<p>Cal AI has generated over 5 million downloads in 8 months, it says. Founders Zach Yadegari and Henry Langmack are just 18.</p>

<p>Google will replace Google Assistant on Android phones with Gemini later this year, the company announced on Friday. Google said in a blog post that it&#8217;ll upgrade more users from Google Assistant to Gemini &#8220;over the coming months.&#8221; Later this year, Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available from app [&hellip;]</p>

<p>TikTok has until April to finalize a sale to a U.S.-based buyer, yet uncertainties about the future of the short-form video app remain. However, a new report has emerged, suggesting that Oracle is the leading candidate to serve as the cloud technology partner for managing TikTok in the U.S., according to The Information.&nbsp; Sources including [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A list of some of the alternative app stores iPhone users in the EU can try today. </p>

<p>Facebook is rolling out the ability for creators to earn money for views on public stories. The new monetization option is available globally to creators who are part of the Facebook Content Monetization program. With this new monetization option, creators can earn money from content that they are already producing and sharing if they post [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In the AI chatbot wars, Google thinks the key to retaining users is serving up content they can&#8217;t get elsewhere, like answers shaped by their internet habits. On Thursday, the company announced Gemini with personalization, a new &#8220;experimental capability&#8221; for its Gemini chatbot apps that lets Gemini draw on other Google apps and services to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Google announced new features around PC and mobile gaming today ahead of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), including new titles, control customization, and developer tools for making mobile games available on PC. The company first introduced Play Games for PC in 2022 in the beta phase. Over time, it has introduced the program to various [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Less than three months until TechCrunch’s biggest AI event yet! If you’re shaping the future of AI, investing in the next game-changing innovation, or simply eager to dive deep into what’s next, TechCrunch Sessions: AI is the place to be. On June 5, Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley will be buzzing with 1,200 AI experts, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In an expansion of its existing audiobook efforts, Spotify on Thursday announced the launch of a new publishing program for authors that allows them to submit short-form stories they&#8217;d like to see turned into audiobooks. When Spotify selects a story for audiobook publishing, it will handle the production and distribution of the work to other [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Productivity platform ClickUp launched a revamped calendar tool that integrates tasks, docs, chats, and meetings in one place. The most interesting features of the calendar are an integrated AI meeting notetaker and AI-powered time blocking for tasks. ClickUp already had a calendar product, but it was focused more on team management and scheduling. Last year, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Skich, a Tinder-like app for discovering mobile games, announced Thursday the launch of a new marketplace to put it in closer competition with alternative game stores like Aptoide and Epic Games. Skich Store, a new alternative mobile games store, will be available for iOS users in the European Union. The company plans to begin adding [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Next week, Meta will begin one of the company&#8217;s most significant overhauls ever for how it fact-checks information on its platforms. On March 18, Meta will start releasing its version of Community Notes for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users in the United States. The program copies a crowdsourced fact-checking system that Twitter unveiled in 2021 [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Telegram&#8217;s crypto wallet, developed by a third-party company called The Open Platform (TOP), has introduced new features for people who don&#8217;t just use Telegram as a messaging app. The updates include multi-asset trading and yield functionalities. Based on the TON blockchain, TOP launched the wallet in 2023. The company reported that over 100 million users [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said on Thursday that its Android smartphones sold in India will come preinstalled with Indian fintech company PhonePe&#8217;s app store. Xiaomi&#8217;s Android smartphones usually come preinstalled with Google&#8217;s Play Store and the Chinese company&#8217;s own GetApps. Xiaomi said that it has signed a multi-year deal with PhonePe to replace GetApps with [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Snapchat is introducing its first-ever video generative AI Lenses, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The Lenses are powered by Snap&#8217;s in-house-built generative video model. The three new AI Video Lenses are available to users on the app&#8217;s premium subscription tier, Snapchat Platinum, which costs $15.99 per month. The launch comes as Snap unveiled an AI video-generation [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Spotify on Tuesday released its annual Loud &amp; Clear report, detailing information about the music streaming service&#8217;s royalty payments. While Spotify revealed earlier this year that it paid out&nbsp;$10 billion to the music industry in 2024, the new report offers more in-depth numbers about its payments in an effort to dispel reports that the company [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Pocket Casts, the podcast app acquired by Automattic in 2021, is now making its web player free. The company says the move offers an alternative to the big platforms&#8217; closed ecosystems, where algorithmic-driven content is prioritized and podcasts are kept behind paywalls. Podcasts were built on open technology — the open, decentralized standard RSS, which [&hellip;]</p>

<p>On Tuesday, OpenAI released new tools designed to help developers and enterprises build AI agents &#8212; automated systems that can independently accomplish tasks &#8212; using the company&#8217;s own AI models and frameworks. The tools are part of OpenAI&#8217;s new Responses API, which lets businesses develop custom AI agents that can perform web searches, scan through [&hellip;]</p>

<p>TikTok announced on Tuesday that it&#8217;s rolling out new features to protect teens on its app. The social network is giving parents the ability to block their teen from using TikTok during certain hours and see their teen&#8217;s following and followers lists through new Family Pairing features. TikTok is also going to encourage young users [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Bluesky now allows videos that are up to three minutes long, the decentralized social network announced on Monday. The platform launched support for video back in September with a 60-second time limit. With the new expanded time limit, Bluesky is bringing its user experience more in line with its competitors, X (formerly Twitter) and Meta&#8217;s [&hellip;]</p>