Amazon has quietly launched a new feature called “Themes,” designed to make it easier for shoppers to navigate a product’s customer reviews. Now, in the Amazon mobile app, you’re able to see which words have been used the most frequently across the reviews left by other customers, and then tap a button to hop straight to a filtered selection of reviews that include… Read More
Google and other tech companies have come up with glasses and contact lenses for the purposes of AR, but Omega Ophthalmics is taking a much more invasive approach by using surgically implanted lenses to create a space for augmented reality inside the eye. Read More
Google is creating a visual publication format for media companies similar to Snapchat’s “Discover,” based on its AMP mobile optimization technology for webpages and called “Stamp,” according to a new Wall Street Journal report. The program is said to be announced as soon as next week, and could include a range of publishing partners including Vox, CNN, The… Read More
In a video out of North Carolina State University and Duke, five tiny cubes float freely under a microscope. Suddenly two pairs snap together, before all five combine into a single unit. Once together, they bend around a hinge, snapping together like Pac-Man’s jaws. The cubes approach a small, circular object — a single yeast cell — using the opening and closing motion to… Read More
Another weekend, another mechanical watch. This time we have the Commander from CJR, the company that brought us the Airspeed last year. This unique piece features an unusual curved dial and rotor-like seconds wheel that harkens back to some strange alternate future where airplanes become sentient. Early bird watches cost $449 and come on a thick leather strap. “The aircraft industry is… Read More
Facebook is testing a new way to “go live” on its social network – an option that was previously available by pressing the “Live” button on the Status update box. Now, for some users, the ability to “go live” – meaning start a live video broadcast – is appearing right within the Facebook Camera screen, alongside other options, like the… Read More
University of Virginia Assistant Professor Matthew Gerber has discovered a correlation between Tweets and crime. No, folks aren’t Tweeting that they’re going to knock over a liquor store. Instead, by looking at the GPS coordinates attached to Tweets as well as assessing a heat map of popular locations, police can predict where crime is most likely to happen.
“My initial… Read More
As Dropbox slowly gears up toward its initial public offering, it’s bringing on a longtime enterprise executive — Quentin Clark, a former VP of Microsoft as well as SAP CTO — as head of its very-long-title-where-he-will-oversee-a-ton-of-things. Read More
What’s going to happen in episode 4? It turns out that some people already know the answer. Earlier today, the fourth episode of the seventh season of Game of Thrones leaked online. You may think that it’s related to HBO’s recent hack — but it’s not. When HBO got hacked, the hackers claimed that they managed to acquire the script of this week’s Game of… Read More
Fantasy sports, and probably to an even greater extent daily fantasy sports, can be intimidating. You’re usually playing for real money, and potentially going up against people who spend countless hours researching statistics to craft the perfect lineup. Gameday, a startup part of Y Combinator’s Summer ’17 batch, wants to change this by making a few tweaks to daily fantasy… Read More
Snap Inc desperately needs ad revenue to redirect its sinking share price. So after a year of getting mercilessly copied by Facebook, Snapchat is returning the favor by launching its take on the Facebook ads Power Editor. This new “Advanced Mode” for its Snapchat Ads Manager lets big advertisers rapidly deploy complex ad campaigns with tons of creative variants. Read More
These Blue Apron layoffs come about a month after the company’s lackluster initial public offering, its co-founder and COO Matthew Wadiak stepping down and a lawsuit from a former employee. The layoffs are aimed at Blue Apron’s facility in New Jersey, where it will cut 1,270 jobs. Read More
Xfinity xFi, Comcast’s Wi-Fi management service launched this spring, is now making it easier for parents to set boundaries for internet usage in their home. The changes include the ability to put the internet “on pause” for a period of time, as well as lock down web searches so they won’t return adult-oriented results, among other things.
With the newly launched… Read More
Real talk, Level Money is the only budgeting app that has ever stuck with me. So I’m bummed to report that Level Money is shutting down on September 1. Capital One snapped up Level Money in early 2015 for an undisclosed amount. Prior to the acquisition, Level had raised $5 million and had 700,000 users (including yours truly). Read More
A product that began life as an April Fools joke has graduated to a real thing you can order right now: Hyperkin’s SmartBoy is an accessory for Android smartphones with a USB-C connector, and brings Game Boy-style physical controls and actual Game Boy game cartridge compatibility to the gaming device you carry with you everywhere in your pocket anyways.
The Hyperkin SmartBoy is up for… Read More
Carpool Karaoke is growing up and becoming so much more than just segments on James Corden’s Late Late Show. Apple has commissioned 16 standalone episodes, and the show is about to premiere on August 8. The company shared three different teasers this week to promote the show.
On The Late Late Show, Carpool Karaoke segments usually feature James Corden along with a music artist. The… Read More
Alexa’s ability to help you find the right music got a boost this week. The virtual assistant is now able to pull up music for a wide range of activities – like music to focus to, music to nap to, to run to, to meditate to, to cook to, and much more – just by asking. The feature works with Amazon’s free streaming service Prime Music as well as Amazon Music Unlimited… Read More
Toyota has agreed to purchase a five percent stake in Mazda, and will build a joint plant in the U.S. worth $1.6 billion, the automaker revealed today. Toyota also said it’s going to increase its investment in “crucial fields” related to the future of automotive technology, including self-driving, artificial intelligence and green vehicle tech. The automaker’s… Read More
Facility management might not sound like the sexiest use of AI technology. But office space can be a huge expense for larger businesses — the biggest after staff costs — which is why Y Combinator-backed startup, VergeSense, says it’s settled on facility management as the initial target for an AI-powered sensing device it’s been developing since joining the incubator… Read More
Indeed, the job platform with over 200 million people searching for jobs each month, is acquiring Interviewed, the online job assessment tool. The terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed, but all 12 of Interviewed’s employees, including the three co-founders, will be going to work at Indeed. Based in San Francisco, Interviewed was part of Y Combinator’s Summer 2015 class… Read More
