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HomeAway co-founder Brian Sharples takes the helm of Twyla (for now)

9 years 2 months ago
 Twyla, a nearly three-year-old, venture-backed startup that collaborates with artists to create exclusive prints for sale at its site, has a new CEO. In June, Brian Sharples — who founded the 10-year-old, vacation rental marketplace HomeAway, acquired in 2015 for a whopping $3.9 billion by Expedia — quietly took the helm of the young company. Read More

Bitcoin price drops following report that China is going to shut down local exchanges

9 years 2 months ago
 Another day, another crash and another Chinese ban. This time, as Reuters spotted, a single report from financial news site Caixin is saying that the Chinese government is considering banning cryptocurrency exchanges in China. In particular, the report is saying that Chinese citizens won’t be able to use exchanges to buy bitcoins, ethers and more using Chinese yuan, and vice versa. Read More

Twitter enables account sharing in its mobile app, powered by TweetDeck Teams

9 years 2 months ago
 TweetDeck Teams — a feature that lets users share access to Twitter accounts without having to share a password — will now work in the Twitter app for iOS and Android. This change will make it easier for those who run social media accounts for businesses and brands to post updates, check replies, send direct messages and more, without having to run a separate app. Read More

Taxify’s London launch halted after transport regulator mounts investigation

9 years 2 months ago
 Ride-hailing startup Taxify launched this week in London to a big PR-push and fanfare. Most of the coverage was about how this plucky startup was going to take on the Uber giant. But Taxify has now had to pause its operations after a transport union questioned if it had a license to operate, and official body Transport for London announced it would investigate Taxify’s operations. Read More

Spotify is starting a music event as Apple ends its music festival

9 years 2 months ago
 Last week, Apple announced it would stop its annual music festival in the U.K. While it seems like a coincidence, Spotify just announced it is launching its own music event later this year called Who We Be, named after a popular playlist on Spotify with 143,000 subscribers. The event will take place on November 30th at Alexandra Palace and tickets will go on sale September 11th. Read More

Silicon Valley mockumentary ‘Bubbleproof’ will premiere at Disrupt SF

9 years 2 months ago
 Reputation.com founder Michael Fertik is ready to give up on startup life. To lure him back, venture capitalist David Cowan raises a $200 million early-stage fund, with Cowan serving as both partner and mentor. Naturally, things go off the rails pretty quickly. That’s the setup for Bubbleproof, a new mockumentary from Femtofilm. We’re excited to premiere the show at Disrupt SF. Read More

Zelle, the U.S. banks’ Venmo rival, will launch its mobile app next week

9 years 2 months ago
 Zelle, the PayPal rival backed by more than 30 U.S. banks, is preparing to launch its standalone mobile app on Tuesday, September 12th. The move is meant to give the U.S. banking industry a foothold in the person-to-person payments business, where they’re losing ground to services like PayPal, Venmo, Square Cash and, very soon, Apple’s iMessage, powered by Apple Pay. Read More

Equifax’s stock is plummeting after it reported a massive security breach

9 years 2 months ago
 Shares of credit reporting service Equifax are collapsing — down more than 13 percent — in the morning trading hours after the company reported a security breach yesterday that could involve 143 million customers. That breach included sensitive data like Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and potentially driver license numbers. Read More

Here comes the class action lawsuit after Equifax’s massive hack

9 years 2 months ago
 Yesterday, Equifax announced that a hacker obtained information about 143 million consumers. This data included Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver license numbers. Equifax customers are obviously really, really mad. So it’s not surprising that Bloomberg discovered that a class action lawsuit was filed against Equifax. Read More

Original Content turns a ‘Little Evil’

9 years 2 months ago
 For the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Original Content podcast, we take a break from superheroes and review Little Evil, a Netflix film offering a comedic twist on Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen. It’s partly an outright parody of the Satanic baby formula, partly a tongue-in-cheek portrait of the pains of being a stepfather. Read More

It’s time to build our own Equifax with blackjack and crypto

9 years 2 months ago
 The private data of 143 million Equifax “customers” is now available for download. Have no doubt: This means you will be hacked. This means your SIM card can be spoofed. This means someone will try to get into your email and online accounts. This means someone will try to open a credit card in your name. This crass, callow, and lazy treatment of our digital data cannot stand.… Read More

Facebook plans to spend up to $1B on original shows in 2018

9 years 2 months ago
 Facebook could spend as much as $1 billion to fund original content initiatives for its new Watch video platform, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The amount might seem familiar – it’s the same investment Apple is said to have earmarked for original shows and movies through 2018. Facebook’s spend could vary depending on the success of programming,… Read More

Volvo acquires car valet startup Luxe to boost its digital services business

9 years 2 months ago
 After a pivot and months of speculation about the future of car valet and concierge startup Luxe, the company has finally found a home. Today, automaker Volvo Cars announced that it is acquiring the startup’s platform, technology, key staff and other assets, which it will use to put some fuel into its own digital services strategy. The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed, but… Read More

Equity podcast: Roku is going public, 23andMe raises $200M and Juicero is dead

9 years 2 months ago
 Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-themed podcast. This week Matthew Lynley, Katie Roof, and myself — Alex! — sat down with Micah Rosenbloom, an investor with Founder Collective to sit down and chew over the week’s news. We managed to not talk about Uber this episode, which was a welcome respite from the last few months during which we… Read More

Red Cross to start testing drones in disaster relief efforts

9 years 2 months ago
 The American Red has teamed up with the UPS Foundation and drone manufacturer CyPhy Works to bring drones to sites of natural disasters. The goal is to use drones tethered to the ground to assess damages through constant aerial observations. This is where CyPhy Works comes in. The pilot program utilizes CyPhy Works’ Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) platform. In… Read More

Here’s how RED’s holographic smartphone display will work

9 years 2 months ago
 Cinematic camera maker RED has a smartphone on the way – the Hydrogen, which boasts a great video camera as well as a “holographic display” that we know relatively little about, despite MKBHD getting some hands-on time with the phone ahead of its release. Now, we know more because RED CEO Jim Jannard named HP Labs spin-out Leia Inc. as the display tech partner (via… Read More

Japanese startup plans one-stop ICO platform fueled by $25M from VCs and a $60M ICO

9 years 2 months ago
 China banned ICOs this week and it is investigating platforms that facilitate them. Over in nearby Japan, one company is hatching an ambitious plan to offer a one-stop-service to let companies across the world take advantage of blockchain technology and IPOs. And all without violating financial regulations. Tech Bureau currently helps companies with consultancy and a range of technical… Read More

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson gets billionaire backing for his new app connecting celebrities and superfans

9 years 2 months ago
 Russell Wilson, the superstar quarterback helming the Seattle Seahawks, has a pretty enviable life. His wife is the musician Ciara. He’s hung out with the Obamas at the White House. And he’s won a Super Bowl (he’s also, apparently, a huge fan of Chinese food after a trip there last year). All pretty great stuff. Well, Wilson wants to give superfans a curated look behind… Read More
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