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
On the heels of losses that appear to be growing faster than revenues, and reported acquisition interest from Google, the music streaming service SoundCloud today announced some executive movements. Eric Wahlforss, who co-founded the audio streaming startup with Alexander Ljung, is stepping away from the role of CTO and taking a new position as chief product officer. Meanwhile, SoundCloud… Read More
Verifone, FIS and digital payments startup Modo announced a new system that will enable customers to pay for any merchandise they want using only accrued credit/debit loyalty points. The novel part of this system is that consumers can purchase anything they want… not just select merchandise available at e-commerce portals or specific to single brands. Read More
It’s been a busy few months for Fitbit. The company has been snatching up startups left and right and announced partnerships galore at CES last week. It’s also engaged in public sniping with Jawbone, one of its chief competitors, in a series of statements and filing tied to patent lawsuits – a company it apparently tried to buy just ahead of the holidays. That latest bit… Read More
Hardware Battlefield competitor Blaze is continuing to score deals that see big deployments of its tech across large urban fleets, this time with New York’s Citi Bikes. The new U.S. partnership (via Engadget) follows an arrangement with London’s Santander bike share program, which saw all 11,500 of those operating in London kitted out with Blaze’s tech. Blaze’s bike… Read More
Facebook Live, the social network’s live video streaming platform, received a series of updates this week, the most notable being the ability for broadcasters to “go live” from their desktop and laptop computers. Video creators will be able to stream from their web browser directly to their Facebook Page, the company explains, which makes the system ideal for certain types… Read More
If you’re old enough to remember the Concorde, then startup Boom‘s plans to bring supersonic flight back to commercial passenger air travel is huge. Now Boom is one step closer, as it reveals the XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator, a 1/3-scale prototype of its Boom supersonic passenger aircraft, which will be doing its first supersonic test flights later this year. The scale… Read More
The European Union is not happy with the explanation provided by the US government for why its domestic spy agencies co-opted Yahoo to scan all emails of users of its webmail service during a six month period in 2015, Reuters is reporting. Read More
Betaworks startup studio is today announcing the second in its line of accelerator camps in the form of voicecamp. And no, this won’t make you a better chorus member. Earlier this year, betaworks launched botcamp as a way to better understand and fuel growth of the chatbot space. With today’s announcement, betaworks wants to apply the same model to a new vertical with voicecamp.… Read More
Twitter will be streaming Donald Trump’s inauguration for the top political job in the U.S. starting at 11 AM ET on Friday, January 20 in partnership with PBS NewsHour. The feed will be available on Twitter apps, and at inauguration.twitter.com. Trump’s official office-taking event has been the subject of a lot of attention in the lead-up to the day, since the Trump administration… Read More
It’s no secret that Apple has had its eye on original programming for a while. The hardware giant has already dipped its toes in the water with the purchase of James Corden’s perennially trending Carpool Karaoke, along with a smattering of documentaries for Apple Music. There’s also that biographical series based on the life of DJ/rapper/producer/headphone mogul Dr. Dre in… Read More
