Capsule, a startup specializing in harnessing AI for video editing, is unveiling its product to the general public after a three-year development journey. The company's AI editor, tailored for enterprise use, doesn't seek to supplant human involvement in video editing but rather assists content and marketing teams in generating videos at a pace claimed to be 10 times faster than previous methods. To achieve this, Capsule has tackled various challenges identified through customer feedback, such as the complexities associated with video editing and motion graphics, the adherence to strict brand guidelines, and the necessity for collaborative video project work. However, the startup's product strives to offer a user-friendly interface reminiscent of other productivity applications like Notion or Slides, incorporating AI to simplify the video editing process. Furthermore, the actual video editing occurs within a web browser, eliminating the need for high-performance computers.

Cisco has announced that it is acquiring Splunk for $28 billion. This acquisition is strategically aligned with Cisco's security-focused business, as it gains access to Splunk's observability platform. This addition will enable Cisco to enhance its ability to assist customers in comprehending security threats while also providing valuable capabilities for analyzing extensive log data to address various challenges such as understanding system failures and troubleshooting a wide range of issues across enterprise systems. It's important to note that both company boards have already given their approval for the acquisition. However, it must undergo regulatory approval, which is not guaranteed due to the heightened scrutiny that such deals are encountering worldwide.

YouTube has unveiled a novel application designed specifically for content creators called YouTube Create. This application provides a comprehensive and user-friendly suite of tools, all at no cost, empowering creators to craft both brief Shorts and longer video content. The primary objective of this tool is to alleviate various challenges faced by creators, including streamlining the editing process and facilitating the incorporation of creative elements such as stickers, GIFs, and effects. To utilize this tool, creators simply upload their clips and then select from a variety of editing options to commence the video creation process. This app equips them with capabilities like previewing and trimming clips while assembling their video. Furthermore, the app boasts an extensive collection of thousands of stickers, GIFs, and a diverse array of effects that creators can readily access.

Amazon is introducing a generative AI model to enhance the functionality of its Echo devices. This novel model will enhance conversational interactions by considering factors such as body language, eye contact, and gestures. It will collaborate with APIs to facilitate new smart home features, deciphering descriptions like "spooky" lighting to provide meaningful responses. Moreover, it will imbue Alexa with a more prominent and opinionated personality. Amazon states that this advanced generative AI model can adapt its tone and responses to convey emotions such as agreement, excitement, laughter, and surprise, aligning with a person's natural pauses and hesitations to create a more fluid conversation.

Tezza, the app for enhancing photos and videos, has set its sights on becoming the preferred tool for influencers. It offers an extensive array of resources, including hundreds of editorial templates, more than 40 handpicked presets, overlays, Instagram feed management utilities, and much more. Tezza operates in a manner quite similar to VSCO. Users simply upload their pictures or videos and then choose from a range of filters, granting their content a polished and professional appearance, all without the need to invest in the influencer-designed presets that are currently in vogue. In addition, Tezza has recently introduced "Tezza Studio," a video-editing feature that empowers content creators to easily edit comprehensive videos featuring vintage-inspired film effects, music, and a variety of presets and fonts. VSCO, on the other hand, unveiled its first video editing tool back in 2017.

Pryon, a startup developing an AI-powered platform to look for insights in — and surface answers from — enterprise knowledge bases, has raised $100M. It's important to note that Pryon distinguishes itself from being a voice assistant; instead, it functions as a "knowledge fabric." This innovative platform can seamlessly interact with third-party chatbots or channels, processing various types of data, including audio, images, text, and video. It then transforms this data into a format that is both searchable and usable by any connected front-end interface. Comparable to Amazon's Kendra, Pryon employs connectors to bring together and index information from previously disparate sources, particularly from databases. However, Pryon stands out by achieving up to twice the accuracy of Kendra, being capable of ingesting data up to ten times faster, and having the ability to index billions of documents, in contrast to Kendra's limitation of 100,000 documents.

CrowdStrike has acquired Bionic.ai — a security posture management platform for cloud services — for $350 million. Bionic.ai's primary function is to provide security teams with a comprehensive overview of a company's technology and IT landscape, helping them identify vulnerabilities. It's worth noting that Bionic.ai's annual recurring revenue (ARR) was below $10 million, a pivotal metric in the Software as a Service (SaaS) sector for assessing business performance. CrowdStrike primarily focuses on services related to endpoint security, threat intelligence, breach response, and it already offers its own security posture management service under the brand "Falcon." The acquisition of Bionic.ai is expected to provide CrowdStrike with an enhanced level of visibility and observability for security operations teams.

SmartNews, the news aggregator app, is launching a new feature aimed at addressing the anxiety often associated with constantly consuming negative news, a behavior commonly referred to as "doomscrolling." In contrast to encouraging mindless scrolling through distressing headlines, the new feature, known as SmartTake, promises to provide a curated selection of uplifting stories, editor's picks, informative articles, and soothing visuals all in one convenient place. This represents a notable shift in approach for SmartNews, which has traditionally sent push notifications with news and entertainment headlines designed to entice users to open the app and read, even if the headlines aren't extreme enough to be classified as clickbait. The app's top news section has typically featured attention-grabbing stories, including those related to crimes, kidnappings, accidents, or significant and controversial statements made by public figures and government officials.