Google today announced two major changes related to its mobile search results. The one you’ll probably notice first is that Google is removing the “mobile-friendly” label that highlighted pages that were easy to read on mobile from its mobile search results pages. In the long run, though, the second change may be more wide-reaching: starting on January 10, 2017, the company… Read More
Comcast entered the cord cutting fray last fall with the launch of its online and mobile streaming service Watchable, which offered a variety of videos from popular websites like VICE and Vox, in an effort to reach the growing number of younger subscribers opting out of paying for cable TV. However, much of its content could be found elsewhere online, and there wasn’t really a… Read More
In-flight VR entertainment and security guard drones were amongst our favorites from the 44 startups that launched at Y Combinator’s Summer 2016 Demo Day 1. After querying investors and our writers, here are TechCrunch’s picks for the 7 most promising companies from the first half of the batch, plus an honorable mention. Check back later for all the startups and our picks from… Read More
Pinterest said today that it would be acquiring the team behind Instapaper, which will continue operating as a separate app. The Instapaper team will both work on the core Pinterest experience and updating Instapaper. Pinterest’s logic here is that one of the company’s core tenets is bookmarking — much like Instapaper’s primary goal with its app. The company has been on… Read More
We first covered Remind back in 2011, when it launched as a way for K-12 teachers to broadcast communications to a classroom full of parents. But over the past five years the company has evolved into an all-encompassing communication tool for teachers, parents and students in over 75% of U.S school districts. And all of this has been free for users – Remind has raised about $60M… Read More
Google is set to launch Daydream VR sometime “in the coming weeks,” according to Bloomberg, after laying the groundwork for its launch with the official debut of Android 7.0 this week. The new report says Google is investing big in original content to accompany the launch of its VR platform, which will be built-in to upcoming Android smartphone handsets that meet the recommended… Read More
Half a year after debuting a prototype at CES, Parrot’s finally ready to show off the final version of its next radical entry in the rapidly expanding drone space. The Disco marks a noted departure from both the French company’s earlier effort sand the consumer drone space in general, trading in the standard rotored configuration for a fixed wing variety designed to soar speeds up… Read More
Something meets boy, and something meets girl and they both look the same and they’re overjoyed in this world. But how much more overjoyed would they be if they could on a Skeletonized Androgyne Royale from Manufacture Royale? This wild watch costs a mere $61,000 and might be good for your father but not for your dad.
What is this monster, exactly? Basically it is a… Read More
Elon Musk is going to unveil some Tesla product news at noon PT (3 PM ET) today, and the market is liking the potential, despite the CEO not providing any details. Share price for Tesla is up over 2 percent on the NASDAQ as of this writing, in anticipating of whatever Tesla is preparing to unveil. Tesla product announcement at noon California time today — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August… Read More
Researchers at MIT’s CSAIL research lab might help future network hardware better keep pace with ever-increasing network data demands. Where typical network router hardware directing traffic in larger server farms prioritize speed, they often feature hardwired algorithms, but the new CSAIL design are making programmable routers that don’t sacrifice speed, but can be updated if… Read More
Facebook today is rolling out a number of improvements to its “Slideshow” ads, announced last fall as a means of offering an alternative to video ads in developing markets where bandwidth may be limited. The company this morning says that advertisers will now be able to create these ads right from their phones, as well as take advantage of new features like the ability to add text… Read More
At Harvard Business School, students pay top dollar to learn everything from how to manage international trade to scaling technology ventures. They’re also schooled in the art of venture capital. Among the case studies they learned last year is the story of Rothenberg Ventures (RV), a four-year-old seed stage firm. Whether the San Francisco firm should have been part of their curriculum… Read More
Project management service Trello today announced that its Power-Ups, which are essentially third-party integrations, are now available to all of its users, including those who are on the service’s free tier. Until now, only paying users were able to use this feature, which includes integrations with products like SurveyMonkey, join.me, Github and Slack, among many others.
With… Read More
Karmic Bikes today began accepting pre-orders for their newest model, the Karmic Kyoto, a “pedelec” (or pedal electric bike) designed for women.
The upright street bike features a 500Wh battery, Shimano’s SLX 11-speed components, a step-through frame, fenders, lights, and hydraulic disc brakes. It is available in white, light blue, and purple.
The Kyoto was created in… Read More
Content marketing company ScribbleLive announced today that it has acquired Linkdex. In a blog post, ScribbleLive’s Geoffrey Gualano said the deal will combine his company’s content marketing platform with Linkdex’s capabilities in search engine optimization: This acquisition streamlines content marketing and SEO software to empower an all-in-one marketing platform. Marketers… Read More
Slice, a company best known to consumers for its mobile shopping assistant that helps you find the best deals, track packages, organize your receipts, and more, is out today with a new service aimed at helping online shoppers save. Called Slice Watch, its latest app lives in your web browser instead, allowing you to track price drops on items you find online.
The idea is something akin to a… Read More
Centricient, a new customer service messaging management toolkit, is throwing its hat into the increasingly crowded market of companies competing to help businesses transition to using messaging platforms as a key point of contact for customer service. To say that messaging — whether via sms or tools like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, or WeChat — has become the dominant medium… Read More
Mobileye, a key supplier of components like image processing and computer vision systems for automakers, announced a partnership with self-driving software and hardware provider Delphi today to be able to bring Level 4 and 5 automation ready for market to car makers by 2019.
The two companies are coming together with the intend of giving OEMs an end-to-end solution they can use to bring… Read More
The rise in consumer usage of ad blockers is leading to a few creative alternatives to try to achieve a ‘better relationship’ between ad tech and web browsers. To wit Russia’s Yandex, which has just announced it’s adding a complaint button to its Android browser to lets users report ads they find annoying. Read More
We are the Uber of our industry, applying curated, user-generated gamification to the sharing economy. That’s pretty much it. That’s the sentence you’d craft if you’re looking to turn off venture and angel investors with a mission statement containing buzzwords that are losing popularity or were never compelling in the first place. Using CrunchBase data, I queried… Read More
