Microsoft today announced that it will soon open two data center regions for its cloud-based services in Johannesburg and Cape Town South Africa. This marks Microsoft’s first data center expansion into Africa, and the plan is to get these new regions online in 2018. Read More
Amazon has long relied on customers providing feedback and providing other ranking data as part of the process of encouraging more sales on its platform, and now the e-commerce giant is adding a new twist on this to spur more buying in its books business.
Today, Amazon announced Amazon Charts, a new kind of bestseller list that will give users, for the first time ever, a top 20 list of… Read More
YouTube appears to be further opening up mobile live streaming by dropping requirements on subscriber counts in order to gain access to the feature, according to reports out today. Google, however, has disputed claims saying the new functionality is now available to all users, instead stating that only a subset of YouTube’s users have access for the time being. That said, mobile… Read More
At Google’s I/O developer event on Thursday, the company revealed Seurat, a new tool that allows for rendering of very high resolution immersive content even on mobile VR devices that don’t necessarily have the best specs. To demonstrate Seurat’s capabilities, Google showed off a collaboration with ILMxLAB, which brings cinematic-quality renders from Star Wars to… Read More
At Google I/O today the company chatted a bit about what’s next for Daydream as it preps the next update, codenamed “2.0 Euphrates.” The big highlight is that Google will be building a version of Chrome especially for use inside virtual reality. Read More
Have you ever wanted to come face to face with YouTube commenters? Yeah, me neither. Nevertheless! Today, Google announced that instead of adding text comments in YouTube VR, the company will be making shared rooms where users can chat by voice in VR. The company didn’t detail whether this would be random users, so we’ll have to see how much auditory spam there’s going to be. Read More
Kuri, the robot companion being developed by startup Mayfield Robotics, is getting closer to production and gaining some new abilities ahead of its planned release later this year. The adorable little bot, which looks like something ripped from a Pixar movie, now does self-charging, topping up his powerhouse when needed. The robot can also map its home environment better, has improved… Read More
We’re here at day two of Google I/O 2017, and the show starts with a keynote specific to Google’s work in VR, led by its head of virtual reality and augmented reality, Clay Bavor. The keynote gets started at 9:30 AM PT (12:30 PM PT) so tune in. Read More
Google’s main keynote for its I/O developer conference happened yesterday, but the event isn’t over yet. Far from it. Today, the company is hosting its first keynote solely focused on VR and AR. The VR keynote starts at 9:30am Pacific Time, 12:30pm on the East Coast, 6pm in London and 7pm in Central Europe — and you can watch it right here. Read More
Duolingo, the popular language learning service, today added support for learning Japanese to its iOS app, with support for its Android app coming soon. “This is by far the most requested and highly anticipated course launch in Duolingo’s five-year history,” said Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn in today’s announcement. “No matter what we’d share… Read More
Facebook’s 2014 acquisition of messaging app WhatsApp cost $19 billion when it was announced. Now the price tag has been bumped up a little more after European regulators slapped the company with a €110M (~$122M) fine for providing “incorrect or misleading” information at the time of the deal. Read More
Facebook Messenger is getting a new look. No, it’s not getting rid of its Stories feature, Messenger Day, but is instead making a series a smaller changes to the way the content on its home screen is organized in an effort to speed navigation and help you pick up where you left off on your last visit. The update introduces new tabs to the top of Messenger’s main screen for… Read More
No one, it seems, has come up with a good way to harness all the videos, photos, and tweets that budding creators post every day on YouTube, or the Facebook media juggernaut, or its smaller Snap-pier rivals. Read More
Uber is now the ‘Uber for trucking’ – Uber Freight is a new service from the ride hailing company that pairs up trucking companies, including independent operators, with loads that need to be hauled from one place to another. The app looks a lot like the main Uber app, but it’s targeted towards vetted and approved drivers, who can browse for nearby available loads,… Read More
Mercedes-Benz Energy announced that it’s teamed up with Vivint Solar to provide batteries for storing energy at home in the United States, starting in California this spring. Last year, Mercedes started a program in Germany that works almost exactly the same way. Mercedes uses the automotive-grade batteries it’s developed for electric vehicles, which can withstand a lot of… Read More
Brit + Co, the media startup founded by Brit Morin, is announcing an additional $15 million in funding led by Verizon Ventures. Former Uber president and Target CMO Jeff Jones will also be joining the startup as an advisor. San Francisco-based Brit + Co will be using the funding to expand its digital content business that targets women. Read More
Disrupt Berlin 2017 is coming up in December, and even though that is a ways off, we are already building out our content. We’re also here to remind you to sign up for our next 2-for-1 ticket release on our website here. We’ll send you an email with more details on how you can obtain these limited supply tickets. By signing up now, you can use this extra ticket to bring a… Read More
The Farmer’s Dog wants to fill the bowls of canines everywhere with fresh food made especially for them. Based in New York City, the startup plans to expand its dog food delivery service after closing a $8.1 million Series A round led by Shasta Ventures. Returning investors Forerunner Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and SV Angel also participated. Read More
Patreon’s novel idea of fans just directly paying the artists they love is having its hockey stick moment. Patreon tells TechCrunch that in a year, it’s doubled the number of monthly active paying patrons to 1 million, and the number of active creators to 50,000. It’s now on track to pay out $150 million to creators in 2017. Read More
