Exploring the world is something that’s always been a bit of a luxury for those who can afford to travel, but technology is changing that. With VR and 360-degree videos, you can now immerse yourself in virtual environments that give you a real sense of what a place is like, without actually being there. Google has been taking advantage of things like VR field trips and virtual reality… Read More
BuzzFeed has a new chief technology officer — Todd Levy, who was already serving as the vice president of engineering.
Levy also co-founded and served as CTO at Bitly. He joined BuzzFeed through the acquisition of startup Torando Labs in 2014. As part of the deal, he was tasked with creating a new data engineering team at the company.
“It is without hyperbole when I say that… Read More
With just a few months left in his term, President Obama is still trying out some cool, new stuff. Through the Ages: President Obama Celebrates America’s National Parks is a virtual reality project marking the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service. The experience, which was actually a production National Geographic, Felix & Paul Studios and Oculus, is the first… Read More
Connected, autonomous vehicles are around the corner. Many of the most innovative and deep-pocketed companies in the world are racing to bring them to market — and for good reason: the economic and social gains they will generate will be tremendous. But any transformative technology creates new challenges and risks in addition to benefits. This is no exception. Read More
Seemingly emboldened by the temporary success of Deliveroo “riders” who held a series of protests in London over proposed changes to the formula by which they are paid, couriers working for rival on-demand food delivery service UberEATs are planning a “strike” of their own in the U.K. capital city. Read More
As an avid non-fisher it’s hard for me to quite grasp the depths of depravity associated with a fishing trip. Waking up at 4am? Swinging a pole at some water? Drinking beers all morning in a hot boat? Catching and eating a squirming live thing? Not for me. The folks at Anglr want to change my mind. Their product, the Anglr Tracker, is an activity tracker for fishing. You attach it to… Read More
Shopping for a car? You might want to do your research on Amazon. The ecommerce giant just announced and released www.amazon.com/vehicles, and it’s as impressive as it is comprehensive, one of the most complete vehicle research tools I’ve seen.
The service does not let shoppers purchase cars, but rather is just a comparison and research tool. Due to auto dealer rules and… Read More
DJI just announced an upgraded version of its lovely Osmo camera. Called the Osmo Plus, this model offers key features not found on the original Osmo such as zoom, motion timelapse and an improved stabilization system. Like the original, which is still available, the Osmo Plus gives shooters a stabilized camera system thanks to the 3-axle gimbal system. It’s similar to the gimbals used… Read More
After a failed attempt to go social with Ping in 2010, Apple may have a renewed sense of excitement over the social space, according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources told Bloomberg that Apple is working on a video recording/editing app that would be similar in functionality to Snapchat, though there’s no mention of disappearing or self-destructing content in the report. Instead, the… Read More
WhatsApp will finally take a step to becoming a platform after the Facebook-owned company revealed it will begin to integrate businesses services into its app before the end of this year. Read More
Xiaomi’s numbers have been slipping some of late in its native China, but the company’s still announcing handsets at a healthy clip. A month after debuting the Redmi Pro, a high-end take on its budget line, the company is eyeing a rock bottom price point with its latest offering. With a starting price of 899 yuan ($135), the Redmi Note 4 still manages to offer some key upgrades… Read More
Productivity focused third party iOS keyboard app ThingThing is hoping to woo fans of the Sunrise calendar by adding a meeting invite feature — following the latter’s kiss-of-death acquisition by Microsoft last year. Read More
Here’s a fresh example to show that Twitter, a ten-year-old company that has been public for the last three, retains the propensity to act like a newborn when it comes to its users. Read More
One of the most beloved camera series out there, the Canon EOS Mark 5D was due for a refresh. Announced today, Mark IV of the EOS 5D brings a 30.4 megapixel full frame sensor with 4K video capability, so this is truly an elite camera. Some of the specifications that have come to our attention include a full-frame 30.4 megapixel CMOS sensor with ISO range 100–32,000; still expandable up… Read More
It’s a good day for photographers who favor the Fujifilm system. The camera company announced an update to its X-A series mirrorless cameras and solid new lens today. Read More
Uber has taken the plaudits for its audacious plans to deploy driverless cars as soon as this month, but the U.S. giant has been beaten to the punch for actually introducing autonomous vehicles by a far lower-profile company based across the world in Singapore. Read More
Opera now offers a free VPN to Android users, North Korea Netflix clone is now live, Y Combinator Demo Day 2, YouTube updates its app for TVs, and a VC firm says “F*ck Trump” on its website. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
Forget Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — we need a trust-buster like Teddy Roosevelt, who in 1902 attacked the Northern Securities Company, a railroad holding company led by J.P. Morgan and James J. Hill. Consolidation in any market is expected, but AI is consolidating at such a rapid clip, at such an early stage and by so few companies that there are strong reasons to be concerned. Read More
Wireless interference is one of those things that we tend to not think about, because, well, we can’t see it. But routers are all over the place, sometimes several in a room when you’re in an office, conference, or campus — and make no mistake, it’s an epic battle at the frequencies they share. Some enterprising researchers have found a way to make those routers work… Read More
For years roboticists have been looking into using softer materials for parts rather than the usual metal and plastic — sometimes even building entirely soft robots. But this Octobot from Harvard is the first that not only contains no hard parts but is also entirely autonomous. Read More
