Apple just started selling new bonds in order to finance a share buyback program and dividends for shareholders, as Bloomberg spotted in a filing. This is counterintuitive, as Apple is sitting on a big pile of cash and probably doesn’t need to issue bonds. But most of the company’s cash is outside of the U.S. Read More
Google has once again been called out for algorithmically encouraging the spread of dubious, politically charged speculation and misinformation around a topical news event. Read More
Amazon Cash, the service that lets consumers add cash to their Amazon.com balance at brick-and-mortar retailers, is now available at nearly 8,000 7-Eleven convenience stores, the companies announced today. That’s a significant expansion for Amazon Cash, which was previously available at retailers a handful of other supermarket chains and convenience stores. Read More
As augmented reality slowly proliferates with the promise of bringing computer interaction into three-dimensional space, platform giants like Google are tasked with bringing every sense into 3D space, as well. Google is taking some of the tech from its VR Audio SDK and building it into a more comprehensive spatial audio product called Resonance Audio that works across mobile and desktop platforms. Read More
A new iOS app, Album+, is taking advantage of the increased AI capabilities and GPUs in modern iPhones to help people better manage their photos. It can de-duplicate photos, for example, as well as categorize the people, places and objects it finds in your images. Album+ organizes and ranks photos using on-device, offline machine learning — there’s no need to connect with the cloud. Read More
The electric vehicle tax credit won’t die without a stirring defense — major automakers are moving their considerable lobbying might behind defending the credit, according to Automotive News, in the face of its proposed elimination in the new tax plan laid out by Republicans last week. Read More
Music artist Kehlani is getting into the tech business and she’s tapped Arlan Hamilton’s Backstage Capital for funding. Backstage Capital, the venture capital firm focused on funding people of color, has invested $50,000 in Kehlani’s stealth startup, Flora. The idea with Flora is to focus on health and wellness for the artist’s target audience of people between the ages… Read More
Though the world could probably use a few more machine learning experts, there are a lot of non-programming specialists whose expertise could directly benefit ML models. That’s the thinking behind the startup Pienso, an MIT spin-off that its founders hope can make the process of training machine learning models more accessible to non-technical people. Read More
Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica (CA) plans to publish a book on his firm’s approach to online campaigning, and its role in the U.S. election. In an exclusive interview with TechCrunch he says the book will “talk about our methodology and our approach to communications” in technical terms, and go into how the firm is using psychographics in its campaigns online. Read More
A few weeks ago I met with, and interviewed, Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica. His company has been credited with helping Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency. It’s also been associated with many other controversial political campaigns globally and accused by some of aiding the U.K.’s exit from the EU. He addresses all of these subjects in detail Read More
Apple’s return to growth in the saturated China smartphone market was echoed by a report from IDC, out this morning, which attributes the rise in Apple’s market share to the strong sales of the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Apple’s rebound indicates there’s still pent-up demand for iPhones in China, the report also noted. And it forecast the launch of the iPhone X… Read More
Intel is working with AMD to produce a chip for notebook computers that pairs an Intel CPU with an AMD graphics processor, with a small, lightweight design that can nonetheless handle heavy graphics requirements for top-tier video games.
This team-up may seem like kind of a no-brainer, but AMD and Intel actually haven’t collaborated since the 80s, according to analyst Patrick Moorhead… Read More
Ink, a Nebraska-based startup focused on revamping on-campus printing, has raised $7M from VTF Capital, SQN Venture Partners, Invest Nebraska and NE Angeles. This brings total funding to $15M, with previous participation from advisors Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Greg Silverman of Warner Brothers. If you’re a college student or recent graduate, you already understand exactly how frustrating… Read More
Kobalt, the music tech startup that has built a platform for rights holders to track incremental and full plays of music across a wide sea of platforms (in order to collect royalties on those plays), is announcing another big step in its bid to put its money where its mouth is. The company’s fully owned subsidiary Kobalt Capital is unveiling a $600 million music royalties fund to buy… Read More
Following rumors over the weekend, chipmaker Broadcom has today confirmed it has approached wireless chipmaker Qualcomm with an acquisition offer that values the company at $130BN (including $25BN of net debt). Read More
When Salesforce bought Quip, a document-based, mobile-first collaboration tool for $750 million last September, it may have seemed like an odd purchase, but Salesforce and Quip have been hard at work enhancing the product. Today at the Dreamforce customer conference in San Francisco, the company announced significant updates to the product designed to make it more of a central way to… Read More
What do you do when you want to create a software-as-a-service startup but it feels like everything has been built already? You build a product that helps existing SaaS startups. That’s what ChartMogul is currently doing with its subscription analytics platform.
The company just raised $2.2 million from Alven Capital, with existing investors Point Nine Capital and angel investors also… Read More
It’s been just over a year since Salesforce introduced Einstein, a set of artificial intelligence technologies that are designed to underlie and enhance the Salesforce product set. Today, at Dreamforce, the company’s enormous customer conference taking place this week in San Francisco, it announced myEinstein, a package of tools it created to help developers and Salesforce… Read More
Two Minute TechCrunch!
Since it’s impossible, as a journalist, to crawl around all the stands at Web Summit, I thought it would be easier to sit in one place and meet people there!
Thus, you will get the chance to meet me (Mike Butcher) and pitch me your company for 2 MINUTES at Web Summit on Tuesday.
Details of where and when will be sent by email. Right now, it will probably be… Read More
Electric bikes range in price but the best ones come in just north of $1,000. Now, however, you can own a foldable electric bike with a 50 mile range for less than $500. The Jolt ebike, created by a guy named John Madden, is selling now at an early bird price of $499. That’s a quarter of the final price and a great deal on an ebike. The bike is about the same size as your standard… Read More
