Five months since the research lab OpenAI debuted the latest version of DALL-E, 1.5 million users are generating 2 million images a day. On Wednesday, OpenAI said it removed its waitlist for DALL-E, giving anyone immediate access. The technology is now spreading rapidly, the Washington Post reports, faster than AI companies can shape norms around its use and prevent dangerous outcomes such as fake photos used to bully or harass—or create disinformation that looks real.
TikTok is known for its viral dance videos and pop music. But for Generation Z, the video app is increasingly a search engine, too. TikTok’s rise as a discovery tool is part of a broader transformation in digital search, the New York Times reports. But it also might be fueling misinformation: Research by NewsGuard found that 20 percent of TikTok search results contained "false or misleading claims."
Four years ago, Brown University dropout Dylan Field was living in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco’s gritty Mission District. Last week, Figma, the design-software company he co-founded, agreed to be sold to rival Adobe for $20 billion. By his own account, the Wall Street Journal reports, Field was an unremarkable student whose first business—a drone venture—didn't fly.
AOL founder Steve Case predicts the dominance of tech companies on the coasts will give way to a flourishing of startups from smaller cities, Wired reports. Case’s own venture company, Revolution, started a $150 million investment fund in 2017 to seed regional startups. Case has a new book, "Rise of the Rest," that documents his passion for fostering U.S. innovation in the heartland.
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Calendly, the scheduling startup whose investment round last year had a more than $3 billion valuation, has acquired Prelude, a specialist in automating scheduling and organization around job recruitment, TechCrunch reports. It’s a sign of how Calendly is focusing on building out more specialized products for verticals, starting with HR.
Researchers have uncovered a new cyber-espionage campaign that leverages a dangerous PowerPoint vulnerability to deliver the Russian Graphite malware to target endpoints, Tech Radar reports. It’s particularly dangerous because users don’t need to click a link, or download the malware itself—a mouse hover is enough to trigger the attack.
Eight states, led by New York and California, have taken legal action against crypto lender Nexo, Protocol reports. The states allege that Nexo allows consumers to deposit crypto assets in exchange for interest as high as 36 percent without registering its products as securities and providing material information to customers.
The newest Kindle is the first truly new Kindle in years, The Verge reports. With a 10.2-inch E Ink screen, a stylus that attaches to the side of the device, and a bunch of new software, the $339.99 Scribe is trying to be as much a tablet as an ebook reader.
Firefox maker Mozilla is taking aim at Microsoft, Google, and Apple for using their operating systems to steer users to their browsers and stacking the deck against rivals who lack the same OS advantages, The Register reports. "Competition in browsers and browser engines is needed to advance innovation, performance, speed, privacy, and security," the Mozilla report argues.
Cassie, a two-legged robot developed at Oregon State University, has established the Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 meters "run" by a bipedal robot, clocking in at 24.73 seconds. That’s no threat to Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds, CNet reports (video), but with technology advances Cassie might outrun many humans soon.