Microsoft announced today that it acquired Genee, an AI-powered scheduling assistant bot that specializes in planning meetings for large groups or when organizers don’t have direct access to the calendars of everyone involved. Genee’s app is a chatbot accessible via an iPhone app, email, SMS, FB, Twitter or Skype, and it understands natural language input, so you can just text it… Read More
Talk about being at the right place and at the right time. Following revelations of government spying, data breaches, malicious hacking, identity theft and other online threats, the email and file encryption application Virtru has now grown to over 4,000 customers and has closed on $29 million in Series A funding, the company announced this morning.
The round was led by Bessemer Venture… Read More
Sony’s XAV-AX100 in-dash car stereo system might be the best way to get your hands on Android Auto or CarPlay without plunking down a fortune for a new car. The new receivers will retail for $499.99 when it hits stores in late November, and boasts a 6.4-inch, 800 x 480 touch screen, along with NFC support, Bluetooth, aux input and a dedicated hardware button for triggering voice input.… Read More
Startups like Eero and Luma have built entire companies on betting that your home WiFi situation just flat out sucks. But why look to address dead spots after the fact when you can cut the problem off at the pass with a more robust networking system right out of the box? Whatever configuration you ultimately opt for, the answer is ultimately going to cost you a pretty penny – or 39,999… Read More
AppFormix helps enterprises, including the likes of Rackspace and its customers, monitor and optimize their OpenStack- and container-based clouds. The company today announced that it has also now added support for virtualized network functions (VNF) to its service. Traditionally, networking was the domain of highly specialized hardware, but increasingly, it’s commodity hardware and… Read More
Apple has reportedly acquired health data startup Gliimpse, a company that collects and combines disparate threads of personal health info. Fast Company reports that the acquisition went down earlier this year, but there has yet to be any confirmation on the part of Gliimpse. However, FC says that Apple confirmed the acquisition, saying: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time… Read More
Samsung is looking to sell its own refurbished devices in order to make money on its premium smartphones a second time around, according to Reuters. The company will introduce a refurbished device sales program “as early as next year,” according to Reuters’ source, and will use inventory provided by customer who sign up to a year upgrade program in markets where it’s… Read More
Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, a nearly four-year-old, seed-stage venture firm that’s solely run by founder and general partner, Charlie O’Donnell, just closed its second fund with $15 million, up from an $8.3 million debut fund in early 2014. Yesterday, we talked with O’Donnell about what the process was like, whether the New York venture scene will be impacted by the… Read More
The flow of Chinese capital into foreign ad-tech companies increased this morning with the acquisition of Media.net for $900 million USD. A consortium will be paying cash for the startup with key operation centers in New York City and Dubai. Eventually the company is set to be acquired from the consortium by Miteno Communication Technology, a Chinese tech conglomerate. The transaction is… Read More
A startup called SmartSite has released hardware and cloud-based software to help the construction industry track what their employees are exposed to and take measures to protect them from harm. Cancer, respiratory problems, dermatitis from skin exposure to hazardous substances, and health problems from high levels of exposure to noise and vibrations are among the occupational safety and… Read More
Aptonomy Inc. has developed drone technology that could make prison breaks, robberies or malicious intrusions of any kind impossible for mere mortals. Dubbing it a kind of “flying security guard,” the company has built its systems on top of a drone often used by movie-makers, the DJI S-1000+, a camera-carrying octocopter. To that skeleton, Aptonomy adds a new flight… Read More
Disrupt London 2016 is fast approaching, and we’re thrilled to announce that we all had such a great time last year that this year’s show is returning to the fabulous Copper Box Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The Copper Box Arena was built to accommodate the 2012 Summer Olympic games in London. It was originally called the Handball Arena, since it was going to be primarily… Read More
Shooting hoops and writing checks might not seem to have too much in common, but this is the road that Bryant is taking following his retirement from basketball. Read More
Whether designing a software or hardware product, you focus on a few key principles: What you’re creating should be easy to use, elegant and intuitive. How does this differ, then, when you’re designing something that isn’t seen, but spoken? How do users’ brains work differently when talking rather than reading, pointing, clicking, swiping and typing? Read More
As the Rio Games draw to a close and the competing athletes pack up, leaving the Brazilian metropolis behind, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is already hard at work laying the foundation for the future spectacle of Olympic games. Throughout the Games, the IOC’s Olympic Games Knowledge Management program has been collecting data and compiling reports to share knowledge of… Read More
For presidential nominee Donald Trump, the importance of articulating a vision for the tech industry seems to be lost. While nominee Hillary Clinton released a comprehensive technology policy platform that should excite software developers, Mr. Trump doesn’t pay much attention to our industry’s concerns and is, frankly, on the wrong side of many of the most important issues facing… Read More
The traditional Silicon Valley view is that innovation happens in spite rather than because of government. But according to Accenture Senior Director of Strategy, Anand Shah, government does have an important role to play in stimulating growth. Read More
Self-driving cars may never reach accessible autonomy and might only be an add-on feature. It is very likely that the driver will still be liable for the actions of their vehicles. This means that drivers will still need auto insurance. Driving technology may never replace drivers, but it could help us become less injury prone. Read More
