Meta’s upcoming VR headset tracks eye movements and captures facial expressions – TechCrunch

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is it friday again We miss this day all week, and when it’s here, you remember all the things you didn’t do while you were busy dreaming about Friday. Well, hopefully this bag of goodies will get to you after you’ve cleared your to-do list and are ready for happy hour. If you’re going to TTITD next week, try to stay safe third. Failing that, make sure you die in a more interesting way than dehydration so your campers at least get a good story. – Christine And came

TechCrunch’s Top 3

• Virtual Reality, Meta MetaphorMeta’s new virtual reality headset technology will focus on face tracking and eye tracking, features the company calls “social presence.” Ivan He wrote. It doesn’t come out until October, so you have roughly two months to raise the $400 we think will be spent.
• Mo Twilio, mo’ problemsThe damage from the Twilio data breach earlier this month is taking its toll. Carly This time, Authy wrote that the breach affected users of the Two-Step app. Authy is a company Twilio bought in 2015, and the number of affected customers is now more than 160. More about this in Big Tech.
• Hunter loan takes turnsAlthough the nature of the text is not happy, we think so Jagmet It has done a good job of revealing the lengths some lending apps take to get payments from users in India.

Startups and VCs

Asian crypto gaming and Web3 investment powerhouse Animoka Brands is entering Japan, with the local unit securing $45 million in financing at a pre-funding valuation of $500 million. The investment comes at a time when the country is tightening regulations around the crypto industry, he wrote Rita.

stay in asia Anna And Alex Take a pulse on China’s venture capital scene. From near-zero growth in the second quarter and abandoned economic targets to continued Covid-19 lockdowns, power shortages, housing shortages, threats to local currency strength, water shortages, high youth unemployment and more, it’s tough. The world’s second largest economy – not to mention a backdrop fraught with geopolitical tensions. This is a TechCrunch+ story, but if you don’t have a subscription, use DailyCrunch discount code “DC” for 15% off.

Let’s do some, shall we?

• Draw me a picture of the flag.Mobile photo editing app maker Lytrix is ​​tapping into the AI-generated art trend in its apps with its new “Text to Image” generator. Lauren Reports.
• Flying at high speed: Supply chain startup Forkits recently announced that it has raised $30 million to feel the wind under its wings again, even though it recently laid off several employees. Kyle Reports.
• Going from Bad.com to Worse.comYou know you’re in for a tough time at Better.com, as the company just confirmed its fourth round of layoffs in less than nine months. Mary Ann Reports.
• Real estate real estate earns GnarA real estate tech startup is moving toward closure, after the startup raised $100 million a year or so ago; Mary Ann Reports.
• Flexible apartments? Are they made of Jell-O?: While we can’t help but laugh at the thought of swinging buildings, “flexible apartments” are having a day in the sun. Lands for $125 million in debt and equity funding, reports Connie.

Learning from my failures: Lessons from a 2-time founder

All schadenfreude aside: it’s good to learn from our own mistakes, but it’s even better to learn from someone else’s.

Squadhelp CEO and founder Darpan Munjal has shut down his previous company, a fashion e-commerce business, after four years of “robust growth”. In hindsight, he said, early stage funding created a false sense of security.

“Closing a business I truly believed in wasn’t easy. But I know I can start over if I’m willing to learn from my mistakes and apply the lessons wisely.”

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here..)

Big Tech Inc.

Google Dawn seems to have lost its way a little. The search engine giant is shutting down Waze Carpool, which connects drivers with passengers, it said, noting that it is “changing modes of transportation because of the pandemic.” Aisha He wrote. Going forward, the app is going to focus on the post-Covid travel and travel world.

Meanwhile, the Internet Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, has criticized Indian Railways’ plans to monetize customer data. He took to Twitter Opposing the strategy, he said, “The goal of profit maximization results in high incentives for data collection, violating the principles of data minimization and objective limitation.” Manish It has more.

If you missed some of the stories from late yesterday, here are some good ones:

• Publishing StarlinkSpaceX and T-Mobile are teaming up to connect T-Mobile phones to Starlink for free starting in 2023, Devine wrote.
• First places, not podcastsIt’s official — Twitter is integrating podcasts into its platform. The feature resides under the Spaces tab. Aisha Reports.
• Hackers at the doorDoorDash is one of the organizations affected by the Twilio hackers. Carly He wrote. The delivery company’s “names, e-mail addresses, delivery addresses and phone numbers” of customers were taken, and for a small group, partial payment card information.
• Trading Twitter for MetaTwitter’s vice president of engineering, Sandeep Pandey, has been confirmed to be leaving the social media giant for Meta. Andrew He wrote. Pandey is the latest executive to leave the company since Elon Musk proposed to take over Twitter earlier this year.