Facebook is looking into the possibility of buying its own video content from creative partners, including original scripted and unscripted shows, as well as sports. The desire is to help “kickstart” an overall “ecosystem of partner content,” according to College Humor co-founder and recent Facebook team employee Ricky Van Veen speaking to Recode. This isn’t… Read More
Stash, a mobile application that aims to make investing easier for those who aren’t as financially experienced, has raised $25 million in Series B funding, the company announced today. The round, which follows the startup’s $9.25 million Series A just this August, was led by prior investor Valar Ventures, with participation from Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Entrée… Read More
Evernote announced that it will roll out a new privacy policy on January 23, and the changes have users threatening to abandon the service. The policy changes have to do with machine learning, which Evernote says it is using to “help you get the most out of your Evernote experience.” Evernote wants to let its machine learning algorithms crunch your data, but it doesn’t want… Read More
Starbucks is venturing further into its own original content. On the heels of its feel-good series “Upstanders,” the coffee chain is now introducing its second video series, “1st & Main,” created by several longtime “The Simpsons” writers. “1st & Main’s” animated video shorts will kick off this Friday, and will be only around 60 to… Read More
Welcome to the 2016 TechCrunch Holiday Gift Guide! We’ll be rolling out a bunch of guides leading up to Christmas, hopefully making your holiday shopping a little easier. Looking for gifts for others on your list? Check out our full 2016 Gift Guide Hub. Looking for a great gift for the road warrior or frequent flyer in your life? Well look no further. Here are some of our favorite things… Read More
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum has picked up two of the highest-flying and hardest-driving executives in the tech industry with the addition of Uber Technologies’ Travis Kalanick and SpaceX’s Elon Musk. Announced today, the two appointees join a board headed by private equity titan Stephen Schwarzman, who heads the multi-billion-dollar private… Read More
The Wynn Las Vegas hotel is adding an Amazon Echo to every one of its 4,748 rooms. A first for a hotel to do and a great way to market both the hotel and the Echo device. However, it also means, should you stay there, you’ll have a built-in surveillance device potentially listening in on all your conversations whenever you are in the room. Call me crazy but there might be a few guests… Read More
As 3D printing moves from the realm of hackers and hobbyists into the commonplace it’s clear that there is room for a 3D printer for students, kids, and schools. While many in the space are going for that lucrative if price-sensitive market, I think New Matter may have nearly nailed it with their Mod-T. This super-simple printer uses PLA to produce items that are not nearly as polished… Read More
How will people sift and navigate information intelligently in the future, when there’s even more data being pushed at them? Information overload is a problem we struggle with now, so the need for better ways to filter and triage digital content is only going to step up as the MBs keep piling up. Read More
You still can’t watch Amazon Prime Video from your Apple TV, but you can now download an app in order to do some Amazon shopping from your television’s big screen. As to why you’d want to do such a thing, I couldn’t say. Maybe you left your phone in the other room? In any event, Amazon has this week rolled out a new Apple TV application called “Amazon App:… Read More
Kickstarter is pulling back the curtain on its app development process. This morning, the crowdfunding platform is taking to its engineering blog to announce that it will be open sourcing the code for its native Android and iOS apps, in keeping with the company’s goal of giving startups a bit of a leg up. According to the company, inspiration for the idea arrived around the same time… Read More
Airbus debuted Project Vahana earlier this year, an ambitious project designed with the specific intent of creating small, efficient vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft for use in dense urban environments with a target launch date of 2021. Now, the company is proceeding with its plans, and detailing its Trade Study, the first part of which asks what a functional VTOL that meets… Read More
Getting people to leave behind their iPhones and move to Android is something Google has focused on more heavily in recent months. For example, its new Pixel smartphones ship with a “Quick Switch” adapter that let you easily transfer data between your iPhone and your new Pixel phone. For everyone else, Google has just released a tool that turns Google Drive into a useful utility… Read More
Instagram will now let you save your favorite posts from its service for later viewing via a new bookmarking button that appears below the posts in your feed. The idea is that there are times you’ll encounter content you’ll want to revisit – including, perhaps, a product you want to buy from one of Instagram’s advertisers. By tapping the bookmarking button, you’ll… Read More
Over the last three months, the venture firm Social Capital has worked with the media outlet The Information to put together a look at the most diverse venture firms for the second year in a row. The teams say they gathered more than 6,000 data points about 580 senior investment professionals at the 72 most active U.S. venture firms to draw their conclusions. What they found, broadly… Read More
Cloud automation and managed service provider Logicworks today announced that it has raised a $135 million investment round led by Pamplona Capital. Logicworks’ own management team and its existing shareholders also participated in this round. The company says it’ll use the new influx of capital to fuel its national and international expansion, product development and —… Read More
Twitter users will now be able to broadcast live video directly from their mobile apps, thanks to tighter integration with live streaming service Periscope, the companies announced this morning. Through updated iOS and Android applications, rolling out shortly, you’ll be able to tap a “LIVE” button directly from the compose screen where you write tweets, in order to… Read More
Uber launched a small fleet of self-driving vehicles in San Francisco on Tuesday, but the second city to host the public test of the ride-hailing company’s work in this area isn’t quite as enthusiastic on the regulator side. California’s DMV, which has a practice of vetting companies testing autonomous driving technology on state roads and then granting permits to those who… Read More
While gridlock has taken hold in a paralyzed Washington, D.C. mayors across the country are taking a pragmatic approach to solving local problems and its time for tech to reach out to them. “For years now, Washington, D.C., has been paralyzed by partisan gridlock… Rather than complaining, cities have started innovating, and we’ve seen this incredible appetite for ideas… Read More
Amazon today announced that it has started a small private drone delivery trial in the UK. It’s currently working with only two shoppers who can now order their goods by drone. Over time, Amazon plans to expand this trial to a few dozen — and later to hundreds — of shoppers who live within a few miles of its first Prime Air fulfillment center around Cambridge in the UK.… Read More
