Microsoft won a narrow victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals today, as the court split 4-4 on whether to rehear arguments from the Department of Justice about why it wants to access Microsoft customer data stored on servers in Ireland. The Justice Department and Microsoft have grappled over the issue since 2013, when a New York judge issued a warrant demanding that Microsoft turn… Read More
Google was a bit late to the connected home party. Its Amazon Echo competitor, Home, officially launched in November of last year, and slowly but surely, the company has been adding some key partners to help expand its reach. Last year, Nest, Philips Hue and Samsung SmartThings all were added to Google’s burgeoning connected home ecosystem, and today the company’s got a pair of… Read More
After a bit of a delay, the launch of Android Wear 2.0 is finally drawing near. Today, Google launched the fifth and final developer preview of Wear 2.0 ahead of its consumer launch in early February. There aren’t any major surprises here, but with this release, Android Wear 2.0 is finally getting full iOS support, too, which was missing from the previews — but not Wear 1.x… Read More
The 10th Annual Crunchies Awards Show is but a few short weeks away, and we’ve yet to specifically introduce you to the nominees of a very important category: Founder of the Year. Given the landscape of current affairs — let’s face it, 2016 was a wash at best — the role of the founder becomes increasingly critical. It’s not enough to make great hires, execute on… Read More
The ultimate first world problem is finally solved. Apple just released the first beta of iOS 10.3 to developers. Among other changes, the beta includes a way to find your lost AirPods in the Find My iPhone app.
As you know, Apple’s AirPods only have tiny W1 chips in each earbud. These chips only support Bluetooth — there’s no Wi-Fi, there’s no GPS and, of course… Read More
While half the world is coming to grips with the idea that people actually want to watch others play games, the other half is watching people play games. Streamers, watchers, and tips from the latter to the former are all increasing at a good clip, according to streaming companion service Streamlabs. Read More
We’d been hearing murmurs for a while that Tilt was up for grabs and was talking to a few folks in recent weeks, and in early January we caught wind that the company may be acquired by Airbnb. It looks like the chatter was right. The Information reported today that the company is in talks with Airbnb for an acquisition, and the report jives with what we’ve heard as well. The… Read More
Ted Wang has spent his career helping startups make important decisions, from Facebook, to Twitter, to Dropbox to Jet. He’s done it as a partner with the law firm Fenwick & West over the last decade. Now he’s betting his skills can translate as an investor. Indeed, today, Wang joins the seed-stage venture firm Cowboy Ventures as a full-time investment partner. Firm… Read More
Universal quantum computers don’t exist, but that hasn’t stopped D-Wave from carving out its own place in the quantum computing market. Today, the 17-year-old company is announcing its forth quantum chip, the 2000Q, doubling the number of qubits on its exiting 1000Q chip. The Burnaby, British Columbia based company’s chips fall under a specific class of quantum… Read More
Six months after introducing Juicero to the market, Doug Evans left his role of CEO of he founded after selling off Organic Avenue in 2012 (that juice company would go on to file for Chapter 7 in 2015). In October, the luxury juice squeezing startup brought former Coca-Cola North America president Jeff Dunn on in his stead. Just last week, the company slashed the price of its appliance nearly… Read More
Target’s CartWheel application has grown to some 27 million shoppers who have used it over the past three years following its debut to save over $600 million at checkout. Now, the retailer hints it may be adding mobile payments to the app, and potentially its main Target application, as well. The company didn’t confirm which of the two, or if both, would be updated to include… Read More
Ford has picked up a new executive with a strong history of success in marketing and communications across a range of verticals; the automaker announced today that Musa Tariq will join as vice president and chief brand officer at the company, acting as the senior-most creative and strategic branding employee at the company across its global operations. Tariq will join Ford on January 30,… Read More
Amazon has a new wake word for its Echo speakers, letting you trigger the Alexa voice assistant by uttering “Computer” aloud. It’s far more susceptible to accidental activation, yes, but it’s also a dream come true for Star Trek fans who watched both original series and TNG crew members address the Enterprise’s on-board computing systems directly. I have tried… Read More
Box Notes, a productivity tool at Box, is announcing updated functionality and a new design. The platform, which Box says is used by nearly 40% Fortune 500 companies, will now let users view and edit all notes within a single browser, without having to leave Box Notes to search folders. They will also be introducing desktop apps, to make it easier to access Box Notes on both Mac and PC,… Read More
Microsoft today announced Intune for Education, a new tier of its existing enterprise application and device management service that’s specifically meant for school. In addition, the company announced that a number of its partners will soon start shipping a wider variety of affordable Windows 10 PCs. This move comes shortly after Google announced yet another push for its Chromebooks… Read More
If you haven’t been following the enterprise space of late, you may well have missed the memo that collaborative white boards are the hot newness. Microsoft has one and Google has one, and really, it was only a matter of time before those stalwarts of workplace hardware Cisco got in on the fun.
As its name implies, the Cisco Spark Board is built around the company’s proprietary… Read More
I was enjoying burgers with an economist friend who is interested in the world of venture. We were bouncing ideas around about where venture is heading, especially at the earliest stages, where I spend my time. His questions resonated with my inner econ nerd. And having thought about it since, I believe that the market for making seed investments remains quite attractive. Read More
Pokémon has another official new mobile game that isn’t Pokémon GO – it’s a strategy battle game called Pokémon Duel where you collect virtual figures and fight them in an attempt to take over territory from your rival. The Duel element involves actually battling your figures, which you can select in teams of six. These individual Pokémon have stats, including how many… Read More
Corporations could be a lot more efficient with their travel spend, believes booking platform TripActions. Today, the company is announcing $14.6 million in funding from Zeev Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners to fulfill that mission. Based on the idea that people spend more money when it’s on their company’s dime, the startup offers employees rewards for staying under a… Read More
French startup Spendesk might be just a few months old, but the company is currently firing on all cylinders. Spendesk just raised $2.2 million (€2 million), just rebranded the company, and is about to launch mobile apps and corporate plastic cards for everyone. Let’s start with the funding round. The company started out as an eFounders startup. It is now ready to fly on its own and… Read More
