The tiny Pixel 2.0 is basically an Arduino board wedded to a tiny 1.5″ 128×128 color OLED screen. This means you can stick it inside a wearable and address the screen directly from the Arduino board, an improvement on current “solder the screen to the Arduino and hope it works” world of DIY electronics.
This teeny-weeny board costs $75 on Kickstarter and should ship in June. Read More
As usual Mr. Krebs has some great images of a credit card skimmer found in the wild. This model uses Samsung phone parts and lays right over the Ingenico card scanners you’ve probably seen in stores. The interesting thing is that these scanners also support chip and PIN technology but, as evidenced by the photo, it looks like the retailer disabled it essentially sending the scanner back… Read More
When it comes to implementing a system like Docker’s container platform, it normally takes a very particular set of technical skills. Docker wants to remove some of the complexity involved in running their product set, and to that end released Docker Enterprise Edition today. Think of the enterprise edition as a package of tools designed to work seamlessly across any supported flavor… Read More
Allo, the messaging app Google launched into a crowded market last September, is getting an update today. The update focuses on improved support for emoji and GIFs (because that is, after all, what the world needs), and easier access to the Google Assistant.
As far as we can tell, Allo has been anything but a hit for Google. With Hangouts, the company had a perfectly solid and competitive… Read More
Amazon is looking to improve its renewable energy track record, with a new project that will see it install large solar energy gathering arrays on the rooftops of many of its global fulfillment and sorting facilities. The plan is to start with 15 system installations in the U.S. by the end of this year, with a longer-term plan of putting them on about 50 buildings by 2020. The initial 15… Read More
Klook, a service for finding and booking travel activities, has closed a $30 million Series B funding round led by Sequoia China. Existing backers Matrix Partners and Welight Capital, a firm founded by former Tencent executives, also took part. This new money takes Hong Kong-based Klook to $36.5 million from investors to date. Last October, it closed a $5 million Series A round led by Matrix.… Read More
With a pitch to provide utility payment data to lending companies, Atlanta-based Urjanet has managed to raise $20 million in new financing. Lenders are hungry for new ways to loan money to consumers but are struggling to pick up borrowers among debt-wary millennials who remember the pain of the 2008 financial crisis and are unwilling to take the perceived risk of lending to potential… Read More
The in-car data business is booming, and Chevrolet is stepping up to help meet demand with a new, prepaid $20 monthly unlimited data plan – the first unlimited data plan for car owners from one of the big three in the U.S. The plan will let people connect in-car to OnStar 4G LTE Wi-Fi (in models that offer this, which includes all of its lineup for late-model vehicles). It’s a big… Read More
Booksy, an app that enables appointment-based businesses, such as hairdressers and beauty salons, to take online booking and operate other aspects of their business, has closed $4.2 million in Series A funding. in Series A funding. Read More
The growing fitness boutique industry sees inefficiencies when there are empty spots in a workout class. Studios often have to pay the yoga teacher the same whether there are five people or 15 who attend a session. Several startups have tried to solve this problem, by offering discounted passes to meet demand. ClassPass gained early traction with consumers, but San Francisco-based Zenrez… Read More
Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on TechNode, an editorial partner of TechCrunch based in China.
Didi Chuxing’s deal to acquire Uber China seemingly left the Chinese ride-hailing giant as the last man standing and therefore sole winner of China’s vast ride-sharing market. However, Didi’s success has also served to open new opportunities for other… Read More
Messaging app Line is taking a leaf out of the books of Amazon, Google and others after it launched its own artificial intelligence platform. A voice-powered concierge service called Clova — short for “Cloud Virtual Assistant” — is the centerpiece of the service, much like Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Assistant. Beyond the assistant… Read More
One billion people use Facebook Messenger every month. And no matter how bad the current perceptions of the bot scene are, that number is hard to ignore. Octane AI is counting on celebrity content creators to build conversational experiences that people actually want to have. With its public launch and the rollout of its content creation platform Convos, the Octane team is taking a gamble on… Read More
An in-depth review of the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch, YouTube launches YouTube TV, Uber’s CEO apologizes for being mean to a driver and Craig Newmark donates $1 million to ProPublica. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
It’s here! The much-anticipated Snap IPO is happening. They priced their IPO today at $17 per share, raising $3.4 billion and valuing the company at $24 billion. Like venture rounds, IPOs are fundraising events, yet instead of private investors buying the shares, it’s stock market investors. But there’s a catch. If you’re an ordinary “retail” investor,… Read More
Lyft is out pitching to investors while competitor Uber surrounds itself in controversy. The Wall Street Journal first reported that they are chatting about a $500 million round. We’re hearing that they are targeting a roughly $6 billion valuation, slightly above the $5.5 billion they were valued at in their last private round. The timing makes sense given the failed sale process last… Read More
Now you can listen to your favorite TechCrunch shows in the car, on a run or wherever you desire! TechCrunch’s Crunch Report and Bullish are officially available in the iTunes store in audio-only versions. You can download past audio-only episodes or subscribe to new audio-only episodes of Crunch Report here. Audio-only episodes of Bullish are available here. If audio-only isn’t… Read More
Cloud content management company Box posted fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday with shares quickly plummeting in initial after-hours trading. They mostly recovered, trading down just 1 percent by late afternoon. Box beat investor expectations with an adjusted loss of 10 cents per share versus the negative 14 cents forecast. Revenue for the quarter was also a beat at… Read More
Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun safety and gun control nonprofit backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, faced an awkward decision while working with Snapchat last year, according to leaked emails obtained by Mic. Everytown was collaborating with the Snapchat news team on a “Guns in America” Live Story tied to National Gun Violence Awareness Day. This… Read More
The only thing I like less than getting a 50-megabyte attachment in an email is not getting it because it bounced. That should happen less frequently now that Google has raised the bar for Gmail accounts, and anything up to 50 megs is A-OK. Read More
