After pricing its IPO at $15 per share, Cloudera, the enterprise big data company, closed the day up more than 20 percent, at $18.09. This also is above the range of $12 to $14 for which Cloudera was preparing. Read More
Apple has offered feedback to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) concerning its proposed new rule changes regarding autonomous vehicle testing on state roads. The formal feedback provided by Apple is relatively short and to the point, contained in a letter submitted to the DMV and embedded below, signed by Apple Director of Product Integrity Steve Kenner (who also authored… Read More
On Friday, Microsoft announced that it will create a new role for former Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill. Brill will take the lead on privacy, data protection and regulatory issues at Microsoft as the corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for its Privacy and Regulatory Affairs group. Read More
Here’s an interesting change: Tumblr’s iOS application just received an update which now lets you turn on or off adult-oriented, NSFW search results just by toggling a switch in iOS’s Settings. That’s right: you can now switch on or off the Tumblr porn with ease. Weirder still, Tumblr’s note about the change in the App Store update text says this was… Read More
Virtualities founder Ryan Burningham has a new idea for abandoned retail spaces — VR. VR theaters and arcades like Virtualities are starting to pop up in warehouses and other empty spaces around the U.S., including Burningham’s startup, located in what used to be a Hot Topic on the second floor of the Gateway Mall on Salt Lake City’s west side. Read More
Elon Musk was on stage at the 2017 TED Conference in Vancouver on Friday, and he revealed some of his tunnel work and aspirations, but he also talked about a few ongoing Tesla projects he’s referenced before. The multi-CEO showed a shadowy image that gives us our first look at what his forthcoming electric Semi Truck will look like, and also let drop the suggestion that Tesla will… Read More
Privacy advocates are finally getting (a little bit) of what they want. Friday, The New York Times reported that the NSA will end its practice of collecting texts and emails by American citizens sent or received by individuals abroad that mention foreign surveillance targets. Read More
Just what does Elon Musk’s Boring Company want to accomplish? This might be our clearest picture yet – a video shown during Musk’s TEDTalk from Friday morning, which includes a rendering of a future underground transit network where cars travel on crisscrossing layers of tunnels that include sleds shuttling vehicles around on rails at around 130 mph. Musk’s vision… Read More
Two new unicorns are born, Uber faces two lawsuits and the FCC unveils its proposal to revoke net neutrality. These are the top tech stories you need to know this week. Read More
Deep Sentinel, a home security startup, today announced that it had closed a $7.4 million Series A led by Shasta Ventures with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Lux Capital and UP2398. Founded by serial entrepreneur David Selinger, Deep Sentinel is betting that its emphasis on user experience can provide needed differentiation in the crowded space. Over tea in the… Read More
There are plenty of air quality sensors out there but so far the Awair Glow is the only sensor I’ve found that can do something about nastiness in your environment. The Glow is a small plugin nightlight that connects to an iOS or Android phone and lets you turn on a fan or air purifier if certain conditions are met. The device is quite compact – it’s about as big as a… Read More
Taboola and Outbrain — two content recommendations companies that employ roughly 500 people, were formed the same year (2006) and have each raised substantial sums of venture capital — are in advanced merger talks, reports the Israeli news outlet Calcalist. The deal isn’t final, but the two companies have moved past many of the sticking points that ended earlier talks. Read More
Plug and Play is launching a new accelerator based in Paris. This time, the company is partnering with French bank BNP Paribas and focusing on fintech startups. The first batch of startups has just been picked. Plug and Play has launched multiple accelerators with a different business model than most accelerators. Instead of taking some equity in exchange of what you get from the… Read More
Rollout.io, a company that had developed technology that allowed mobile app developers to update their apps without having to go through the App Store approval process, is now entering a new business after Apple cracked down on apps using its software. Today, the former TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield finalist has transitioned to a new product that allows developers to selectively roll out… Read More
Welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture-capital focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the narrative. Homebrew’s own Hunter Walk joined us for this episode along with co-hosts Katie Roof, Matthew Lynley and myself. This week has been a delightful clown car of technology earnings, so we dove into Twitter’s surprisingly strong report that drove its share… Read More
BMW revealed its newest electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid called the 530e iPerformance. The variant’s options include a forthcoming wireless charging pad, targeting a 2018 release window, which will include a charging pad drivers can install in their garage and drive over to provide a power supply with rates up to 3.2 kW, with a total charging time for refilling the vehicle’s… Read More
It’s no secret, Apple and Qualcomm have been fighting relentlessly for a few months over royalty payments. Apple told Qualcomm that it would stop paying the disputed licensing fees. Qualcomm confirmed the aggressive move and said that its revenue and profits would be lower than expected. Apple said that it is waiting for a court decision to resume payments. Of course, the company expects… Read More
Come with me if you want to sear. The Cinder, which we first looked at two years ago, is now selling on Indiegogo and I had the unique opportunity to try this clever sous vide-style meat cooker. Basically the Cinder cooks meat perfectly. You place a hunk on the internal platter, set the temperature, and close the heavy lid. The lid acts as a sort of vacuum seal that keeps in juices while a… Read More
Amazon’s Alexa is going to sound more human. The company announced this week the addition of a new set of speaking skills for the virtual assistant, which will allow her to do things like whisper, take a breath to pause for emphasis, adjust the rate, pitch and volume of her speech, and more. She’ll even be able to “bleep” out words – which may not be all that… Read More
At Disrupt NY in May, we’re launching the Founder Spotlight, where startup founders will be able to tell the human story behind their company. We’ve already revealed a handful of those companies, and today we’re excited to tell you about the rest of them. Bowery Farming Bowery Farming is a startup looking to change the way we grow food. With the global population growing,… Read More
