The debate over what to do about San Francisco’s homeless population has been building for awhile among the many startups and residents here. But now tech billionaires Ron Conway, Michael Moritz and well-to-do hedge fund manager William Oberndorf have each thrown about $50,000 behind a measure to rid San Francisco of its homeless tent cities. Other notable investors,… Read More
Want Google Assistant, but don’t want to spend your allowance on a Pixel? I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is you can get it with two tiny tweaks to a single config file — the bad news is you’ll need root access, and there’s no guarantee it’ll work on your phone in particular. Read More
Through the past few decades of summer blockbuster movies and Silicon Valley products, artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly familiar and sexy, and imbued with a perversely dystopian allure. What’s talked about less, and has also been dwarfed in attention and resources, is human intelligence (HI). In its varied forms — from the mysterious brains of octopuses and… Read More
The Audi R8 e-tron is dead if a report from Car and Driver is to be believed. The production version of the car was unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Auto Show and apparently Audi produced fewer than 100 vehicles — which sported a $1.1 million window sticker each. When announced, the e-tron seemed like a key part of Audi’s future. Built in the same vein as the R8, the e-tron sat on top… Read More
Of course Amazon wants you to own an Echo device. But not just one. The company really, really hopes to get one into every room of its customers’ homes. That’s where the second generation of the Echo Dot comes in — $50 a pop, and even cheaper if you buy them in packs of six or twelve. Granted, I live in New York City, but that roughly works out to four Dots per room for me. Read More
The DJI is a fantastic all-purpose drone, but with the EXO 1 exoskeleton, it becomes a dedicated search and rescue tool. The 3D-printed add-on quickly attaches to the drone and adds a host of features key to making the drone a valuable tool for first responders. There are GoPro mounting points at various locations around the exoskeleton that can be used for cameras, lights and any number of… Read More
PlaceIQ has a new, big-name investor — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The companies aren’t disclosing the size of the deal; they’ll only say that it’s a strategic, minority investment, and that it’s an addition to the $25 million round that PlaceIQ announced at the beginning of this year. Co-founder and CEO Duncan McCall told me this is part of a larger… Read More
Google has added the data from the first half of 2016 to its ongoing Transparency Report page, and the changes are pretty much what you’d expect: more requests. Some frivolous, some legit, some top secret. Read More
The JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2012, allowing companies to acquire funding through online portals from non-accredited investors, which roughly accounts for 97 percent of the population in the United States. On May 16, 2016, Title III of the JOBS Act, also known as regulation crowdfunding, or equity crowdfunding, was the last section to be implemented by the SEC. Read More
Lyft has struck a landmark partnership with one of the largest operators of senior living facilities in the U.S., Brookdale Senior Living.
Through this partnership, Brookdale residents will be able to book a Lyft ride, on-demand or pre-scheduled via a concierge in their community, no smartphones or apps required. The rides will be billed to their rooms, and they won’t have to give out… Read More
It’s time for hockey season, news related to which I must cover because of the circumstances of my birth (Canada). So I will tell you that the NHL has a new slate of digital offerings for fans of the ice-based sport, including a new NHL.TV tvOS app for the latest generation Apple TV (which debuted during the pre-season). Also new this season is Arena, a new app created by streaming… Read More
Yes, you read that right. Applications for the Startup Battlefield at Disrupt London close tomorrow, Thursday at noon PT! Time to get going. You can do it. Startups should note that teams from across Europe and around the world are all eligible to participate in the event. We’re looking for the hottest seed-stage startups to launch on our stage and all verticals are… Read More
The Galaxy Note 7 was the best phone available when it was released in August. A culmination of all of the company’s strongest technologies to date, coupled with some fascinating new arrivals, Samsung somehow made the whole thing work in harmony, fit into a beautifully crafted 5.7-inch design. Read More
Robotic exoskeletons are one of those technologies that tend to be associated with warfare or at least the industrial sector, but soft robotics and artificial muscles like these ones created by Swiss researchers make them suitable for more delicate operations as well. Read More
The startup, which has a whopping $182 million in venture capital so far for its plant-based burger that aims to look, taste and bleed like real beef announced it is now available in California to a room full of press at Tank18 in downtown San Francisco. But the company made its official East Coast debut earlier this summer at chef David Chang’s Momofuku Nishi in New York City.
And… Read More
At Luscious Garage in San Francisco, the publicized focus on hybrid vehicles actually masks the real differentiator: a focus on people. Founder Carolyn Coquillette started the San Francisco-based auto shop in 2007, and as you can see from the video above, everything from the decor to the space it occupies is a departure from what you might expect from a mechanic – and that extends to… Read More
Today at the company’s Steam Dev Days conference, Valve teased a host of announcements related to the company’s efforts on its OpenVR platform, including a new prototype SteamVR controller. The company, which built most of the underlying VR tech for the HTC Vive, first shared some statistics regarding SteamVR, highlighting that the online store now has over 600 virtual… Read More
Following news of its large-scale data breach affecting 500 million account holders, Yahoo today rolled out a change to its Yahoo Account settings screen that will better alert users to unauthorized activity on their accounts. The feature is similar to Google’s in that it tracks the account activity and devices associated with your Yahoo account, but it doesn’t provide as much… Read More
Verizon wants you to know that everything is fine. It’s learned its lesson. The carrier’s Google Pixels will get Android updates at the same time as the unlocked versions. False alarm. Of course, that original five-day-long concern came from Verizon itself, noting last week that its version of Google’s eagerly awaited Pixel handset would be carrier-controlled. Here’s… Read More
Tribe’s voice recognition video chat technology could make Snapchat and Facebook Messenger look outdated. That tech also attracted a $3 million seed round led by prestigious VC Sequoia, its first seed investment of the year. Today, Tribe’s one-touch video walkie-talkie app launches a huge Version 2 update on iOS and Android powered by access to some unreleased Google voice APIs.… Read More
