TechCrunch

 Apple has launched carrier billing in Switzerland and Taiwan in a move that will let customers purchase apps and content without using a credit card. Read More

 UK antivirus maker BullGuard is acquiring Israeli startup Dojo-Labs to expand its portfolio of security products to the Internet of Things. Read More

 European online glasses retailer MyOptique, which operates websites such as Glasses Direct and SunGlasses Shop in the UK and Lensbest in Germany, has been acquired by French lens maker Essilor International. Read More

 India has a new tech unicorn. Hike, a four-year-old messaging app, today announced that it has closed $175 million in funding led by new investors Tencent and Foxconn. The Series D round values the company at $1.4 billion, founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal confirmed to TechCrunch. Read More

 If you’re reading this article and live in the U.S., you might not realize that Venmo, Square Cash, Facebook Messenger payments and other similar services only work in the U.S. In many countries, such as Germany, most people still have to rely on wire transfers and IBANs to send money to their friends. German startup Cookies wants to make peer-to-peer payments as easy as 1-2-3. It is… Read More

 Samsung will introduce (yet) another smartwatch this month. The Korea-based giant teased a launch event at the IFA electronics show in Germany, the date to watch for is August 31 and, as the teaser above rather heavy-handily hints, this will be the Gear S3. Read More

 Can Google spring back from its social failures with a bare-bones video-calling app that unites iOS and Android users? Today it’s launching Duo, which lets you video call people one-on-one via their phone number. The problem is they’ll have to download the app but won’t get any bells and whistles or the ability to connect with Google Chat, Hangouts, Spaces, the upcoming… Read More

 Earlier today, we started seeing rumblings about a New York Times op-ed from famed entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel — an op-ed where he’d lay out the case against Gawker. Thiel, of course, quietly poured $10 million into the lawsuit by Terry Bollea, a.k.a. Hulk Hogan, which bankrupted Gawker Media. Thiel’s financial involvement wasn’t revealed until after… Read More

 Pokemon Go issues lifetime bans for people who cheat, Spotify launches a category for kids, Audi is working with traffic technology services to know when a light is going to turn green, Google’s mysterious new Fuchsia operating system could run on almost anything, and Gurbaksh Chahal is sentenced to a year in jail. All this on Crunch Report. Read More

 Hyperloop One tells TechCrunch it might be building its crazy fast transportation system at the Jebel Ali port in Dubai if all goes according to plan. And it could be the first place to build an actual Hyperloop for commercial use, says CEO Rob Lloyd. “It’s got the infrastructure, regulatory movement and kind of capital in place needed to build it already,” he told… Read More

 Business analytics platform BeyondCore will be officially joining Salesforce, according to a blog post by BeyondCore CEO Arijit Sengupta. BeyondCore is an enterprise analytics tool that bolsters business intelligence with computational and statistical analysis. While Salesforce could have gone fishing and come up with a number of business intelligence companies to buy, BeyondCore was… Read More

 Like startups, most venture capital firms fail- at least in terms of returns. In our latest interview with Dave McClure, Founder @ 500 Startups, he argues that poor venture returns are the fault of ‘focused’ investment strategies. Instead, McClure argues that a high-volume, diversified investment strategy delivers consistently stronger cash on cash returns than a more… Read More

 Google announced today that Hangouts On Air will move from Google+ to YouTube Live on September 12; users will be asked to migrate to YouTube Live. In an email to TechCrunch, Google confirmed that Hangouts on Air isn’t shutting down, but will move to YouTube Live. “We’re focusing our live streaming efforts on YouTube Live and consolidating our services there,”… Read More

 We’re redefining how we interact with machines and how they interact with us. Advances in AI help make new human-to-machine and machine-to-human interaction possible. Traditional interfaces get simplified, abstracted, hidden — they become ambient, part of everything. The ultimate UI is no UI. Everyone’s getting in on it, but few have cracked the code. We must fundamentally… Read More

 Motorcycle makers Alta Motors have opened the doors to their new factory in Brisbane, California, and TechCrunch was on the scene for a first look. A quick trip from downtown San Francisco, the factory is in a low and unassuming concrete structure. Inside, it’s surprisingly quiet, thanks in part to the fact that the motorcycles Alta makes are all-electrics, and final assembly of these… Read More

 Snapchat could help you organize a night out with friends or get a digest of the day’s news thanks to its acquisition of mobile search startup Vurb. TechCrunch caught wind of the impending deal over the weekend and now The Information reports Snapchat is in the closing stages of talks to pay $110 million for Vurb (75 percent stock, 25 percent cash). Snapchat is also said to offer $75… Read More

 DroneDeploy released a new study of the commercial and industrial drones market this week, revealing bad news for the makers of fixed-wing drones — quadcopters are far outpacing this type of unmanned aerial vehicle in every industry. Fixed-wing drones, like the SenseFly eBee Ag, 3DR Aero-M and PrecisionHawk Lancaster, promise performance benefits, including endurance and ruggedness. A… Read More

 The New York Times reported yesterday that the Twitter app may be coming to Apple TV — and with it, Twitter’s live streaming content. If the two companies reach a deal by fall, Apple TV users could potentially watch Twitter’s live coverage of NFL games on their screens, since a deal between Twitter and the NFL to live stream the games has already been signed. In an email… Read More

 LinkedIn is trying to lock down its exclusive relationship with its users. The professional networking company filed suit against 100 unnamed individuals last week for using bots to harvest user profiles from its website. The lawsuit is a preliminary step to revealing the identities of the scrapers — LinkedIn intends to ask the court to reveal the true identities behind the… Read More

 Picture this: you own a nice building in San Francisco and you want to rent to some good old-fashioned salt-of-the-earth folks for not much money. I realize this is a fantasy but play along. How do you confirm the tenants you bring in are not a bunch of deadbeats? Naborly has some ideas. The startup, founded by Dylan Lenz, Zeke Kan, and Anastasia Fox from the University of British Columbia,… Read More