manage this new kind of …

Marketing is one of the few operations no industry can afford to ignore, which is why we have a veritable host of AI-powered marketing tools being shoved into marketers’ faces today. All the social platforms, from Facebook and Instagram to TikTok, and major incumbents like Microsoft and Google, to content-generation …

Google announced on Wednesday that it’s adding a music-generation feature to the Gemini app. The company is using DeepMind’s Lyria 3 music-generation model to power the feature, which is still in beta. To use the feature, you’ll describe the song you want to create, and the app will generate a …

Snap’s direct revenue business has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate, the company announced on Wednesday. Annualized revenue refers to a business’s current revenue rate projected over a full year. The social media giant says the milestone is driven by its Snapchat+ offering, which has now surpassed 25 …

X recently introduced a new immersive video player, signaling another major step in its ongoing push into video-focused experiences. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, announced the update earlier this week, admitting the previous video player “badly needed a refresh. ” The redesign aims to make video consumption more engaging …

Only days after Spotify announced its foray into physical book sales, which included an audiobook feature that lets you sync your listening and your offline reading progress, Amazon-owned Audible has launched a feature that brings e-books together with audiobooks. The company announced on Wednesday an “immersion reading” feature in the …

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 …

Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs has secured a $200 million investment from software design giant Autodesk as part of a larger $1 billion round from backers, including AMD, Emerson Collective, Fidelity, Nvidia, and others. World Labs, which emerged from stealth in 2024 with $230 million at a $1 billion valuation, declined …

In Brief The data breach that hit blockchain-based lending giant Figure affected nearly a million customers, according to a security researcher. Last week, Figure confirmed a data breach allowed hackers to steal “a limited number of files” from its systems. The company did not provide specifics on what kind of …

Mastodon, a decentralized, open source social media platform and alternative to larger apps like X and Threads, announced on Wednesday its plans to make its app more approachable for newcomers while also targeting creators with the launch of new features. The changes follow the expansion of Mastodon’s core development team …