Could the Food and Drug Administration classify the Apple Watch as a medical device? It’s a question many have asked over the past couple of years, but the stakes are now higher for the Watch with its newfound ability to detect atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heart rhythm. Already, Apple is rumored to be working on an Apple Watch sensor that would detect and monitor glucose… Read More
Twitter today has nearly four times as many monthly active users outside the U.S. as it does in its home market — 260 million versus 68 million — and this week it quietly launched a new app in an effort to boost those numbers further. The social network is testing a Android app for Twitter Lite, a native app version of a mobile web site Twitter launched earlier this year that… Read More
The tech industry’s over-processed supply of irony might not be enough to service all the ramifications of Uber being stripped of its London license by the city’s transport regulator. Read More
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security notified nearly half of the U.S. states that their election systems were targeted by Russia-affiliated hackers in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. In most of the states targeted, the hackers were engaged in preliminary activities like scanning. In other states hackers attempted to infiltrate systems and failed, but in a small selection… Read More
The always hotly anticipated iFixit teardown of the iPhone 8 has arrived, and while it doesn’t harbor much in the way of surprises, there are a few tidbits you may want to know about hiding in there. Especially if you like hearing about things like “pixel pitch.” Read More
Investors are incessant in their hunt for the next emerging market. The investment de jour? Edtech. The tastemaker in this case is an article from David Bainbridge claiming, “Edtech is the next fintech.” While most of us can appreciate the wordplay, comparing edtech to fintech, or other “hot” industries, is a dangerous game — one that that can severely damage… Read More
Just in time for a weekend during which I had already planned to do nothing productive, a small package from Nintendo containing what will likely be its hottest item since the NES Classic Edition… which is to say, of course, the SNES Classic Edition. Read More
Gene-editing technology CRISPR has revealed a clue in how human embryos begin to develop, possibly reducing the risk of miscarriage in those crucial first few weeks of pregnancy. CRISPR Cas9 can modify or snip out genetic defects thought to contribute to miscarriage, but until now it wasn’t clear why some embryos continued to form into a fetus and others did not. Read More
If our review didn’t convince you that the cameras in the latest iPhones are something special, perhaps DxOMark’s lab-heavy evaluation process will do the trick. The camera testing site unequivocally states that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have the best smartphone cameras it’s ever tested — though they aren’t without their flaws. Read More
Mark Zuckerberg has gotten so rich that he can fund his philanthropic foundation and retain voting control without Facebook having to issue a proposed non-voting class of stock that faced shareholder resistance. Today Facebook announced that it’s withdrawn its plan to issue Class C no-vote stock and has resolved the shareholder lawsuit seeking to block the corporate governance overhaul. Read More
The innovation of tbh, teen-speak for To Be Honest, was getting rid of the typing. Whether asking or answering questions, open text fields invite abuse when combined with anonymity. Even an innocuous question like “What do you think of me?” can lead to mean-spirited comments if responders don’t have their names, and therefore any accountability, attached. Read More
Google has added a new feature that allows web users to contribute their own movie and television reviews right within Google search results – a step towards the possible implementation of Google’s own Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB-like reviews service. But before you get too excited about this, be aware that the feature is currently only available in India. The addition was first spotted… Read More
The irony of strict regulation is that while it drives up the quality of care, it also drives up costs, making it unreachable for those without health insurance. The fact that few for-profit screening services exist outside of health insurance ecosystems suggests the cost of FDA approval makes it prohibitively expensive to develop low-cost solutions. This leaves no options for the poor. Read More
This week, we’re mixing up the format on TechCrunch’s Original Content podcast. Your hosts Darrell Etherington and Anthony Ha were both at the Disrupt SF conference this week, which meant that they were able to record the news recap in person. We discussed Hulu’s big victories at the Emmy Awards, other Emmy wins for Netflix and Hulu and CBS’ new Star Trek series,… Read More
Praise the Apple gods. If you rent a movie on iTunes in the U.S., you now have 48 hours to watch it. And you can watch the movie as much as you want during that 48-hour window. As always, you have 30 days to start watching the movie. iTunes has previously offered 48-hour rentals elsewhere throughout the world, but the rules were different in the U.S. Up until now, you had to power through… Read More
Seed funding is drying up. Accelerators are scrambling for revenue. Things are changing drastically in the startup ecosystem. So how do you raise money when your product needs more than some Django code and an AWS instance? You run an ICO, right? Read More
Some geeks of my vintage have a nostalgic fondness for trackballs, but I never managed to form such an association. Instead, I’ve been pretty much a dedicated mouse user since the mouse first became an option. But Logitech’s MX Ergo wireless trackball has changed all that – and I’m not sure I’ll ever go back. The new trackball has some highlight features including… Read More
Hyperloop One, a three-year-old, L.A.-based company working to create near-supersonic trains that can whisk both passengers and cargo in giant pneumatic tubes at speeds of many hundreds of miles per hour, has raised $85 million in fresh funding, as first reported in Recode. Read More
Netflix has updated its iOS application with HDR support for newer devices, including the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, as well as the forthcoming iPhone X. It also works on the iPad Pro 12.9 and 10.5 from 2017, if you happen to have one of those devices. Netflix HDR streaming requires a premium subscription plan, as well as more recent hardware. Some of the newest Android phones have already offered… Read More
