Copying Snapchat and capitalizing on the acquisition of MSQRD, today Facebook finally integrated augmented reality selfie lenses it calls “Masks” into its main app. Starting with Halloween-themed skeleton, witch, and pumpkin masks, some Facebook users can now start to use the special effects when they go Live. Masks simultaneously make Facebook feel more modern, lure users to Live… Read More
Samsung’s mobile operation has taken a big hit of late, with profits plunging 30% in the last quarter in the wake of the Note 7 recall. But today, the company is announcing an acquisition of a wireless enterprise startup that speaks to how it wants to grow other areas of its business to offset setbacks like this, as well as the larger overall slowdown in handset sales globally. Samsung… Read More
A Houston-based startup called BrainCheck has raised $3 million in seed funding for an app that helps users understand, by simply playing some games on an iPad, if they or a loved one may have suffered a concussion. Founded in 2014 by Dr. David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, BrainCheck adapts the accepted assessments that neuropsychologists and neurologists… Read More
Qualcomm will acquire NXP Semiconductor in a deal worth around $47 billion in a cash deal. The two chip-making giants were said to have reached an agreement last week, but today’s announcement from Qualcomm makes it official. The acquisition will create a combined company with annual revenue north of $30 billion, and give Qualcomm additional expertise in security, identity and… Read More
Yesterday Facebook demoed a stylized filter feature that it says will be coming to soon to the real-time processing options it offers for its Live Video broadcast feature.
Not to be outdone, Prisma — the app that popularized the art filter craze when it launched this summer, racking up more than 70 million downloads by October — conducted its own demo yesterday. Read More
With Twitter’s acquisition hopes essentially dead, the company now seems it’s on its own to fend for itself and needs to figure out a way to build a reasonable and profitable business. Today, it got a much-needed good Q3 performance by largely beating Wall Street’s expectations across the board. The company also confirmed that it would lay off roughly 9 percent of its staff as… Read More
LG has reported another tough quarter for its mobile division, with revenues for the unit coming in at KRW 2.5 trillion ($2.3BN) in its Q3 2016, 23 per cent lower than in the same quarter in 2015, and a quarterly operating loss of RW 436.4 billion ($389.4M). Read More
The automotive industry is now shifting into high gear to win in the next generation of mobility services — whether that involves building a great connected car, leading in the world autonomous driving technology, or playing a central role in the car ownership models of the future. This December, at TechCrunch Disrupt in London, come hear how Volkswagen, the world’s biggest… Read More
By Bluetooth headphone standards, JayBird’s new X3 aren’t very sexy. Compared to the company’s recently released Freedom earbuds, they’re big and bulky. But that’s somewhat beside the point. The headphones are notably smaller than their predecessors, and more importantly, they’re significantly cheaper, with a $130 asking price. Compare that to the $180… Read More
Singapore-based Carousell has complete its second piece M&A following the Craigslist-like mobile commerce company’s $35 million Series B round in August. Read More
Earlier this year, Kristen Koh Goldstein merged two of her companies, three-year-old Scalus and six-year-old BackOps into a new company called HireAthena, a back-office-as a service startup that also sells fully automated workflow software. From the start, the company has aggressively marketed itself to both customers and employees who are women, and it’s smartly playing up to them… Read More
The struggle is real for Samsung. The Korean electronics giant’s operating profit plunged 30 percent year-on-year as the effects of the Galaxy Note 7 crisis begin to take a financial toll. Read More
Facebook recently fired the entire Trending Topics team of human editors amid accusations they were promoting specific agendas and biasing what news was deemed “important.” Now the company is relying on machine learning algorithms to manage Trending Topics — and finding that keeping the results free of hoaxes and fake news isn’t always easy. Read More
Elon Musk began Tesla’s earning call regarding its third-quarter results on an up beat: He suggested that Q4 will also be strong for the company, deflating some analyst commentary that the results for this most recent reporting period might’ve been up at the expense of the next one. “We currently believe Q4 will be profitable excluding non-cash stock-based expenses,”… Read More
MIT is getting into the incubator business in a big way with “The Engine,” a major fund and accelerator space aimed at nurturing early-stage companies solving big, difficult problems in tech and science. After The Engine raises its targeted $150 million fund, up to 60 companies at a time will benefit from the university’s equipment, services and considerable pool of expertise. Read More
When Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s plan to ship all Tesla’s made going forward with all the hardware they need to achieve full autonomy, the company noted that car owners would not be able to use their future self-driving Teslas to drive for Uber or Lyft. Instead, they’d be able to rent out their cars on demand using Tesla’s own Tesla Network for ridesharing. On… Read More
The big night is tonight! At 6pm, the TC Meetup + Pitch-off is going down in Seoul, South Korea. We’ll be joined by some of the brightest minds in the local tech scene to discuss going global and diversity, and then we’ll dive straight into the Pitch-off itself. Each of these 10 companies will have exactly 60 seconds to pitch their wares to a panel of expert judges, including local… Read More
Verizon is buying Vessel, the subscription video service founded by Jason Kilar (Hulu’s former CEO) and Richard Tom (its former CTO). Vessel enlisted YouTube stars and other video creators, offering early access to their videos for $2.99 a month. It raised more than $130 million from investors, including Benchmark, Greylock, Bezos Expeditions and Institutional Venture Partners. Tom… Read More
OpenStack, the open source cloud computing platform that allows enterprises to essentially run their own version of AWS in their data centers, was founded by NASA and Rackspace in 2010. Today, it’s being used by the likes of Comcast, PayPal, Volkswagen, CERN, AT&T, China Mobile and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the U.K. The OpenStack Foundation’s bi-annual… Read More
Some significant consolidation is going down in the world of daily deals — going down being the operative phrase here. Today, Groupon announced it would acquire LivingSocial, its onetime big rival that was partly owned by Amazon, for an undisclosed sum. Lest you think that this is a power move made by companies at their peak, think again: the news comes as a quiet sidenote… Read More
