He won’t take office for another week, but President-elect Trump’s administration has been happy to take credit for a number of job-creation stories, including, notably, a deal with Indiana-based HVAC manufacturer Carrier and Japanese telecom company SoftBank. The Trump team’s latest bit of self-congratulation comes from something of an unexpected source. This week,… Read More
In his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, retired Marine General James Mattis delivered his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mattis, Trump’s appointment for secretary of defense, faced no questions about his involvement in Theranos, the embattled biotech startup being sued for fraud by a number of its investors. Mattis did note that he has been living in… Read More
YouTube announced a new feature today aimed at helping creators make money while connecting with their fans during a live stream: Super Chat. The addition is reminiscent of streaming site Twitch’s Cheering feature, which allow viewers to pay real money in order to have their messages stand out in the chat stream through the use of emotes (animated icons.) In YouTube’s case,… Read More
SpaceX’s first return to active launch status could be only a few days away, as the payload from Iridium has been loaded on to the Falcon 9 rocket that’s set to take it to space on January 14 if all goes well. The launch was postponed from a planned January 9 date on Sunday this week, due to prevailing weather conditions at the Vandenberg Air Force base launchpad. The new window… Read More
Volvo announced that it’s joining other automakers in creating a business unit devoted to car sharing. The new shared mobility unit will be based on Sunfleet, a car sharing service that Volvo has run since 1998. So after nearly two decades, Volvo should be pretty comfortable with the service. The new unit will expand Sunfleet globally. Right now, it only operates in 50 cities in Sweden,… Read More
Ebay is not taking the rise of fashion resale businesses targeting high-end clientele lying down. The over 20-year old marketplace today announced the launch of a new authentication program, called simply eBay Authenticate, which will allow sellers to opt in to have their goods verified. Buyers will be able to see that the items will be authenticated when viewing listings – a move… Read More
Early in December, Facebook finally unveiled their newly acquired licenses for e-money and payment services out of Ireland. The rumors of Facebook entering the payment space in Europe have been going on ever since it was reported that Facebook applied for a money transfer license a while ago. Read More
Each year, the startup community comes together in the name of innovation to celebrate the highlights and accomplishments of the tech community and to poke some fun at ourselves. There is an incredible group of finalists vying for the coveted Crunchies award in eleven award categories. This is TechCrunch’s 10th Annual Crunchies Award Show and attendees are in for a treat. Chelsea… Read More
When will our thirst for speed be sated? Perhaps when Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes good on his most recent “achievable” max speed claim of just 2.34 seconds for 0 to 60 mph. Musk teased this might be possible from a new Ludicrous+ easter egg being pushed out over-the-air to Tesla vehicles, which can already boost the Model S P100D time to 2.4 seconds, just about on par with Faraday… Read More
The digital currency bitcoin began 2017 with a bang, soaring to its highest level in more than three years to reach $1,150 — a record high. Since then, its price has fallen more than 30 percent as nervous Chinese authorities put local bitcoin exchanges on notice that more regulations may be coming. To Dan Morehead — a former head of macro trading at Tiger Global who today runs his… Read More
Google today announced a small update to Google Maps that makes it easier to hail a ridesharing service like Uber, Lyft, Gett or Hailo from the app. With this update, Google Maps now feels a bit more like the native apps those services already offer. Instead of showing you a list with only a few ride options, the app now shows a map with the location of nearby cars and a larger list… Read More
The total U.S. housing market is worth $30 trillion, but the data to value individual properties is still imprecise, according to HouseCanary. The real estate startup thinks it has better analysis and counts believers like Eric Schmidt and Kobe Bryant, who are participating in its $33 million funding round.
“We’re probably 25 years behind the stock market in terms of… Read More
Ten years ago, Apple announced the iPhone, which soon gave birth to the App Store and the resulting broader app ecosystem. That industry has now matured, having reached critical mass, according to a new report from Flurry out this morning. While there’s still some growth to be seen — app usage is up 11 percent over last year, for example — that growth is slowing. And many… Read More
Techdirt, a blog about the intersections of law, media and technology, is fighting a defamation suit brought by Shiva Ayyadurai, a man who claims to have invented email. The site posted on the claim multiple times and Ayyadurai took offense to the tune of $15 million.
“Defamation claims like this can force independent media companies to capitulate and shut down due to mounting legal… Read More
In news that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who’s been following the industry even peripherally, Gartner notes in a new study that global PC shipments have continued to decline for a fifth straight year. The numbers mark a 3.7 percent year-over-year drop for the fourth quarter of 2016. The analyst group notes that the consistent decline comes even as laptop makers… Read More
Last year, I was on vacation in Goa in India with my brother. We ended up renting a motor scooter and buying exactly two liters of gas in the middle of nowhere (pictured above). The shop gave us two plastic water bottles filled with gasoline. Ever since, I’ve wondered how a remote village in the middle of a rural area in India manages to get oil and gas. There are some interesting… Read More
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a notice to Fiat Chrysler (FCA), informing the automaker that approximately 104,000 vehicles, including specific models of 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks, included “at least eight” pieces of engine management software that helped them “skirt” EPA rules regarding emissions… Read More
Microsoft today unveiled the newest addition to its Office 365 suite with the debut of an application for shift workers and management, called StaffHub. The program is aimed at those who don’t tend to work from desktop computers and have different schedules from week to week, such as in retail, hospitality, restaurants and other industries.
The program was originally introduced in… Read More
A startup that refuels your car wherever it’s parked, Yoshi Inc. has raised $2.1 million in a new round of venture funding to expand its gas delivery service into new towns, and to add different auto-related services to its menu. According to CEO and co-founder Nick Alexander, “Anything you usually need to get done at a gas station or auto shop, we want to bring to you at a… Read More
Daimler has led a new $17.2 million funding round in Starship Technologies, a startup created by Skype founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, the WSJ reports. The round will help U.K.-based Starship expand its efforts to bring rolling drone deliveries to city sidewalks around the world. Starship’s six-wheeled autonomous delivery bots are essentially coolers on wheels, keeping contents hot… Read More
