Swiss-based PGP end-to-end encrypted email provider, ProtonMail, now has an onion address, allowing users to access its service via a direct connection to the Tor anonymizing network — in what it describes as an active measure aimed at defending against state-sponsored censorship. Read More
It’s been about three years since PR firm VSC launched Wareness, a “studio” within the larger organization that provides consulting services and seed funding to hardware startups. Since then, Wareness has backed 14 companies. The next step? Looking beyond hardware — founder and CEO Vijay Chattha told me that the studio is now looking to work with startups in… Read More
A YouTube messaging feature launches in Canada, Theranos closes its last lab in Scottsdale, Arizona, DoorDash and Postmates start using Starship robotics to test robot delivery and Google buys Fabric dev platform. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Mankind has a complex relationship with the notion of Artificial Intelligence. Tinged with both fear and fascination; the timeline for AI development is punctuated by cultural and historical events that have brought with them new speculation and theories. Mechanical men and artificial beings were a prevalent feature of Greek myth, including the golden robots of Hephaestus and… Read More
NASA announced on Wednesday that in 2016, Earth experienced the hottest surface temperatures in modern history. Separate, independent analysis at NOAA provided the same conclusion. This makes the third year in a row that Earth experienced record high temperatures. These record years are part of a concerning long-term trend of increasing global temperatures. In fact, 16 of the 17 warmest years… Read More
Beeline is a handlebar-mounted gadget that uses a combination of Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS to direct you around town. Instead of giving you turn-by-turn direction like a traditional GPS, though, it simply acts as a compass to guide you to your destination. The Beeline team argues that this allows riders to be more present by letting them decide the best path to take.
The project launched on… Read More
Bragging rights for the fastest airport Wi-Fi go to Denver by a long shot, according to Speedtest.net’s latest data, although Philadelphia, Sea-Tac, and Dallas Fort Worth bringing up the rear. But mobile speeds, particularly in Detroit and San Francisco, may soon have them all beat. Read More
Hot off its Switch unveiling late last week, Nintendo is dropping some key details about its next mobile title. Due out on February 2, Fire Emblem: Heroes is the latest in a series of long running tactical role playing titles published by the gaming giant. The title was first announced in April, alongside a new entry in the Animal Crossing series, but both were ultimately pushed back in favor… Read More
How much traction? What’s the market size? Who else invested? Are you the target user? These are the questions every investor will ask you, so you better build a business with the right answers and get ready to recite them. That’s what Pitchbot.vc helps you practice. Pitchbot simulates a pitch meeting with an angel, incubator, seed fund or VC firm. You respond to… Read More
Microsoft has been making notable improvements to the experiences on its Twitch competitor, Beam, since it purchased the startup this past August.
A major update was just launched globally for the service which highlights a new faster video player, Xbox Live sign-ins, and a redesigned home page that makes the service’s various communities more visible to users. These features had… Read More
Mozilla is setting itself up for a big year ahead. The organization’s flagship Firefox browser, for example, is about to get a brand-new rendering engine. After a few years of missteps and misplaced priorities (remember Firefox OS and Hello?), it looks like Mozilla, which is more important to the open web ecosystem than most people realize, is back on track. To get 2017 started,… Read More
There’s a small glimmer of sunshine for what has been an extremely gloomy year for Samsung. A court in Seoul’s Central District has rejected an arrested warrant for Samsung vice-chairman/heir-apparent Jay Y. Lee that was issued by prosecutors earlier this week. The warrant was a result of bribery and embezzlement charges that also landed South Korea’s recently impeached… Read More
As we approach the coming apocalypse we need bread, circuses and odors to keep us entertained. That’s why CamSoda, a NSFW webcam site, has announced the OhRoma, a VR-compatible scent mask that injects the smells of roses, perfume and private parts into your VR webcamming experience. Yeah. You read that right.
Why do you want to do such a thing? Well, here’s what the CEO… Read More
This is the Leica M10, but it’s not your father’s (or grandfather’s) familiar M series camera. Its release date is already pegged for tomorrow, January 19th, so a new interchangeable lens Leica is a surprise: the M10 with a new sensor, body and 30% larger field of vision. It’s the second M series camera to be digital; the first was the Leica M8 which launched nearly… Read More
Holy cow, we have quite the beat for Netflix.
Netflix added nearly 2 million new subscribers domestically and around 5 million subscribers internationally in the fourth quarter this year, the company said today. Wall Streets expectations for the fourth quarter fell far below that, coming in at 1.38 million and 3.78 million respectively. We’ll address the financial parts of the company… Read More
Salesforce announced today that it plans to open an engineering and innovation hub in the Seattle area, greatly expanding its presence there. Company co-founder Parker Harris says the office, which is located in the Nine Two Nine Office Tower in Bellevue, will be dedicated mostly to supporting the company’s artificial intelligence initiative, introduced last Fall, which… Read More
Mirai, the botnet that subverted thousands of poorly secured internet of things devices and set them to work on denial of service attacks, has been revealed to be the creation of a young developer who found that the black hat fit better than the white. Read More
All the top streaming services will now offer offline access to selected content, it seems. Following Netflix and Amazon, Hulu’s CEO Mike Hopkins has confirmed that it will offer users the ability to download content to their devices in a matter of months. The company is currently working on the technology and the rights to make the feature possible, Hopkins said. The tease about… Read More
Applications for Startup Battlefield at Disrupt NY are now open. We’re searching for new, up-and-coming startups to launch and compete on the TechCrunch Disrupt NY stage. Why Apply? Your team will get to pitch for six minutes and then face Q&A from an all-star list of judges. Past Battlefield judges have included Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), Fred Wilson (Union Square… Read More
