Once again a powerful tool has been implemented against the public without its knowledge or consent. Which rather defeats the point of having a voluntary, civilian police force, doesn’t it? Read More
Bruno Guez has spent decades in the music business — he hosted a show on public radio, founded Quango Music Group and even worked as the creative director of music at Cirque de Soleil. Over that time, he said he’s watched as changes in the music industry outpaced the tools available to artists and labels. “There were no modern platforms for the B2B segment of the… Read More
Over the last couple of years of boom times for venture capital-backed startups, round sizes ballooned and valuations filled with all that hot air. Valuations of new financings have started declining significantly since the beginning of the year, leaving a number of companies hanging on precariously high in the air without solid ground beneath them. Read More
The number of traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2015 was up 7.2 percent from the year prior, to 35,092, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is doing things a little differently this year with respect to that data, since it’s a troubling departure from the overall recent trend of a decreasing total number of annual traffic-related deaths. The NHTSA is today offering an… Read More
Admit it: You’ve always wanted your very own Australopithecus. Unfortunately, they’re extinct — but the best known representation of our 3-million-year-old ancestor, the famous fossil Lucy, is now more accessible than ever. Researchers have released high-resolution scans of some of her bones so amateur paleontologists around the world can print their very own. Read More
In case you missed the premiere last week, TechCrunch has a new podcast, and it’s TCBC, a show where I speak to a different writer on staff each week about their beat, the stories they’re following, and the tech news that’s most important to them right now. This week, it’s almost time for IFA, the CES of Europe (the other CES of Europe that isn’t MWC, at least).… Read More
Falling is awful. It causes irreparable harm to senior citizens and the fear of falling reduces senior citizen mobility drastically, creating a feedback loop that can be catastrophic. Now, thanks to a team at the Sinclair School of Nursing and the College of Engineering at the University of Missouri, caregivers can predict falls up to three weeks out, allowing for care and assistance before… Read More
Who decides who’s cool? Snapchat refuses to recommend accounts for fear of feeling heavy-handed. Maybe it learned from Twitter, whose old one-size-fits-none suggested user list immediately made it noisy, impersonal and ruled by an oligarchy. But Instagram is betting that algorithmically personalized suggestions could make its new ephemeral slideshow Stories feature addictive… even… Read More
Well, that was fast. Three days after Facebook said it would remove the human editors who curate the Trending topics section and replace them with a purely algorithmic system, the company trended a fake news story about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. The mistake seems like an easily avoidable one — the story on Kelly, which claimed that she had been booted from the conservative-leaning… Read More
In an effort to highlight its upcoming launch of more in-train Wi-Fi (not to be confused with in-train cricket attacks), the New York MTA, Transit Wireless, and publishing powerhouse Penguin Random House are getting together to release ebooks and articles timed to your commute. This project mirrors a product launched in London last year. As The Digital Reader notes, even Governor Cuomo is in… Read More
A new Google application called Crowdsource has quietly appeared on Google Play, asking users to perform brief tasks that will help improve the quality of Google services like Maps, translation, image transcription, and more. The app, surprisingly, doesn’t offer any sort of rewards or micropayments in exchange for users’ work, however – which means it won’t be much of… Read More
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is living at least a few years out ahead of anyone reading this post – the founding executive told an audience in Rome (via Verge) today that he hopes to demonstrate his home’s artificial intelligence system, which controls things like air conditioning, lighting and more based on things like face and voice recognition.
Zuckerberg’s computerized… Read More
On September 7 at 10 AM, Tim Cook will walk on stage and start the most anticipated tech press conference of the year — the introduction of the new iPhone. In New York, two hours later and right around the time Apple’s conference ends, Sony will also introduce the PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’. These two companies will be fighting for your attention in a sort of press… Read More
Google just took a big step in tying together your computing world, with full integration of its Google Cast capability directly into its Chrome browser. This is a step up from the Cast extension it has offered for the past two years, which allowed users to broadcast content from their Chrome browser to Cast-enabled devices like the Chromecast. Now, you don’t even have to download any… Read More
The FBI warned states to check the security of their election systems after hackers stole voter data from one state election board earlier this summer and attempted to access another this month. The attacks were revealed in an FBI bulletin sent to the agency’s private industry partners and obtained by Yahoo News. One state’s election board was compromised in June, according to… Read More
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration put new rules into effect today regulating the commercial use of small, unmanned aircraft systems, or drones. The rules apply to drones that weigh up to 55 pounds and that are being used for business purposes, whether that’s scientific research, education, media, or inspection and surveying of land, traffic, prisons, stadiums or anything else.… Read More
Google is kicking off registration for its first-ever festival aimed at celebrating indie games on Android. The company is now taking sign-ups for those who want to attend the Google Play Indie Games Festival in San Francisco, and it’s announcing the exhibitor line-up. This includes 30 games, half of which have yet to be released to the general public, or are still in a limited beta.… Read More
Recently, T-Mobile came under fire for its new One plan. For those of you unaware, T-Mobile’s original One plan gave you unlimited on-device data, but only 480p resolution was covered for video. On top of that, mobile hotspot features would cost you considerably more. Being somewhat committed towards hearing customer complaints, T-Mobile revised the plan(s) today to reflect that. The… Read More
It’s happening! On Friday, September 9th from 4-6 p.m, Greylock Partners will join TechCrunch in hosting Include Office Hours. Apply now. Unlike previous sessions, the upcoming office hours are solely focused on teams with at least one female founder. To sweeten the deal, teams that are selected for office hours will also be invited to an exclusive Women in Tech(Crunch) event, also… Read More
Apple just sent out invites for a press conference on Wednesday, September 7. The company will most likely unveil the next iPhone. The invite doesn’t say much. Apple usually likes to give hints — but this time, it just says “See you on the 7th.” The event will be held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. This large venue has already been used for the… Read More
