AI may not be up to the task of replacing Google Search just yet, but it can be useful in more specific contexts — including handling the drudgery that comes with performing everyday tasks, like scheduling meetings. That’s the premise behind the new startup, Skej, which offers an AI assistant you can loop into your […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Google has built a custom Gemini model for search to combine real-time information, Google’s ranking, long context and multimodal features.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
For those who use WhatsApp more like an inbox, the app will now become more useful. WhatsApp on Tuesday announced a handful of new chat filters for the app to access certain types of messages easily: All, Unread and Groups.
The “All” filter is selected by default and shows you an unfiltered version of your inbox. The “Unread” filter is helpful in looking at messages you might not have seen. It also helps you get to inbox zero and get rid of the annoying number of unread chat indicators.
Notably, WhatsApp already had a way to look at unread messages through a filter in the search bar. But with the new filter bubbles on top of the chat screen, the option is easily available.
Meta said that the “Groups” filter was one of the most sought-after features for quickly scrolling through all your group chats. This filter will also show conversations in subgroups that are part of Communities — WhatsApp’s discussion group feature.
Gmail users might find these filter bubbles familiar as the Google-owned email service introduced a similar feature in 2020 to make search simpler.
This first set of filters might be just the beginning, though. As multiple reports from WABetaInfo have suggested, WhatsApp has been working on other filters such as “Contacts” to filter out messages from unknown people and businesses, “Favorites” to mark frequently used contacts and even custom chat filters in various beta versions of the app.
WhatsApp said that the filter options will be rolling out to users starting today and will be available to all users in a few weeks.
Odd Ball is a company that makes fun electronic bouncy balls that let you generate MIDI sounds by tapping or bouncing them. The company is adding new gestures to its device — including spin, twist, move, shake and air throw — so you can generate sounds in a new way.
With the most recent app update, the company also lets you be the DJ at a house party with these gestures. It has included a DJ mode with some background tracks and on-screen instructions for gestures for that track. When you combine one or more gestures, the app will play sound effects on top of the track.
Image Credits: Odd Ball
The startup now puts gestures into two categories: Triggers (tap, shake, twist), which the company describes as akin to playing a note; and Modulators (move, spin, air throw), which the company thinks of as knobs on a console.
The intensity of the gesture also matters. The app will generate sound based on how hard or fast you spin or shake the ball.
Image Credits: Odd Ball
Pasquale Totaro, the founder and CEO of the company, told TechCrunch that the ball has a built-in sensor that the company was not using. But with the new update, the startup is now utilizing that sensor.
“The hardware originally had one motion sensor we did not use at all, it was just sitting there. The idea was to later push a new firmware that would bring it to life. That’s where we are now. It took a lot of R&D to unlock all the features. Imagine a trackpad that understood only taps… now it also has zoom, pinch, drag, pan, etc.,” Totaro told TechCrunch over email.
He mentioned that the team had to put a lot of effort into separating one gesture from another.
Odd Ball started in 2018 with a Kickstarter campaign and the company began selling the first version in November 2020. Totaro said that the startup wanted to make the music-making process easy and fun. He said that playing with a ball, which comes intuitively to humans, was a way to make that happen.
“Everybody already knows how to bounce, shake and throw a ball, and all these actions are naturally already musical and rhythmical. This quality of the ball practically breaks down the initial learning barriers that a music lover has to overcome when they try to learn an instrument, a piece of equipment or software,” he said.
Image Credits: Odd Ball
The company has sold more than 25,000 devices, with kids and music lovers as primary buyers. While Odd Ball hasn’t raised any institutional money, it has some advisors on the board. These include Glass Direct founder and Google exec Jamie Murray Wells; Ali Mostoufi, whose startup me.com Inc. was acquired by Apple in 2008; former EMI and Warner Bros. Records exec Ted Cohen; and digital media company Mitu’s former CEO, Roy Burstin.
Totaro said the company is profitable and looking to expand its product line with two devices in the works. Odd Ball is working on a version of the ball with multiple RGB LEDs for a new interaction dimension.
Its gesture tech is adaptive and is also looking to extend to other form factors. Notably, Totaro said that Odd Ball is building the capability to have everyday objects become useful in the XR/VR sector.
Founded in 2017, Atoms Lanka Solutions is a provider of IT consulting and software development services. Throughout the company’s history, we have worked with over 160 customers from 5+ countries..
