It’s finally here. After four years without a new album and a few weeks of cryptic teasing, Frank Ocean has finally released… well, something. In the same vein as Beyonce’s Lemonade, Ocean released a visual album called Endless exclusively on Apple Music. It’s about 45 minutes long, and is an interesting (and long-awaited) prequel to the Boys Don’t Cry album.… Read More
Okay, you’ve procrastinated long enough, startup fans. If you somehow haven’t yet gotten your tickets to the hottest startup show in the Bay Area, today is the day to do it. It’s the final day to get Disrupt SF 2016 tickets at our early-bird price point of $1,995 apiece, a full $1,000 cheaper than those same tickets will be tomorrow. Read More
India continues to be one of the rare growth markets in the global smartphone industry after lodging a 17 percent year-on-year increase in shipments in the second quarter of 2016, according to a new report from IDC. Read More
Dyson’s 360 Eye robot vacuum has been a long time coming to U.S. carpets. The squat little cylinder of a bot first broke cover in September 2014, with a splashy product announcement and a consumer launch in Japan in 2015. North American homes are only just getting their first taste of Dyson’s inaugural foray into robotics, however, and my own has been playing host to one for the… Read More
Amazon is rolling out a new way for businesses to use its cloud-based virtual desktop service, Amazon WorkSpaces: instead of paying monthly for access to an always-on WorkSpace you can connect to at any time, companies can now choose to pay and use WorkSpaces on an hourly basis. The new billing system is designed to appeal to those businesses with part-time employees, traveling employees who… Read More
There’s more than one way to monetize your online video content. Sure, you can go the old fashioned route, making ads and clicks and such — but just wait until your preferred platform opens a one-off store front where you can pedal your wares for the real money to roll in. Following the recent unveiling of a space in the UK that provides YouTube stars with a place to record and… Read More
London-based GuestReady officially opened its doors this week, launching its service in six cities: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. The idea is simple, provide all manner of services that an Airbnb host could need, be that cleaning, laundry, or check-in and out services. Read More
Technology is quickly redefining what it means to be human. There is no denying that we are considerably different from the people who came before us, not only in that we successfully wield technology to overcome a range of challenges, but we also utilize it to enhance our current condition. Transhumanism will very likely be the next stage of human development. Read More
After years of resistance, it looks like Pandora is about ready to jump on the on-demand streaming wagon. According to a report from the WSJ, Pandora is in the process of signing deals with record companies in order to launch a $10/month on-demand streaming tier, giving users unlimited access to any song on the platform. Pandora also plans to tweak it’s existing $5/month Pandora One… Read More
And if you’ve been eyeing one, go ahead and pull the trigger. It’s a really great phone. Assuming, of course, that you’ve got, you know, $800-plus burning a hole in your pocket. The 5.7-inch phablet is available now from a whole slew of retailers, including, naturally, Samsung’s stores, plus Best Buy, Target, Sam’s Club, some Walmart stores (maybe call ahead on… Read More
NASA astronauts are venturing out into space to install a component key to the future of commercial crew mission. The International Space Station is getting a new dock, which will be used in 2017 by Boeing and SpaceX to start ferrying crew to and from the station, marking the first time private companies have been able to do so, and ending the current Russian monopoly on ISS astronaut transit.… Read More
Foodpanda, the food delivery startup backed by Rocket Internet, is selling its operations in Indonesia and evaluating its presence in the rest of Southeast Asia as part of a push towards profitability. Read More
The team beyond Ticwatch 2, the Chinese smartwatch project that has crossed $1.5 million on Kickstarter, has clarified the apps and services its wearable device will initially support. Read More
Listen up, startups in the U.K. and around the world. Disrupt London 2016 is right around the corner, and we’re happy to announce that tickets to display your company in Startup and Hardware alley are now available.
You can get your hands on Startup and Hardware Alley tickets here. Read More
Rakuten has confirmed that it has acquired the assets of Bitnet, a bitcoin wallet startup it invested in, which will be used to create a ‘bitcoin lab’ for the Japanese retail giant. Read More
Uber’s self-driving cars start driving this month in Pittsburgh, Rothenberg Ventures might be in some financial trouble, Twitter increases its efforts to remove terror propaganda, CNN adds drones to its arsenal, and Gawker.com is shutting down. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Fitbit is facing a class-action lawsuit regarding the accuracy of their heart-rate data, which have been shown to be inaccurate by a margin of up to 20 beats per minute. This news risks sending back to the drawing board many of us who have been experimenting with biotelemetry. Here we seek to present a balanced view of the state of these and other related issues, and chart a viable path forward. Read More
The range of benefits that Silicon Valley companies offer employees may vary from dental, vision and 401(k) all the way to yoga massages, car washes and beauty services. With tech giants like Facebook and Google making a big deal about the benefits they offer, delivering and managing perks is a key part of any company’s strategy to attract talent now — and this is… Read More
Heap announced today that it has raised $11 million in Series A funding. We’ve written about the company’s “capture everything” approach to analytics before — it aims to collect data about every tap, swipe and other action that a user takes on a website or app. CEO Matin Movassate said this should allow anyone at a company to answer any question they might have… Read More
I’ve lived through a lot of live blogs in my life, mostly by the skin of my teeth, desperately watching as my battery ticks down, hoping desperately that the company is nearing the finish line.
Of course, the fact that both my personal work computers sometimes feel like they’re on their last legs doesn’t help much, but the fact remains: There are few things in this life as… Read More
