Los Angeles is famous for two things: entertainment and traffic. Back in the 1950s, any association with “stars” and “cars” would be the envy of any modern city. But today, that’s sometimes overshadowed by images of aggressive paparazzi and gridlocked freeways. But when it comes to transportation, there might be more to LA than just bloated commute times. Read More
Hyperloop One is getting even cozier with its partners in the United Arab Emirates. The futuristic transportation system that aims to ship things and people faster than a speeding plane just pulled in $50 million in strategic investment led by DP World Group of Dubai, bringing up the total raised to $160 million. DP World Group is the third-largest ports operator in the world and has… Read More
A number of Evernote users are now being alerted via email message of a serious bug that may cause data loss in certain versions of the company’s Mac application. Not all Evernote Mac users were affected by this bug, however, but those who received the email will need to update their Mac app immediately in order to protect themselves from experiencing the issue. According to the email… Read More
Samsung is on the ropes. It pains me to say it but the Note 7 fiasco is probably going to hurt them more deeply than they’ll admit and I suspect we’ll see two or three quarters of slow growth thanks to Explode-gate. It’s bad. Consider the damage done to the brand. Pilots were telling users not to turn on their Note 7 phones as they taxied for takeoff. A total recall is now… Read More
If you know the name BlueParrott (assume you’re not just conflating two other similarly focused companies), it’s probably for their budget office headsets. Sure, the company has branched out into other categories (if you make headsets, you’re going to make earbuds at some point, that’s just how it works), but office telecommunication hardware is the company’s… Read More
Mateusz Mach and Piotr Polański wanted to create an app to send jokey hand signs to each other. They created little animated figures that signed “I love you” or “I see you” and sent them to each other. They got 56 downloads and were about to give up when an occupational therapist named Cindy Chen asked them to modify the app for the deaf. Ten thousand users and $150,000… Read More
TechCrunch is pleased to bring you Disney Accelerator’s Demo Day today, October 13th, from 2:30pm – 3:50pm PT. This marks the first time that Disney has run its accelerator fully in-house without relying on Techstars, the outside partner that helped it get the program off the ground in 2014. Unlike previous batches, participants span from seed- or very early-stage companies… Read More
Vine has a new feature for iOS app users called Soundboard, which lets users incorporate viral sounds within their own Vines, including Vine-sourced classics like ‘why you always lyin’ – it’s basically an express remix feature for trying to give your own content some reflected glow from memes that already made it big. The Soundboard comes in at the portion of the… Read More
Facebook wants you to lean back and watch its News Feed videos on your television with a new feature that lets you stream clips via Apple TV, AirPlay devices, Google Chromecast, and Google Cast devices. The move could help Facebook generate more video ad revenue, and increase usage time by giving people the richest possible viewing experience while at home. The feature is now available on iOS… Read More
It’s happening! The 10th annual Crunchies Awards show is coming and will be held at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on February 6th, 2017. This is the tenth show and we’re determined to make it the best one yet, with a renewed focus on the startup community that we cover day in and day out.
We did a few things differently last year and they were a huge success. Read More
It’s not uncommon to feel a bit helpless at the end of a news binge. Oftentimes, the news leans toward the negative side and doesn’t offer much in the way of a solution. But Speakable, a startup founded by Jordan Hewson, wants to give people the opportunity to do something at the exact time and place that they feel called to take action. The year-old startup today introduced the… Read More
It’s been a good week for Science, a five-year-old, L.A.-based startup studio that’s known for both funding nascent startups and incubating them, including FameBit, a three-year-old outfit that helps marketers connect with digital influencers and which sold on Wednesday to Google.
Science was the majority owner. FameBit was the firm’s third exit of the year… Read More
Samsung is hoping to keep its customers with incentives, including a $100 credit for Note 7 owners who stick with a Samsung device as their replacement hardware. But carriers are leaving the door open for buyers to pick whatever kind of smartphone they want instead. A new survey conducted by e-commerce agency Branding Brand suggests that a decent number may end up moving to other brands,… Read More
Periscope is embracing professional streaming and expanding beyond amateur content shot on phones with its new Periscope Producer feature. It allows creators to generate a special URL that they can then stream to from a wide array of devices, including professional cameras, studio editing rigs, satellite trucks, desktop streaming software like OBS, games, VR headsets, drones and later,… Read More
When the Nokia Ozo launched late last year, it was clear that the virtual reality camera didn’t have everything figured out. The key, according to Nokia’s Head of Presence Capture Guido Voltolina, was just getting the camera out there. Since then the team at Ozo has been consistently upgrading the feature set of the camera through firmware and software updates, and now the… Read More
You likely haven’t been convinced that you need a 360-degree camera in your life yet, but the Theta SC isn’t designed to revolutionize the space so much as it is designed to help mainstream it, offering up a mid-tier for the company’s line. Mid-tier in 360-degree camera land means $300, which isn’t all that much lower than the top-of-the-line Theta S’s $350… Read More
Google Photos was already one of the smartest cloud photo services available today, thanks to its search technology and built-in assistant that automatically creates collages, animations and more from your uploads. Now, the company is upgrading its service again, with a bevy of new features aimed at helping you revisit your memories and generally better enjoy your photos. This update… Read More
The digestive tract of the ‘future of food’ does not always run smooth… The startup behind drink-your-dinner powder Soylent has issued a product recall. Not for its mainstay meal replacement powder — but rather for a $2 snack bar which you do still have to chew. Read More
A year or so ago a new type of drone hit the (preorder) market. It was the self-flying camera drone – a device that promised to combine camera and AI technology to create a drone that you could essentially throw in the air to follow you around and take photos and videos. Some of these drones include Snap, Lily, Staaker and Hover. Most of these companies have raised tens of millions… Read More
Four digital media organizations are coming together to form a new holding company — and they’ve also raised $100 million in additional funding from Discovery Communications. Those four companies are Thrillist (lifestyle), NowThis Media (video news), The Dodo (animals) and Discovery’s digital network Seeker (including its production studio SourceFed). Thrillist’s Ben… Read More
