TikToks road to becoming a super app

I’ve struggled with insomnia since I was very young. Like many chronic overthinkers, I tend to fall asleep best when my mind is occupied by something else, such as podcasts, YouTube compilations, or my personal favorite: rain sounds. But earbuds can be uncomfortable, and playing audio out loud isn’t exactly considerate when I’m staying at my partner’s place. That’s why I was intrigued by the new Peace Duo Under-Pillow Speaker from Jabees. Launched last month, this ultra-thin speaker utilizes bone conduction technology—which sends vibrations through your skull directly to your inner ear—to transmit sound through your pillow and into your ear privately. Just place it beneath your pillow and listen as you drift off. In my testing, I found the Peace Duo was so thin that I almost forgot it was there. I mainly used the built-in sleep sounds, which come preloaded on a micro SD card with four hours of soothing soundscapes, including gentle waves, light rain, rain with thunder, and soft wind. For more personal content, the Peace Duo also offers Bluetooth connectivity, so you can connect your phone and stream your favorite audio. Image Credits:Jabees Battery life is another standout. A single charge lasts up to ten nights of one-hour listening sessions, so you won’t have to remember yet another device that requires nightly charging. The foldable design also makes it easy to put away in the included magnetic fabric travel case. There is one important caveat: it doesn’t work well with thick memory foam pillows. Unfortunately, that’s what I normally use, so I switched to a regular cotton pillow and the sound came through clearly. (The company claims that thinner memory foam pillows should work fine.) Image Credits:Jabees Priced at $59.99, the Peace Duo comes in two colors: Sunrise Yellow and Mist Green. It also offers personalization; users can swap out the magnetic snap-on frames for custom images and even add their names, making it a great gift for families, students, or anyone who needs extra help getting restful sleep. The Peace Duo won’t cure insomnia, but it’s a practical, unobtrusive sleep gadget — and for what the company is charging, it’s a small price for a decent night’s sleep. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch. You can contact or verify outreach from Lauren by emailing laurenf.techcrunch@gmail.com or via encrypted message at laurenforris22.25 on Signal. View Bio

Meta on Wednesday previewed upcoming additions to its video editing app Edits at an invite-only creator event in L.A., showing off features like a new AI assistant and a desktop version of the previously mobile-only app. The company also announced other new tools will launch in the app today, such as a “Beta” tab for experiments and expanded audience insights. Edits first arrived last year as a direct competitor to ByteDance’s CapCut. With the addition of the new and upcoming tools, Meta is looking to both retain and attract new users. The upcoming AI assistant will help creators analyze their insights and brainstorm ideas for their content. The assistant will use their Instagram data, like their views and video retention insights, to help them see what’s working and why. It will suggest video ideas based on performance, and suggest making content with trending audio. By integrating an AI assistant directly into Edits, Meta is aiming to keep creators engaged on Instagram as it continues to compete with TikTok and YouTube for creators’ attention. Additionally, by offering creators content ideas, Meta is encouraging more frequent posting, which could, in turn, boost user engagement. Direct access to an AI assistant also gets rid of the need for creators to turn to outside tools like ChatGPT when brainstorming content ideas and understanding performance. Meta launched a similar AI assistant tool for creators on Facebook last week. It’s worth noting that YouTube and TikTok also offer tools to creators to help them brainstorm ideas. For instance, YouTube Studio features an “Inspiration” tab that uses AI to help creators generate video ideas, while TikTok offers creators an AI assistant that can brainstorm ideas and uncover trends. The desktop version of Edits will give creators more precise control over the editing process as well as the ability to work on a larger screen, which can be helpful during more advanced editing workflows. The company says creators will be able to sync their workflows seamlessly between mobile and desktop devices. The upcoming desktop version will also allow Edits to better compete with CapCut, which already offers a desktop version. Image Credits:Instagram Among the new features launching today is a “Beta” tab, which will provide creators with early access to experimental features that are still in development and allow them to provide Meta with feedback. The rollout of the Beta tab indicates that Meta wants to better compete with CapCut and accelerate feature development based on what creators actually want and will use. Creators will also now be able to see more detailed metrics like their audience demographic breakdown and the time of day their audience is the most engaged. The new metrics join the app’s existing analytics, which include data such as how long viewers watch a video, how many followers were gained from a specific video, where users stop watching a certain video, and more. Additionally, creators can search specific topics within the app’s “Inspiration” feed to discover reels and templates other creators are making around a given trend or idea. They’ll also be able to create multiple versions of a single piece of content to test what performs best before publishing. Although Instagram didn’t share specific numbers about how many users Edits has, the company says that content made with the app sees a 10% higher save rate and 2% higher reshare rate compared to content not made on Edits, and that more than half of people watching reels on Instagram are seeing Edits-created content every day. Edits is free to download on iOS and Android. The AI assistant announced today is currently in testing with attendees of Thursday’s creator event, while the desktop version of Edits is “coming soon,” Meta says. The rest of the features are launching to everyone today. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independe

First Tesla, then Ford, and now GM — it seems every automaker wants a slice of the energy storage market. It’s easy to see why. While EV sales have stagnated in the United States, sales of large, stationary batteries have doubled in the past two years. And they show no signs of stopping. Despite incentives being gutted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Solar Energy Industries Association expects annual installations to exceed 110 GWh per year by 2030, about double what they are today. “There’s a lot of potential for this market,” Kurt Kelty, vice president of battery and sustainability at GM, told TechCrunch. GM has dabbled in energy storage before, but on Tuesday it took a bigger swing, rolling out an entirely new sodium-ion battery chemistry that’s aimed at the heart of the market. The skyrocketing energy storage market is being driven higher by the convergence of three trends. The most obvious is the expansion of data centers being built to serve AI. Data center energy demand is expected to nearly triple by the end of the decade. But alongside that growth, entire swathes of the economy, including transportation, manufacturing, and HVAC, are being electrified. “Data centers are a big part of the growth, but even without data centers, it started to really pick up,” Kelty said. It’s not just automakers that are diving into energy storage. Startups have been raising large rounds to capture a chunk of the market. Base Power raised a $1 billion Series C in October to expand beyond Texas, while Lunar Energy raised $232 million to sell batteries to homeowners. Others, like Lightship, are pivoting somewhat. The electric RV manufacturer is now selling a mobile battery for job sites and other locations that need temporary power. So far, Tesla has taken the lion’s share of the energy storage market. Of the 57 gigawatt-hours installed last year, Tesla was responsible for 82% of those installations. The company’s annual revenue from energy generation and storage has doubled since 2023, largely due to growth in Megapack and Powerwall installations. Tesla’s gross profits for the segment are around 30%, about double what it makes selling EVs and at least three times higher than typical automaker margins. GM’s gross margin over the last 15 years has averaged just over 11%. But despite the market’s potential, GM isn’t exactly rushing in. Rather, its first major product, the sodium-ion cells, won’t be ready until later this decade. “We’re going to develop a family of cells that is appropriate for this market,” Kelty said. Kelty and his team point to sodium-ion’s strengths as reason enough for waiting: The materials are cheap and abundant, it doesn’t require an active cooling system, and it can withstand many more charge-discharge cycles than lithium-ion batteries. It doesn’t hurt that China has yet to corner the market on materials for sodium-ion batteries, like it has with other chemistries. Nearly all of the world’s cobalt is processed by Chinese companies, for example. “It gives us a path towards supply-chain resilience and low-cost materials,” Andy Oury, business planning manager at GM, told TechCrunch. “Sodium-ion is very much in its infancy with the opportunity for the supply chain to grow anywhere people want to invest in it.” GM could have taken a path of lesser resistance by simply repackaging the lithium-ion cells it’s currently pumping out at its gigafactories, like Tesla and Ford have done. But the automaker is still bullish on the future of EVs, and it doesn’t want to reassign its lithium-ion manufacturing capacity for fear of being caught flat-footed if there’s a resurgence in the EV market. “It’s one thing to build cells when there’s excess capacity,” Oury said. “It’s another thing when we return to a high-growth mode and every new battery you want needs a new plant.” Such a resurgence could be partly under GM’s control. The company is developing an entirely new chemistry, lithium-manganese-rich (LMR), that’s

Image Credits:Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto / Getty Images 7:55 AM PDT · May 26, 2026 Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok recently announced the renewal of their licensing agreement, which includes a commitment to get rid of unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform improve how artists and songwriters are credited. In their joint announcement, UMG stated the agreement “extends TikTok and UMG’s groundbreaking commitment to AI protections that promote human artistry and ensure platform economics effectively flow through to artists and songwriters. TikTok and UMG will work together to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, while further improving artist and songwriter attribution.” This new agreement represents a notable shift in the relationship between UMG and TikTok. For years, UMG has pushed platforms, streaming services, and AI companies to implement stricter content moderation policies. Tensions between UMG and TikTok escalated in 2024 when UMG accused TikTok of inadequately addressing issues related to AI-generated music and copyright. This public dispute led to UMG temporarily pulling its music catalog from TikTok — a decision that underscored the app’s growing reliance on major label licenses as popular tracks vanished from user videos overnight. The timing of TikTok’s commitment to crack down on fake or unlicensed music is significant especially as the music industry wrestles with an influx of AI-generated content. Over the past couple of years, the industry has been increasingly worried about AI tools that can mimic artists’ voices or create counterfeit songs that exploit streaming algorithms. Viral AI-generated tracks imitating big names like Drake and The Weeknd sparked widespread concern, especially when some racked up millions of streams before being taken down. The deal may also serve as a template for how the broader tech industry navigates the collision of AI, intellectual property, and platform accountability. As the EU tightens its regulatory grip on AI-generated content (and U.S. states increasingly follow suit) around AI-generated content, the pressure on other platforms to formalize similar governance frameworks is growing. TikTok has been working to demonstrate to the music industry that it can deliver significant earnings for artists and rights holders. Last year, the platform launched “TikTok for Artists,” an insights platform designed to help artists strengthen their promotional efforts and provide music labels with access to data. Topics When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch. You can contact or verify outreach from Lauren by emailing laurenf.techcrunch@gmail.com or via encrypted message at laurenforris22.25 on Signal. View Bio

In Brief Posted: 12:26 PM PDT · May 16, 2026 Image Credits:Nectar Social AI-powered marketing platform Nectar Social announced Thursday that it raised a $30 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund, which was created alongside Anthropic. The company, which officially exited stealth last year, is an agentic operating system for marketers. It told TechCrunch that it uses autonomous AI agents to help brands run “social activity, moderation, creator workflows, competitive intelligence and commerce conversations end-to-end.” It also has data partnerships with companies like Meta and Reddit that allows the Nectar agent pull and pool data into one place from various platforms, rather than brands needing to use different tools to manage different platforms. Nectar Social was founded by sisters Misbah and Farah Uraizee, ex-Meta employees. Misbah, the CEO, told TechCrunch that this round will help the company expand and hire more across applied AI, enginnering, and go to market. “The buying conversation has moved into social, and no human team can staff every place it happens,” Misbah said. “We’re accelerating our category lead in building the operating system that lets brands show up everywhere.” The company said clients include Liquid Death, Figma, and e.l.f Beauty. Other investors in the round include Gwyneth Paltrow’s Kinship Ventures, GV, and True Ventures. Topics Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news Latest in Venture

TikTok announced on Tuesday that it’s launching TikTok GO, a way for users to discover and book hotels, attractions, and experiences directly within its app. The new offering is launching in the U.S. and is available to users 18 years and older. TikTok GO surfaces lodging and things to do through videos, search, and location pages. When users find something they’re interested in, they can view details, check availability, and complete a booking. The new feature is made possible through partnerships with including Booking.com, Expedia, Viator, GetYourGuide, Tiqets, and Trip.com. Additionally, creators who showcase hotels, attractions, and experiences can connect their content directly to bookings, with opportunities to earn through commissions and creator campaigns. The launch of TikTok GO signals the company’s broader push to keep users inside its app, from discovery through purchase. TikTok has executed this playbook before: TikTok Shop, launched in the U.S. in 2023, brought e-commerce directly into the app, letting users buy products featured in videos without ever leaving. Image Credits:TikTok / TikTok GO applies the same logic to travel. Instead of directing users to third-party websites after they come across a destination or recommendation in a video, TikTok is positioning itself as a one-stop platform where viral travel content can drive bookings and revenue. The implication for the company is significant: TikTok is systematically converting its discovery engine into a transaction layer, which both deepens user retention and opens entirely new revenue streams for its new owners. The addition of TikTok GO also puts TikTok in more direct competition with Google. TikTok has already been chipping away at Google’s core businesses, Search and Google Maps, as users increasingly turn to the app as a search engine, and this latest launch pushes TikTok further into competition with the search giant. Notably, several of TikTok GO’s launch partners—Booking.com and Expedia among them—are also direct competitors in the travel discovery space. That partner-competitor dynamic will be interesting to watch. TikTok needs their inventory to make GO credible but will simultaneously be angling to own the customer relationship those same partners depend on. “Every day on TikTok, millions of people discover where to eat, where to stay, and what to do next," said Adam Presser, CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture, in a blog post. "TikTok GO connects that moment of inspiration directly to the businesses behind it, and that’s good for creators, good for local businesses, and good for communities.” This isn't the first time that TikTok has enabled in-app booking, even if it's a far more ambitious undertaking. The company aso partnered with Ticketmaster back in 2022 to allow users to discover and buy tickets for events. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University. You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing aisha@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal. View Bio