Author: Devin Coldewey
Unity U-turns on controversial runtime fee and begs forgiveness
Unity has done a 180 on a controversial new pricing scheme that users of its cross-platform game engine almost unanimously disparaged. A new pricing policy is still incoming, but it’s far less fraught for independent developers, many of whom thre…
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei on AI’s limits: ‘I’m not sure there are any’
As Anthropic takes on OpenAI and other challengers in the growing artificial intelligence industry, there is also an existential question looming: can large language models and the systems they enable continue growing in size and capability? CEO and co…
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei on AI’s limits: ‘I’m not sure there are any’
As Anthropic takes on OpenAI and other challengers in the growing artificial intelligence industry, there is also an existential question looming: can large language models and the systems they enable continue growing in size and capability? CEO and co…
Parallel Health takes a biotech-forward approach to skincare with custom phage therapy
Parallel Health turns the microbiome of the skin from creepy fact to potentially transformative skin care with custom phage therapy.
Project Gutenberg puts 5,000 audiobooks online for free using synthetic speech
Open book repository Project Gutenberg has turned thousands of its titles into audiobooks practically overnight using synthetic speech, available now for download or streaming on multiple services. The selection is a bit idiosyncratic (as indeed the ar…
Unity reportedly backtracking on new fees after developers revolt
Unity, the popular cross-platform game and media development engine, is on the defensive after receiving intense backlash over a controversial new fee structure, which developers using the platform decried as destructive and unfair. Now the company is …
California hits Google for $93M over deceptive location data options
A lawsuit filed against Google by California’s Attorney General over the company’s deceptive and misleading options for managing location data has resulted in a $93 million settlement — and new protections for consumers in the state. As det…
Apple is killing the iPhone’s silent switch
The ring/silent switch has been on the iPhone since the very first one was announced in 2007 by Steve Jobs, but now the writing is on the wall for the device’s last significant moving part. With its replacement by a haptic “action button,&#…
‘Exadelic’ takes a shot at being Silicon Valley’s ‘Ready Player One’
We don’t often review books at TechCrunch, let alone fiction, but sometimes a work comes along that is just so carefully tuned to the ecosystem we cover that it justifies a quick post. And so here we have “Exadelic,” a sci-fi novel by…
Scala Biodesign makes it easy to re-engineer proteins one molecule at a time – or 50
There’s a gold rush on in biotech as AI and other tools are used to find new drugs and treatments. With $5.5 million in new funding, Scala Biodesign is focusing these methods on a related problem: making existing or promising drugs more practical…