In Ernestine Fu’s future, you shouldn’t have to wait more than a few seconds to launch a game or an app to connect with a friend. In fact, a few seconds might even be too long. That’s what prompted the birth of Blackstorm, a development platform that has the tools to build high-fidelity applications — the same you might get from an app in the App Store — in HTML5… Read More
Bored while you wait for friends to text back? Now you can challenge friends for high scores on Facebook Messenger’s new Instant Games, like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Words With Friends Frenzy. Available right from your message threads, they load in seconds since they’re built on the HTML5 mobile web standard, rather than having to be downloaded like clunky native apps. Read More
If you’re anything like me you hate social media with a white-hot passion yet you feel oddly compelled to put garbage into it on a regular basis, to your great shame. Thankfully there is now a service that can create a book about your year in social media, allowing you to seethe both offline and online, a boon to this plugged-in generation. The service is called MySocialBook and… Read More
Just in time for holidays, OhMiBod is releasing the latest version of its “wearable massager.” Half a decade after the release of the Club Vibe 2.OH, the sex toy innovator is back with a new version of its discreet vibrator. Version 3.OH is smaller than its predecessor and ships with a rechargeable wireless remote featuring a built-in microphone. The new silicone-based wearable also… Read More
Two years ago John Oliver returned to host the Crunchies for the second time. And he roasted the crowd. The video is below and it’s worth watching.
This February TechCrunch will host another Crunchies award show. This is the 10th year. A lot has changed about the show over the years so we’re going to spend some time looking back at previous shows. Do you remember that time MC… Read More
GM’s next smart cruise control system is designed to let drivers actually remove their hands from the wheel while in operation, and uses facial recognition to make sure that they’re still paying attention to the road. That’s according to a new letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to GM about the proposed feature, as detailed by… Read More
Mental health is one of the buzzwords of the moment, especially now Royalty like Prince William and Duchess Katherine have been championing it, along with Kid Cudi, Cara Delevingne and others saying that they would be open to sending their children to counselling. One in five people have suffered from depression, one in two will suffer some other mental disturbance in their lifetimes. If… Read More
Mobileye and Delphi announced a partnership to build an affordable self-driving car platform it could sell to automakers starting in 2019 earlier this year, and now Intel is joining the two automative suppliers to provide the chips used in their autonomous system. Intel’s processors will power the interpretation of input from the primarily camera and radar-driven self-driving system… Read More
As people continue to hunt for bargains online, we are more seeing more record-breaking marquee online sales days. Cyber Monday — coming the first day after the long Thanksgiving break — racked up $3.45 billion in sales in the U.S., pipping past the previous record of $3.34 billion spent on Black Friday just a few days earlier. Sales were up 12.1 percent compared to Cyber Monday… Read More
Security camera company Canary has today addressed one of the few complaints customers had with its product: there wasn’t an easy way to watch your camera’s feed on your TV’s big screen. That has now changed with the launch of a new version of the Canary app, which adds support for Apple TV. This lets you view the live stream from your camera on your television, as well… Read More
For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding LeEco’s US launch, the company hasn’t exactly made its products easy to get here in the States, largely relying on what it’s deemed “flash sales” – or limited time offers through its own store. Starting today, the LeMall commerce site is open for good here in the States, and on December 1, it will be making… Read More
Nintendo will provide fans a way to put themselves in the game at Universal Studios Japan, Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood, and it won’t require use of a VR headset. The Mario-maker is teaming up with the theme park operator for a new set of attractions that Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Universal’s Mark Woodbury describe as “worlds” for fans to… Read More
Twitter is doing a live streaming event on Friday, December 2 with the cast of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the company announced today. The stream will be hosted by People magazine, and will include content from the film that hasn’t yet been released, as well as a question-and-answer segment fielding queries from Twitter users. The event kicks off at 10 AM PT (1 PM ET). The Q&A… Read More
Nissan’s doing its first big push into internet-connected cars, and the first steps are tentative, as you might expect from something as sensitive as provided a direct line to the internet to a vehicle: The Japanese automaker will be offering an option on new vehicle that provides notifications to drivers when they need to take the car in for maintenance or service.
The option will be… Read More
It’s a big decision to take a day or two to attend a startup tech conference. No doubt you would like a solid return on your investment of time and money, not a tumble in the mosh pit of a mega tech event. Sound right? Then consider TechCrunch’s Disrupt London for these reasons: Zero in on the right startups for you. Investors and founders benefit from CrunchMatch, the… Read More
A new joint venture between major carmakers will attempt to make it easier to get around Europe using electric cars, thanks to a network of chargers with up to 350 kW charging capacity, which could drastically reduce overall charging times compared to what’s available today. The team-up includes BMW, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen, and plans for roll-out of the fast-charging stations call… Read More
Amazon could follow-up the early success of the Echo and Echo Dot with a new Alexa-powered premium speaker that includes a 7-inch touchscreen that can be tilted to different viewing angles for easier use in the kitchen, according to a new Bloomberg report.
The speaker would include voice-based assistant Alexa, just like the existing Echos, but the inclusion of the screen is designed to make… Read More
A new venture fund called Starburst Ventures has raised a $200 million debut fund to invest in early stage aerospace startups over the next three years. The fund is an extension of the Starburst Accelerator, which was founded in 2012 to help aviation and aerospace tech startups raise seed funding, and score their first big deal with a corporate customer, typically representing $1 million or… Read More
Hyundai is launching a new website called “Click to Buy” in the UK, where customers can purchase its cars directly with fixed pricing and no haggling. The online model of car sales is one that Tesla employs widely for its own vehicles, owing in part to its inability to run its own physical dealerships in many places. The new Hyundai UK direct sales start January 6, 2017, and… Read More
