Google created an AI that can generate music from text descriptions, but won’t release it
An impressive new AI system from Google can generate music in any genre given a text description. But the company, fearing the risks, has no immediate plans to release it.
Called MusicLM, Google’s certainly isn’t the first generative AI system for song. There have been other attempts, including Riffusion, an AI that composes music by visualizing it, as well as Dance Diffusion, Google’s own AudioML and OpenAI’s Jukebox. But owing to technical limitations and limited training data, none have been
What’s going on in the Dutch startup scene?
I find something very intriguing about members of a royal family working to further the startup scene for a particular country.
In a magnificently frank conversation, I spoke with HRH Prince Constantijn, fourth in line to the throne of the Netherlands, at CES earlier this month. We discussed the Dutch ecosystem, the role of government in stimulating innovation and the challenges the country is facing in helping companies to go from startup to scaleup.
[Editor’s note: This interview has been edit
HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ gets a second season following successful debut
HBO announced today that the hit series “The Last of Us” is getting a second season, likely satisfying more than 22 million domestic viewers that watched the Season 1 premiere episode so far. On the night of the premiere, it was viewed by 4.7 million Americans.
The announcement comes less than a week after “The Last of Us” debuted its second-ever episode, which had 5.7 million viewers across HBO Max and linear, according to Nielsen and first-party data. The third episode will premiere this Sunda
TechCrunch+ roundup: No-code MVP strategy, hiring under scrutiny, A/B growth testing
Americans spent nearly $20 billion on pizza deliveries in 2021.
Most of us could probably bake one at home, but speed and convenience are powerful incentives at dinnertime.
The potential of AI tools like ChatGPT creates a similar dilemma — should companies license large language models without modifications, or customize them and pay much higher usage rates?
“While building looks extremely attractive in the long run, it requires leadership with a strong appetite for risk over an extended time pe
You could be Wasted and not even know it
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This week, Natasha Mascarenhas, Mary Ann Azevedo and Rebecca Szkutak took the mic to talk through breaking news, retrospective features and all the blogosphere content that fits in between. Shout-out to Theresa and Andrew for putting together a diverse script that includes… checks notes… nothing. about. layoffs! Don’t worry, there are still tensions to pay att
Hear the right way to acquire customers with Cube and Mayfield on TechCrunch Live
Finance people live and breathe spreadsheets, Mayfield’s Rajeev Batra was telling me. We were talking about our upcoming TechCrunch Live event featuring him and Cube’s Christina Ross, and Rajeev was explaining how he sees Cube’s position in the marketplace. Christina Ross co-founded the company in 2018 in a bid to provide a solution to CFOs who rely on spreadsheets but could benefit from modern data analysis, reporting, and collaboration. Now, some five years later, Cube is finding success and h
Warner Bros. swiped our Harry Potter wand IP, says Kano
Kano, the venture-backed U.K. startup known for its build-your-own computer kits and software for teaching coding and associated STEM skills, has accused Warner Bros. of copying one of its products and infringing on its intellectual property (IP).
The product in question is the Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand that Warner Bros. announced back in October, and which began shipping to consumers in the U.S. and U.K. for $150 just before Christmas. London-based Kano issued a “cease and desist” to Warn
Atomos tows a $16M load of funding to create tugboats in space
You may not have known that space needs tugboats, but now you do — and Atomos Space just closed a $16.2 million Series A investment, which will enable the company to complete its demonstration mission where it will show off its docking and towing capabilities. The company is building a series of Orbital Transfer Vehicles (OTV) that makes it possible to reposition satellites in space. The theory is that, by making it possible to move flying objects into different orbits, they don’t have to have f
The best Twitter alternatives worth checking out
We’ll be straight with you. There’s no 1:1 Twitter replacement — not yet, and possibly not ever.
Still, there are plenty of social apps that might be worth substituting into your obsessive timeline-checking routines if you’re done with Twitter for whatever reason (we can think of plenty).
Twitter’s current situation — advertisers leaving, Nazis logging back on, little things breaking here and there every day — presents an opportunity to check in with ourselves about what we really want out of a
How US police use digital data to prosecute abortions
In late April, police in Nebraska received a tip saying 17-year-old Celeste Burgess had given birth to a stillborn baby and buried the body. Officers soon learned that her mother, Jessica Burgess, and a friend had helped her with transportation and burial. The police issued citations for concealing the death of another person and false reporting. But in June, they also charged Jessica with providing an abortion for her teenage daughter. Police had made the discovery after obtaining a warrant tha
Galactic Anomaly: The Milky Way Is Too Big for Its “Cosmological Wall”
<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Milky-Way-Analog-Galaxy-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Milky Way Analog Galaxy" decoding="async" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>Milky Way Discovered To Be More Unique Than Previously Thought Is the Milky Way special, or, at least, is it in a special place in...</p></div>
Scientists Discover How the Measles Virus Can Cause a Fatal Neurological Disorder
<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Viral-Encephalitis-Illustration-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Viral Encephalitis Illustration" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>Measles Virus “Cooperates” With Itself To Cause Fatal Encephalitis Scientists discover a new mechanism for how the measles virus can cause a rare but fatal...</p></div>
Bionic Power for Men: Synthetic Tissue Restores Erectile Function in Pigs
<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Bionic-Artificial-Penile-Tunica-Albuginea-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Bionic Artificial Penile Tunica Albuginea" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>Scientists have developed a synthetic tissue that repairs injuries and restores normal erectile function in a pig model, in a study published on January 4...</p></div>
Were We Wrong About the “Love Hormone” Oxytocin?
<div><img width="373" height="210" src="https://scitechdaily.com/images/Oxytocin-Love-Hormone-Concept-373x210.jpg" class="attachment-cp-thumb-xl size-cp-thumb-xl wp-post-image" alt="Oxytocin Love Hormone Concept" decoding="async" loading="lazy" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><p>Study finds that prairie voles without oxytocin receptors can bond with mates and young. The vital role of oxytocin—the “love hormone”—for social attachments is being...</p></div>
Audi’s new EV concept is a pickup, SUV hybrid that's built for our AR future
<div><img src="https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2023/1/27/84ec7e67-a12f-4e4d-b24f-bac055ce42af-a230545_large.jpg?w=500&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress"><br><p>Audi’s activesphere concept uses mixed reality to make driving easier, but also has a design that complements an active lifestyle.</p><p><a href="https://www.inverse.com/gear/audi-ev-concept-activesphere-suv-pickup-augmented-reality" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">View this story on Inverse</a></p></div>
17 years later, the most underrated Final Fantasy spin-off is more relevant than ever
In the years after Final Fantasy VII’s massive global success, Square Enix decided to give this entry in their already successful franchise its own sub-franchise which would be dubbed The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. This project birthed the recently remastered cult hit Crisis Core, starring best boy Zack Fair and also the ongoing Remake series that includes the upcoming Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. The forgotten black sheep in this project, however, stars the edgiest boy of all: Vincent Val
Robert Eggers' 'Nosferatu' remake will reunite him with his best collaborator
Despite the Oscars snubbing Robert Eggers’ The Northman, the acclaimed director is already at work on his next project — and for Eggers specifically, it’s the big one.On Thursday, Deadline reported Eggers is remaking the 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu, a landmark in German Expressionism (and basically a fan film of Bram Stoker’s Dracula). The project will reunite Eggers with Willem Dafoe, who starred in Eggers’ The Lighthouse and The Northman. It’s unknown what character Dafoe will play.A rem
'God of War Ragnarok' ending theory explains Atreus' most important decision
From the start of God of War Ragnarok, fans were already waiting to see how the prophecy revealed at the end of the 2018 game would impact the fate of Kratos and his son Atreus. In a game obsessed with fate, Atreus's final confrontation with Odin breaks from the expected conclusion. An illuminating fan theory points to a specific moment as the turning point for Atreus’s future, and it all has to do with the game’s most mysterious MacGuffin — the Mask of Creation.The inevitable — Like any classic
Android tablets have to get weird before they can be popular
Android tablets are on the offensive. After years of being the cheaper alternative to an iPad, Google’s effort to change the story around the large-screen version of its Android operating system might be finally working out.OnePlus decision to tease and confirm the existence of the OnePlus Pad is as good a sign as any that opportunities in the Android tablet space are changing. People are actually interested, and it all seems to be thanks to the announcement of Google’s Pixel Tablet.Google’s odd
'Fire Emblem Engage' best Emblem pairings: 9 duos to make your team unstoppable
Reach into the past and grab your favorite heroes from bygone games. That’s the central gameplay mechanic in Fire Emblem Engage. Twelve powerful artifacts known as Emblem Rings are divided between the different factions in-game, each one holding a spirit of a powerful Fire Emblem protagonist from other games in the franchise. You’ll need to collect them all across the 26 chapters of the story in order to defeat the Fell Dragon. With 12 Emblems and 35 characters in Fire Emblem Engage, that means