Pokémon Go has finally launched in Japan, the land where Pokémania first began. McDonalds is the game’s first sponsor in a deal which, as we reported earlier this week, turns the fast food firm’s 3,000 stores in the country into Pokémon Go “gyms”. Read More
The owner of KickAss Torrents gets arrested, Elon Musk reveals part 2 of his master plan, smartwatch shipments drop 32% in the second quarter of 2016, Facebook completes its first official test flight of its internet-providing solar plane and Coinbase adds support for Ethereum Read More
The latest graphics card release from Nvidia is, in fact, the most powerful card its ever produced. With 12 billion transistors, the latest Pascal architecture, 12GB of GDDR5X memory and 3,584 cores at 1.53Ghz delivering an apparent 11 teraflops of performance, it’s a steadfast attempt at being the best there is. Read More
Astronomers used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to conduct the first atmospheric study of Earth-sized exoplanets and found evidence to suggest that two could be habitable. The planets have astronomers excited because atmospheric analysis revealed that they’re likely to be rocky worlds, the type of planet necessary to host life as we know it. Planets are generally broken down into… Read More
The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report recently published rankings of university entrepreneurship. Among the top 12 schools, the two lists share but a single institution. How can two highly regarded agencies compile lists of excellence with virtually no overlap? It’s hard to measure success when you don’t know what that success looks like. So what is the role of… Read More
Cola, a messaging app that integrates apps into chats, is opening up its developer kit today to enable anyone to build new apps.
The updated version available today comes with 12 “bubbles” that are essentially applications that run inside the messaging app. Users can share weather and flight information, gifs, and more without creating accounts with individual tools. The… Read More
As the graphics in games and movies edge closer and closer to photorealism, even the subtlest tricks of the light must be simulated. For years an especially tough one has been recreating the sparkling, uneven surfaces of water, metals and other materials — but these glints can now be rendered 100 times faster than before thanks to a new technique from computer scientists at UC San Diego. Read More
Although Pao was seen as the driving force behind efforts to make Reddit respectable enough to appeal to advertisers, the company continued its clean-up after her departure, making diverse hires and keeping up with the anti-harassment policy instituted during Pao’s tenure. But Reddit, led by CEO Steve Huffman, seems to be struggling with its reform. Over the past six months, over a… Read More
Pandora, in a story we’ve seen before with many other maturing companies, is facing an existential crisis.
The company now finds itself fighting for its life against competition from the core platforms its service exists on: Android and iOS. Both of them — and Amazon as well — have launched their own music-streaming products, and they’re baked into the core experience. Read More
Monotype, a publicly traded company focused on font design and technology, announced today that it’s acquiring Olapic, a startup that helps brands promote themselves with user-generated photos. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year — at that point, Olapic will operate as a division of Monotype. The purchase price is $130 million, plus $19 million in… Read More
Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler intends to up its spending on research and development, the company revealed during its quarterly earnings call on Thursday. The high-end car maker is going to route a lot more money toward areas key to the future of driving, including autonomous driving tech, a brand new generation of batteries for electric vehicles and alternative drive… Read More
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Donald J. Trump is, to put it gently, not well liked within the Silicon Valley tech industry — and not because it is the liberal bastion it’s often portrayed to be. Mary Meeker, Meg Whitman and other tech leaders are die-hard members of the Republican Party and plenty of those among the… Read More
Roger Ailes has officially resigned as chairman and CEO of Fox News, according to an announcement from parent company 21st Century Fox.
The resignation follows a lawsuit alleging that Ailes sexually harassed Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox anchor. (Ailes claimed that the suit was retaliation for Fox’s decision not to renew Carlson’s contract.) There are reports that an internal… Read More
Poke failed. Slingshot failed. But Facebook is still trying to mimic Snapchat with a new Stories-style feature it’s been testing called “Quick Updates”. These 24-hour ephemeral updates are buried in a special part of the app, and won’t show up in News Feed or on your profile. We received these screenshots from our reader Tiffany Zhong of Binary Capital who is one of… Read More
PayPal reported earnings after the bell on Thursday, showing $2.65 billion in revenue for the quarter, when analysts were expecting $2.6 billion. Adjusted earnings per share was also in line with Wall Street estimates at 36 cents. Shares ticked up 2 percent in after-hours trading, in part because of a Visa announcement that was timed with earnings. The new partnership with Visa emphasized… Read More
Wall Street quieted Pandora today following mediocre earnings and news that Pandora’s board rejected a $3.4 billion acquisition offer at about $15 per share from SiriusXM radio owner Liberty Media, according to The Wall Street Journal. That would have been a few dollars higher than its existing price, signaling high hopes for the company from leadership despite this quarter’s… Read More
In the near future, ads will just be part of the conversation. Bots, and the AI technologies that drive them, are taking huge leaps forward in sophistication and reach. While bots had previously been limited to very specific requests, such as checking a balance or flight status, next-generation AI will better understand context and integrate with a host of services — including… Read More
Ever wonder what you would look like with long, wavy hair? I think you’d look great. But how can you try on a few looks without spending a fortune at the salon, or hours in photoshop? I’m glad you asked. All you need is a selfie and Dreambit, the face-swapping search engine. Read More
It has been a very slow year for tech IPOs, but Seattle-based Impinj decided to brave the public markets and list on the Nasdaq today. The company priced at the top of the range at $14 and then saw its shares rise about 28% on its first day of trading.
A leader in developing radio frequency technology, or RFID chips, Impinj has found unique partnerships with Coca-Cola, Macy’s… Read More
Human bodies aren’t evolving quickly enough to withstand the force of a major car accident using today’s auto technology. To help illustrate this, Australia’s Transport Accident Commission has built Graham — a lifelike, interactive model made to show the bodily features that humans might be equipped with if we evolve to endure blunt force in crashes. Essentially,… Read More
