ContentBuffer
The film 'Backrooms' has taken the number one spot at the box office, making an impressive $38 million on its first Friday alone. This marks a significant milestone for A24, surpassing their previous record by over $10 million. The movie's success is part of a growing trend where YouTube creators transition into filmmaking and achieve massive commercial success. 'Backrooms' is expected to earn between $80-90 million domestically in its opening weekend, setting new benchmarks for independent films.
A group of 20 Snap alumni has established the Ghost Angels fund to back early-stage startups focusing on artificial intelligence within social media and consumer technology sectors. This initiative, spearheaded by Max Rivera in 2025, seeks to formalize an angel-investing community among former Snap employees. The fund plans to deploy its capital into at least 15 companies over the next year, with a focus on innovative AI applications that aim to restore the original promise of social media—connecting people without relying heavily on ads and algorithms. For developers and founders in this space, Ghost Angels represents an opportunity for funding and mentorship from experienced industry veterans. The fund's emphasis on niche communities and creative monetization models beyond traditional advertising could be a game-changer for startups looking to carve out unique market positions. With the trend towards leaner teams launching quickly and iterating publicly, Ghost Angels offers support at critical early stages. The fund aims to back companies with innovative AI applications in social media and consumer tech, focusing on pre-seed to seed-stage investments. It has already backed five startups since its inception. Let's dive deeper…
In today's ContentBuffer update:
GitHub Copilot's New Token-Based Billing: What You Need To Know
Night Vale Host Wishes Texting While Driving Were Impossible
Meta unveils plans for an AI-powered pendant, aiming to revolutionize wearable tech
Google's Gemini Spark: A Personalized Digital Assistant
5 new AI tools & 5 new AI jobs
More tech news
Latest Development
Image source: techcrunch.com
Summary: 'Backrooms' breaks A24 records with $38M opening day — a YouTube-to-filmmaker boomlet success story.
Key Points:
Film 'Backrooms' made $38 million on Friday, breaking A24's previous record of $25.7 million.
'Obsession,' another film in the trend, earned $8 million on its opening day and is expected to gross $28.5 million over the weekend.
'Iron Lung' has already grossed nearly $41 million domestically, contributing to this YouTube-to-film success wave.
In its second weekend, 'Obsession' made more money than in its first, a rare feat for wide-release films.
The film 'Backrooms' is expected to earn between $80-90 million over the opening weekend.
Why it matters: This trend shows how YouTube creators can translate their online success into box office gold. For example, 'Backrooms' and 'Obsession' are proving that content with a strong digital presence can dominate traditional cinema markets.
Image source: techcrunch.com
Summary: 20 Snap alumni launched Ghost Angels, a $X million fund backing pre-seed to seed-stage AI startups focused on social media and consumer tech. Why it matters: Lean teams get funding from experienced mentors in niche communities.
Key Points:
Ghost Angels is backed by around 20 founder members and investors, including some still at Snap
The fund aims to deploy its capital into at least 15 companies over the next year
Backed startups include five already funded since inception, focusing on AI in social media and consumer tech
Ghost Angels supports lean teams launching fast with creative monetization models beyond traditional ads
The initiative seeks to formalize an angel-investing community among former Snap employees
Why it matters: If you're a founder building an AI startup focused on social media or consumer tech, Ghost Angels offers a unique opportunity for funding and mentorship. The fund's focus on niche communities and creative monetization models can help startups stand out in crowded markets. Lean teams launching fast with innovative applications will benefit from the experience of former Snap executives.
Image source: techcrunch.com
Summary: Microsoft is switching GitHub Copilot from a flat-rate subscription to a token-based billing system on June 1, causing costs for some developers to skyrocket by hundreds of dollars monthly.
Key Points:
GitHub Copilot shifts to token-usage billing starting June 1
One user's bill jumps from $29 to nearly $750 per month
Another sees their cost increase from around $50 to over $3,000
Critics argue the new system is 'stupidly expensive' for small teams
Microsoft did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment
Why it matters: If you're using GitHub Copilot extensively, your costs could skyrocket by hundreds of dollars monthly starting June 1. Smaller companies and independent developers are likely to be hit hardest as larger enterprises can still afford the new pricing structure. The shift from flat-rate to token-based billing may force some teams to reconsider their reliance on Copilot's AI-driven coding assistance.
Image source: platform.theverge.com
Summary: Welcome to Night Vale host wishes texting while driving were impossible, highlighting safety concerns. Podcasts can be powerful platforms for advocacy.
Key Points:
Host of Welcome to Night Vale expresses desire for tech that prevents distracted driving
Podcast has over 18 years of media experience and a dedicated listener base
Welcome to Night Vale podcast has raised awareness on LGBTQ+ issues and HIV
The host also co-hosts a horror podcast and appears in various media projects
Host's advocacy for safer driving practices reflects growing public concern
Why it matters: Podcast hosts like the Welcome to Night Vale creator use their platforms to advocate for important social issues. Their call-to-action on distracted driving can influence listener behavior, potentially saving lives. This is particularly relevant given the host's extensive media experience and dedicated audience.
Image source: techcrunch.com
Summary: Meta is developing an AI pendant to test within the year, building on Limitless tech. They're betting big on wearables despite past failures.
Key Points:
Meta acquired Limitless in late 2025 to accelerate its work on AI-enabled wearables.
The new AI pendant will be tested this year, aiming for consumer adoption of smart accessories.
Meta's Reality Labs division lost $4 billion in Q1, pushing the company to innovate.
TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for further information and updates on the project.
Companies like OpenAI are also exploring AI wearables despite previous setbacks.
Why it matters: If you're a tech enthusiast or work with wearable technology, this is huge. Meta's new AI pendant could finally make smart accessories mainstream, especially if it integrates seamlessly into daily life. However, past failures in the space mean success isn't guaranteed.
Image source: techcrunch.com
Summary: Google launched Gemini Spark, a digital assistant that integrates with its apps to help manage tasks and organize data. It's perfect for those who need a bit of extra help staying on top of their digital life.
Key Points:
Gemini Spark was first unveiled at Google I/O in May 2023
The service suggests activities based on open calendar blocks, like free weekend events around town
Users can ask Gemini to draft a packing list for day trips with suggested items like sunscreen and water bottles
It tracks price drops for specific products or services and suggests ways to stack coupons for savings
Early access users tested Gemini Spark's ability to help with everyday local drugstore trips, including finding product deals
Why it matters: If you're a heavy user of Google's productivity suite like Gmail and Calendar, Gemini Spark can streamline your daily tasks. It suggests activities based on open calendar blocks, drafts packing lists for day trips, and tracks price drops with coupon stacking suggestions. This is especially useful for those who need help managing their digital life but don't want to spend time manually organizing.
New Tools & Job
note.md - note.md is a private, local-first markdown workspace for macOS built for focused writing, research, and structured thought. It supports GitHub Flavored Markdown, complex tables, and LaTeX math, with bidirectional links and a visual graph to connect ideas. Smart citations and research-table extraction are powered by local AI models that keep your data on-device, and you can import scientific papers and PDFs directly. Markdown is the storage format - no proprietary lock-in.
Genpire - Genpire is an AI-native product design and manufacturing platform. It turns any idea, sketch, or prompt into factory-ready output in minutes - design visuals, technical specs, bills of materials, graded size specs, construction notes, materials, and manufacturer matching - all in one workflow. Built for fashion, apparel, and consumer-goods brands, it compresses development timelines that previously ran four to eight weeks.
PollyReach - PollyReach gives every AI agent its own phone number and the ability to make and receive real calls. Its human-like AI voice agents automate lead qualification, customer support, and appointment booking, and can serve as a 24/7 AI receptionist. Polly finds the number, dials, navigates phone menus, handles the conversation, and confirms bookings, syncing with Google Calendar, Outlook, and Calendly to check availability.
Contextberg - Contextberg is a local memory app for AI coding agents. It watches your screens, agent transcripts, and browser activity in the background, then serves both short-term and long-term memory to agents like Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenClaw over the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It is privacy-first and Windows-first - your data never leaves your machine - and installs from the Microsoft Store.
Nota: AI Notes & Voice - Nota is an AI notes and voice app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. Capture your way - type, dictate, sketch, scan, or upload images - and let built-in AI clarify, shape, and organize your notes. Its scanner extracts text from documents, whiteboards, business cards, signs, photos, and textbooks, and Apple Pencil support adds handwriting and drawing with tags, pins, search, and visual organization.
Software Engineer, Secrets Infrastructure (Remote) - Fully remote team building Stripe's internal secrets/credentials infrastructure.
Software Engineer, New Grad - New grad SWE role spanning Stripe's payments, money-movement and platform teams.
Applied Scientist / Research Engineer, AI4Engineering - Apply Mistral's models to coding, software engineering, and developer workflows.
AI Scientist - Research scientist role on Mistral AI's research org — onsite, hybrid or remote.
Research Engineer, Machine Learning - Build and optimize large-scale learning systems powering Mistral's open-weight models.
Machine Learning Engineer, Fast Optimized Inference (EMEA Remote) - Build the fastest open-source inference stack — quantization, kernels, serving — at Hugging Face.
Cloud Machine Learning Engineer (US Remote) - Build Hugging Face's cloud ML offerings — inference endpoints, training infrastructure, and customer-facing tooling.
SDE AI/ML II — ML Inference Apps, AWS Neuron - Performance tune and enable ML model families (Llama2, GPT-class) on AWS Neuron / Trainium inference accelerators.
Annapurna Labs at AWS — Early Career (US): ML Systems & Silicon Innovation - Multiple technical tracks across ML Systems & Compilers, Distributed Training Systems and ML Infrastructure on AWS's silicon team.
Machine Learning Research Engineer, Generative AI (Siri) - Build infrastructure, datasets and models that empower Siri across NLU, dialog generation, speech synthesis and multi-modal interaction.
AI Research Scientist — Safety Alignment Team - Research and develop safety-alignment techniques for Meta's frontier AI systems.
AI Research Scientist, Language — Generative AI - Conduct research on generative language models within Meta's GenAI org.
Senior Deep Learning Algorithm Engineer - Develop and optimize deep learning algorithms for NVIDIA's accelerated computing platforms.
Deep Learning Software Engineer, TensorRT Performance — New College Grad 2026 - Integrate TensorRT into open-source frameworks and implement graph compiler algorithms across NVIDIA's inference ecosystem.
Research Engineer, Pretraining - Build and optimize pretraining systems and pipelines for frontier models at Google DeepMind.
Research Engineer, World Models - Implement core infrastructure and conduct research to build generative models of the physical world.
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Virtual Collaborator - Lead ML engineering for the Virtual Collaborator product line at Anthropic.
Research Engineer, Cybersecurity Reinforcement Learning - Safely advance model capabilities in secure coding, vulnerability remediation, and defensive cybersecurity.
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Pre-training - Develop the next generation of large language models on Anthropic's Pre-training team.
Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment Science - Contribute to exploratory experimental research on AI safety with a focus on risks from powerful future systems.
QUICK HITS
Microsoft Threatens Legal Action Over Zero-Day Exploit Disclosure - Microsoft is threatening legal action against a security researcher for posting zero-day exploits online, potentially silencing future reports and raising questions about the company's own hiring practices.
SpaceX Eyes $1.75T Valuation at IPO - SpaceX is aiming for a $1.75 trillion valuation at IPO, which could reshape the tech investment landscape and impact other companies seeking capital.
Arduboy FX-C Launches With Over 300 Free Games - Arduboy FX-C launches with over 300 free games in a tiny form factor — perfect for quick gaming sessions on the go.
Pebblebee Halo: Bluetooth Tracker With Safety Features - Pebblebee launches Halo: A Bluetooth tracker that doubles as a personal safety device with a siren and strobe lights. Worth considering if you need an easy-to-use safety feature in your daily life.
TikTok Adds Hotel Booking and Fintech Licenses - TikTok is becoming a super app with hotel booking and fintech ambitions. Developers need to watch how this impacts user engagement and API integrations.
AI Browsers Emerge: Comet, Dia, and Atlas Launch - Perplexity launches Comet, The Browser Company introduces Dia, and OpenAI rolls out Atlas — all aiming to disrupt the web browser market with AI-powered features.
THAT'S A WRAP
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Expect big news from Nvidia's CEO tonight at 8PM PT. New ARM processors, potential Microsoft partnership, and a return to Windows on ARM could shake up PC hardware.
20 former Snap employees launched Ghost Angels, a $X million fund backing pre-seed to seed-stage AI companies in social media and consumer tech. The fund aims to support lean teams launching fast with creative monetization models.
Artificial general intelligence (AGI) aims to create machines smarter than average humans across many tasks. OpenAI and Google DeepMind offer competing definitions, but both imply significant economic disruption.