“The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.” — Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Everybody wants to believe they’re bettering the world, and what’s more, that they’re on the brink of a revolutionary transformation.… Read More
Elon Musk is digging a tunnel under Hawthorne near SpaceX headquarters in California, after receiving approval from city council to do so. Musk’s Boring Co. has already made considerable progress on the dig and tunnel build, apparently, as Musk shared an image of the tunnel from the inside showing a reinforced tube that stretches off into the distance out of sight.
The tunnel features… Read More
How come only 0.08% of Snapchat’s users bought its camera sunglasses? Hundreds of thousands of pairs of Spectacles sit rotting in warehouses after the company bungled the launch. Initial hype and lines for its roving, limited time only Snapbot vending machines led Snap to overestimate demand but underdeliver on quality and content. Massive piles of assembled and unassembled… Read More
Augmented reality marked a major milestone this year. It’s too early to know what the new ecosystem of software and hardware designed to provide AR experiences will evolve into in the future, but it’s safe to predict that AR headsets will be part of the picture. So why is AR suddenly ready for mass consumption? And why aren’t we leaping (magically!) into AR glasses? Read More
From the outside, at least, Nintendo is a study in contradictions, at once devoted to the constant development of new gaming experiences, while remaining deferential and staunchly loyal to its past. Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Frank Radice, Keith Teare, Denis Pombriant, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Sunday, October 15, 2017.
G3: It’s Time — Francine Hardaway, Mary Hodder, Kristie Wells, and Tina Chase Gillmor welcome Tina Hui. Recorded live Friday, October 20, 2017.
@stevegillmor, @fradice, @kteare, @DenisPombriant
Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor Read More
Stories about seed funding often contain sappy metaphors about planting seedlings and nurturing them to maturity. In reality, it’s a brutally Darwinian business: most companies fail, successful ones get diluted and exits commonly take a decade or more. That said, seed also has the highest potential returns of any investment stage. Here are some trends we observed. Read More
Because of the threat of cyber attacks, sign in and identity verification procedures are becoming utterly cumbersome. There’s no “identity” layer to the internet (until there is a mainstream Blockhain solution perhaps?). However, using signalling and data packets, and the SIM/eSIM chips already found in smartphones, you could make this much easier. It would also require no… Read More
There are many cases that could be useful as a launching point; let’s start with the recent and lengthy rebuttal of so-called tech evangelist Robert Scoble, following multiple allegations that he has sexually harassed and assaulted a number of women in the industry where Scoble has made his name. As Scoble wrote in his own defense, on his personal blog this week, “If I were guilty… Read More
Co-working and startup office leviathan WeWork continues to expand in London. It’s latest accounts show that it has £2 billion of lease commitments in the UK (25 offices in London and two in Manchester) over the next 25 years, indicating it is upbeat about the prospects of the city post-Brexit. However, rival office space provider Regus is less bullish, issuing a property warning… Read More
Hailey Dawson is already a veteran of tossing the ceremonial first pitch at the ripe old age of seven. She’s got two Major League games under her belt and is about to add a third, with her biggest audience yet, as she kicks off Game 4 of the World Series in Houston. Read More
On paper, smartphones are amazing pieces of glass. They have magically cured boredom as we always have something to do — those endless feeds of content are a perpetual source of inspiration, information and amusement. And yet, feeds need to die because they distort our views and disconnect us from other human beings around us. Many people have deleted the Facebook app from their phone… Read More
Today we’re hanging out with EDM artist Dillon Francis, Apple opens for iPhone X pre-orders and releases a sleeve for MacBooks, Walmart starts using robots in stores and Russia condemns Twitter for banning two of its media companies from advertising on the platform. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
In the latest of its (likely fruitless) attemptsto govern the seething mob that comprises its user base, Twitter rolled out a change in how it oversees the publication of what it euphemistically referred to as ‘intimate media.’
The latest rule change intends to combat yet another toxic Twitter problem; the prevalence of revenge porn throughout its network.
Earlier this year… Read More
The nature and extent of Russia or Russian-linked actors interfering with the election is yet to be determined, but it’s not for want of inquiries. Half of D.C. is looking into it in one way or another, and Senator Diane Feinstein is no exception. Today she sent letters to several parties involved, including Facebook and Twitter, asking for a variety of documents relating to her… Read More
When you’re a company facing almost as many federal investigations as a crime syndicate, who better to come in to run your legal team than a former Justice Department official? That may have been the question new Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi was asking when thinking about who to pick to help navigate his ride-sharing service through the murky legal waters it’s now… Read More
Not every startup journey starts as sweetly as the road co-founders Ishita Prasad and Maya Balakrishnan took to launching their new company, Polymer — but then again, not every startup takes its inspiration from a chocolate factory. Read More
Washington Congresswoman Suzan DelBene and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi recently visited the UW’s Computer Science school to discuss the workplace of the 21st century and women’s place in it. Their talk covered a number of topics, but one given more serious consideration was that of sexual harassment in industries and disciplines dominated by men. Read More
In what the company is calling “a very difficult time for hardware companies in the smart kitchen space,” Tea infusion device startup Teforia is saying it is ceasing operations today, according to its website. Teforia’s main product was an internet-connected tea infuser that could brew the pre-packaged teas from the startup, which it called “Sips.” Read More
If you’re having problems with Signal, you’re not alone. On Friday, many users took to Twitter to report that beloved encrypted messaging app Signal was offline. While some users have been unable to access Signal’s servers since around 11AM PT, others have only seen delays in sending and receiving messages. Read More
