When it comes to virtual reality games and apps, a lot of what’s out there is pretty stale and nothing that another platform couldn’t handle just as well or better. There are apps making use of the unique qualities of VR though, one that investors and creators always seem to mention as one of the more innovative VR experiences out there is called Mindshow. The app allows you to… Read More
The home button is headed to the trash bin, if a report by Bloomberg is to be believed. According to the report, Apple is ditching the button to make room for a larger screen in one version of the next iPhone. Instead of a home button, users will perform actions using on-screen gesture controls involving a sort of dock of icons. If true this would be the biggest change in iPhone design since… Read More
The MINI Electric Concept is coming to the Frankfurt Motor Show, and its debut appearance will showcase the design changes that MINI has made to signal that this is indeed the first large-scale production fully electric MINI vehicle. MINI has offered electrified versions of its existing cars, but the Electric Concept is designed from the ground up as an EV, and not just a combustion-powered… Read More
Those betting big on AI making voice the dominant user interface of the future are not betting so big as to believe their respective artificially intelligent voice assistants will be the sole vocal oracle that Internet users want or need. Read More
Once nipping at the heels of Spotify in the world of music streaming services, we don’t hear too much about Deezer these days. Little surprise: today, the company originally based out of Paris only has around 12 million active users, just a fraction of Spotify’s 140 million, across its 185-country footprint and 43 million tracks. Today, the company is launching a service that it… Read More
Messaging giant WhatsApp is experimenting with giving businesses verified accounts on its platform. In an FAQ on its website the company notes that some business accounts will be displayed with a green tick badge next to them. Read More
Google has submitted details to the European Commission of how it intends to amend its price comparison service, Google Shopping, to comply with an antitrust decision earlier this summer. The proposals were submitted yesterday. Read More
One growing sector we can add to the travel accommodation list is long term stays for business travellers. Enter Cologne-based Homelike, founded in 2015 by Dustin Figge and Christoph Kasper. The German startup targets business travellers who need “long-stay” accommodation of a month or more and for which a hotel doesn’t really cut it. Read More
Thailand’s banks have stepped up to chase the startup dream over the past year. Following on from SCB’s Digital Ventures, which has backed blockchain startup Ripple among others, Kasikorn Bank (KBank) has made the first investment from its $30 million fund — a $1.15 million round for Bangkok-based FlowAccount. KBank announced its Beacon fund this summer. It has made… Read More
Veo, a Copenhagen-based startup, wants to “democratise the recording of football”. By taking advantage of developments in AI and video camera technology, the company offers a solution for amateur soccer clubs that want to video and stream matches and training sessions without the need for a camera operator or vision mixer/editor. Read More
Uber’s Asia-based rival Grab has confirmed that it has taken an undisclosed investment from Toyota. The Japanese automotive giant has been named as one of the participants in Grab’s Series G round which is targeted at $2.5 billion. The Singapore-headquartered company confirmed that SoftBank and China’s Didi contributed $2 billion, but it is collecting an additional $500… Read More
Messaging app company Kik has revealed that it plans to raise $125 million via its ICO. The company first announced the plan to hold a token sale in May, taking advantage of a rush of investment based around selling dedicated crypto tokens to investors, and the event will take place from September 12, it confirmed. Kik has already ‘pre-heated the oven’ by raising $50 million… Read More
Fossil Group is doubling down on its Android Wear smartwatch investment with a range of new wearables, many of which feature full-round AMOLED displays, which offer perfectly circular touchscreen interfaces without any cutouts like those found on previous generations. Some of the new watches are on display at IFA this year, and will go on sale in time for both fall and holiday shopping season… Read More
After years of explosive growth, coding boot camps are starting to scale back, if not shut down altogether. Two schools have announced plans to close this year: Dev Bootcamp in San Francisco and Iron Yard of Greenville, South Carolina. They have deep-pocketed parent companies, too, having been acquired by Kaplan and the Apollo Education Group, respectively. Now, Galvanize is revealing that… Read More
Google unveils ARCore, YouTube’s big redesign exits out of beta, Google Maps now makes it easier to find parking and Thiel backs offshore herpes vaccine trial. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
It’s officially official. News reports have been telling you since Sunday that Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had been offered the CEO role at Uber, but that was based on sources, not any company statements. It also wasn’t entirely clear if he had formally accepted the offer. Uber didn’t make an announcement until just now. Here is the text of an email from the… Read More
We don’t do a lot of Kickstarter posts because the outcomes of crowdfunding campaigns, especially hardware ones, are notoriously unpredictable. But it’s with an easy conscience that I recommend Lomography’s new instant film camera; I backed the company’s last one, the Automat, and it’s been fantastic. This one looks similarly fun, and shoots in a larger format. Read More
Appier, a Taiwanese startup that helps companies harness artificial intelligence to make marketing decisions, announced today that it has raised a $33 million Series C round from an impressive roster of Asian investors. They are SoftBank Group Corp., Line Corp., Naver Corp., EDBI and Hong Kong-based financial services firm AMTD Group. Read More
SpaceX this past weekend held its second Hyperloop Pod design competition for student teams at the 0.77 mile-long test track it built near its Hawthorne HQ, and we were there to witness the final showdown between the top three qualifying competitors. The day was an exciting one with the teams eager to show that their pods could not only travel the length of SpaceX’s test track —… Read More
For Houston area residents still being pounded by record rains, Harvey is a marathon — a vast sprawl of a natural disaster still so present that its impact can’t yet be accurately assessed. In response, locals across the region have come together. The tech industry too is coming together to alleviate the suffering of those affected. Here’s what some of tech’s major… Read More
