As fields of research, machine learning and artificial intelligence both date back to the 50s. More than half a century later, the disciplines have graduated from the theoretical to practical, real world applications. We’ll have some of the top minds in both categories to discuss the latest advances and future of AI and ML on stage and Disrupt San Francisco in just over a month.… Read More
Last-mile training is the combination of technical education and placement services that has the potential to fill the skills gap across many sectors of the economy. I’ve suggested that last-mile providers are evolving to become college “minimum viable products” or feasible substitutes to traditional higher education. But what will we lose if the last mile becomes the only mile? Read More
Uber is considering its options regarding what to do with its Xchange Leasing program for providing subprime car leases to drivers on its service, according to a source familiar with the program. The Wall Street Journal reported that it planned to close the operation earlier on Tuesday, and we’ve confirmed that it’s looking at a number of options for how to proceed, including an… Read More
This is the story of a guy who found a niche and stuck with it. The guy is a programmer named Nick who was worried about Apple’s wireless AirPods. He thought they looked stupid. “I didn’t have particularly high hopes when Apple first announced AirPods. I figured they would sound like their wired EarPods, which are fine but not particularly impressive. I was blown away when… Read More
You’ve likely seen them plastered across your social media accounts, if not on someone’s feet in San Francisco, where the company is based: attractive women’s flats in bright red with black soles, or bright red with pink stripes and blue detailing, or a gray camo pattern with a red sole. Rothy’s, available online only at the company’s site, suddenly seem to be… Read More
Altaeros, a Boston-based startup that develops autonomous aerostats, announced today that it has received $7.5 million in new funding from SoftBank Group. The capital will speed-up the launch of SuperTower, a project that uses Altaeros’ tethered balloons to bring broadband wireless to rural areas. Read More
We’re taking a look at the IPOs of tech’s biggest players. Today, we’re taking a look at Microsoft, which went public in 1986 for $21 per share, a price that was both higher than what many expected and a figure that was reportedly higher than Bill Gates wanted. We’ll start with a look at the company’s roots, then look at its IPO numbers and wrap up with notes. Read More
Earlier this month, reports confirmed a Spotify app for Microsoft’s Xbox One was in internal beta testing. Today, that app is becoming publicly available. The new Spotify app for the Xbox One is now launching in 34 markets worldwide, Spotify announced, allowing gamers to play songs, albums and playlists directly from their console, including while in a gaming session. The app, which… Read More
When Andrew Ng announced Deeplearning.ai back in June, it was hard to know exactly what the AI frontiersman was up to. In his time since departing as Baidu’s chief scientist, Ng has been developing a sequel of sorts to his popular introductory machine learning Coursera class. This go around, he is focusing specifically on deep learning. Read More
Advertisers on Facebook’s Audience Network will no longer have to worry that they’re paying for users who accidentally clicked on their ads.
I’m betting we’ve all had moments where we were scrolling or swiping or clicking through a website/mobile app and we ended up clicking on an ad without really meaning to. (Those moments probably outnumber the times I’ve… Read More
Everyone should be saving for retirement, but not everyone has an employer that offers a 401(k) plan. Guideline wants to change that, and the company has raised $15 million to grow its base of small business customers making retirement more attainable for employees. Read More
Swarm has been through a lot of changes since it launched in May 2014. The app, which originally debuted as a social utility to let people check-in to locations and meet up with their friends, has since shifted to a gamified location-sharing app. Today, the company is looking to revamp the app once again, with a new focus on lifelogging. So much of our lives is now contained within… Read More
Facebook is paring down its collection of standalone apps. The company’s experimental “teens-only” app Lifestage, designed to counteract Snapchat’s threat, has been pulled from the App Store. Its disappearance was first spotted by Business Insider, and Facebook confirmed its removal. However, Lifestage isn’t the only Facebook app that’s being killed off as… Read More
The launch of iOS 10 and its iMessage Store has launched emojis and stickers into mainstream communication. In fact, 6 billion emoticons are sent every day. And a new startup called MojiLaLa is looking to capitalize, both figuratively and literally. MojiLaLa is a marketplace that lets artists submit their sticker packs to the iOS store with zero hassle, for free. The company has just raised… Read More
Verizon Ventures and R/GA are kicking off the first round of their digital media “venture studio” and unveiling the first lineup of startups. The program was announced back in March, with the goal of helping Verizon find innovation in media and advertising. The company says startups will be connecting — and potentially partnering with — its teams at Oath (the digital… Read More
Satellite provider Space Systems Loral (SSL) and NASA have completed a key step towards building a spacecraft that can service satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), potentially extending their useful life and making it possible to move forward on building a whole new industry out of deployed satellite service operations. SSL and NASA successfully passed the Preliminary Design Review stage for… Read More
The service is called “Cruise Anywhere,” and it allows employees to use a smartphone app to get anywhere they need to go in SF, seven days a week.
Cruise Anywhere is in beta, hence the employee-only restriction, but the company says that some employees are already using it as their primary source of transportation, replacing either personal vehicle ownership, public transit or… Read More
Spin, a company focused on bringing the stationless bike sharing model to the U.S. after its continued success in Asia, is launching in South San Francisco today (as it planned to last month), making it the first ever to get official city approval in the Bay Area to launch a dockless bike share program. Spin already launched in Seattle earlier this year, and will now put an initial fleet of… Read More
For car owners, getting their vehicle repaired or even dealing with routine maintenance can be a pain. Launching today, a company called CarDash wants to make auto service less painful and more transparent. Read More
When it comes to password breaches on public sites like Adobe, LinkedIn and Yahoo!, there are some known knowns. For instance, there’s a decent chance those credentials will end up for sale on a black market site on that mysterious part of the internet known as the “Dark Web.” That matters for a couple of reasons. First of all, research suggests that a lot of folks use the… Read More
