Developer-focused productivity tool Raycast has raised $15 million in Series A funding, led by Accel and Coatue. Also participating in the round were angel investors Johnny Boufarhat, the CEO and founder of Hopin; Jeff Weinstein, the head of product at Stripe; Jason Warner, the former CTO of GitHub and Ott Kaukver, the CTO of Checkout.com, […]
Netflix to acquire German visual effects studio behind ‘Stranger Things’ and more
Netflix is acquiring Munich-based visual effects studio Scanline VFX for an undisclosed amount. The company expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Scanline has done work on several Netflix originals, including “Stranger Things” and “Cowboy Bebop.” The studio has also provided special effects for […]
Grammarly raises $200M at a $13B valuation to make you an even better writer using AI
Grammarly, the popular auto-editing tool for writing, has raised $200 million in funding at a $13 billion valuation from new investors including Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, among others. The company plans to use the investment to accelerate product innovation and team growth. “We believe this funding round is a great […]
Say goodbye to disappearing tweets: Twitter no longer auto-loads new tweets on the web
Twitter is updating its web platform to change the way users see new tweets. The social media giant will no longer automatically refresh timelines on the web with new tweets, and users can now decide when they want to load new tweets. Twitter acknowledged that in the past, tweets would often disappear from view mid-read […]
Snapchat partners with Sony Music, announces plans for new AR music lenses
Snapchat has inked a deal with Sony Music Entertainment to include its artists’ music in the app’s Sounds library. The company also revealed that it’s creating new AR music lenses. Soon, Snapchat will feature “Sound Lenses” with a pre-selected song embedded into the lens, a lens that transforms pictures of anyone to appear as if […]
Amazon Prime Video app introduces a new clip-sharing feature
Amazon is rolling out a new Prime Video feature that lets users share video clips from TV shows and movies on the platform. The clips can be shared on social media or via direct message. The feature is currently only available on iOS and for users in the U.S. For the initial rollout, users can only share […]
Twitter no longer crops image previews on the web
Twitter will no longer automatically crop image previews on the web after rolling out full-size image previews on mobile earlier this year. On Twitter for the web, images will now display in full without any cropping. Instead of gambling on how an image will show up in the timeline, images will look just like they […]
Disney+ is launching a special IMAX format for 13 Marvel movies
Disney+ is bringing IMAX’s Expanded Aspect Ratio across 13 Marvel movies on its platform on November 12. The new format means that viewers will see smaller black bars in certain scenes. The company says IMAX’s Expanded Aspect Ratio is 1:90:1 and offers up to 26% more picture for select sequences. It’s also closer to the […]
Twitter now lets all iOS users ‘Super Follow’ select creators
Twitter is rolling out the ability for all iOS users globally to Super Follow select creators. The option was previously only available to users in the U.S. and Canada. Super Follows allow users to subscribe to accounts they like for a monthly subscription fee in exchange for exclusive content. It’s Super Following time –– everyone […]
TikTok is testing a new direct tipping feature with select creators
TikTok is testing a new in-app tipping feature on its platform that would allow creators to accept money from fans outside of TikTok LIVE streams, where gifting is already supported. The company confirmed the feature is part of a limited test for the time being and is not yet broadly available. TikTok creator Jera Bean […]