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Meta conducts layoffs in Oculus Studios, impacting VR exercise app Supernatural

Meta laid off employees on Thursday in its Reality Labs division, which encompasses various virtual and augmented reality projects. The cuts impact employees within Oculus Studios, which develops apps and games for Meta’s Quest headsets. Reality Labs has been a massive cost for Meta, losing almost $5 billion in the last quarter of 2024 while generating about $1 billion in sales. Meta has reported billions of dollars in operating losses on Reality Labs each year since rebranding from Facebook and emphasizing its commitment to the “metaverse.”
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/meta-conducts-layoffs-in-oculus-studios-impacting-vr-exercise-app-supernatural/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

TikTok quietly launches a new ‘TikTok for Artists’ platform

As TikTok’s fate in the United States remains uncertain, the tech giant has quietly started testing a new “TikTok for Artists” insights platform that is designed to help artists build their careers, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The platform will provide artists with tools to promote their songs, understand performance metrics, and engage with fans. The platform is currently being tested in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. TikTok plans to bring the platform to additional markets in the future alongside a wider rollout.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/03/tiktok-quietly-launches-a-new-tiktok-for-artists-platform/

23andMe faces an uncertain future — so does your genetic data

DNA and genetic testing firm 23andMe is in turmoil following a 2023 data breach and its ongoing financial decline. The once-pioneering giant now faces an uncertain future as bankruptcy looms over the company, intensifying concerns about what might happen to the genetic data of 23andMe’s some 15 million customers. Where does that leave millions of people’s genetic data?
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/24/23andme-faces-an-uncertain-future-so-does-your-genetic-data/

Humane’s AI Pin is dead, as HP buys startup’s assets for $116M

Humane announced on Tuesday that most of its assets have been acquired by HP for $116 million. The hardware startup is immediately discontinuing sales of its $499 AI Pins. Humane alerted customers who have already purchased the Pin that their devices will stop functioning before the end of the month — at 12 p.m. PST on February 28, 2025, according to a blog post. The news brings an end to the short-lived, buzzy hardware startup. Humane made a splash in April 2024 by launching its AI Pin, which it positioned as a smartphone replacement. The Bay Area startup, founded by ex-Apple employees Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, raised more than $230 million to create the device.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/humanes-ai-pin-is-dead-as-hp-buys-startups-assets-for-116m/

Adobe launches subscriptions for Firefly AI

Previously, Adobe offered many of Firefly’s AI tools within its existing Creative Cloud subscriptions, letting users try the new tools for no added cost. Users could upgrade to pricier plans if they wanted more access to Firefly, but they didn’t have to. That system worked well for Adobe: Firefly’s generative fill feature, added to Photoshop in 2023, has become one of the company’s most popular new features of the last decade. Now, Adobe wants to see if users will also pay up for its Firefly AI models.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/12/adobe-launches-firefly-ai-subscriptions/

TikTok influencers are wearing Apple Watches on their ankles

A report from The New York Times over the weekend highlights the small — but apparently growing — trend of users wearing their Apple Watches on their ankles. What’s becoming something of a viral sensation on social platforms like TikTok is the result of a pragmatic decision. Some Apple Watch owners’ wrists are simply too small to get a proper read with on-board sensors like heart-rate monitoring.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/10/tiktok-influencers-are-wearing-apple-watches-on-their-ankles/

Deepfake videos are getting shockingly good

According to the ByteDance researchers, OmniHuman-1 only needs a single reference image and audio, like speech or vocals, to generate a clip of an arbitrary length. The output video’s aspect ratio is adjustable, as is the subject’s “body proportion” — i.e. how much of their body is shown in the fake footage.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/04/deepfake-videos-are-getting-shockingly-good/