The Roundup
Everything you missed this past week on Product Hunt: Top products, spicy community discourse, key trends on the site, and long-form pieces we’ve recently published.
As someone who writes about AI, one of the most common questions I get is "How are artists going to survive AI?"
Well, I’m not sure, but an influx of startups is trying to crack that nut. For example, last month I wrote about Replica, a voice AI platform that trains its LLMs off of the work of fairly compensated voice actors. Now Cara is here, offering a digital bubble for visual artists that AI can’t touch.
Cara is a social app for artists and it's gone viral, earning a bunch of media coverage after jumping from 40k to 650k users in a week (it hit 900k users last week). Cara is not too dissimilar from Instagram + Threads — artists can upload portfolios, but the UI is akin to IG posts, plus you can post text updates like Threads or X. The big difference is that Cara won’t use your work to train any LLMs, and the platform filters out generative AI images.
If you try to upload an AI-generated image, you’ll get a message that says it's not allowed, which you can appeal if it’s a mistake. Cara also has a partnership with The Glaze Project, a product from researchers at the University of Chicago that subtly alters the pixels of your artwork to prevent original work from being scraped. Artists have the option to apply Glaze to their work upon uploading it.
So how has Cara gone so viral? The team’s anti-Meta approach has helped it gain followers from fed-up artists. Founder and designer Jingna Zhang explained to TechCrunch that her anger level was increased upon seeing that EU artists can opt out of giving Meta permission to train its AI with their posts, but Meta won’t apply the same rules to other territories. Zhang is well suited to lead an artist movement as someone who puts her time where her mouth is. She’s part of multiple lawsuits that fight for rights on behalf of herself and other artists, including one against Google for using copyrighted work to train Imagen.
Cara’s sudden growth has come with some public pain points, but protecting original art is a hard issue to solve, so I’m personally hoping the app can generate some momentum for the underdog.
Since founding Oculus VR and eventually selling it to Meta, Palmer Luckey has continued experimenting with unusual tech, like this VR headset that could kill you if you lose a game. Now, he's focusing on a much safer and fun project: the ModRetro Chromatic.
The ModRetro Chromatic is a handheld console designed to run any Nintendo Game Boy cartridges. While it retains the nostalgic look of Nintendo’s handheld gaming era, the Chromatic features several modern enhancements aimed at bringing the childhood console into the modern era
It’s housed inside a magnesium alloy case and sapphire crystal cover glass, which keeps the original Game Boy’s size, resolution, pixel structure, and color balance. With 1,000 nits of brightness and an outdoor-friendly LCD screen, you can game to your heart’s content in most lighting conditions.
The ModRetro Chromatic’s FPGA technology allows it to play any official Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, just like the original devices. Additionally, each console includes an officially licensed version of Tetris, featuring updated versions of the iconic theme song and Link Cable multiplayer support. It also comes in a number of fun color options and a USB-C port to charge the AA batteries needed to power it.
This isn't the first reimagining of classic handheld devices. The Analogue Pocket has been a fan favorite for gamers everywhere since it dropped. Where the two differ, according to Luckey, is in the fine details: “The color temps are actually right, the clock rate isn’t slightly off, the pixel structure isn’t totally wrong in a way that ruins subpixel aware sprites, etc,” he told The Verge.
🐶 The dog behind the doge meme and dogecoin has passed away at 18.
🎵 Spotify is shutting down its ‘Car Thing’ product, and users want refunds.
💰 Humane is looking for a buyer after the company’s underwhelming debut.
🤖 Google has started rolling out new AI tools to Android and iOS for free.
🤖 According to documents, OpenAI didn’t use ScarJo’s voice for GPT-4o.
💰 Meta, Match, and Coinbase are teaming up to fight online scams.
Now let's get on to last week's top headlines:
🤖OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever + AI researcher quit, sparking safety concerns.
💰 Squarespace is being acquired by Permira for $6.6 billion.
⚡ Tesla laid off its entire Supercharger team, putting its future into question.
📹 TikTok is testing a new AI-powered search functionality.
🧵 Threads is booting up a fact-checking program like Twitter’s community notes.
🤖 OpenAI has agreed a deal with Reddit to train AI on the social platform.
🐦 Twitter is officially X after the company finally changed its URL.
💩 Apple said sorry for that iPad ad.
😈 OpenAI is looking into responsible erotica.
🔮 NYC and Dublin installed a “portal”’ with a livestream for the cities to interact 24/7.
💸 Surprising everyone, FTX said most customers will get their money back.
🤖 OpenAI is building a ChatGPT feature that can search the web and cite sources.
🧑⚖️ TikTok plans to sue to block a US bill that would force its sale or be banned.
🍎 Apple saw a 10% drop in iPhone sales during its earnings call.
🎵 Spotify has quietly moved its lyrics function behind a paywall.
📸 Snapchat has launched new ML and AR tools for brands and advertisers.
🚲 Peloton has announced a round of layoffs as the CEO resigns.
🤖 You can now access Gemini right from the Chrome address bar.
📹 TikTok is circumventing Apple’s commission rules according to screenshots.
🤖 Elon is closing in on $6 billion in funding for his AI startup.
🛜 The FCC has officially voted to restore net neutrality.
🦺 Sam Altman and other AI leaders will serve on a government AI safety board.
⛔ The US Senate has passed a bill that could ban TikTok.
👓 Meta has started licensing the Quest OS to other companies starting with Lenovo.
🤖 Microsoft has launched a mini AI model that can run on smartphones.
🖼️ Adobe launched a new image-generating model that is its biggest yet.
Hi, hi! It’s Monday and it’s Earth Day! Don't miss the Cat Nips section below for innovative products in the renewable energy space.
But first, ICYMI: Makers worldwide are hosting their own Product Hunt meetups on May 2nd. RSVP to one in your city or even host your own.
Now, here's last week's top news...
😬 Remember the Humane AI pin? MKBHD reviewed it.
📹 Adobe is working on generative video but it won’t reveal when it will launch.
🎫 TikTok is giving users more ways to purchase event tickets in-app.
🧑⚖️ But the US House has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok.
🍎 Apple has removed Threads and WhatsApp from the Chinese app store.
🐦 According to Elon, X will start charging new users to post.
👻 Snapchat is adding watermarks to content generated with its AI tools.
☑️ X is removing the ability for paid users to hide their blue ticks.
🗣️ ChatGPT got a big upgrade— expect more direct, less verbose answers.
🪦Say goodbye to Google One VPN as it joins the Google Graveyard.
📡 You’ll soon get your broadband from space if this company has its way.
📸 Instagram will blur nudes that are sent to minors in its latest update.
📹 Google launched a new AI tool for video creation workflows.
