Ivan Mehta

Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web. You can reach out to him at im[at]ivanmehta[dot]com

Ivan Mehta

Here’s a list of third-party apps that were Sherlocked by Apple at this year’s WWDC.

The apps that Apple sherlocked at WWDC 2024

Google is finally making its Gemini Nano AI model available to Pixel 8 and 8a users after teasing it in March.

Google’s June Pixel feature drop brings Gemini Nano AI model to Pixel 8 and 8a users

At WWDC 2024, Apple introduced new options for developers to promote their apps and earn more from them in the App Store.

Apple adds win-back subscription offers and improved search suggestions to the App Store

Older iPhones or iPhone 15 users won’t be able to use these features.

Apple Intelligence features will be available on iPhone 15 Pro and devices with M1 or newer chips

The Apple Vision Pro is now available in eight new countries.

Apple to release Vision Pro in international markets

Dubai-based fractional property investment platform Stake has raised $14 million in Series A funding.

Stake raises $14M to bring its fractional property investment platform to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi

Google and Microsoft have made their developer conferences a showcase of their generative AI chops, and now all eyes are on next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which is expected to…

Apple needs to focus on making AI useful, not flashy

Shopify has acquired Threads.com, the Sequoia-backed Slack alternative, Threads said on its website. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal but said that the Threads.com team will join…

Shopify acquires Threads (no, not that one)

Meta launched its Meta Verified program today along with other features, such as the ability to call large businesses and custom messages.

Meta rolls out Meta Verified for WhatsApp Business users in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Colombia

Last year, during the Q3 2023 earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg talked about leveraging AI to have business accounts respond to customers for purchase and support queries. Today, Meta announced AI-powered…

Meta adds AI-powered features to WhatsApp Business app

TikTok is testing streaks that are similar to Snapchat’s in order to boost engagement, including how long people stay on the app.

TikTok is testing Snapchat-like streaks

Google said today it is partnering with RapidSOS, a platform for emergency first responders, to enable users to contact 911 through RCS (Rich Messaging Service).

Google partners with RapidSOS to enable 911 contact through RCS

OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT has been down for several users across the globe for the last few hours.

OpenAI fixes the issue that caused ChatGPT outage for several hours

After the Digital Markets Act (DMA) forced Apple to allow third-party app stores for iOS in Europe, several developers have launched alternative stores, like the AltStore and MacPaw’s Setapp (currently…

Aptoide launches its alternative iOS game store in the EU

X will now allow users to post consensually produced NSFW content as long as it is prominently labeled as such.

X tweaks rules to formally allow adult content

Voice cloning startup ElevenLabs introduced a new tool for users to generate sound effects through prompts today after announcing the project back in February.

ElevenLabs debuts AI-powered tool to generate sound effects

AI-powered summaries of web pages are a feature that you will find in many AI-centric tools these days. The next step for some of these tools is to prepare detailed…

Perplexity AI’s new feature will turn your searches into shareable pages

Instagram is expanding the scope of its “Limits” tool specifically for teenagers that would let them restrict unwanted interactions with people.

Instagram now lets teens limit interactions to their ‘Close Friends’ group to combat harassment

Faircado has built a browser extension that suggests pre-owned alternatives for ecommerce listings.

Faircado raises $3M to nudge people to buy pre-owned goods

Google said today it’s adding new AI-powered features such as a writing assistant and a wallpaper creator and providing easy access to Gemini chatbot to its Chromebook Plus line of…

Google adds AI-powered features to Chromebook

Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has raised $6 billion in a new funding round, it said today, as Musk shores up capital to aggressively compete with rivals including OpenAI, Microsoft…

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B from Valor, a16z and Sequoia

Slack is making it difficult for its customers if they want the company to stop using its data for model training.

Slack under attack over sneaky AI training policy

X, formerly Twitter, turned TweetDeck into X Pro and pushed it behind a paywall. But there is a new column-based social media tool in town, and it’s from Instagram Threads.…

Meta Threads is testing pinned columns on the web, similar to the old TweetDeck

Google is launching a Gemini add-on for educational institutes through Google Workspace.

Google adds Gemini to its Education suite

Reddit announced on Wednesday that it is reintroducing its awards system after shutting down the program last year. The company said that most of the mechanisms related to awards will…

Reddit reintroduces its awards system

The company said it is increasing the on-device capability of its Google Play Protect system to detect fraudulent apps trying to breach sensitive permissions.

Google adds live threat detection and screen-sharing protection to Android

Meta’s newest social network, Threads, is starting its own fact-checking program after piggybacking on Instagram and Facebook’s network for a few months.

Threads finally starts its own fact-checking program

Google has built a custom Gemini model for search to combine real-time information, Google’s ranking, long context and multimodal features.

Google is adding more AI to its search results

Online travel agency Expedia is testing an AI assistant that bolsters features like search, itinerary building, trip planning, and real-time travel updates.

Expedia starts testing AI-powered features for search and travel planning

Over the weekend, Instagram announced that it is expanding its creator marketplace to 10 new countries — this marketplace connects brands with creators to foster collaboration. The new regions include…

Instagram expands its creator marketplace to 10 new countries