Tech news was heavy this week. Uber is facing a sexual harassment claim as well as a lawsuit from Google, NASA discovered planets with what could prove to be Earthlike conditions, and more information was revealed about Apple’s new Apple Park campus. These are the top stories of the week. 1. Last week, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler accused the company of sexual harassment and… Read More
If you’ve read the latest headlines about Britain’s tech industry, you’d think the country hadn’t been rocked by the greatest political and economic uncertainty since the Second World War. Not only are UK startups raising record amounts of funding year on year, but tech giants like Amazon are investing and doubling down on the UK economy, as if the mood music was… Read More
Layer, the messaging platform that won TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield back in 2013, is making two big announcements today: It’s raised $15 million in Series B funding, and it’s acquiring another startup, Cola. Layer makes it easy for businesses to add messaging capabilities to their iOS, Android and web products — customers include Trunk Club, Staples and Udacity.… Read More
The e-Golf, Volkswagen’s electric version of its popular compact car, officially gets around 50 percent more range this year than it did in the previous model. That means it now has an EPA rating of 125 miles on a single charge (via Autoblog), compared to 83 miles before. The 125-mile range is still a far cry from the Chevy Bolt’s industry-leading EV range, but the e-Golf is not… Read More
If you’re looking to attend the hottest startup show in the Big Apple, you’re going to want to act fast. Today is the final day to get extra early-bird Disrupt tickets for just $1,795 apiece, a full $1,200 off the final retail price.
You can get your tickets here. Go on, we’ll wait.
Still need convincing? Here’s why you are definitely going to want to be at this… Read More
Self-driving trucking startup Embark is revealing its tech for the first time, showing off a competitor for Uber’s Otto that uses neural networks and deep learning to teach trucks how to drive themselves through their own processes of practice and trial and error. Embark’s trucks are also approved to test on Nevada roads, hence the desert scenery you see in the video above, and in… Read More
Following accusations of sexism being ingrained into the culture of ride-hailing company Uber, after a female ex-employ detailed her experience in a blog post earlier this week, CEO Travis Kalanick held a meeting yesterday with a group of 100+ Uber female engineers to listen to their concerns — and was told in clear terms the company has a systemic problem with sexism. Read More
TechCrunch is holding a Mini-Meetup during Mobile World Congress, on Tuesday Feb. 28. We will hold a “Pitch-Off” of startups at the event. Tickets are sold out but you can go on the waiting list here. You can apply to pitch your Barcelona-based startup here. We’ve selected nine great startups to explain to our panel of VCs and TechCrunch editors in 60 seconds or less why… Read More
So much for sticking “nuclear weapons” in carriers’ dumb pipes. Shine, last year’s enfant terrible of mobile ad blocking is pivoting (again!) — in both tone of voice and business model. It’s also rebranding to, er, Rainbow. Read More
Stayzilla, an Airbnb for homestays in India, is closing down its service. The company was founded six years ago and had raised $34 million from investors, including a $20 million Series B in 2015. Now is the time to pause and “reboot” however, CEO and co-founder Yogendra Vasupal explained in a blog post. The company reached a network of over 50,000 accommodation options across… Read More
Zalora, the Rocket Internet-backed online fashion store, is continuing its retreat from Asia. The firm sold off its businesses in Vietnam and Thailand last year, and now it is withdrawing from the Philippines and Indonesia.
Yesterday it transpired that Zalora sold 49 percent of its Philippines-based operations to local real estate firm Ayala, as E27 reported, but it is in the process of… Read More
While messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat and WeChat rake in ever more users, features and relationships with key brands, and Apple’s iMessage continues to play strong with iPhone users, Google today announced a big step forward in its own strategy to bring a native, enhanced, native messaging service to more Android devices — a play for Google to help carriers… Read More
DeviantArt gets acquired by Wix, AirMap raises $26 million, Airbnb buys Tilt, Google releases perspective for comment toxicity rating and more. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Cloudflare revealed a serious bug in its software today that caused sensitive data like passwords, cookies, authentication tokens to spill in plaintext from its customers’ websites. The announcement is a major blow for the content delivery network, which offers enhanced security and performance for more than 5 million websites. This could have allowed anyone who noticed the error to… Read More
People in government are organizers and hustlers with deep industry knowledge and skills that are applicable across a variety of roles in tech. Read More
At World View’s new headquarters in Tucson, Arizona, the paint is barely dry on a gleaming new structure located near the airport, and just down the road from defense contractor Raytheon. The facility dominates the landscape, and reflects the enormity of World View’s main goal, which is nothing short of carving out a brand new and unique market for commercial spaceflight operations. Read More
The FCC ordered today to reduce the reach of a net neutrality rule that requires broadband providers to share data on their services. Originally, providers with less than 100,000 subscribers were exempt; the order raises that number to 250,000 — potentially allowing far more companies to escape complying with certain consumer protections. Read More
Apple has been working on a very annoying iPhone shutdown bug and it says it has come up with a fix of sorts that should mitigate the problem on a majority of iPhone 6 and 6s devices. Read More
Wow — Bitcoin just hit an all-time high. The digital currency is currently trading at around $1,186 — which is about $20 more than its previous all-time high of ~$1,165, which it hit in November 2013, at the height of Bitcoin-mania. Read More
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned self-driving company that began life as Google’s self-driving car project, has filed suit against self-driving trucking company Otto, and its parent company, Uber. Waymo says that Uber “misappropriated” its trade secrets, and infringed upon its held patents by using elements of its self-driving tech related to its custom, in-house LiDAR sensors. Read More
