Building hardware is fun but tough. We worked on Pebble for a full four years before we launched on Kickstarter in 2012. We went on to sell over $230 million worth of Pebbles, or just over 2 million watches. While it wasn’t our top goal to sell to Fitbit last year, I’m grateful that they’re continuing to work on low-power, fun, hackable smartwatches. Startups in general are… Read More
If I hand you an apple, you know from experience that it isn’t something you can drive. And the tree it came from can’t be woven, or its seeds bandied. You know that’s nonsense, but AIs don’t have the benefit of years spent navigating the world, and as such have no real idea as to what you can do with what — but a little common sense could be coming their way. Read More
Apple just released iOS 11 to the public, and a big feature is ARKit, the company’s SDK that lets developers easily create cool augmented reality apps. Even though Apple announced ARKit a few months ago, there aren’t a ton of good options available right now to test out AR on your phone. But we’ve found a few good ones that will at least let you see the potential of… Read More
Launching on the Disrupt 2017 Startup Battlefield stage, the Danish startup Poshtel is really, really into shipping containers. And with good reason. The modular, industrial train car-esque structures are a versatile idea for the near future of housing, from providing permanent homes for the houseless to giving backpackers on a budget somewhere to crash for a night. While Poshtel sounds… Read More
Forget algorithms. M8 is a dating app that’s powered by human matchmakers. And these aren’t just any matchmakers, they’re your friends! M8 is unveiling its concept for a different dating app at TechCrunch Disrupt’s Battlefield competition in San Francisco. Read More
Mitigating risk of food-borne illnesses can be a costly and time-consuming business for food manufacturers — but one that is necessary. With what it calls an electronic “sniffer,” Olfaguard, a new Toronto-based startup, is working to reduce the time it takes food manufacturers to discover food-borne pathogens like Salmonella and E. Coli in the food we buy. Read More
Matic, a company that wants to make the process of finding the right homeowner’s insurance easier and more efficient, is launching today at TechCrunch Disrupt. If you’ve ever shopped for homeowner’s insurance, you know the process can be challenging, especially for first-time home buyers who aren’t familiar with coverages, how they vary, or why they should pick one… Read More
A startup called Lilu took the stage today at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco to show off their prototype bra designed to help breastfeeding mothers pump milk more efficiently, and hands-free. The device, which is meant to be worn over or even attached to a standard nursing bra, utilizes a built-in compression mechanism that simulates the breast massage that some mothers perform to help… Read More
Meet Augmedics, an Israeli startup working on augmented reality headsets for surgeons performing spinal surgery. The company is participating in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. Computer assisted surgery systems are nothing new. Plenty of surgeons look at a screen while performing an operation. But Vizor is something new. Instead of making you look away from your patient,… Read More
Amidst all the drama happening between former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Benchmark, Kris Fredrickson has left his role as principal at Benchmark to join Coatue Management, Recode reports. Benchmark has since confirmed Fredrickson’s departure on Twitter. 1/ Thrilled for @krisfredrickson to join Coatue as Partner. Terrific opportunity. Grateful for all Kris has done for @benchmark!… Read More
New technology developed by Draper labs could help astronauts actually feel the ground beneath them. The product in question is a boot, outfitted with sensors and feedback motors that generate tactile response based on what they detect. You may not have worn space boots in the past, but they’re very similar to any standard heavy boot – albeit likely heavier or at least thicker… Read More
Something weird is going on over at Amazon. It seems the online retail giant is randomly telling some customers about purchases on their baby registry. The problem is these customers say they don’t have a baby registry — and some don’t even have a baby. Read More
The app formerly known as Vigilante isn’t going away. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt SF, the crime tracker now known as Citizen announced that its parent company Sp0n has raised a $12 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. Paired with the funding news, Citizen, previously exclusive to New York City, will open its crime-conscious geogates to San Francisco. Read More
What’s the next $300 billion industry to be disrupted by technology? Wood. Specifically, engineered wood. Materialize.X, launching today at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017, has two new products that it thinks will revolutionize the $300 billion-a-year engineered wood market. Read More
Apple today is releasing its completely redesigned iOS App Store to the wider public as part of the launch of the new iOS 11 operating system. First previewed at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, the new App Store has made changes focused on the goal of improving app discovery across a storefront that now has over 2 million applications, according to App Annie. Read More
The next project for TV from Stranger Things writer and producer Justin Doble. The overall deal means that he’ll be producing television projects exclusively for Amazon Studios and Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. Doble’s CV isn’t limited to just his work on the Emmy-winning Stranger Things, which has been a huge surprise hit for Netflix, with a second season set… Read More
Crossing the social media divides isn’t common in Silicon Valley, so it’s notable that Twitter and Microsoft have played a spot of musical chairs with their boards. Twitter board member Hugh Johnston — day job: Pepsi vice chairman and CFO — has left Twitter’s board to join Microsoft’s board as of today. Johnston’s replacement at the microblogging… Read More
Roots Studio, which launched today at Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt, aims to connect millions of isolated, cultural artists around the world to global markets via the licensing of high-quality scans of their designs. Read More
Did you notice that Siri sounds a little more sprightly today? Apple’s ubiquitous virtual assistant has had a little virtual work done on her virtual vocal cords, and her newly dulcet-ized tones went live today as part of iOS 11. Read More
CryptoMove thinks that data encryption is not enough. If you want to protect your data against hackers, the startup is using a new strategy by fragmenting your data, encrypting it and moving it around so that it doesn’t stay still on a server somewhere. CryptoMove is participating in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. At the same time, CryptoMove doesn’t try to… Read More
