SpaceX confirmed at its second Hyperloop Pod design competition that there would definitely be a third, and now it’s opening up registration for that test, which is set to run next year. The 2018 competition will again take place at SpaceX’s 0.77-mile long test track near its Hawthorne HQ, and will challenge student teams to design the best pod they can create. The… Read More
When you ask a VC what they look for in investments, you’re likely to get a response that involves going after a large “total addressable market.” On the surface, the use of TAM as a key investment criteria makes sense. The only problem is that if you had applied the TAM framework over the past 25 years, you would have passed on most of the best venture investments of all time. Read More
Amazon is making it easier for Echo and Alexa-powered device owners to find voice apps that extend the functionality of its virtual assistant. The company recently launched a new feature that has Alexa making suggestions of third-party skills to try in response to certain questions. In other words, if you ask Alexa to do something that she’s not capable of, she’ll point you to a… Read More
Netflix is ready to reboot The Magic School Bus, the classic kid-focused cartoon depicting far out field trips that probably made your grade school trips to the local pioneer village feel even more pedestrian by comparison. The new Netflix series, called The Magic School Bus Rides Again, once more focuses on a class at Walkerville School, but this time teach Ms. Frizzle is passing the baton to… Read More
The tech community hasn’t minced words since the president announced that he was strongly considering ending the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy last week. Several of technology’s most high-profile executives added their name to a letter calling on Trump “to preserve the DACA program,” and asking Congress “to pass the bipartisan… Read More
Over the weekend, Tim Cook reaffirmed his support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama era policy that allows some illegal immigrants to defer deportation. After Attorney General Jeff Sessions took to a podium at the Department of Justice earlier today to confirm the administration’s decision, Cook emailed Apple staff a long memo urging Congress to make the… Read More
Another country is looking to get rid of gas-powered vehicles entirely: Scotland, which wants to “phase out” new gas and diesel-powered cars entirely by 2032 (via The Independent). The Scottish government’s plan is set to beat the UK’s target by eight years, if all goes well, and also involves building out its roadway charging infrastructure to support the use of EVs… Read More
YouTube today is rolling out several features to make itself more appealing to live streamers, including video game streamers, as the battle with rivals like Amazon’s Twitch and Microsoft’s Mixer continues. Most notably, YouTube will now allow iPhone users to stream directly from their phone’s screen – a feature that was previously available to those on Android.
In… Read More
Lightricks, the company behind the popular selfie-correcting app called Facetune, is adding to its line of mobile photography and editing tools with the recent launch of a new app called Quickshot. Like its other efforts in this space, Quickshot aims to make photo editing more accessible to amateurs. However, in this case, the app’s focus is to assist with taking photos, not just… Read More
Google has changed up the camera tech used in its roving fleet of Street View vehicles – the cars you sometimes see driving around with a spherical contraption atop their roofs. Wired reports that Google Street View cameras are getting an upgrade for the first time in eight years, which will mean clearer images in the consumer-facing Street View product, as well as better color… Read More
WhatsApp is gearing up to finally monetize its messaging app by charging large enterprise businesses for tools to better communicate with customers. WhatsApp will also offer a free app to small-to-medium sized businesses, though it hasn’t outlined the specific functionality of the app. The enterprise solution will allow global companies “to provide customers with useful… Read More
London’s long-suffering Black Cabs have yet another competitor to deal with, alongside Gett, and Uber.
Estonian start-up Taxify has launched this week in the UK capital, after previously concentrating on emerging markets in eastern Europe and Africa. It’s signed up 3,000 private hire taxi drivers by simply acquiring a taxi company which already holds a licence, City Drive Services. Read More
Unveiled last month, the Note 8 is the product of a newly cautious company. It’s easy to see how Samsung’s relentless push to include all the latest bells and whistles might have contributed to its predecessor’s problems. The new Note isn’t a bombardment of new features. But that’s not a bad thing. The new device is built atop one of the most solid foundations in… Read More
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 launches with more baggage than have previous smartphones in the lineup: Its predecessor’s recall problems ended up killing the phone entirely in most markets. But the Note 8 also has a lot to live up to in the other direction, thanks to the success of the S8 and S8+, both of which boasted industry-leading design and propelled Samsung’s smartphone… Read More
You’ve seen it all before: a drone takes off in an open field, everything is clear. The drone flies straight up for a moment then, on the way down, it hits a tree. A moment later the whole thing is a mess. Plastic everywhere, the motors whizzing and failing, a camera flinging off and into the bushes. Disaster! But what if you could easily take that broken drone, fry it, and dip it into… Read More
While Photoshop is still the most famous image editing app out there, there are now plenty of alternatives. Pixelmator is quite popular on macOS for instance. It has been around for a few years now, and the Pixelmator team is about to launch a brand new app — Pixelmator Pro. The company released a video, a ton of images and a website packed with information about Pixelmator Pro.… Read More
You can’t walk outside your door in San Francisco these days without seeing some tech worker or VC wearing a pair of Allbirds. The eco-friendly wool shoes have taken over the tech world since the startup’s launch a mere 18 months ago. Now, it plans to expand globally and develop new materials beyond its signature merino wool. Allbirds has a good amount of capital to go there as… Read More
I use a Hobonichi Techo Weeks as a daily planner. Like John found when reviewing planners, it’s the perfect size and has just enough space for my to-do list, appointments and a bit of journaling. But it doesn’t sync to my Google Calendar like Moleskine’s upcoming planner. I mean, my planner is just normal paper. The Moleskine version is a combination of a Livescribe pen… Read More
Sony is investing in Acutronic Robotics‘ Series A round, via its Sony Innovation Fund. Sony will also adopt Acutronic’s Hardware Robot Operating System (H-ROS), for use in its own robotics division, the company says. This funding follows investment by DARPA in Acutronic’s platform, which aims to become an industry standard for robotics components from across hardware and… Read More
HPE has been mostly known in recent times for selling off pieces of its business, but it has quietly been on a little run this year buying up cloud companies in an attempt to build out a hybrid cloud business. Today, the company announced it was acquiring Cloud Technology Partners, a Boston-based cloud consulting firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. With CTP, HPE gets a consulting firm… Read More
