Airbnb fights discrimination on its platform with policy changes, Oculus short movie ‘Henry’ wins an Emmy, Twitter adds read receipts for direct messages, Google buys Apigee for $625 million, and Pokemon Go hit $500 million in revenue. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
There was one slide in Tim Cook’s keynote that probably made the watch industry potentates choke on their oysters St Jacques. It was a simply a clear comparison between Apple Watch sales and sales of traditional watch brands, both high and low. And it wasn’t good. At the bottom of the barrel was Japan’s Casio, makers of heavy-duty watches designed to take on tank treads and… Read More
The way we thought of apps in 2008 is how we’ll view artificial intelligence five years from now; 2016 will look like the AI stone age. Although apps have created completely new behaviors, especially in the fintech space with mobile banking and shared payments, the app economy, unfortunately, seems to be reaching a peak, and monetizing an app has become an uphill battle. Read More
An exploding phone is by no means a good thing, but if it has to explode, it’s hard to think of a worse place for it to do so than on a plane. Well, not that hard, but it’s definitely a bad one. In wake of the occasional combusting Galaxy Note 7 and the its subsequent recall, the FAA has advised passengers to exercise caution when flying with the device. Read More
Most startups toil away in stealth mode on new products with an Apple-esque fear of news leaking before its time. Peak Design decided to go to the other extreme, building a company in full view of its audience — and in the face of its competitors. Eschewing traditional investors in favor of a series of Kickstarter campaigns, I decided to take a closer look at how the team makes it work. Read More
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully launched from Cape Canaveral with the help of 1.2 million pounds of thrust provided by an Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft will journey to a near-Earth asteroid known as Bennu and return an asteroid sample to Earth. This will be NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission. Designed to return a sample as large as two kilograms, the mission… Read More
A former Air Force general and Department of Homeland Security official has been appointed as the first federal chief information security officer, the White House announced today.
Gregory Touhill will take charge of cybersecurity across the federal government, planning and implementing policy changes to make the nation’s critical infrastructure and government agencies more secure. Read More
Eighty million people in the U.S. struggle with bad breath — many of them don’t even know that they do, but the people around them are likely all too aware.
Last year at CES, Breathometer teased a connected device called Mint that measures a user’s breath and gives them some tips on how to improve their oral health. At IFA this year, Philips announced that… Read More
It may not seem it, but coming up with an idea for your startup is probably the easiest part of launching your own company. As one industry insider told me, there are a million ways to screw up that idea through poor execution, and many, many lose their way. Yet a precious few fight through the problems and the challenges, and somehow, with a bit of luck and a lot of moxie, make it to IPO.… Read More
Reports claim that point-of-sale startup Revel Systems is in early acquisition negotiations with IBM, and while both Revel and IBM declined to comment when we asked about it, a deal that the startup announced today could provide an interesting clue for why a company like Big Blue might be interested in buying it. Today Revel announced a deal with Shell, the oil and gas giant, to implement… Read More
Alphabet’s innovation lab X has a drone-focused team called Project Wing which has just announced a plan to commence aerial burrito delivery, in partnership with Chipotle, on the campus of Virgina Tech next week. Project Wing’s mission it to make fully autonomous, or self-flying drones, that can deliver anything to anyone. But the X team is focused, for now, on delivering… Read More
Buying cool is the best way for big companies to stay cool. Snapchat rightly believes in itself, and now it’s getting bankers to bet on that vision without selling its precious equity. Snapchat has secured a line of credit led by Morgan Stanley, potentially with other banks participating, according to Recode. Snapchat can borrow against that credit line and pay it back later if it… Read More
The inflation-busting deals being secured by sports rights owners around the world demonstrate the unwavering value of live sports. Amid concerns over cord-cutting, the rise of time-shifted viewing and the unstoppable growth of digital and mobile platforms, the value of sports rights remains unquestioned. However, the industry remains ripe for change. Read More
This year’s TechCrunch Disrupt SF Hackathon is set to be the best yet. We’re a few days away from the main event and are giddy with excitement. Check out the sponsor prizes and agenda of events to prepare yourself for an amazing hackathon experience. Read More
Salido, a startup that describes itself as “the restaurant operating system,” is announcing that it has raised $2 million in additional funding. This round from strategic investors doubles the $2 million in seed funding that Salido announced last year. Phil Suarez, who partnered with French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten to launch well-known restaurants including ABC Kitchen and… Read More
Actev Motors, a young, Mountain View, Ca.-based company, is gearing up to ship its eagerly anticipated all-electric smart go-karts beginning this fall. The vehicles, for kids ages 5 to 9, cost roughly $1,000, including a Formula One-like body kit that comes in silver or red, and shipping. They come with a lot of neat features that tech-savvy parents will appreciate, too, including an app… Read More
Walmart latest earnings report wasn’t pretty. Overall revenue growth came in at a tepid o.7% for the first half of the fiscal year. Their e-commerce sales grew 11.8%, but the total e-commerce market is tearing ahead at 15% quarterly growth, which means they’re actively losing that market. Oh, and they bought a massively unprofitable e-commerce vendor for $3.3 billion dollars to make… Read More
SpotHero is not new to the on-demand parking game. It raised $2.5 million in 2012, and another $20 million in Series B funding in 2015. This for a service that allows drivers to prepay for a parking space in a garage via app before the car ever leaves the driveway. “You can reserve a spot for three hours or three days,” said SpotHero co-founder and CEO Mark Lawrence, “and you… Read More
Following yesterday’s iPhone 7 announcement, Apple is announcing that new AppleCare+ members will be able to get their cracked screens fixed for $29. This is big news for everyone who uses an iPhone with AppleCare+, and ultimately, anyone who owns an iPhone to begin with. It’s worth noting how much AppleCare+ costs — $149 for the iPhone 7 Plus, or $129 for the iPhone 7… Read More
