Today’s Stories Binary Capital co-founder Justin Caldbeck quits as Matt Mazzeo steps away from the firm Pandora co-founder and CEO Tim Westergren will step down according to reports Houzz raises a huge $400M round at a $4B valuation Avis signs on to manage Waymo’s self-driving vehicle fleet in Phoenix MIT’s new drones switch between flying and driving for… Read More
In a move that is sure to stoke rumors about Apple’s future work in augmented and virtual reality technologies, Apple has acquired SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI), an eye-tracking firm. The German company has done significant work in eye-tracking research with proprietary eyeglass hardware while also working on consumer-focused applications like eye-tracking for virtual reality. Read More
Instacart CMO Cheryl Law is no longer at the company, TechCrunch has learned. Instacart confirmed the departure. We were tipped off about her departure a bit before the whole Amazon making a $13.7B bid for Whole Foods thing went down. Law joined Instacart at the beginning of the year and was previously the CMO of Prosper. Instacart’s challenges can change on a nearly daily basis… Read More
New York-based startup Stayawhile announced today that it’s scored $1.5 million in seed funding to provide travelers with what founder Janine Yorio refers to as “medium-term housing.” It’s a midway point between your standard hotel/Airbnb stay and a year-plus apartment lease, aimed at vacations and business travelers who’d like to spread out their stay in a new city… Read More
Sooner or later, our children will be raised by robots, so it’s natural that Disney, purveyor of both robots and child-related goods, would want to get ahead of that trend. A trio of studies from its Research division aim at understanding and improving how kids converse with and otherwise interact with robots and other reasonably smart machines. Read More
Amazon will officially release the Show in a few days, but in the meantime, the company is introducing a long-awaited intercom feature for existing Echo devices. The addition uses Drop-In, a teleconferencing feature introduced on the Show that lets close friends and family members call into one another’s device with little warning. I really didn’t like the feature when I tested… Read More
Autotalks has been developing technologies that allow vehicles to talk to anything — V2X, to the nerds in the know. It’s one of the technologies that will enable fully autonomous vehicles to roam our roads. But where does that leave motorcycles, which will still have riders who rely on interactions with human drivers? That’s where B2V, or bike to vehicle, technology comes in. Read More
If smartphone hardware rumors are on the money, and they are usually at least in the ballpark (with the exception of transparent, bendable phones; apparently forever doomed to be mocked up in Photoshop) — then a 3D depth sensor is coming to the front-facing camera of a handset near you in the not too distant future. Read More
Apple’s new mobile operating system iOS 11, which ships to the public in September, will give users a better understanding over how apps are using their location data. One notable change, which will be immediately obvious, is a more prominent blue status bar that appears when an app is actively using your location while running in the background. The change could impact apps that… Read More
Are you excited about trying out the new features coming up with iOS 11? If so, Apple just released the first public beta of iOS 11 now available to download for everyone. You don’t need to pay $99 for a developer account to download it. But remember, it is still a beta. While the company still plans to release the final version of iOS 11 this fall, Apple is going to release regular… Read More
I’ve been playing with a beta version of iOS 11 on a 10.5-inch iPad Pro for the past few weeks. While the final version of iOS 11 is not coming until later this fall, Apple just launched the public beta. Here’s a preview of what you can expect. If you’re using an iPad, get ready to be disoriented by the update because the iPad simply doesn’t work the same way. Apple… Read More
Kristy Tillman is the head of communication design at Slack. In our 20th episode, she talks about what it’s like building a team from scratch and how brand and communication design plays a role in an organization. She also explains why diversity is less about numbers and more about having the right perspectives present. Starting from nothing is not an easy task, but it’s one… Read More
Arms, a flagship Nintendo Switch title from the same folks who brought us Splatoon, is a fighting game only Nintendo could release. The object of the game, as in many fighting games, is to knock down your opponent. How you do it, obviously, is the trick.
In Arms your weapons are, well, your arms. There are 30 different arms for ten characters and the arms spring out and can twist towards enemies. Read More
Just in time for Disrupt SF I’d like to invite you all to a micro meet-up in Warsaw on July 4. We’ll be holding it at Campus Warsaw, 33C Ząbkowska, 03-736 Warszawa, Poland. The fun starts at 6pm and ends at 8pm with some after-event drinks nearby. The winner of the pitch-off will get a table at Disrupt SF and the second-place winner will get two tickets to Disrupt SF. There are… Read More
Today Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube and Twitter collectively announced a new partnership aimed at reducing the accessibility of internet services to terrorists. The new Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism adds structure to existing efforts by the companies to target and remove from major web platforms recruiting materials for terror groups. Read More
Why must baby clothes be so cheesy? Why can’t they just come in basic colors, using good materials and at a relatively affordable price? Miles and Milan wants to bring the Zuckerberg ethos of minimalism to the baby and toddler set. Read More
Plaid wants to make it easier for financial services companies to serve consumers and businesses, but it sees significant holes in the fintech ecosystem. As a result, the company has issued a Y Combinator-like “request for startups” to tackle particular issues where it believes significant innovation is lacking. Read More
We are still searching for innovative startups that want to launch on our Disrupt SF stage and aren’t afraid to get a little competitive! The winning company takes home the legendary Disrupt Cup and an equity-free check for $50,000 — not to mention a place in the startup history books. Read More
Lyft will offer pickup suggestions in the latest version of the Android or iOS app, making it easier for drivers to pick riders up without having to do traffic gymnastics, while also hopefully saving riders time. The pickup suggestions only trigger when it’ll actually save you time as a rider, Lyft says, and they’re only ever within short walking distance, plus you can opt to… Read More
