Lauren Forristal

Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch.

The Latest from Lauren Forristal

DistroKid acquires website builder Bandzoogle to expand its toolset for artists

Independent music distribution service DistroKid announced its recent acquisition of Bandzoogle, the website builder designed for musicians. The financial details of the transaction weren’t publicly

Spotify’s newest feature allows songwriters to promote their work

Spotify announced today the launch of “Songwriter Promo Cards,” a promotional tool for songwriters to highlight their songs and get discovered by new listeners and potential collaborators. Songwri

Disney+, ESPN+ to host an animated, ‘Toy Story’-themed NFL game on October 1

ESPN is giving fans a live NFL game that will be fully animated in the “Toy Story” universe.

Meta Quest adds new avatar customization options, an unsend message feature and more

As part of the v57 software update for Meta Quest headsets, the company announced Monday a bevy of new features — including more avatar customization options, an unsend message feature, group li

Reddit users on mobile can now translate posts into other languages

Reddit is giving users the ability to translate posts into other languages. There will be eight different languages available to start — including English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, I

How to stream NFL games for the 2023 season

The 2023 NFL season kicked off yesterday with a win from the Detroit Lions against the Kansas City Chiefs — for football fans that missed it, you may be wondering, what’s the best way to watch

AI reading coach startup Ello raises $15M to bolster child literacy

Ello aims to eradicate childhood illiteracy by leveraging artificial intelligence and child speech recognition technology. The startup announced today that it secured $15 million in Series A financing

Gaming browser Opera GX integrates ChatGPT-powered AI feature

Powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the AI browser Aria launched on Opera in May to give users an easier way to search on the web, ask questions and write code. Today, the company announced it is bringing

YouTube confirms it’s testing a games offering called ‘Playables’

YouTube is letting a select number of users play online games as part of a new experiment. The games will live in a new “Playables” section on YouTube’s home feed, and can be accessed on both de

Tubi sees impressive growth, with over 74M monthly active users

Tubi, the Fox-owned free ad-supported TV streaming (FAST) service, announced today that it surpassed 74 million monthly active users, up from 64 million in February. The FAST service also reported nea

Dating app The League launches ‘GoalMate’ feature to help users find goal-oriented matches

Let’s face it: Traditional dating app filters aren’t cutting it. While sharing the same basic interests like yoga or watching movies is nice to have in a relationship, it’s also important to fin

Apple reduces cost of MLS Season Pass to $29 for the rest of the season

Apple attempts to sway more soccer fans into signing up for MLS Season Pass with its newest discount. The subscription, which gives viewers access to every Major League Soccer game, now costs $14.99 p

YouTube Music gets more social, adds comments to the ‘Now Playing’ screen

YouTube Music redesigned its “Now Playing” screen recently, with the most notable update being a new comments section, which allows users to read and write comments directly from the app. The late

Max to stream AMC+ shows like ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ and ‘Killing Eve’ in new deal

Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service previously called HBO Max, announced a 60-day streaming deal with AMC that will bring AMC+ programming to the streamer. Beginning on September 1

Subletting app Kiki raises $6M by using dating app concepts to match listings and renters

Kiki (formerly EasyRent), a subletting startup that matches listers with people looking to rent for up to six months, recently closed a $6 million seed round, its co-founder Toby Thomas-Smith exclusiv

Amazon brings new AI-driven features to Thursday Night Football

As Amazon’s Prime Video gears up for its second year as the exclusive rights holder to NFL’s Thursday Night Football (TNF), the streaming service hopes to give fans a more enhanced viewing experie

Fallout TV series set to premiere on Prime Video in 2024

Prime Video announced Wednesday that the upcoming adaptation of the popular video game Fallout is set to premiere on the streaming service at some point in 2024. Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyp

YouTube tests a search feature where users hum to identify songs

YouTube announced a new experiment on Android devices that determines a song via humming — which seems like a major step up from Apple’s music recognition app Shazam. As noted on YouTube’s sup

Netflix debuts ‘Rebel Moon’ teaser, Zack Snyder’s two-part sci-fi epic

Netflix released the official teaser trailer for “Rebel Moon,” a space fantasy film directed by “Justice League” filmmaker Zack Snyder, arriving on the streaming service on December 22. Notabl

Landing, a platform for making virtual mood boards, brings its creation tools to mobile

Landing, the community-powered social platform where users create and publish virtual mood boards and collages, today launched a mobile feature called “Creation,” allowing users to express their c
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