What is dead in VR may never die, perhaps? Social VR startup AltspaceVR may not be shutting down after all. The company, which raised more than $15 million in funding from GV, Comcast Ventures and others, announced last month that it was unexpectedly closing its virtual doors after a funding deal fell through “at the last second.” But oddly, less than a month later, the startup… Read More
Among the Supreme Court’s many upcoming cases is Carpenter v. United States, which will settle the question of whether your location and movements, as determined by the ordinary interactions of your phone with the network, are protected by the Fourth Amendment. Dozens of companies, advocates, experts and interested parties just weighed in ahead of the hearing. Read More
Without the heavyweight backing for the platform from former CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber’s head of developer product Chris Saad is leaving the company. It’s unclear where the platform will rank in Uber’s revised priorities as it tries to right the ship, and so he tells me he is moving on to a company where working with outside developers is a central focus. Saad stressed… Read More
Each week, TechCrunch’s Anthony Ha and Darrell Etherington talk about what’s new in original streaming shows, movies, comics and more on ‘Original Content.’ Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime – if it’s new, original, and available to stream on the web or mobile, you’ll hear about it on this podcast first (or at least second). Plus, we’ll talk to the… Read More
MongoDB has filed confidentially for IPO, sources tell TechCrunch. The company has submitted an S-1 filing in the past few weeks and is aiming to go public before the end of the year.
New York-based MongoDB helps companies including Adobe, eBay and Citigroup manage databases. Some of its offerings include its name-bearing MongoDB open source database and the Atlas database-as-a-service… Read More
Several Representatives are asking for an explanation for why so many of the FCC’s actions seem to benefit Sinclair Broadcast Group, and a New York Times report details a rather cozy relationship between the two. There’s no big conspiracy, though. Sinclair benefits because the FCC is deregulating these industries at their request and on their terms — as Chairman Pai has… Read More
From donuts to life-saving anti-venom, drone delivery draws attention to what the technology might look like in a few short years. While the full potential of drones extends beyond transport, there’s little doubt that the fledgling technology will turn consumer package delivery upside down. Read More
Applications are now open for student groups to attend Disrupt SF at Pier 48 on September 19 or September 20. The program is part of Include, TechCrunch’s diversity program aimed at facilitating opportunities for underrepresented groups in tech to gain better access to the startup scene. Read More
For all the talk about the internet as a great uniter across geographical and ideological divides, it’s just as often used as a tool to deepen divides, as many users are content to stay within their ideological echo chambers. There’s no easy fix, but when hateful rhetoric begins to manifest itself as real-world violence, a failure to take a stand moves beyond theoretical. Read More
Despite having been one of the first to offer live, streaming TV over the internet, Dish’s Sling TV service has just now introduced a way to watch its service via a web browser. The company is today launching an in-browser player for Google Chrome. The player, which is still in beta, will work on both Windows and Mac devices, the company notes. Via the web player, you’re able to… Read More
Taking inspiration from line drawings, Reddit and Messenger, Facebook is overhauling the design of the News Feed to make it more legible, clickable and commentable. Meanwhile, Instagram today got a little redesign itself with comment reels now being threaded so you can have sub-conversations in public. Read More
As the lines blur between esports and traditional sports, Mobalytics wants to become your personal trainer. Today, the LA-based startup, which took home the TechCrunch Disrupt SF Startup Battlefield cup last year, is launching an open beta of its gamer performance tool. Read More
The clock is ticking to get tickets to Disrupt SF 2017 at the lowest possible price. You have just four days left to save $1,000 by purchasing early-bird tickets to Disrupt for just $1,995 apiece, so get on over to our ticketing page to score your deeply discounted tickets before the price jumps to $2,995 after the 18th. Read More
Facebook is again getting into the daily deals space, this time in collaboration with eBay. The company has launched a new feature within its Marketplace section on its mobile app, where a selection of inventory from eBay’s Daily Deals program is now available. The deals can be shopped directly in Facebook’s app, but checkout takes place on eBay’s website through an in-app… Read More
The legacy of Travis Kalanick’s fast and loose management style at Uber continues to serve up fresh embarrassments for the embattled, still CEO-less company. Read More
Despite the tepid reception for Facebook Stories, the social network is doubling down on its full-screen Camera feature. Today Facebook added the ability to go Live, shoot two-second GIFs and share full-screen text posts on colored background from Facebook Camera, which lets you share to Facebook Stories, Direct messaging and the traditional News Feed. Read More
CellSavers, the on-demand smartphone and tablet repair service, is rebranding its business to Puls and expanding its suite of services to include most smart devices in a home. The San Francisco-based company also rounded up $25 million in new financing to help support its new marketing push and services. Read More
Narrativ founder and CEO Shirley Chen said there’s a big revenue opportunity that’s gone largely untapped by online publishers — namely, the links those publishers are already using to direct readers to buy the products mentioned in an article.
Sure, affiliate links are a common business model, where publishers get a cut of the business that they’re sending to retailers. Read More
Uber is introducing a major revamp of their Uber for Business platform today, the first significant update they’ve done since the enterprise tool’s introduction. The new Uber for Business incorporates a lot of user feedback to provide easy setting of rules to ensure travel policy is followed, as well as group-based access levels and custom program creation. Previously, a lot of… Read More
Rahim Fazal grew up in government housing. He worked, as do many students, at McDonald’s during high school. He didn’t go to college. These aren’t the kinds of details that might excite a recruiter at a big tech company, yet Fazal has done just fine, including co-founding SVAcademy in San Francisco. Read More
