March 28, 2024

Web and Technology News

Remember Amazon’s Clubhouse competitor? That’s okay — neither does almost anybody else

At the height of the COVID-19 health crisis, when many of us — forced by quarantine rules and social distancing guidelines — were locked indoors and away from public spaces, Clubhouse, the audio-focused social platform, grew explosively. A platform where anyone could talk about . . . well, just about anything, Clubhouse drew millions of […]

Clubhouse needs to fix things, and today it cut more than half of staff

Clubhouse, a once skyrocketing social audio app built by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, has laid off more than half of its staff. The startup’s co-founders made the decision in response to customer habits changing in a post-COVID world and remote work complexities, according to a blog post. Those who were impacted will receive severance […]

Clubhouse needs to fix things, and today it cut more than half of staff by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

The impact of hype with Clubhouse’s Paul Davison

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha is bringing one of her favorite panels from Disrupt to […]

The impact of hype with Clubhouse’s Paul Davison by Theresa Loconsolo originally published on TechCrunch

Facebook is shutting down its podcast service, discontinuing other audio products

Facebook is shutting down its podcast service on June 3rd barely a year after its launch. The social media giant told TechCrunch that it’s also going to discontinue its short-form audio Soundbites feature and its Audio hub in the coming weeks. Facebook will also integrate its Live Audio Rooms offering, which is its Clubhouse clone, […]

If you could go to Andreessen Horowitz or YC as a startup, which would you choose?

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This week was a good week because we had the full team back together. Natasha Mascarenhas was on hand, Mary Ann Azevedo was on the mic, and Alex Wilhelm was around as well. […]

Spotify closed down its Greenroom Creator Fund with shift in live audio strategy

Spotify recently announced that it would transition live audio content from its “Greenroom” app to its flagship streaming app while rebranding Greenroom as Spotify Live. However, the company didn’t note at the time that its dedicated fund to fuel content creation on Greenroom, the Spotify Greenroom Creator Fund, would also be shutting down. In an […]

Spotify closed down its Greenroom Creator Fund with shift in live audio strategy

Spotify recently announced that it would transition live audio content from its “Greenroom” app to its flagship streaming app while rebranding Greenroom as Spotify Live. However, the company didn’t note at the time that its dedicated fund to fuel content creation on Greenroom, the Spotify Greenroom Creator Fund, would also be shutting down. In an […]

Facebook is losing interest in its podcasting plans, new report claims

Last April, Facebook announced a suite of new audio products, including new support for podcasts and a Clubhouse live audio competitor, which was an indication that it was taking the threat from other audio platforms more seriously. Now, barely a year after Facebook began its foray into podcasting and audio features, the company’s interest in […]

Spotify brings live audio shows to its main app, rebrands companion app Greenroom as ‘Spotify Live’

As an earlier report had suggested, Spotify today announced it will integrate the live audio capabilities from its companion app, Spotify Greenroom, within the main Spotify streaming app. Greenroom will also rebrand as “Spotify Live,” as part of these changes. At launch, Spotify’s main app will only feature live content from select original programming, while […]

Clubhouse adds new ‘protected profile’ setting option for all users

Clubhouse is launching a protected profile setting to allow users to only make their full profile available to people they approve as followers, the company announced on Wednesday. The change is being implemented in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine in an effort to keep users protected on the platform. “We’re grateful we’ve become […]

Twitter is testing a new clipping tool for Spaces with select iOS hosts

Twitter has started testing a new clipping tool for Spaces, the company announced this week. Select hosts on iOS are now able to clip 30 seconds of audio from recorded Spaces to share them with others on Twitter. All iOS users can now see and listen to the clips on their timelines, while Android and […]

Clubhouse adds text-based chat rooms for the mic shy

The voice-first social network has finally introduced a way for longtime lurkers to get in on the action. Clubhouse announced in-room chat Thursday, adding a text chat feature into its voice rooms that’s akin to what people might see on YouTube or Twitch. In-room chat is an optional feature, so anyone running a conversation on […]

Mark Cuban’s Fireside app in talks to raise at $125M valuation

Mark Cuban’s interactive platform Fireside, which helps creators reach audiences through live and virtual shows, is in talks to raise its Series A financing round and plans to make a push into web3 and metaverse in within months, two sources familiar with the matter said. Fireside is engaging with investors to raise about $25 million […]

Reddit rolls out a web version of Reddit Talk, its live audio product

After unveiling its Clubhouse clone last April, Reddit is adding new features to Reddit Talk that are intended to boost engagement. Among these additions are web compatibility, recordings of past sessions, live commenting during talks and a live bar at the top of the home feed (similar to Twitter’s) that shows what live chats are […]

China-born audio networking app Tiya sets up Singapore headquarters

TikTok may be the most successful app that has emerged from China and is making impressive international inroads, but there is a host of smaller entertainment apps built in China that are also replicating their models overseas. Tiya is one of them. Born out of Chinese podcasting platform Lizhi, it offers an audio-based, real-time networking […]