Sarah Perez
Reporter
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Google’s new charging speaker dock will turn the Pixel tablet into a smart display for the home
Google this morning teased its upcoming Pixel tablet, due to arrive next year, as well as a new piece of hardware designed to make the tablet a more useful home device: a Charging Speaker Dock. This m
Google Assistant gets an upgrade on Pixel 7 with voice typing, calling and transcription improvements
Alongside news of its brand-new Pixel 7 smartphone line and Pixel Watch, Google today also announced a number of ways it’s improving the technology running on its new devices, powered by Google
Google’s Pixel 7 and 7 Pro will include a VPN at no extra cost
Among the security features Google announced with the launch of its new Pixel 7 smartphones, Google today also noted it will make its Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro devices its first-ever phones to include a
Twitter is making its crowdsourced fact-checks visible to all US users with Birdwatch expansion
After last month’s expansion of Twitter’s crowdsourced fact-checking program known as Birdwatch, Twitter announced this morning the notes fact-checkers leave on tweets will now be visible
The Rounds raises $38M Series A for its sustainable ‘household restocking’ service
Online shopping and speedy delivery through services like Instacart and Amazon Prime are the height of modern conveniences, but for many consumers who care about sustainability and e-commerce’s
Amazon kills its interactive, video-calling device, Amazon Glow, launched last year
Just over a year after its debut, Amazon is discontinuing its interactive, video-calling device for kids and families, the Amazon Glow. First introduced at Amazon’s annual hardware event last ye
Spotify acquires content moderation tech company Kinzen to address platform safety issues
Spotify this morning announced it’s acquiring Dublin, Ireland-based content moderation tech company Kinzen, which had been working in partnership with the streamer since 2020. Deal terms were no
Instagram to increase ad load as Meta fights revenue decline
Following another quarter that saw marketers pull back on their ad spending, Meta today announced it’s increasing its ad load on Instagram with the launch of two new ad slots. Amid a slew of pro
Google begins rolling out its iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets
Google’s anticipated iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets have now begun to arrive. Alongside the launch of Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 16, the search giant last month had teased its pl
Twitter expands access to its experimental Status feature…but not to its paid subscribers
Twitter’s throwback feature, Twitter Status, is today expanding its list of potential status updates to choose from, in a continuation of tests that began this July. The feature, which is someth
Meta settles lawsuit for ‘significant’ sum against businesses scraping Facebook and Instagram data
Facebook parent Meta has settled a lawsuit in the U.S. against two companies that had engaged in data scraping operations, which had seen them gathering data from Facebook and Instagram users for mark
Bumble is testing a speed-dating feature where users chat before matching
Dating app Bumble has been experimenting with a new way for its users to connect. The company has been quietly testing a speed-dating feature in its U.K. market, which allows users to join the app on
This Week in Apps: Google goes visual, Twitter copies TikTok, OG app drama
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in th
TikTok breaks records as top grossing app in Q3, as overall app store revenue declines
Consumers reduced their mobile app spending in the third quarter of 2022 by roughly 5%, but the social video app TikTok just delivered another record-breaking quarter on this front. For the fourth str
Studio’s private group camcorder app lets friends create ‘episodes’ by combining 10-second videos
As younger consumers are shifting to social apps that focus on video and more personal forms of social networking, a new social app called Studio, launching today, is introducing a group camcorder exp
Google rolls out tool to request removal of personal info from search results, will later add proactive alerts
This spring, Google announced it would expand the types of personal information users could request to have removed from Google Search results to include contact information, like a phone number, addr
Google revamps shopping with 3D images, shoppable looks, buying guides and more personalization
At its Search On event this afternoon, Google announced a number of shopping-related changes and new features across areas that include visual shopping, personalization and buying with the help of tru
Google to launch its image and text-based ‘Multisearch Near Me’ local search feature in the US
A new Google feature that will allow users to search using both images and text combined to find local retailers who offer the apparel, home goods or food you’re looking for will soon roll out t
Google turns to machine learning to advance translation of text out in the real world
Google is giving its translation service an upgrade with a new machine learning-powered addition that will allow users to more easily translate text that appears in the real world, like on storefronts
Google unveils a more visual search experience for the TikTok generation
Google today announced it’s revamping the traditional Google Search experience to allow users to more naturally explore information. To accomplish this, the company is introducing a number of ne