At TechCrunch Sessions: Justice today, New York Times bestselling author Shaka Senghor unveiled Mind Blown Media, a new media company that aims to create high-impact content focused on the criminal justice system and mass incarceration. Senghor, who spent 19 years in prison — seven of which were in solitary confinement — founded Mind Blown Media to tell the stories of people who… Read More
Elon Musk couldn’t help but include some teasers in his Tesla shareholder meeting address on Tuesday, reiterating that the company would be holding a special event to reveal its Semi Truck at the end of September, but noting also that he would “really recommend showing up” for the event because “maybe there’s a little more than we’re saying here.”… Read More
During a Tesla shareholder press conference on Tuesday, CEO Elon Musk talked a bit more about the company’s plans around the upcoming Model Y crossover/small SUV vehicle. The company “made a mistake in trying to derive the Model X from the Model Y platform,” Musk noted, since it’s clear now it should focus on designing “an SUV the way it’s meant to be… Read More
Tesla says that it should be able to deliver its first production Model 3 next month, and also noted that it’ll reveal the Model 3 configurator at that time. The configurator won’t offer a lot of choice, however – Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at a shareholder meeting on Tuesday that it’ll basically let you pick “what color” and “what size wheels”… Read More
The new HomePod sounds great. I walked away from WWDC impressed with the full and rich sound the company has managed to get out of such a small form factor. There’s nice hardware on-board and a lot happening on the back end to create an optimal audio experience, including a six-mic array that sonically maps the room the speaker is in. Other smart home hubs like the Echo – and… Read More
Cadre, a three-year-old, New York-based real estate startup, has raised $65 million in Series C funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Famed VC Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital also joined the round, along with the Ford Foundation, General Catalyst Partners, Goldman Sachs, Khosla Ventures, and Thrive Capital. Ryan Williams, a Goldman Sachs and Blackstone alum, cofounded Cadre along with Joshua… Read More
TechCrunch held its Justice Sessions event at the Alamo Drafthouse at San Francisco on Tuesday, dedicated to conversations about underrepresented workers in tech. When it comes to the technology industry, “the reality is the money is there and it’s not trickling down,” said Derecka Mehrens, who helped form Silicon Valley Rising, an organization dedicated to raising wages… Read More
Apple brought its smart speaker into the world with a shoddy name and an unconventional pitch, but anyone brash enough to cast the device to the side so easily will surely pay the price. Apple, unlike Amazon and Google, understands that selling glorified intelligence-in-a-box as a method of human computer interaction lacks foresight — people want a product, not a technology. Launching… Read More
In May of this year, the state of New York opened up an application process for companies that wanted to test autonomous vehicles there. Audi snagged the first license and will begin testing near Albany in the coming weeks. The Audi A7 that will do the first demo at the New York state capital is not new to the company’s fleet of autonomous test cars. With licenses to test in Nevada… Read More
If you’re feeling AirPods envy but don’t want/can’t find/don’t have ears that work ergonomically with Apple’s white tube option, there’s a new top choice alternative – provided you’re willing to pay the price. Bragi’s Dash Pro is the latest set of fully wireless earbuds from the dedicated headset computing company, and its experience with… Read More
Apple doesn’t really talk about the Surface, but was pretty clear from yesterday’s WWDC keynote that Microsoft’s line is beginning to have a direct impact on the company. Between the iMac Pro and a rethink of iOS dedicated, in part, to bringing more functionality to the iPad Pro line, the message is clear: Apple’s not giving up any of its market share without a fight.… Read More
There are many young women who want to get into tech in Lebanon. With top educations under their belts and resilience inherently running through the veins of Lebanon’s tech players, it’s going to take more than electrical outages and spotty internet to keep them from prospering. And it’s going to take more than glass to keep them from rising. Read More
This morning on the stage of TC Sessions: Justice, Matt Mitchell of CryptoHarlem discussed his views on the link between surveillance and minority oppression and the importance of taking a preventative approach to security and privacy. Mitchell, a specialist in digital safety and encryption, is dedicating time to creating Protect Your Org, a free, open source, tool for all organizations… Read More
Pinterest said today that the company has raised $150 million in additional capital at a valuation of $12.3 billion as it makes a further full-court press on its visual recognition and search pitch to investors and advertisers — and perhaps one day Wall Street. Pinterest last raised $367 million in additional financing at an $11 billion valuation in 2015. In recent years, the company… Read More
While shop floors at large OEMs are embracing the beginning of the robotics and automation eras, the actual humans working in these shops have been mostly forgotten by technology. But Tulip, a software platform for shop engineers, operators and managers, is looking to change all that. To that end, Tulip has raised $13 million in Series A led by NEA, with participation from Pitango Venture… Read More
Henrik Fisker, who’s been teasing his new electric vehicle company after a stutter step first attempt with the original Fisker co. and the Karma, is back with the EMotion, the first car from Fisker Inc. The EMotion gets its first official eyes-on today via photos, not renders, that show us the vehicle in the aluminum and carbon fiber, finally. The car also gets its official pricing for… Read More
Apple is introducing a new feature in iOS 11 that will help users free up space on their iPhone by offering personalized recommendations about actions they can take to increase the available storage. The feature will go a long way towards helping all iPhone owners get better control over their phone’s storage, but will be especially useful for those who own one of Apple’s… Read More
Talking about sexual health makes folks squeamish. While sexuality and dating have, for the most part, been taken care of by technology there isn’t much talk of sexual health online. Until Biem. Biem is an app and service that makes it easy to talk to a sexual healthcare representative and get tests taken. It also lets you anonymously notify sexual partners if something is amiss and… Read More
In most businesses, managing freelancers still mostly happens in Excel spreadsheets that are shared across the company. Shortlist wants to make this process more efficient by offering a single platform for managing and paying freelancers and independent contractors. The company, which was founded in 2015 by Martin Konrad (CEO) and Joey Fraiser (COO), today announced that it has raised a… Read More
Last week, ahead of WWDC, there was a ripple of news when it was discovered that Bozoma Saint John — one of the more noticeable execs at the company for being a woman of color, who led an Apple Music demo at the previous year’s WWDC to some acclaim — was leaving Apple. Now TechCrunch has learned where she’s landing: she’s going to Uber. We received the news via… Read More
