Google Maps is now also available on the Apple Watch so you can get your walking, biking and driving directions right on your wrist. Don’t expect to get a full-blown Maps app on your wrist, though. The new app is mostly focused on giving you directions to known places (think home, work, etc.). To start […]
Amazon Prime is highlighting its offerings for gamers today with the launch of a service called Prime Gaming. This is a new version of Twitch Prime, a service that Amazon launched four years ago tied to the popular game streaming platform that it acquired in 2014. In both its old and new incarnations, Twitch Prime/Prime […]
At last month’s Early Stage virtual event, channel growth experts joined TechCrunch reporters and editors for a series of conversations covering the best tools and strategies for building startups in 2020. For this post, I’ve recapped highlights of talks with: Ethan Smith, founder and CEO, Graphite Susan Su, startup growth advisor, executive-in-residence, Sound Ventures Asher […]
As it reached an estimated valuation of $100 billion this year, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance solidified its status as the most valuable startup in private markets. Its success outside China has also become a source of envy and inspiration among its local peers. Now, the company’s price tag is under tremendous pressure as it’s set […]
The next few weeks are going to be critical for ByteDance-owned TikTok . The company is weeks away from a ban signed by President Trump, and while the company is expected to sue the U.S. federal government this week to block it, clearly the company’s future has at least storm clouds on the horizon. Trump […]
Entrepreneurial creators have to do a lot with limited time. They need to, well, create, but then they also need to build their marketing funnels, convert users to their paid products and manage business operations. Yet, perhaps the most important task they face is keeping their existing fans engaged, because ultimately, that engagement ties directly […]
We’re excited to announce that Rep. Zoe Lofgren is coming to Disrupt 2020 this September 14-18. Lofgren, a Democrat congresswoman and California native, has served at the heart of Silicon Valley since she was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1995, under which she’s served four presidents — and impeached exactly half […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has utterly decimated a number of industries over the past several months, but the U.S. gaming industry continues to benefit as people continue to be stuck at home. Yet another report from NPD highlights an excellent quarter, with spending hitting a new Q2 record in the States. According to the figures, gamers […]
As deep space missions and Mars colonies continue to shift from science fiction to potential near-future reality, it’s not surprising to see Hollywood think about different types of stories to tell about space exploration. “Away,” a new series from Netflix premiering on September 4, looks like that kind of story. The show stars Oscar-winner Hilary […]
Skillshare CEO Matt Cooper said 2020 has been a year of rapid growth — even before the pandemic forced large swaths of the population to stay home and turn to online learning for entertainment and enrichment. Cooper (who became CEO in 2017) told me that the company decided last year to “focus on our strength,” […]
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest big news, chats about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can […]
Late last-month, CES’s organizers called an audible, canceling the in-person tech show for 2021. The news seemingly cause the forces behind Berlin-based IFA to double down on the messaging for their upcoming event. Ahead of the September show, IFA has been particularly aggressive in attempting to get the word out. Take the August 4 press […]
Microsoft today announced that Minecraft: Education Edition is now available on Chromebooks. Now, if you were hoping that this means that the standard Minecraft game is now available on Chromebooks, too, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. The Education Edition not only requires a Microsoft 365 for Education (A3 or A5) license, it’s also […]
CakeResume is a startup creating an alternative for the tech industry to job search platforms like LinkedIn. The Taipei-based company, founded in 2016, announced today that it has raised $900,000 in seed funding from Mynavi, one of the largest staffing and public relations companies in Japan. The round will be used to expand CakeResume’s operations […]
As countries around the world ban or threaten to restrict TikTok, interest in virtual private networks has spiked. The use of VPNs can let users access an online service from an encrypted tunnel and thus bypass app blocks. “We are seeing an increasing number of governments around the world attempting to control the information their […]
One of the largest owners of shopping mall real estate in the United Stages, Simon Property Group, has been talking to Amazon about transforming its anchor department stores into Amazon distribution hubs, according to the Wall Street Journal. In the case of Simon Property, the anchor tenants like J.C. Penney and Sears that used to […]
The Gillmor Gang — Frank Radice, Michael Markman, Keith Teare, Denis Pombriant, Brent Leary, and Steve Gillmor . Recorded live Sunday, August 2, 2020. For more, subscribe to the Gillmor Gang Newsletter and join the notification feed here on Telegram. Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor @fradice, @mickeleh, @denispombriant, @kteare, @brentleary, @stevegillmor, @gillmorgang […]
Most gamers may not view Apple as a games company to the same degree that they see Sony with PlayStation or Microsoft with Xbox, but the iPhone-maker continues to uniformly drive the industry with decisions made in the Apple App Store. The company made the news a couple times late this week for App Store […]
Timothy Bouré and his co-founder Geoffrey Lucks were both near broke when they moved to Dallas to join the first accelerator they entered after forming VenoStent, a company that aims to improve outcomes for dialysis patients. Failed dialysis surgeries occur in roughly 55% to 65% of patients with end-stage renal disease, according to the company. […]
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that TikTok and Twitter have held talks about a potential merger, even as the video sharing company defends itself against President Donald Trump’s pressure to force the sale of the business or potentially ban it. As the internationally distributed video streaming version of Chinese technology developer Bytedance’s social media […]
