While you wait for Twitter to roll out “more aggressive” rules regarding hate speech, which CEO Jack Dorsey promised are coming within “weeks” as of late Friday, here’s a quick workaround to kick nazis off of your Twitter feed right now… Read More
I have a new habit. It quenches a thirst. It soothes a weakened, battered piece of my psyche. It repairs my wounds and unleashes me, more powerful, into my day. It fulfills the saddest, most regrettable pieces of myself. It may also be a habit that you want to pick up. You too may find that this simple step into the breach of social engagement online can make you… Fitter. Happier.… Read More
As an urban technologist, I’m often asked to give an example of a compelling smart city application that real people are using. But to be honest, there really isn’t too much to point to – yet. Cities may be getting smarter, but they haven’t noticeably changed from a user perspective. It seems like most of the digital advances in cities have been invisible and focused… Read More
Steve Wozniak launches a new education platform, “Woz U,” Fandango acquires MovieTickets.com and Baidu plans to make lots of autonomous cars in 2021. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to…Twitter today to promise a “more aggressive” stance in its rules and how it enforces them. The tweet storm was based in a response to the #WomenBoycottTwitter protest, as well as work that Dorsey says Twitter has been working ‘intensely’ on over the past few months. Dorsey says that critical decisions were made today in how to go… Read More
Apple’s Denise Young Smith sent an apology to team members at Apple today over comments she made at the One Young World Summit in Bogotá, Colombia. “Last week, while attending a summit in Bogota, I made some comments as part of a conversation on the many factors that contribute to diversity and inclusion….I regret the choice of words I used to make this point,” said Smith… Read More
Influencer marketing is the “in” thing right now that all the hip brands are using to stay relevant with their even hipper young audiences. While it used to be the province of big brands cutting big deals with big influencers, there’s a second or third tier to the influencer market — one that’s more targeted to specific niches — and one that’s been… Read More
Tesla fired hundreds of employees following what the company said is an annual performance review process, the company told TechCrunch. The news was first reported by The Mercury News. “Like all companies, Tesla conducts an annual performance review during which a manager and employee discuss the results that were achieved, as well as how those results were achieved, during the… Read More
All companies are startups until they aren’t. Many struggle to find their way back, too. It’s not the days of constrained resources or terrible pay or the heart-stopping uncertainty that they’re missing, of course. Instead, the problem is that it’s a lot harder to implement change at an “established” organization, particularly one that’s making money.… Read More
Where did the water coming out of your tap come from? How is it filtered and purified? How much does it cost the city and state per gallon to deliver? How can they improve that? These and other questions come naturally as fresh water becomes more and more valuable a resource — and we need a shared, open ‘internet of water’ to answer them. Read More
Online media giant IGN has acquired Humble Bundle, the indie games storefront best known for its pay-what-you-want bundles that raise money for charity. The company says nothing will change for users and that “we will keep our own office, culture, and amazing team with IGN helping us further our plans.” Read More
Our new guidelines underscore TechCrunch’s pathological obsession with social platforms, but also call for our reporters to proceed with the utmost caution, expressing none of their rampant pre-existing biases, which they will maintain undetectably. In the interest of a desperate attempt to appear nonpartisan, we have included our new guidelines here. Read More
Nayeem Islam has spent the last eight years with chipmaker Qualcomm, where he founded its Silicon Valley-based R&D facility, recruited its entire team and oversaw research on all aspects of security, including applying analysis techniques like machine learning on mobile devices and in the network to detect threats early. Now Islam and a group of former execs have created their own company… Read More
Politifact is the latest and perhaps most high-profile website to host code that secretly hijacks visitors’ CPUs to mine cryptocurrency. Driven by a boom in cryptocoin value and a lack of protections against JavaScript routines like this one, this surprising form of audience monetization is now found on hundreds of sites. Read More
A consolidation in the advance movie ticketing space is happening today, with Fandango’s announcement that it’s acquiring rival MovieTickets.com for an undisclosed sum. The deal, which is expected to close before year-end, will help Fandango expand its international footprint, particularly in Latin America, as well as bring new cinemas to its ticketing platform. Read More
Qualcomm has filed a lawsuit against Apple in its continuing legal battle over patents, this time looking to block the manufacturing and sale of iPhones in China, according to a report by Bloomberg this morning. It’s another shot at Apple as the companies continue to duel with Apple regarding payments for its technology. Apple filed a $1 billion lawsuit with Qualcomm in January and the… Read More
The last time I spoke to Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst, he had set a pretty audacious goal for his company to achieve $5 billion in revenue. At the time, that seemed a bit far-fetched. But the company has continued to thrive and is on track to pass $3 billion in revenue some time in the next couple of quarters. Read More
Supersolid, a London-based mobile games developer with more than 50 million downloads under its belt, is best known for the smash hit games like Super Penguins, Adventure Town and Pororo Penguin Run. The company has now raised a $4 million Series A investment round, led by Index Ventures. Read More
I can’t quite wrap my head around the need for a dedicated app for travelers wanting to meet locals to hang out with — doesn’t this just happen naturally? But that, at least in part, is the premise behind today’s official launch of PartyWith, a revamped version of the app previously known as Party with a Local. Read More
While Airbnb continues to grow its number of hosts and guests, landlords and building owners don’t share the same enthusiasm for the home-sharing platform as Airbnb users. But the company has a plan that gets each party on board with home-sharing: they are collaborating with Newgard Development Group to build a 324-unit building in Kissimmee, FL that will be branded as an Airbnb building. Read More
