Monthly Archives: September 2022

Synthetic speech startup Murf lends a voice to content creators of all sizes 

Synthetic speech tech startup Murf gives a voice, literally, to content creators of all sizes. Murf, which now has a library of more than 120 human-parity AI voices across 20 languages, announced today it has raised $10 million Series A funding led by Matrix partners. Participation came from returning investors Elevation Capital and several prominent…

Twitch will ban some gambling, but sports betting and poker are still fair game

Twitch is updating its gambling policy to ban some gambling websites. The change was announced amidst an ongoing gambling controversy surrounding UK Twitch streamer Sliker, aka Abraham Mohammed. From Oct. 18, Twitch will no longer allow users to stream gambling websites that feature slots, roulette, or dice games, if the website doesn’t hold a license…

A former top Russian finance official says Western sanctions have been at most 40% effective — but says economic growth will be interrupted for years

Oleg Vyugin, former Russian finance ministry and Bank of Russia official, said “sanctions work.” Maxim Shemetov/Reuters Sanctions against Russia have been 30% to 40% effective, a former finance official told Reuters. But the sanctions will interrupt Russia’s economic growth for several years to come, said Oleg Vyugin. Russia’s tech industry will also be impacted by…

Trump’s allies are baffled over his increasing support of the QAnon movement: Rolling Stone

Former President Donald Trump has been referencing the QAnon movement more frequently since the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on August 8. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Some people close to Trump are confused as to why he is suddenly leaning hard towards QAnon.Some sources suggested to Rolling Stone that Trump was trolling for likes…

Bookending the blitz, Chamath Palihapitiya begins unwinding two SPACs

Nearly three years ago, a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) spearheaded by investor Chamath Palihapitiya took the space tourism company Virgin Galactic public. It was the first human spaceflight company to trade on the NYSE — or any exchange, for that matter — and it was so successful that it almost immediately kicked off a…

Everything confirmed in the GTA 6 leak, including setting, characters, and combat

An enormous batch of leaked GTA 6 footage has appeared online, confirming numerous details about the much-anticipated crimefest. Spanning a huge array of work-in-progress gameplay, the leaked footage hands us our first glimpse of GTA 6 in action – albeit in a completely unpolished state. Gunplay and other gameplay features are shown, while character and…