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Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Google Photos debuts redesigned editor with new AI tools
Google is celebrating 10 years of Google Photos with the launch of a redesigned editor. The redesign adds new AI features, Reimagine and Auto Frame, which were previously only available on Pixel devices, bringing the tools into the hands of more users. The Reimagine feature uses generative AI to transform objects and backgrounds in photos with text prompts. For example, you could ask to replace a gloomy sky in one of your photos with "clear blue skies." The Auto Frame feature suggests different ways to frame a photo, whether it's by cropping, widening, or using generative AI to fill in the blank spaces. Google says the new editor gives users helpful suggestions and puts all its editing tools in one place. You can use AI-powered suggestions that combine multiple effects for quick edits with the new "AI Enhance" option. For example, you could combine AI effects like image sharpening and object removal. Or, you can tap specific parts of a photo to get suggested tools for editing that area. For example, Google may suggest that you adjust the lighting or blur the background. Google notes the redesign will start rolling out globally to Android devices next month, with iOS following later this year. The tech giant also announced that you can now share albums with QR codes to make it easier for others around you to access an album. You could also print out the codes for a group event, where anyone with the code will be able to view and add photos to the album. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Microsoft starts testing Copilot for Gaming in Xbox app for iOS and Android
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it has started rolling out the beta version of its Copilot for Gaming experience. Beta testers can access the experience in the Xbox app on iOS and Android. The early version of the experience allows the assistant to answer questions about the games you're interested in, give you links to more information, and answer questions based on your account, play history, achievements, and more. For example, you could ask something like: "What's my gamerscore and can you give me some tips to raise it?" or 'I love horror movies. Any suggestions for what game I should play?' As for questions about your play history or account, you could ask something like: "What was the last achievement I got in Starfield?" or "When does my Game Pass subscription renew?' "In this early version of the feature for mobile, you'll be able to access Copilot for Gaming on a second screen, without distracting you from your core gameplay experience," Taylor O'Malley, principal program manager at Xbox, explained in a blog post. Once you ask Copilot a question, it looks at your player activity on Xbox, alongside public information from Bing, to formulate a response. Microsoft says it's working to add more personalization and richer game assistance, such as proactive coaching, to Copilot for Gaming in the future. The beta version of Copilot for Gaming is available in English for players aged 18 and older in the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong (SAR), India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Libya, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkiye, UAE, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA and Vietnam. Microsoft plans to release the experience in additional regions at a later date. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Context gets $11M to build an AI-powered office suite
Context, a startup building an AI-powered office suite, on Wednesday announced that it raised $11 million in a seed round led by Lux Capital with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and General Catalyst. The round, which brings the company's total raised to around $15.75 million, values Context at $70 million. Founder Joseph Semrai, a Thiel Fellow, started working on Context in 2024 after he realized that current digital office suites are not well suited to take advantage of AI models. "[W]e have a bunch of disparate applications that aren't necessarily built keeping the power of [AI models] in mind," Semrai told TechCrunch in a phone interview. "We want to take advantage of the fact that [models] can understand large context windows and use multiple applications at the same time to get the best result." Over the past few years, many startups in the productivity and browsing space have made user interface changes to adopt a chat-forward experience, largely thanks to the rise of AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT. Semrai thinks that Context, which is similarly chat-focused, can be a powerful tool for workers using an office suite, similar to how Cursor has become a useful application for programmers. Office suite makers like Google and Microsoft have infused AI into their applications. Canva, which has been in the creative space historically, is also designing products that suit all kinds of office work with AI at the center. Notion, meanwhile, is building an enterprise workplace with an AI search and research mode. Many of these products offer connectors to third-party applications. But Semrai said that while connecting to sources and retrieving data is becoming commoditized, new-age tools don't always deliver capabilities that help with analysis. That, he said, is where Context comes in — it's designed to make it easier for users to reason over the data they fetch from various sources and make decisions based on that. Context has a simple interface with a chat box in the center. You can ask the AI tool to perform research derived from your documents, integrations, and web knowledge. You can then ask it to convert all this to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, while continuing to interact with it to generate different artifacts. Context also offers a Python interpreter to let you run code. The goal isn't necessarily replacing a fully-featured office suite like Microsoft 365. Rather, Context is going after a market not well-served by the current crop of tools, according to Semrai. For example, unlike many AI-powered data analysis products, Context will soon be able to work offline, enabling simple analysis and document drafting based on existing data and documents via Context's desktop client. Users can try out Context for free with 50 credits, one workspace, and 10 team members. Alternatively, they can pay $20 per month to get 2,000 credits with no limits on workspaces and team members. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
TechCrunch
2 hours ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Karat Financial is bringing business banking to creators
Karat Financial, the company known for its credit cards for creators, is launching a creator-focused business banking product. Powered by digital bank Grasshopper, Karat's banking product is a natural extension of its credit card offering with Visa. 'Six years in, the problem we're solving is still the same,' co-founder and co-CEO Eric Wei told TechCrunch. 'Creators are real businesses, and banks don't understand them.' Despite their prominent position in culture, creators still encounter hiccups when doing simple things like applying for a business credit card or opening up a bank account, even when their businesses are booming. In some cases, Wei has seen creators who make millions of dollars a year get declined when making $100 purchases at department stores. In more ambitious cases, Wei saw William Osman, a creator with over 3 million YouTube subscribers, fail to get the six figures in credit he needed to put on the Open Sauce convention. Karat stepped in, gave Osman the credit, and soon got paid back. 'This was a no-brainer, but a normal institution just does not understand the nature of their business,' Wei said. To date, Karat has extended $1.5 billion in credit, with the average credit limit per creator at $25,000. But creators needed more financial services beyond the Karat Visa. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW 'As this business-oriented side of the entire creator industry grows, we're no longer just working with YouTubers who are like, 'Oh my God, what are taxes?'' Wei said. 'We're also working with entrepreneurs who are like, 'Why is this so hard for me to get proper treatment from a bank?'' Image Credits:Karat Financial For business banking, Karat offers two tiers — one is a free, FDIC-insured business checking account with automated tax planning (most creators are independent contractors, so they have to prepare more intentionally for their tax payments than if they had a more traditional full-time job). The premium offering costs $20 per month or requires a $35,000 minimum balance, but provides 2-3% APY on checking accounts, free wires, and enhanced customer support, with AI bookkeeping coming soon. 'We know creators actually keep a lot of money in their checking account because the industry is so unstable, so we pay meaningful APY on checking, which most banks actually don't do,' Wei said. 'We have to balance that with knowledge on the banking side of working with a banking partner and helping them understand, 'Oh, these are really valuable creators and customers to bring on.'' In the future, Karat hopes to continue this trajectory of offering more and more business services for creators that traditional institutions are reluctant to provide. A possible avenue could be offering various types of insurance to creators, including healthcare for their companies. 'We're basically trying to reconstruct the financial safety net for people who make money themselves,' said Wei.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why export restrictions aren't the only thing to pay attention to in Nvidia's earnings
After the market closes on Wednesday, Nvidia will report earnings for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2026, which ended on April 27. While many in the industry are likely eager to hear how the recent whiplash surrounding U.S. chip export controls will impact Nvidia's international chip business and future guidance, not everyone thinks that is the most important piece of Nvidia's results to pay attention to. Kevin Cook, a senior equity strategist at Zacks Investment Research who has followed Nvidia for a decade, told TechCrunch he believes the company's rollout its new GB200 NVL72 hardware -- a single-rack exascale computer that started shipping in February -- is a much more important area for shareholders to focus on. These GB200 NVL72 machines include 72 GPUs and cost around $3 million. Cook said that, despite strong demand and high expectations heading into this year, the chaos around DeepSeek in late January sparked many analysts to halve their delivery estimates for the unit. Cook added that, since this is the first quarter the company has shipped the machine, there isn't yet a clear indicator of how things are going. "If Jensen [Huang] says we are going to deliver 10,000 units in Q2, the street will be very impressed," Cook said. "That's a big doable number; 10,000 is $30 billion on a $3 million product. I think they are going to do less than 5,000." Cook added that these results will start to paint a picture of enterprise appetite for the latest AI tech. Will companies upgrade their AI hardware each time a new system comes out, similar to how consumers upgrade to the latest iPhone each year? Cook isn't sure. Whether or not enterprises will adopt that behavior could have a significant impact on Nvidia down the line. There will be immediate effects on Nvidia's stock based on what the company says regarding U.S. export controls, Cook predicted. But he doesn't think it will impact Nvidia's valuation or stock price long term in the same way that demand for the GB200 NVL72 might. Nvidia's stock price has proven it can recover from short-term market reactions, he added. "We basically had a flash crash, and it's right back up," Cook said regarding Nvidia's stock price after the chip export restrictions were announced. "That's unique to Nvidia. Lots of companies are going to have hiccups, but Nvidia has the biggest moat. They have the most resilience to any of this. It's such an irony that they could have this issue with China -- whether or not they can sell -- and it basically gets shrugged off, right?" Even if chip export restrictions on China remain or become more stringent, Cook argued that Nvidia isn't struggling to find customers elsewhere. The company currently sells to all the major hyperscalers and will likely continue to see strong demand for its AI chips. He added that the recent announcements regarding Stargate's new project in the Middle East will likely be another win for the company. For Cook, his guidance really comes down to those GB200 NVL72 units. "As long as we hear that deliveries are expected to be steady to exceptional, then whatever fluctuations in this quarter's revenue, I think, are going to be put on the back burner because the wind is in their sails for the rest of the year," Cook said. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
