Google might fold Nest back into the Google, well, fold. The company is considering integrating Nest, which is a separate company under mutual parent Alphabet at the moment, back into Google’s hardware business.
The re-integration, first reported by Wall Street Journal, is a move that Google is considering as a way to help it build out its smart home capabilities vs. Amazon, which is… Read More
GM and Cruise have articulated more specifically when they want to put their self-driving service on the roads, at today’s investor call for the company from San Francisco. GM said that they can make it happen within two years, with a fleet ready to go to work by 2019 based on the company’s current rate of progress. The commercial launch was previously revealed to happen within… Read More
Alexa’s not the only Amazon property that’s getting a workplace component at this week at AWS Re:Invent. The LTE-M Button isn’t branded as a Dash Button, but it works in much the same way. Basically it’s a hunk of plastic which, when pressed, will perform one specific task — namely buying stuff online. Unlike all of the pre-programmed Dash Buttons, this AT&T… Read More
AWS today launched a new browser-based IDE, AWS Cloud9, at its re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. Cloud9 is actually an IDE the company acquired last year. It’s based on the Ace Editor and the work Cloud9 did on its c9.io IDE. When we first reported that AWS had acquired Cloud9, the company wouldn’t confirm this deal. We now have this confirmation. Read More
Given the lack of diversity and reports of hostility and discrimination, Congressperson Bobby Scott called on the Government Accountability Office to conduct a report that examines diversity, inclusion, hiring and discrimination in the tech industry. The GAO’s takeaway is that federal agencies need to improve their oversight of tech companies and diversity data collection methods. Read More
Apple and Stanford have teamed up for a new heart health study. Using a new Apple Watch app and the Apple Watch’s built-in sensor, researchers will work to identify irregular heart rhythms and notify users who may be experiencing atrial fibrillation (AFib).
AFib is the most common type of irregular heartbeat and can lead to heart failure or even stroke if left unchecked. The condition… Read More
Last month, Microsoft announced its intentions to bring its Edge Browser to iOS and Android, as it works to broaden its reach on third-party mobile devices. After being made available in preview form for roughly a month, the app officially hits iOS and Android’s respective app stores starting today. The followup to the once ubiquitous Internet Explorer has been blossoming on Windows… Read More
Though Google’s early efforts in VR and AR may not have reached the average Android user, as the company scales its vision for what augmented and virtual reality mean to its overall business, it’s been devoting major attention as of late to the developers that have taken to building early experiences.
Today, the company announced an extension to their ever-expanding pipeline for… Read More
H2O.AI started almost six years ago with a mission to simplify and democratize artificial intelligence. Today the company announced a $40M Series C round. Nvidia and Wells Fargo led the round with participation from New York Life, Crane Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and Transamerica Ventures. Today’s investment brings the total raised so far to $75 million. The last round was… Read More
If you’ve stopped paying attention to LG in the last couple of years, you’ll learn everything you need to know from the first paragraph of its latest press release that highlights a “sweeping realignment to better address the challenges ahead.” The company’s in a tough spot. It makes good and innovative phones, but just can’t seem to make a dent in a… Read More
Amazon is soon to announce Alexa for Business, and WeWork is one of the first partners to have hopped on the platform. WeWork’s vision is to use technology to help businesses make the most out of their physical space, all while customizing that space to each individual’s personal needs. The co-working giant has been on the Alexa for Business platform for about a month now, as part… Read More
Farmers Business Network has raised $110 million in new venture funding to support a business that may sound boring to some Silicon Valley technologists but which appears to have addressed a very real need: it’s a social network for farmers that invites them to share their data, pool their know-how, and bargain more effectively for better pricing from third parties.
It’s a real… Read More
Volvo has a subscription car service, whereby you can get a new vehicle for a flat monthly fee, including insurance, maintenance and service. It’s not the first carmaker to provide this kind of ownership alternative, but it may have the best deal in the business at the moment, with its ‘Care by Volvo’ exclusively for the new XC40 SUV. The deal works thusly: Pay a monthly… Read More
Instagram announced this morning that it now has 25 million active business profiles, up from 15 million in July. The company throws out a lot of different statistics (back in September it said it had 800 million monthly active users, 500 million daily active users and 2 million advertisers), but this one’s significant as a measure of how many businesses see Instagram as an important way… Read More
Destiny 2 fans will know that you get your own virtual assistant of source in the game world – Ghost, who sort of floats around and guides you. The new Alexa skill for Destiny 2 allows you to ask Ghost to do a number of things for you, including provide guidance about your in-game mission, calling backup, equipping different armour and weapon sets and providing lore and fictional… Read More
Passenger drones could be traversing city skies sooner than you think – German aircraft maker Volocopter recently flew its first autonomous passenger drone tests in Dubai, flying for five minutes at around 650 feet in a trial with no one on board. Long-term, the plan is to have aircraft zipping around at between 30 and 60 mph, with 30 minutes of in-air operating time and the ability to… Read More
Video advertising company Innovid has acquired another advertising startup, Taykey. We’ve written about Taykey as a tool that companies can use to target their ads based on the topics that their desired audience is interested in. Innovid says that by combining Taykey’s analysis with its own data about video engagement, it can show advertisers how targeting relevant content affects… Read More
A company that is seizing the opportunity to provide predictive analytics to the industrial world — regardless of whether a business has made the (often costly) transition to internet-of-things “smart” systems — is today announcing that it has raised a significant round of growth funding to double down on the opportunity. Uptake, a SaaS startup that uses machine learning… Read More
Fractyl Labs, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based startup developing treatments for diabetes, has raised $44 million in Series D financing from a slew of VC firms, including GV, True Ventures, the IDO Fund, General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, Domain Associates, Mithril Capital Management, Emergent Medical Partners, L.P., and Deerfield Management Company, L.P. Fractyl has been working on… Read More
Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on TechNode, an editorial partner of TechCrunch based in China. This week saw TechCrunch land in Shanghai for yet another great event. While Shenzhen — the site of our previous China show — might be the hardware capital, Shanghai has a potent mix of hungry entrepreneurs from all over the world. We were delighted to welcome back for… Read More
