In March, Google announced it was beginning to roll out support for audio-only calling in its FaceTime and Whatsapp competitor, Duo, which had previously focused on video calls. Initially, support for audio calls was available in Brazil, but the feature is now live for all users worldwide, a Google engineer and technical lead for Duo announced on Twitter late on Sunday evening. If… Read More
Tesla is still hoping to begin installations of its solar roof tile product later this year, but that’s not really a great option unless you’re building new or replacing your existing roof, so it makes sense that it would continue to also offer retrofit solar options, like the new Panasonic panels it began advertising on its site quietly over the weekend. The new roof tiles showed… Read More
With Thought Catalog, we mastered producing short-form writing for the web. We wanted a new challenge. We hoped to build a counterweight to Thought Catalog’s trendy digital brand with a more contemplative spin-off brand as a book publisher. Read More
According to new data from comScore, more than half of Wi-Fi households in the U.S. are now using at least one over-the-top streaming service, with Netflix being the primary choice. While still the leader in the streaming space, its service is facing increased competition from others, including YouTube, Amazon and Hulu. Read More
Attest, a London startup that has built a market research platform to enable companies to get market insights quicker and more often, has picked up $3.1 million in further funding. Oxford Capital, and Episode 1 led the round, with participation from a number new angel investors including London Business School Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing Paddy Barwise. The company says it… Read More
Opinion is divided on the success of the Thor series of movies to date; at best, I think people would describe them as “fine.” But the new trailer for Thor: Ragnarok provides good reason to believe that this next installment might elevate the franchise to a whole new level.
From the meme-referencing voice over opening, to the gratuitous slow-motion glory shots, to the actually… Read More
Minecraft is getting an update this spring that will add a number of new features, but the most dramatic might be the Minecraft Marketplace, a storefront where users can buy and sell in-game creations for real money. The Marketplace will offer maps, texture packs, skins, min-games and more, all curated by the Minecraft team. The launch catalog will feature selections from a handful of… Read More
Imagine a fleet of drones, each the size of your palm blooming from a package dropped from an airplane. That’s what the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s tiny CICADA drone can do. And hopefully, it’ll prove it through upcoming swarm flight testing. The CICADA, or Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft, have pressure, temperature and humidity sensors on board, and… Read More
GM will launch its Super Cruise advanced highway automatic driving feature this fall, debuting first in the new Cadillac CT6. Super Cruise has been in the works for a few years now, and the semi-autonomous drive mode is finally almost ready for its debut, after its release date was pushed from 2016 to 2017 to give engineers more time to focus on designing the safest system possible. Super… Read More
Spotify CEO and cofounder Daniel Ek has paid a moving tribute to Chris Bevington, 41, who was among the four people killed in the Stockholm truck attack on Saturday. Bevington was a director of global partnerships at the music streaming service, which has an office in central Stockholm.
Ek said he was “devastated” by the news. “It is with shock and a heavy heart that I can… Read More
Zeta Global (previously known as Zeta Interactive) may not necessarily be a household name, but the marketing tech and analytics company, which was co-founded by former Apple CEO John Sculley, has a valuation of over $1 billion, is highly profitable (with revenue in 2016 growing about 40 percent over the $200 million it did in 2015), and has made its fair share of acquisitions recently. As… Read More
After Google-owned DeepMind’s virtual Go champion AlphaGo took on and defeated one of the top-ranked human players in the world, it looks like Google wants to build some bridges, explore the AI-human interaction dynamic – and see if AlphaGo can take on the very best human Go player in the entire world. Google is partnering with the China Go Association and the Chinese Government… Read More
Lots of online eyewear retailers offer to send you a selection of frames to try on at home before you buy, a model made popular by Warby Parker in the U.S. and GlassesDirect in Europe. However, although sending you the exact same frame as you intend to purchase has largely solved the conversion problem selling eyewear online creates, it can be pretty costly. Read More
Here’s a fresh rumor that is all kinds of interesting. Press in South Korea are reporting that Google is in talks to invest one trillion KRW ($875 million) in LG Display, one of the world’s most prominent producer of screens for smartphones and tablets, in a move to give its Pixel smartphones some curves. The Yonhap News Agency, citing sources, said that the investment would… Read More
Following months of rumors, Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has confirmed that it has raised $1.4 billion in new funding at a post-money valuation of $11.6 billion to battle Amazon and Alibaba. The deal includes some big name strategic investors: China’s Tencent, eBay and Microsoft, which joint existing Flipkart backers that include Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel and DST Global.
The… Read More
Rakuten is getting into the Airbnb for business sector after it invested SG$4 million ($2.8 million) in Singapore-based MetroResidences. MetroResidences was founded in 2014 by James Chua and Lester Kang and it matches corporate employees needing to rent for a month or more with home owners who seek tenants. It is currently active in Singapore, but has plans to expand into Hong Kong and… Read More
Tenzo, a London startup and graduate of Techstars, has built what looks like an interesting and timely platform to help restaurants (and potentially any brick ‘n’ mortar retailer) get real-time data insights on how they and their staff are performing. Read More
Payday loan firm Wonga has suffered a data breach affecting up to 245,000 customers in the UK. A further 25,000 customers in Poland may also be affected, according to the BBC. Read More
Saleswhale, a Singapore-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to let companies automate their sales emails, has raised a $1.2 million seed round. The capital was provided by VC firms Monk’s Hill Ventures, Gree Ventures and Wavemaker Partners with a number of angel investors. Those include early Dropbox hire Albert Ni, Pieter Walraven (who founded now Google-owned… Read More
A new European Commission funded startup accelerator, Data Pitch, is being launched today with the aim of connecting established businesses and organisations with lots of data with startups who might be able to help them unlock the value of the info they hold and thereby tackle industrial and societal challenges. Read More
