WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max launched today with a couple of conspicuous absences from the list of supported devices — Max is not yet available on Roku or Amazon’s Fire TV. It sounds like this isn’t just a technical issue that will be fixed imminently. WarnerMedia’s vice president of communications Chris Willard told USA Today […]
Emmanuel Bamfo is used to fighting uphill battles. Still, his latest fight, with the city of San Francisco, may well destroy his business if he doesn’t win it, and quickly. Bamfo is the co-founder and CEO of Globe, a year-old, six-person startup that connects customers with rooms in people’s mostly urban homes. Think Airbnb, except […]
Augmented reality filters on Instagram are picking up some new tricks with the latest update to Facebook’s Spark AR platform. Spark AR has been making pretty consistent updates to the feature sets developers can play with in creating AR filters since it exited closed beta on Instagram last year. Today, Facebook added some new functionality […]
UPDATE: SpaceX and NASA made the call to scrub the launch today since there were a couple of weather issues that prevented the attempt from taking place. The next window for the launch is Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 PM EDT (12:22 PM PDT). SpaceX is set to mark a huge milestone in its own […]
This week, Verizon Communications CEO Hans Vestberg joined us for an episode of Extra Crunch Live. Vestberg is leading the company through the midst of one its biggest rollouts to date with the push into 5G connectivity. In our discussion, he spoke about how he’s managing the organization during this global crisis, his thoughts on […]
Rivian is hiring an insurance agency data manager, a job posting that suggests the all-electric automaker is planning to offer its own insurance to customers. The job was first posted by RivianForums, which also reached out to TechCrunch with the tip. Roadshow/CNET also reported about this new position. Rivian wouldn’t provide more details about its […]
Week three of a16z’s Crypto Startup School focuses on understanding how to capture value and design proper incentives within the decentralized framework. We learn how familiar ideas like network effects and mechanism design can hold unique power for crypto networks.
When Docker sold off its enterprise division to Mirantis last fall, that didn’t mark the end of the company. In fact, Docker still exists and has refocused as a cloud-native developer tools vendor. Today it announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft around simplifying running Docker containers in Azure. As its new mission suggests, it involves […]
Austin Soldner and Michael Schaecher, the co-founders of the new sunglasses brand Futuremood, met at the newly formed San Francisco research and development lab created by the high-end audio tech developer Bose. The two were tasked with working on Bose’s sunglasses wearable and bonded over a shared interest in sneakers and fashion. Over many conversations […]
Inside the first American spacecraft to take humans to orbit since the Space Shuttle, launching today, are, well, humans. And those humans are wearing brand new spacesuits that are also making a historic debut. Ahead of today’s launch (which you can watch here), NASA and SpaceX gave a fresh look at the new suits, which […]
In a closely watched decision today, the Supreme Court of British Columbia published a key decision in the extradition case of Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Huawei Technologies, China’s largest telecommunications company and a frequent target of U.S. policymakers. In its ruling, the court said that the case met the standard for “double criminality,” and […]
SpaceX is in the process of preparing for its historic first astronaut launch, with a mission to demonstrate its human spaceflight capabilities by flying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. That flight is set to happen at 4:33 PM EDT (1:33 PM PDT), weather permitting, but meanwhile SpaceX has […]
Tesla slashed prices across its electric vehicle portfolio overnight as the automaker aims to boost sales in an economy beaten down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters and Electrek were the first to report the changes. The base price of Model 3 standard range plus is now $37,990, a $2,000 reduction. But the biggest cuts were […]
Can a pair of socks help those with diabetes avoid foot amputations? That’s one of the ideas behind Siren, a company that’s building smart, washable fabric wearables — the first of which is a pair of socks meant to help those with diabetes monitor their foot health and detect dangerous injuries early. They’ve just raised […]
When Dapper Labs launched CryptoKitties back in November 2017, the company’s take on Tamagotchi was seen as the first popular use of blockchain-based applications. It was the first popular use case outside of Bitcoin as a speculative investment. Like all fads, CryptoKitties didn’t last, but the app proved that Dapper Labs could build a compelling […]
Google is introducing a new “quick settings” menu in Gmail aimed at helping users browse, discover and use different themes and settings to customize their Gmail experience. These options include the ability to change the density of text, select from different inbox types and add reading panes and options to theme your inbox. They are […]
Following a debate in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, deputies have voted in favor of the release of contact-tracing app StopCovid and the decree related to the app. While a vote in the parliament wasn’t a mandatory step, the government wants to rally as many people as possible around the […]
Otrium has raised a $26 million Series B funding round (€24 million), with Eight Roads Ventures leading the round. Existing investors Index Ventures and Hans Veldhuizen also participated. Otrium works with clothing brands to help them sell items when they reach the end-of-season status. Due to fast fashion, you have to regularly clear some space […]
Plenty of ideas have merit, but when it comes to which ones you move forward with, make sure you’re investing time and budget into the ideas with the highest probability of value and success.
RudderStack, a startup that offers an open-source alternative to customer data management platforms like Segment, today announced that it has raised a $5 million seed round led by S28 Capital. Salil Deshpande of Uncorrelated Ventures and Mesosphere/D2iQ co-founder Florian Leibert (through 468 Capital) also participated in this round. In addition, the company also today announced […]
