Amanda Silberling, Author at TechCrunch

What is Bluesky? Everything to know about the X competitor

Amanda Silberling, Cody Corrall, Alyssa Stringer — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Is the grass greener on the other side? We’re not sure, but the sky is most certainly bluer. It’s been two years since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, now X, leading people to set up shop on alternative platforms. Mastodon, Post, Pebble (two of which have already shuttered operations) and Spill have been presented as potential […]

Bluesky is courting the Swifties

Amanda Silberling — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:20:30 +0000

Bluesky has grown by 2 million users — about 15% — since Donald Trump won the U.S. election last week. But the emerging social platform isn’t just acting as a refuge for left-leaning X users who are disappointed in Elon Musk’s alliance with the president-elect. A community of Taylor Swift fans, or Swifites, has also […]

What’s DOGE? Musk’s new political appointment under Trump is a crypto joke

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 23:11:04 +0000

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that one of his top donors, Elon Musk, will co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It’s a not-even-thinly-veiled nod to the popular Doge meme, depicting a cute Shiba Inu, which is also the inspiration behind the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The commission, which will advise Trump, […]

Mark Zuckerberg sings with T-Pain on ‘Get Low’ remix

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 20:23:28 +0000

There now exists an MP3 file in this world of Mark Zuckerberg earnestly singing the lyric “to the window, to the wall, ’til the sweat drop down my balls.” The Meta founder met his wife, Priscilla Chan, at a college party where the song “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring […]

Amazon takes on Temu and Shein with discount ‘Amazon Haul’ store

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 16:02:29 +0000

Amazon has rolled out its answer to the discounted, low-cost storefronts of Temu and Shein. The Amazon Haul store, currently available on the mobile app or mobile web browser exclusively, offers similar mass-produced, discounted items, most of which ship from China. It’s a departure from Amazon’s long-established reputation as a powerhouse of rapid delivery times […]

Patreon gets gift subscriptions in time for the holidays

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:51:17 +0000

Creator subscription platform Patreon is making it a bit easier for fans to support their favorite creators this holiday season. The creator membership platform announced on Wednesday that it will roll out gift subscriptions, as well as functionality for creators to offer discounts for membership sign-ups. The gift subscription feature had previously been in testing […]

TikTok is integrating with influencer shopping app LTK, videos show

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:52:48 +0000

An integration with LTK, an app that lets consumers shop from creator and influencers’ recommendations, is rolling out on TikTok, according to videos by select creators viewed by TechCrunch. The collaboration could boost fashion creators’ ability to earn affiliate commissions via LTK, while also making it easier for consumers to locate the clothes and accessories […]

What does Trump’s election mean for the TikTok ban?

Amanda Silberling — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 21:39:30 +0000

As TikTok stares down an impending federal ban, Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election could be a lifeline. It’s a plot twist for the embattled, Chinese-owned social media company. During Trump’s last presidency, the president-elect had been the one to initiate the calls to ban TikTok, which only petered out because he didn’t win […]

Trump included Elon Musk on call with Zelenskyy

Amanda Silberling — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:32:12 +0000

President-elect Donald Trump looped in Elon Musk on his phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, according to Axios. As one of Trump’s top campaign donors, Musk has forged a strong alliance with the incoming president. The Tesla CEO has been rumored as a candidate for a position in Trump’s cabinet, and his […]

The Beatles’ AI-assisted track ‘Now and Then’ is nominated for two Grammy awards

Amanda Silberling — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:46:05 +0000

The Beatles have been nominated for two Grammy awards this year, and no, we did not accidentally fall into a time warp back to the 1960s. The Beatles’ song “Now and Then,” refined with the use of AI and released last year, is up for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance. So, the […]

As generative AI gets better, what will happen to artists?

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 20:22:00 +0000

Suno CEO Mikey Shulman found himself in an unlikely place for the founder of a generative AI music company: a songwriting class at Berklee College of Music. “It sounds like walking into the lion’s den,” Shulman said onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. “The approach of just walking in there and saying, ‘don’t worry, there’s no […]

AI safety advocates tell founders to slow down

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:15:00 +0000

“Move cautiously and red-team things” is sadly not as catchy as “move fast and break things.” But three AI safety advocates made it clear to startup founders that going too fast can lead to ethical issues in the long run. “We are at an inflection point where there are tons of resources being moved into […]

The brightest bling of TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Amanda Silberling, Sarah Perez — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:53:48 +0000

At TechCrunch Disrupt, our team sits front and center, furiously typing away at our laptops to publish real-time news from impressive speakers like NFL quarterback-turned-founder Colin Kaepernick, Perplexity AI founder Aravind Srinivas, and Ashton Kutcher. We are a well-oiled machine. Some writers have been covering Disrupt since the old days, before Meta was Meta and […]

‘If you actually are solving a problem, you don’t talk about any of the hype,’ investor says

Amanda Silberling — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000

The hype is palpable: As tech folks from near and far converge for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Fransisco — one of the only places where Waymo is available to the public — there’s ample chatter about the autonomous vehicle service. “If you think about AI hype and all, everyone gets excited about what 10 […]

Can you build a startup without sacrificing your mental health? Bonobos founder Andy Dunn thinks so

Amanda Silberling — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Bonobos founder Andy Dunn is back in the builder’s seat, working on an in-person social media platform called Pie. But the biggest lessons he learned from his $310 million Bonobos exit don’t have as much to do with entrepreneurship as they do with staying sane. When Dunn was in college, he was diagnosed with bipolar […]

College social app Fizz’s ‘serial failed retiree’ CEO steps down as founder takes helm

Amanda Silberling — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Veteran entrepreneur Rakesh Mathur stepped down as CEO of the college social network Fizz, handing over the reins to 22-year-old founder Teddy Solomon. It’s full circle for Fizz, the anonymous platform that Solomon started with his Stanford classmate Ashton Cofer before they dropped out to work on the app full-time. Mathur has been working with […]

HILOS is making footwear more sustainable without skimping on style

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 17:20:25 +0000

When people imagine what 3D printing is, they might think of plastic knickknacks and miniature figurines that teenagers make in their high school libraries. For HILOS (Human Innovation Lab Operating System), 3D printing means creating footwear that’s chic, low-waste, and runway ready. “Brands are overproducing 20% because they don’t know what size and styles are […]

Foster sisters explain why they haven’t invested in AI

Amanda Silberling — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 23:20:28 +0000

Oversubscribed Ventures co-founder Sara Foster (above right) made a confession onstage on Monday at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. “I don’t even have ChatGPT on my phone,” she said. It’s an unexpected comment from an investor, given that ChatGPT is arguably the most influential product to launch this decade. But what makes the Foster sisters different from […]

Step aside, Zoom fatigue, VRTL wants to make virtual fan events fun again

Amanda Silberling — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 21:41:18 +0000

VRTL founder Courtney Jeffries describes herself as a “recovering sports executive.” “That was my entire career before I threw it away to chase down my startup dreams,” Jeffries told TechCrunch. After playing softball at the University of Washington, she spent almost 20 years working in marketing and sales for teams like the Oakland Raiders and […]

Bluesky raises $15M Series A, plans to launch subscriptions

Amanda Silberling — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 17:59:16 +0000

Decentralized social app Bluesky announced on Thursday that it has raised a $15 million Series A round, following its $8 million seed raise last year. This funding comes as Bluesky sees increased growth, in part from X users who are troubled by recent changes to the block feature, as well as the move to allow […]