Javelin Venture Partners, a San Francisco-based, early-stage venture firm founded in 2008, has closed its fourth fund with $125 million, which is the same size as its third fund, closed exactly three years ago. The firm has also promoted principal-turned-partner Alex Gurevich to managing director. To date, Javelin has invested $350 million across 65 companies. That it hasn’t enjoyed… Read More
Microsoft’s next version of its Windows 10 operating system, the Creator’s Update announced this morning, is about to get a lot more social. The company demonstrated a new feature called “My People,” which puts your most important contacts directly in the bottom toolbar on your desktop, so you can more easily share with them, message them across a variety of… Read More
Microsoft unveiled the Surface Studio today, an all-in-one PC with a 28-inch PixelSense display, with the thinnest display ever built according to Microsoft and a 3:2 display ratio. It also has an Intel Core processor, with a 2TB hybrid hard drive and an NVIDIA GPU, as well as integrated 2.1 speakers and a haptic feedback controller puck device.
The computer has a unique hinge on the back… Read More
WhoIsHiring is a clever site that aggregates startup jobs around the world. The unique angle — a map that shows you exactly how many jobs are in a particular area — is a clever and fun hack on the boring job boards of old. Created by Ania Bywanis and Sebastian Pawluś, the site is based in Krakow, Poland. It was a reaction to difficult job searches using outdated methods.… Read More
This morning’s big Microsoft event is all about the software, but, as anticipated, the company also had a few hardware surprises up their brightly colored sleeves. After all, you’re going to need some devices specially tailored to the new Windows 10 Creators Update, what the company is modestly referring to as, “the world’s largest collaborative software… Read More
3D printing is in a bit of a doldrums. The novelty has worn off and the limited utility of the technology has been made clear. The bloom is especially off the rose of home 3D printing thanks to slow improvements in the actual technology involved in squirting plastic into clever shapes. There are only so many Yoda heads you can print before the 3D printer starts collecting dust. But it must be… Read More
For the last several years, Elastic has offered a range of analytics and visualization tools to go with its open source search engine. Today, it announced it was pulling those pieces together into an integrated stack. The new product known as Elastic Stack includes all of the company’s products: Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash and Beats. It’s available for download or as part of… Read More
We all want to feel like we belong somewhere. In today’s connected world, one-fifth of adults in the U.S. are online “almost constantly,” according to Pew Research Center. But the internet can be a lonely place. Although “social” media sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter exist, it can be hard to have genuine interactions with people.… Read More
Microsoft is currently holding a press conference in New York. The company is focusing a lot on 3D and all sorts of realities, from augmented reality to virtual reality. As part of this big push, Microsoft announced that it is partnering with five different brands that will all ship VR headsets for the next Windows 10 update. Microsoft said that HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Acer are all working… Read More
Game Broadcasting for Windows 10 is coming, which brings built-in game streaming to the platform at the OS level. The tech for this is built using Beam, the TechCrunch Battlefield company acquired by Microsoft earlier this year. The Game Broadcasting tools provided by Beam incorporate interaction options for spectators, including the ability to make suggestions. On stage at the Windows… Read More
Undecided voter? Still? Really?? Well, if you continue to be unsure as to where you stand on some of the most critical issues facing American voters in the upcoming election – like gun control, immigration, climate change and more – Tinder wants to help. The dating app is rolling out a poll to users both here in the U.S. and abroad that lets you swipe on the issues in… Read More
Microsoft has just announced Paint 3D, an update to its long-standing art creation program for Windows that makes it easy to create 3D art for everyone, according to the company. This includes a new destination for sharing creations called Remix 3D. Included in the update is a way to export 3D creations directly from Minecraft, too, and 3D print them if you have a printer. The update also… Read More
A mobile application that makes life easier for parents, Winnie, has raised $2.25 million in seed funding to continue to grow its business. The app, essentially, is a directory that provides information from the perspective of parents on nearby restaurants, parks, schools, and other points of interest – that is, things like whether the local diner has changing tables for infants, or if… Read More
As advertised, this morning was all about Windows 10. The company kicked off the early morning conference by revealing an art-focused update to its operating system. Due out in spring of next year as a free upgrade, Windows Creators Update will be built around the company’s aggressive push into augmented and virtual reality, with a slate of 3D-focused tools. The unveiling naturally came… Read More
Zendesk has always been known as a customer service cloud application, and while its focus remains on the customer, it is attempting to expand the mission using data to drive communication and understanding about the customer. The company wants to make sure that everyone involved has the whole picture of the customer experience and hopes to provide assistance whenever and wherever people… Read More
Today’s Microsoft event is kicking off bright and early — particularly for those in the company’s home timezone, where things start in earnest at 7 AM PT. Of course, we’ll be live at the press conference in New York City, covering the news as it happens, so for those a few hours behind, we’ll have all of the relevant information for you first thing in the… Read More
Another startup out of MIT built on computer vision and focused on eye-tracking technology has raised funding to build out its business: Boston-based TVision Insights, which tracks who is watching what on TV and how they are reacting to it, and then works with advertisers and broadcasters to provide them with that data to have better insights into their programming, has raised $6.8… Read More
Uber has had developer tools for reaching riders for over two years, but now it’s also letting third-parties build products tailored specifically to its driver community, via a new Driver API revealed Wednesday. The Driver API will provide developers a direct channel to build apps for a targeted user group of drivers that Uber says is over 1.5 million people strong, according to a… Read More
Imagine if you could see a map of the city around you based on the photos that best represent the area. That’s the concept of Streetography, a brand new photography app for iOS launched this week. The app uses various sources of photo content, showing the map of the world around you seen through the lens of photographers who’ve explored the area before you. Read More
