Acquia, the commercial arm of the open-source Drupal web content management tool, has long offered a cloud-based user interface designed to make it easier for customers to build web sites. Today, the company announced a new way of interacting with Drupal where it will be exposing the different parts of the platform as a set of services, while supporting node.js for scripting. This will… Read More
Twilio has long made a name for itself as a service that lets developers easily add audio, video and text communication to their applications, but with Twilio Studio, which is launching as a closed preview today, the company is now also targeting non-developers. Read More
Before you hit the update button to grab iOS 11 it’s worth checking which apps you’ll be consigning to the digital dustbin of history. All old 32-bit apps are incompatible which means a lot of content is going to reach the end of the road here… Read More
August has updated its smart lock line with a new Pro version with Bluetooth, HomeKit, and Wi-Fi support, as well as the more basic model for $149. They’ve also announced the Doorbell Cam Pro for $199 that lets you see visitors approaching your domicile, even at night. The August is unique in that it depends entirely on the phone for usage, improving security (or reducing usability)… Read More
Gmail is packed with a lot of time-saving features, like Smart Replies for mobile users. So it’s a bit surprising to realize that Gmail will only now start to automatically convert addresses, phone numbers and contacts into links. Read More
French startup Younited Credit is building the biggest crowdlending platform in continental Europe. The company just raised $47.8 million (€40 million) to launch in new countries, work on new product features and more.
Younited Credit is currently live in France, Spain and Italy as a consumer-facing product. Consumers can borrow anything between $1,200 and $48,000 (€1,000 and €40,000)… Read More
If you think that too many VCs these days are playing it safe and only looking to back sure bets rather than moonshots and more ambitious ventures, take a look over at what’s going on in Boston. The Engine, based out of MIT and Cambridge, has raised a $200 million fund to back and help incubate startups working on “tough tech” — new challenges in areas… Read More
Blin.gy, the app that let users insert themselves into their favorite music videos, is shutting down. In a Medium post, co-founder and chief executive officer David Hyman wrote that the startup, which launched as Chosen three years ago and raised at least $10 million, decided to close up shop after a potential acquisition fell through. Read More
Slack raises a pretty big chunk of change from SoftBank, the DOJ is investigating an Equifax stock dump and Google debuts payments app Tez in India. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Going into anaphylactic shock is terrifying. The last time I went into shock, called my mom first, injected myself with an Epi-Pen second, injected myself with a shot of epinephrine third, and 911 last. I had that a bit backwards. Had I been using Adan Medical‘s smart case for Epi-Pens, my mom and emergency response teams would’ve been notified the moment I opened the case. I… Read More
In the ever-moving musical chairs that is the tech industry, Twitter has added a new person to its product team. Sriram Krishnan is now senior director of product at the social media platform. He announced the news himself, appropriately on Twitter, with a hearty endorsement from CEO Jack Dorsey. He will be reporting to Keith Coleman, who is Twitter’s new-ish VP of Product (he joined… Read More
Niantic, makers of the hugely popular mobile game Pokémon Go, is developing a new AR title that will incorporate audio cues into the gaming experience, according to company CTO Phil Keslin. The executive had just exited the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, where he had spoken on a panel about the upcoming wave of AR applications, and the potential for the AR market in the wake of… Read More
Lets say you’re roaming the city on your bike. You know your final destination — but you don’t necessarily care how you get there, or if your route is the shortest possible one. You just want to ride. That’s the idea behind BeeLine, a “fuzzy navigation” device for cyclists. You tell it where you want to go, and it constantly points you in that direction… Read More
Today at our TC Disrupt event in San Francisco, we had the chance to catch up with investor Steve Jurvetson about a wide number of things that are sweeping across the startup landscape (and might fundamentally change it), from ICOs to Softbank’s giant Vision Fund to AI to Elon Musk’s new Boring Company. Jurvetson had plenty of interesting insights about all, unsurprisingly. He… Read More
Facebook has been reportedly working on a video chat device and a smart speaker that would use a new voice interface, to compete against the likes of Amazon and Google in the race to control your living room; and it’s also been testing as a voice search feature for its app. Today, the company’s head of design, Luke Woods, came out bullish on the promise of voice commands, squirmed… Read More
Virtual reality is having a tough time breaching consumer markets and it’s not clear where the demand is exactly. But when it comes to research and analytics, gathering emotional responses could be huge to custom tailoring content and gaining important insights. Looxid Labs, launching onstage today at TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield, wants to bring brain waves into the VR equation. There… Read More
Berlin-based colormass, one of the startups presenting today at TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Battlefield, has developed a platform that lets you recreate an IKEA-style experience for your own merchandise: highly realistic, but digitally manipulated 3D facsimiles. Read More
The makers of Index are hoping they’ve created the only app you’ll need to access all your files, notes and links. “We’re giving people a full control panel for the digital world,” founder Brian Cox told me. Cox said he actually developed Index for his own personal use five years ago. Read More
In a major upset for Apple’s smartwatch brand, it appears that it was a Fitbit, not an Apple Watch, that the Red Sox used as a medium for their sign-stealing in a recent ball game. The news comes from “a major league source” speaking to Boston Globe sports reporter Nick Cafardo. It’s unclear at this time whether the source himself or herself is major league or if they… Read More
Following a directive from the Department of Homeland Security last week banning the use of Kaspersky Lab security software in the executive branch, the U.S. Senate has followed suit. On Monday, the Senate passed an amendment against Kaspersky Lab pushed forward by New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Read More
