It’s been four decades since the Viking 1 lander touched down on Martian soil, the first lasting human presence on the surface of the Red Planet. It beamed its unprecedented data back to NASA, where it was stored on the hot new format of the day: microfilm. Now one scientist wants to bring these analog records into the digital world — for posterity and for science. Read More
Elon Musk plans to steer Tesla towards fully autonomous driving, car sharing, and cargo transport, according to the long awaited blog post on the company’s website. A fully solar power ecosystem driven in-part by SolarCity will help Musk and Co. get there. Musk has been teasing the master plan part II for days. What would be in it? Would Tesla cars fly? Would they go to space? What… Read More
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk delivered part 2 of his “master plan” today, and two big parts of it are new vehicles, but not consumer models: Tesla is working on both a heavy-duty semi truck and a “high passenger-density urban transport” that would operate in cities and fit the role of a bus in city settings. In the post describing this next stage to the now-famous… Read More
Since the early 2000s, brands have experimented with social media platforms to communicate with customers and prospects — first through weblogs, then eventually through social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Although the capabilities and sophistication have continued to evolve, social media has remained a platform to facilitate human-to-human communication. Then the robots moved in. Read More
Online travel agency Expedia has acquired Trover, an app and website where people share their travel photos. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. “At Expedia, it’s fair to say we believe in the power of travel,” an Expedia spokesperson wrote in an email to TechCrunch. “It can transform people. So an important part of our job is to inspire travelers. One way we… Read More
Pop quiz, hot shot: You’re a delivery drone with a flight duration of 20 minutes with your current payload, but because of delays (use your imagination) you’re never going to make it in time. What do you do, hot shot? What do you do? You land on a streetlight that’s been converted into a drone charger! Thank goodness Amazon patented those. Read More
Pokémon Go fever has definitely caught Hollywood’s attention: The franchise is getting a live-action movie, the rights to which were just won by Legendary Pictures. The movie won’t be focused on Pokémon Go, however. Instead, it’ll put the spotlight on Detective Pikachu, a sleuthing version of one of Pokémon’s most recognizable characters introduced in a franchise… Read More
Following the bell today, Qualcomm reported earnings for its third fiscal quarter of 2016 that met analyst expectations in terms of earnings per share, and exceeded expectations in terms of revenue. The company attributed its results to progress with the number of licensees in China. For the quarter ending June 26, the San Diego, California-based semiconductor and telecommunications… Read More
There’s been much talk about Nintendo suddenly creating an enormous amount of value for itself with the release of Pokémon Go, perhaps one of the most successful game launches of all time.
Following Pokémon Go, Nintendo’s market valuation soared to more than $40 billion, passing Sony and quickly becoming one of the most valuable gaming companies in the world. This is a pretty… Read More
Warby Parker is offering its very first Snapchat-exclusive product — limited sunglasses that are only available for purchase to its Snapchat followers.
The eyeglass retailer said it just shared a Snapchat story with its followers with a unique URL where, for a limited time, they can buy “head-turning Haskell in Crystal, now with new silver mirrored lenses” for $95. (I… Read More
DeepMind may be a master at one of the most complex games on Earth, but can it handle the day-to-day energy concerns of a Google datacenter? Yes, as it turns out, and with a vengeance. Read More
The new world of startup finance is very strange. Private equity is increasingly dipping down to finance startups. Meanwhile, venture capital funds are being forced to use every financial tool imaginable to stay involved in the growing pool of late-stage startups. PWC’s most recent MoneyTree report for Q2 2016 underscores this point. One fund, Lighter Capital, is trying to get ahead… Read More
As in past quarters, a high portion of the largest early-stage fundings went to life science companies developing breakthrough therapeutics platforms. Internet and technology companies also closed some big rounds, particularly in fintech, healthcare services and cloud computing. Read More
eBay reported second quarter results after the bell on Wednesday and saw its stock rise over 5% in initial after-hours trading. The company beat expectations, posting earnings at an adjusted 43 cents per share, when analysts were forecasting 42 cents. The company also brought in $2.23 billion in revenue, compared to the $2.17 billion expected by Wall Street. Investors were also pleased to see… Read More
Chipmaker Intel, which in April announced that it would need to take a $1.2 billion charge on a massive restructuring of its business, has posted its Q2 earnings, and they are unsurprisingly mixed. The company reported revenues of $13.5 billion with a non-GAAP earnings per share of 59 cents. Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.53 on revenues of $13.54 billion. The company also noted it had… Read More
The Nintendo NX is one of the most long-teased console releases I can ever remember, especially as an officially acknowledged thing. Speaking on his company’s quarterly earnings conference call yesterday (via IGN), Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot shared some tantalizing impressions about the NX: It’s “really great,” and it should “help the industry continue to… Read More
Audio, the spoken word, is humanity’s primary means of sentient communication: the sounds a fetus hears in utero; a lover’s whisper; a marriage proposal… all leave deep imprints on our hearts and minds. We use sound to accentuate and transmit our emotions; our aural ability is a primary sense that is deeply connected to emotion. Read More
When it comes to buying a serious VR headset, to most it’s largely a question of choosing the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive. There is a second tier of lesser-known VR headsets however, and at the forefront of them is the OSVR headset. Today, Razer announced it is opening up pre-orders for the company’s second OSVR development kit, called the HDK 2. It’s available for $399… Read More
Corning has managed the remarkable feat of making smartphone glass – if not sexy exactly, at the very least compelling. Smartphone makers tend not to go out of their way when it comes to talking up third-party component manufacturers, but name-checking Gorilla Glass has become common practice at product unveils, a sort of shorthand for a company’s commitment to making their… Read More
Dots, the gaming studio that brought you ultra-successful time sinks Dots and Two Dots, is today releasing Dots & Co. Dots & Co is very familiar for folks who have played Dots and Two Dots, yet it puts a greater focus on characters you meet along the way, each of which has a different ability that will help you solve puzzles. There are over 15 different game mechanics within Dots &… Read More
