It’s bad news for Yahoo. The company is in the midst of finalizing its sale to Verizon, but recent revelations about hacking and spying may be costing them a pretty penny. A story from the New York Post alleges that Verizon is now asking Yahoo for a hefty $1 billion discount to finalize what was supposed to be a $4.8 billion deal. (Full disclosure: TechCrunch is owned by Verizon,… Read More
Uber’s self-driving cars are operating on Pittsburgh streets, so it’s only natural they’d pick up some professional athletes along the way. Defensive ends Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt likely max out the passenger capacity of the back of that Uber-tech equipped Ford Fusion that picks them up, but they do manage to get in and take the trip. My favorite moment here might be… Read More
SoundCloud’s big differentiator is its offering of unofficial, user-uploaded content that the major labels don’t release and that isn’t on Spotify or Apple Music. Or at least they weren’t. The first unofficial single-track remixes just went live on Spotify and Apple Music thanks to their partnerships with music rights management service Dubset. Apple struck a deal… Read More
Nearly a month after the on-demand laundry service Washio shut its doors, its assets have been starched, pressed and folded into the operations of one of its main competitors — Rinse. For a while, competition for on-demand laundering seemed to be a regional game, with both Rinse and Washio vying for territory along the West Coast and, eventually, nationally. On the East Coast, startups… Read More
Acquisitions are often celebrated in the press. But academic research suggests that 70 percent to 90 percent of mergers don’t succeed, owing to a wide variety of factors. Buyers overvalue the synergies they’ll derive, or they underestimate the impact of the associated costs, or they rely too heavily on assumptions about where a market is heading.
Of course, another reason… Read More
As the saying goes, “all politics is local.” And now, so is hacking. Cyber attacks popularized on the silver screen are now occurring in every aspect of our life. Our election system is not immune from this new reality. Read More
Kiosked, a company that dynamically inserts ads into a publisher’s content, has a new CEO — co-founder Antti Pasila. Pasila, who previously served as the company’s chief strategy officer, said his appointment is part of a broader shift: “The key thing is, we’re focusing our resources on the supply side.” In other words, while there are no plans to get rid… Read More
These are what Facebook calls “VR emoji,” and they’re the company’s vision for how we’ll convey emotion in virtual reality. We’re not talking about yellow illustrated emoticons popping up over your head. Instead, your avatar’s eyes, eye brows, mouth and other facial features will change to mimic how we exhibit body language in the real… Read More
Zenvolution doesn’t really roll off the tongue. But hey, you come for the gadgets – the clever word play is really just a bonus, at best. And the company certainly has a lot to showcase on that front, covering all of the requisite bases with a new laptop, phone, tablet and watch. Let’s start with the notebook and go from there, shall we? The company’s got a new version… Read More
There are subscription services for clothes, shoes, accessories, makeup, and even tampons, so why not one for handbags? That’s the premise, at least, behind a new startup called Ivory Clasp, which is promising to offer quality, stylish handbags that retail for over $100 for just $45 per month. The service sends name-brand bags, not knock-offs, and allows you to keep the purses you… Read More
RYOT, the Culver City California-based virtual reality outfit snapped up by the Huffington Post last year, works on the cutting edge of the news business, bringing audiences straight to the scene. That’s an unusual use of the new medium – most VR startups focus on sports and gaming empires. But RYOT took its VR team to the Rio 2016 Olympics, was there for the Democrat and… Read More
Coupa was off to the races when it went public on Thursday. The “spend management” software company priced its IPO at $18 and saw its shares almost double during its first day of trading. With clients like Nike and Toyota, Coupa helps companies keep tabs on everyday expenditures and competes with divisions of Oracle and SAP. Founded a decade ago, they claim they’ve saved… Read More
Sony has a pair of new cameras for sale — though perhaps “new” isn’t the word, since they’re more like upgrades to existing devices. The price is upgraded, too. You’re not getting away for under a grand, though you’ll be getting a lot of camera for your money. The RX100 V is, as you might guess, the fifth iteration of this pocket-size powerhouse.… Read More
Flex, the tampon alternative you can wear during sex, has raised a $3 million seed round led by Vivek Ranadive’s new fund, Better Our World Ventures Fund, with participation from Cyan Banister of Founders Fund, Ellen Pao and others. This comes just a couple of months after Flex raised $1 million from Y Combinator, Amplify.LA and others. Flex plans to use the funding to fine-tune… Read More
Oculus co-founder and Trump troll financier Palmer Luckey was conspicuously missing from the keynote stage at today’s Oculus Connect 3 conference in San Jose, CA. That likely related to the backlash against news that Luckey donated $10,000 to Nimble America, a pro-Trump non-profit dedicated to bashing Hillary Clinton with offensive memes. Luckey typically dispenses high-level thoughts… Read More
Nike announced earlier this week that it will be releasing a new edition of the Nike Mags, its self-lacing shoes inspired by Back to the Future — but only 89 pairs, which will be raffled off (tickets cost $10), with proceeds benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation‘s research on Parkinson’s disease. I got a chance to (briefly) try on a pair of Mags and discuss the… Read More
Kodak accidentally teased an upcoming phone today in a now-deleted tweet. Fortunately, the image accompanying the tweet is also easily found at Kodakphones.com. Read More
A group of Democratic senators asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate cell site simulators like Stingrays to determine if the surveillance devices used by local law enforcement agencies are disrupting cellphone service for ordinary consumers and 911 calls. The senators are also asking the FCC to look into whether Stingray use disproportionately affects people of color.… Read More
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Snap — the now-parent company of Snapchat — is working on an initial public offering for as early as March that could value the company at $25 billion or higher. The company most recently raised $1.8 billion in a financing round in May this year. The company has around 150 million daily active users, and leaked documents reported by… Read More
Oculus wants to make sure the next computing platform isn’t dominated by white males like the last ones. The company has announced it will put $10 million toward supporting VR app and video creators of diverse backgrounds, including women and people of color. This comes alongside Facebook and Oculus committing to invest another $250 million to help developers accelerate the proliferation… Read More
