The TechCrunch mobile app was in dire need of a refresh, so we rebuilt it from the ground up. Starting today, you can download the new app in the iOS App Store or Google Play store. If you already have the old version of the app installed on your phone, all you need to do is update it to get the new version. Read More
If there’s a classic science fiction movie that absolutely doesn’t need a sequel, it’s Blade Runner. After all, how could a second film improve on the original’s depiction of futuristic Los Angeles? Even if the real L.A. seems unlikely to acquire quite as many flying cars and giant neon billboards by 2019, Blade Runner‘s city still sets the standard for seedy… Read More
Traaqr, a St. Louis-based company, has just announced the launch of their interesting and clever new service. Essentially the system connects online interactions with real world customer service representatives, ensuring accurate attribution when someone goes from your website to your phone bank. Created by entrepreneurs Brian Handrigan, Jeff Linihan, and RJ Jones, the company has raised… Read More
In China, where content laws are far more restrictive and penalties for defying government proscriptions on content are far more severe, new social media giants and telecom providers like Musical.ly, Live.me, China Mobile Communications, Thunder and China Unicom have moved away from employing human censors to deploying a technology from the young Guangzhou-based startup Tuputech. Read More
While Microsoft is still officially working on the mobile version of Windows 10, it’s no secret that the company has all but given up on building its own mobile ecosystem. That only leaves Microsoft with one option: concede defeat and bring its applications to the likes of Android and iOS. That’s exactly what the company has been doing for the last few years and today the… Read More
An ideal electric utility costs less, is good for the planet and reduces the chances of losing power completely. And it doesn’t ask us to give up creature comforts like AC. New utilities are enabled by new technologies and business models, not fuels. Read More
In advance of the last warm weekend I present a pretty cool crowdfunded watch that might be worth a look. Called the Arsenale Automatic it pays tribute to Venice’s proud sailing history and looks just brutish enough to remind us of her violent, pestilence-filled past. The watch comes with a Miyota or ETA movement – either Japanese or Swiss – and comes in a brush polished steel… Read More
FirstMark Capital is one of the most successful early-stage VCs in NYC. With investments in Airbnb, Frame.io, Shopify, Pinterest, InVision, and Brooklinen, among many others, the firm is now looking to grow its internal roster. Today, FirstMark Capital is announcing the addition of a new partner, Catherine Ulrich. Ulrich started out at Harvard, where she was the Coxswain for the men’s… Read More
This is not the first time and probably not the last time. Beloved movie and TV streaming service Netflix is raising its subscriptions prices starting this month, as Mashable first reported and TechCrunch confirmed. The most popular plan is going to be $1 more expensive. Here’s what’s going to happen. Netflix currently has three plans. For $7.99, you can stream in small definition… Read More
Hulu has a new original comedy series executive produced and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and it’s arriving on the streaming service on November 14. The trailer premiered at NYC ComicCon today, showing the titular Future Man himself Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games coming to terms with being a rip-off of the hero from The Last Starfighter. Eliza Coupe of the short-lived… Read More
Another program that gets high marks from founders is the Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab), an offshoot of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, a 13-year-old nonprofit focused on serving unbanked and underbanked customers. What is FinLab and what’s the appeal to founders? Broadly speaking, it’s a 2.5-year-old program that aims to find and nurture fintech startups that… Read More
Boeing is acquiring Aurora Flight Sciences, a company that focuses on autonomous flight systems designed to make robot aircraft and vehicles a reality. Boeing says that its acquisition of Aurora will help it push forward its efforts around self-flying vehicle development, for both military and commercial use. Aurora Flight Sciences has been developing its LightningStrike XV-24A vertical… Read More
You’ll find image recognition technology in almost every kind of consumer service you would use today — like Facebook, Google, or any number of other apps — but Yann Fleureau is hoping that he can build a whole business off of its increasing success in healthcare.
Fleureau hopes that his startup, Cardiologs, can use image recognition to analyze an EKG and detect potential… Read More
Facebook thinks showing Wikipedia entries about publishers and additional Related Articles will give users more context about the links they see. So today it’s beginning a test of a new “i” button on News Feed links that opens up an informational panel. “People have told us that they want more information about what they’re reading” Facebook product manager… Read More
Secret Escapes, the members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hand-picked hotels and holidays, is closing in on Series D funding. According to sources, the London-headquartered company is on the verge of announcing a £50 million plus funding round. Read More
Airbus is looking to put its flying taxi in the air next year, confirmed CityAirbus chief engineer Marius Bebesel this week. The schedule is on track after CityAirbus conducted successful ground tests of the electric power system it’s using to propel the vehicle through the air. The CityAirbus craft is a vertical take-off and landing craft that uses a four rotor design, and that would… Read More
Privacy rights group, Privacy International, is running a crowdfunding campaign to try to raise funds to help cover its legal costs as it continues to challenge the UK government’s use of hacking as a mass surveillance technique for domestic security agencies to gather intelligence. Read More
Amazon is trialling a service called “Seller Flex” that will provide delivery services for third-party merchants on its platform, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The project originally rollout in India two years ago, the report says, but it’s been piloted in the U.S. as of this year starting on the west coast, and there are plans to expand it more broadly in 2018.… Read More
Dating through apps has several ongoing problems. The glaring privacy breaches seem to mount up day by day. For instance, cyber-security researchers realized that hackers could create a creepy Chrome plugin allowing a Tinder user to find the precise location of their Facebook friends who were also on Tinder. A journalist asked Tinder for the data it had on her and got back 800 pages of… Read More
In Arabic, Indian or Eastern cultures where people can’t really have an open dating profile, the traditional Tinder/Happn/Bumble/Badoo etc dating apps don’t work too well as they are based on images. It turns out chat bots may be the way forward in these markets if a recent VC investment is anything to go by. NearGroup, a chatbot allowing users to connect with like-minded people… Read More
