Snapchat is testing Lenses with power-ups and upgrades that you can buy

At its annual Lens Fest event, Snap announced that it’s experimenting with a small group of AR creators and developers to build Lenses with digital goods that can be purchased with Snap Tokens. As part of this experiment, users will be able to unlock power-ups, AR items and extra tools within select Lenses. Snap Tokens, which were first introduced in 2020, can be purchased within the Snapchat app by clicking on your profile icon and scrolling down to “My Snap Tokens.” You can purchase 80 Tokens

Sellscale uses generative AI to create better marketing emails

Everyone who has email knows what a canned marketing email sounds like (and has probably deleted tons of them). For sales development representatives, automated emails are necessary to create the volume of outbound inquiries they need to get a decent number of leads. But badly written emails result in few replies and also make companies look bad. SellScale wants to do away with standard “spray and pray” campaigns with a platform that uses generative AI, including GPT-3, to craft more natural sou

Rackspace blames ransomware attack for ongoing Exchange outage

Cloud computing giant Rackspace has confirmed that it has been hit by ransomware attack that has left a number of its customers without access to email. Rackspace’s hosted Microsoft Exchange service started experiencing problems on Friday last week. At the time, Rackspace posted a notice on its status page saying that due to a “security incident,” it had “powered down and disconnected” the service. In an update published on Tuesday, Rackspace has confirmed that a ransomware attack is behind the

Use customer health data to grow and forecast NRR

Kellie Capote Contributor Share on Twitter Kellie Capote is chief customer officer at Gainsight, where she leads the entire post-sales organization, including customer success management, support, professional services and the CS Ops & Scale teams. An old maxim among courtroom litigators states that you should only ask a question of a witness when you already know how they will answer. Otherwise, you might be in for an unpleasant surpri

Apple illegally interfered with union organizing in Atlanta, labor board finds

In April, an Apple Store in Atlanta became the first of the company’s American retail locations to file for a union election. Yet about a month later, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) withdrew its request for an election. The labor union alleged that Apple was using illegal union-busting tactics to influence voting, like interrogating workers and requiring them to attend daily, mandatory anti-union meetings. Now, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found merit to the CWA’s c

Google Search’s new topic filters make it easier to refine results or expand searches

Google announced today that it’s making it easier for users to drill down on a search and explore related topics. Search currently has a few filters to help you refine and separate your search results between videos, news, images or shopping results. Now, the search giant is going to start showing users a scrollable list of related topics alongside its current filters at the top of the search results page. For example, if you’re searching for dinner ideas, you might see filter topics like “healt

Apple loosens grip on App Store pricing with 700 new price points, support for prices that don’t end in $.99

Apple is loosening its requirements around how developers have to price their apps as legal and regulatory pressure over its tight control of the App Store intensifies. The company announced today it’s expanding its App Store pricing system to offer developers access to 700 additional price points, bringing the new total number of price points available to 900. It will also allow U.S. developers to set prices for apps, in-app purchases or subscriptions as low as $0.29 or as high as $10,000, and

Circle and Footprint’s aborted debuts are the final nail in the SPAC coffin

It would be nice to say that we’ll miss SPACs. But as blank-check companies fade from our view, we have to say we really won’t. Many companies that went public via a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, have seen their valuations implode post-combination. The resulting public-market mess meant that regular investors, not merely the more sophisticated professional investing cohort, took a bath. Even more, it appears that the best startups out there that may be eventual candidates for a t

Starting the tampon revolution with Valentina Milanova

Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week the show kicks off a new season and welcomes a new co-host. In this episode, Darrell is joined by Becca Szkutak to chat with Valentina Milanova, the founder of Daye, a gynecological health company creating CBD infused tampons. Valentina talks about why she decided to take on tampon behemoths like Tampax, the horrors she found when researching the industry and what it was like to pitch her startup to male investors. S

TechCrunch+ roundup: The end of free money, how to forecast NRR, slashing SaaS spending

If you ask three different people whether we’re in a recession, you could easily get three different answers. As often as the ‘R’ word is bandied about in tech, a survey of 450 early-stage founders found that only 12% plan to hire fewer workers and 6% have laid people off. “The data is proving that early-stage founders are seeing a more gradual approach to the downturn,” said January Ventures founding partner Jen Neundorfer. Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to membersUse discount cod

In 30 years, the US saw 1.1 million gun deaths

A new study is the first analysis to show both the sheer magnitude of firearm fatalities in the United States over the past 32 years and the growing disparities by race/ethnicity, age, and geographic location. “In 2021, we have reached the highest number of gun fatalities that have ever occurred in the US.” Using multiple data sets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the researchers extracted the national number of firearm deaths and firearm fatality rates per 100,000 persons pe

What’s going on with the potential rail strike?

The federal government is trying to prevent more than 100,000 freight railroad workers from going on strike at the height of the holiday season. At the urging of President Biden, the US Senate passed legislation on Thursday, December 1 that would force a tentative contract agreement between the rail unions and their employers. The deal, approved by the House Wednesday, calls for a 24% raise over five years, immediate payouts averaging $11,000, and an extra paid day off. In a separate resolution

To avoid the health effects of stress, get proactive

Two new studies find that younger adults who take preemptive steps to respond to stress are better able to avoid negative health outcomes. “The fact that we have two studies with the same results highlights the importance of proactive coping for younger adults when it comes to handling stress,” says Shevaun Neupert, corresponding author of a paper on the two studies and a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. “These results are important for helping us work with people to b

Aging worms show DNA repair decline limits fertility

A new study suggests one possible reason why reproduction slows with age. The researchers report that older worms are less efficient at repairing broken DNA strands while making egg cells—part of a process that’s essential for fertility. The findings appear in PLOS Genetics. Each sperm or egg cell has only half the number of chromosomes found in a regular cell. During meiosis, the cell division process that forms sperm and eggs, the parent cells must evenly divide their DNA. The costs of error c

How dementia caregivers can cope with the holidays

An expert on elder care has tips for how families can make the most of the season when caring for someone experiencing memory loss. Although the holiday season brings joy to many, it may mean added stress for families supporting a loved one with memory loss. Mary Catherine Lundquist is the program director of Care2Caregivers, a peer counseling helpline (800-424-2494) for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory disorders operated by Rutgers Behavioral Health Care. Here, L

Surprising Finding: New Study Yields Clues to Genetic Causes of High Cholesterol

<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Genetic-Puzzle-Concept-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Genetic Puzzle Concept" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>The finding demonstrates how vital it is to ensure diversity in genetic databases. According to a recent study conducted by geneticists at the University of Pittsburgh...</p></div>

New Blood Test Can Detect “Toxic” Protein Years Before Alzheimer’s Disease Symptoms Emerge

<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Blood-Problem-Concept-373x210.gif" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Blood Problem Concept" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>By and large, patients today receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s only after they exhibit well-known signs of the disease, such as memory loss. By that...</p></div>

Making Cryptocurrencies More Sustainable: Follow Ethereum’s Lead

<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Ethereum-Cryptocurrency-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Digital Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>Bitcoin has a carbon emissions problem due to the vast energy consumption of mining. In fact, bans on cryptomining have popped up around the world...</p></div>

4000 Tons Released Annually: Hazardous Herbicide Chemical Goes Airborne

<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Herbicide-Farm-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Herbicide Farm" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>Amines can have a damaging effect on human and environmental health. “Dicamba drift,” or the movement of the herbicide dicamba through the atmosphere, can cause...</p></div>

Stunning Satellite Image: Lava Flows North on Mauna Loa

<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Landsat-9-Lava-Flows-North-on-Mauna-Loa-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Landsat 9 Lava Flows North on Mauna Loa" decoding="async" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>The Landsat 9 satellite acquired this image of the volcanic eruption as lava flowed past the Mauna Loa Observatory toward Saddle Road. On December 2,...</p></div>