Hundreds of engineers and designers got together to come up with something cool, something neat, something awesome. The only condition was that they only had 24 hours to work on their projects. Some of them were participating in our event for the first time, while others were regulars. Some of them slept on the floor in a corner, while others drank too much Red Bull.
We could all feel the… Read More
Every once in a while, an app comes along aiming to provide users with disposable number. Shuffle emerged a couple of years go do this; Burner has existed even longer. Now, software engineers Chakshu Ahuja and Siddhant Sanyam think they’e come up with a solution for both individuals and small businesses that might not want to give out their number. The friends — who met as… Read More
ARKit and other augmented reality tools are going to make the experience more and more popular among developers and users — but, like any new platform, there probably won’t be a sophisticated way to monetize them yet outside of paying for a download. A team of developers from Google and Snapchat at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 hackathon are hoping to take the learnings from… Read More
At the Disrupt SF 2017 Hackathon, a massive swath of the 102 companies that took the stage on Sunday presented hacks with disaster relief in mind. From ResQme to ResQMi to RescueMe, if you can think of a phrase with the word “rescue” in it, it probably showed up on stage among the roughly 30 emergency and disaster related hacks. Most of the disaster-related apps that presented… Read More
Chatbots are vying to become one of the cornerstones of the messaging world: using AI tools like natural language and machine learning, developers are hoping to tap into the popularity of chat apps as a medium of communication to explore new ways to help you get information, buy things, plan your life and more by letting you converse with intelligent computers instead of humans. In the… Read More
Vocalytics, one of the many projects that came out of our Disrupt SF hackathon this weekend, wants to make you a better public speaker. The project uses machine learning to analyze videos of your performances and gives you feedback on your body language. The team trained the system to look for your hand gestures and pose, but the plan is to expand this project to also look at your eye gaze,… Read More
Can Alexa help shoppers in large, retail stores where store associates are spread out and often hard to find? That’s the premise behind the hack, “Alexa Shop Assist,” presented today at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 hackathon in San Francisco. According co-creator Lawrence Chang, the idea was prompted by real-world experiences he and fellow team members – James Xu,… Read More
If you own a car in a major city, chances are you’ve gotten a parking ticket. Parking signs can get confusing, Park Rangr does the hard work for you in interpreting the signage while also ensuring that you’re leaving your car in a good area where you can find it again. The team built the app during the TechCrunch Disrupt SF Hackathon in 24 hours. It’s a pretty… Read More
Built in fewer than 24 hours at TC Disrupt SF 2017’s hackathon, CAV, or Crypto Asset Visualizer, does exactly what it sounds like – it makes it easier to visualize your cryptocurrency holdings.
Using augmented reality, CAV calculates the USD value of your crypto holdings, then displays a virtual pile of cash on the ground in front of you. Right now it’s a demo – and… Read More
We may look back on the summer of 2017 as a watershed moment for gender diversity: the lava of simmering issues erupts, and once out, flows to reshape the landscape. However, what happened this summer to tech giants like Uber and Google is merely a symptom of a gradual change in a shifting landscape, that little-by-little has led to people taking notice of a personal blog from a female… Read More
The home studio has arguably revolutionized the music industry more than any other single element. Sessions that once required devoted space and tens of thousands of dollars can now be recorded solo in the comfort of one’s own home. Of course, the downside of bedroom recording is that there’s often no around one to help out. Developed over the last 24 hours at the Disrupt hackathon… Read More
Public speaking can be terrifying. Before every TechCrunch Disrupt, moderators are required to go through mandatory speaker training to ensure we’re not flaming disasters on stage. Our bosses bring in a real-life human to train us and point out how often we use filler words or simply don’t make any sense at all.
SpeechCoach.ai, a project that came out of Disrupt SF 2017’s… Read More
It’s infuriating to see a public wifi connection you’re not allowed to use, such as the ones from mobile carriers like T-Mobile and ISPs like Comcast. If you’re not a subscriber, there’s often no way to pay for one-time access. But TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 Hackathon project Wificoin wants to help you buy or earn access to hotspots nearby.
Here’s how it works. Read More
Doctor Hazel spent the last 24 hours at TechCrunch Disrupt’s SF 2017 hackathon working on an interesting idea to use artificial intelligence to detect cancerous moles. Software engineer Mike Borozdin proposed the idea of using artificial intelligence to determine if a mole was cancerous or not to his friend and fellow of Intel Software Innovators Peter Ma a few days ago. The team soon… Read More
Most people use Amazon’s Alexa to answer their questions, but what about using it to test what you already know? That’s the idea behind MythQuiz, an audio flashcard platform. It was created by physical therapy student Lacey Hineman and her father, engineer Francis Hineman at TechCrunch Disrupt’s Hackathon in San Francisco. They were also joined by product manager, Phillip… Read More
If you’ve walked down 4th Street in San Francisco these days, you’ve probably been hit with a massive dust cloud from all the construction — and seen a bunch of people trying to breathe through their shirts or covering their mouths. Air quality is a huge issue these days and zeroing in on the worst spots in the city is probably one of the best things you can do to figure out… Read More
Porsche’s first all-electric car will go on sale at the end of 2019, the car maker revealed at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, with pricing similar to the current Porsche Panamera, so likely starting around at least $80,000 or so in the U.S.
The Mission E was revealed originally back in 2015, but it’s now entering the final stages of development before actually shipping… Read More
Zoe Quinn went to the heart of Gamergate and has come back with a new book, Crash Override, a meditation on online communities and making the Internet safer. Quinn spoke with me for a few minutes about her new book and how we can help prevent kids from going down the Gamergate path. Her ultimate solution? Talking to people who harass her. By putting a voice to the name she was able to defuse… Read More
In light of the recent federal circuit ruling that Uber must hand over the due diligence report (the Stroz report) it conducted ahead of its acquisition of Otto, Waymo is requesting Judge William Alsup postpone the trial. The trial is currently scheduled to begin October 11. “It’s now clear why Uber had fought so hard to hide these materials from Waymo and the Court,” a… Read More
SpaceX has confirmed that the Dragon capsule used to ferry cargo including supplies and experimentation material has returned to Earth as planned, with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The Dragon went up to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s CRS-12 resupply mission, which launched in August. Dragon brought a number of experimental payloads to the ISS, including a… Read More
