TaskRabbit, the on-demand platform for hiring people to do everything from build furniture to stand in line for you at the Apple Store, has sold itself to Ikea, Recode first reported. Ikea has since confirmed the acquisition, saying the plan is for the furniture retailer to acquire 100 percent of the shares in TaskRabbit but that TaskRabbit will continue to operate independently.
That means… Read More
I’m a pen and pencil person. There’s something lasting about the tactile experience when using a writing instrument. Writing with a pen or pencil feels real and I obsessively purchase all sorts of pens and pencils so I jumped at the chance to review Stilform’s Kosmos pen. Stilform is a design outfit out of Munich and the Kosmos is their first pen. Special editions of the… Read More
Facebook has made no secret of its wish to do more in the online recruitment market — encroaching on territory today dominated by LinkedIn, the leader in tapping social networking graphs to boost job-hunting. Today, Facebook is taking the next step in that process. Facebook will now integrate with ZipRecruiter — an aggregator that allows those looking to fill jobs to post ads to… Read More
Along with yesterday’s announcements of a half-dozen new gadgets, including new Echo devices, Amazon also detailed some of Alexa’s new abilities, due to arrive in the near future. One of the more interesting additions, arriving this fall, is something called “Routines.” Designed primarily for those interested in automating their smart home with simpler commands,… Read More
Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption II is probably one of the most hotly anticipated games of next year, and now there’s a trailer for it showing some actual visuals from the game. The trailer gives us our first sense of story, too, which basically looks like it’s about outlaws getting up to no good in the Old West and then trying to outlaw the law, and rivals. The sequel to Red… Read More
Congressional investigations into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election are looking at the spread of misinformation on a number of online services — not just Facebook. In fact, Twitter is meeting with Congressional staffers today. Recode’s Tony Romm says Twitter’s Vice President of Policy Colin Corwell is currently in a closed-door meeting with the… Read More
Social media giants have again been put on notice that they need to do more to speed up removals of hate speech and other illegal content from their platforms in the European Union. The bloc’s executive body, the European Commission today announced a set of “guidelines and principles” aimed at pushing tech platforms to be more pro-active about takedowns of content deemed… Read More
Riding high on the success (and mind-boggling scarcity) of the NES Classic Edition, Nintendo surprised no one with the announcement of the SNES Classic Edition, a tiny version of the classic Super Nintendo console that comes with 21 of its greatest hits built in. But a few new features and departures from the original make it a distinct product — and one very much worth your $80. Read More
A quarter of Americans listen to podcasts each month, but far fewer make them. Anchor is a startup that is looking to change that with its app that makes it easy to record and distribute content. Anchor also has a discovery platform, which allows users to find audio across categories like news, sports, music and tech. The New York-based team is announcing $10 million in Series A funding, led by… Read More
Snapchat is taking its World Lenses augmented reality feature and opening them up to brands. Snap’s Imran Khan just announced the availability of the new advertising product on stage at Advertising Week New York, along with launch partners Warner Bros and Bud Light, both of which will be debuting branded 3D World Lenses as part of marketing campaigns. The new sponsored 3D World Lenses… Read More
One of Spotify’s better features – and a competitive advantage for its app in the streaming music market – are its personalized playlists. These compilations have long since expanded beyond Spotify’s Discover Weekly to include other selections, like Release Radar, your bottomless Daily Mix playlists, or the recently added Summer Rewind. Today, Spotify is adding yet… Read More
LetGo, a startup that has built a marketplace for people to buy and sell used goods, is one of the fastest growing apps in the U.S. at the moment according to comScore, with some 75 million downloads, “tens of millions” of active users, and 200 million listings in the last two years. Now it is gearing up for another stage of expansion. TechCrunch has learned from a source that… Read More
It’s no secret that Giphy thinks the future of communication is visual. And of course stickers are a big part of that – Japanese chat app Line makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year just from selling stickers. But Giphy thinks that stickers can be used as visual commentary in places beyond chat. So today they’re launching Giphy Sticker Embed, which is a tool that… Read More
Varsity Tutors, the education platform that connects students with tutors, has today announced the acquisition of First Tutors in the UK. This marks the first major international expansion for Varsity Tutors, which has raised $57 million since launch in 2011. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Varsity Tutors originally launched as a platform that would connect tutors with students and… Read More
Nvidia Shield TV, the Android TV-powered smart TV streaming box that offers 4K and more, now also includes built-in support for Google Assistant. Nvidia’s integration of Google Assistant was first revealed way back in January, but the feature was announced as something that would be coming later. Now it’s arriving to Shield devices courtesy of Nvidia’s 6.0 software update.… Read More
Aeronautics industry giant Airbus is teaming up with hardware early-stage investment firm HAX to create a four-month accelerator program based in Shenzhen focused on a high-flying goal – “urban air mobility.” The program will seek to guide startups working on various aspects of flying cars and aerial city transportation, including air traffic management, perception systems… Read More
Toy making giant Mattel has been flirting with high tech for a number of years now, from 3D printers to hologram Barbies. The through line between many of their efforts is an attempt to marry the physical with the digital, in order to capture the interest of a generation weaned on smartphones and tablets. Back in December of last year, when the company invested in hardware startup (and 2013… Read More
Stockpile, the startup brokerage that’s bringing fractional share investing to mainstream investors, has raised $30 million to continue its mission. The company received its latest cash injection from the Fidelity-backed Eight Roads Ventures, alongside traditional venture funds like Mayfield, Arbor Ventures, Hanna Ventures, Wang Ventures, and others. “We’re on a mission to… Read More
Autonomous vehicle technology startup Drive.ai has raised $15 million in a new round from Grab and others, Southeast Asia’s largest Uber rival. The added funding will help Drive.ai expand internationally, and it plans to open a Singapore office in the coming months in order to provide a base of operations for considering a deployment of its self-driving cars in the country. This… Read More
Aston Martin has a new concept submarine designed in partnership with submarine maker Triton Submarines. The project is codenamed “Neptune,” and the concept designs envision a sleek underwater craft with aggressive pointy-ended pontoons and a central passenger bubble cockpit with an unobstructed, all-around view. The Neptune submersible combines Aston Martin’s design skills… Read More
