Monday, December 09, 2024

Welcome to TC PM! Today we've got the details on OpenAI's video gen platform, Sora; a first look at what a Bluesky subscription product could look like; and another TikTok competitor. Happy Monday!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Didem Mente/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

📝Some notes on Sora: OpenAI launched its video generating tool, Sora, today. Notably, Sora seems separate from ChatGPT (for now), and early reviews say the platform is pretty good, but the video it produces looks obviously AI-generated. Read more

🇪🇺Speaking of Sora: Folks with ChatGPT Pro and Plus accounts should get access to Sora starting today unless they are in the EU. OpenAI has skipped Europe with previous launches, too. Read more

💸Nikola needs cash: Electric trucking company Nikola is on track to have its best year yet when it comes to the number of trucks it produced and shipped. But the company also needs cash and is holding a $100 million stock sale to get it. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

☁️Building Bluesky+: Decentralized social media company Bluesky talked about its intent to launch a subscription product when it announced its Series A round a few months ago. Now, we have mockups of what that could actually look like. Read more

⏰The clock is on for TikTok: ByteDance's January 19 deadline to divest from TikTok or see the social media get banned in the U.S. is looming. The company filed an emergency motion today that asks to temporarily block the law. Read more

😳Well, that's not good: Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team released a report that Russian hacking groups have been targeting Ukraine's defense contractors by using fake conference invites to get info. Read more

📹Another social media app: As a TikTok ban becomes an increasing possibility, other social media startups will be looking to fill its void. Connyct is one that has a lot of the same features as TikTok and is aimed at college students. Read more

🎤Riverside rakes it in: Podcast recording platform Riverside raised a fresh $30 million in Series C funding. The company started as a better way to record remote podcasts and has since expanded into many other areas, including video. Read more

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Around the web

😒A moody friend: Friend, the AI companion startup, is taking an interesting approach to conversation starting. The company's AI companions have started opening up chats with devastating news about themselves, which is apparently by design. Read more

💽Data center drama in Denton: Denton, Texas, needed money in 2021. So when Core Scientific offered to build a data center for crypto mining, the city accepted in anticipation of the center's tax revenue. Then Core Scientific went bankrupt. Now, it's back and has persuaded the city to work with it again. Forbes has more