TechCrunch

 China’s Didi Chuxing has confirmed that it has agreed to buy Uber China in a deal that had been heavily speculated earlier today. Read More

 TechCrunch first caught wind of Lumo’s smart pants with the running sensor last October. It was a breakout product from its posture trainer Lumo Lift and a first step into both connected garments and the running industry. You can check out our video review with Lumo co-founder Monisha Perkash here. Lumo’s pants needed the sensor to go in a special pocket to work when we last caught… Read More

 Even as a deal is imminent between Uber and its closest competitor Didi Chuxing in the immense Chinese market, competition in ride-sharing continues to intensify around the globe. Africa is one region where entrants continue to pile in. In Kenya’s tech transit market, which already includes Uber and several other startups, Safaricom, the country’s largest telecom and fintech firm,… Read More

 Didi Chuxing’s proposed acquisition of Uber’s Chinese business hasn’t even been confirmed, but the gravity of the deal — Didi will hold stakes in all of the planet’s top ride-sharing firms — has already prompted responses from others in the industry. Read More

 Huge news for China’s ride-sharing industry, it appears that Didi Chuxing will gobble up rival Uber China in a deal that will value the combined entity at $35 billion. Read More

 Philips is no stranger to health. In fact, Philips Healthcare (nee Philips Medical Systems) comprises a big chunk of the multinational corporation, providing some serious industrial equipment for hospitals, from CT scanners to defibrillators. It’s no surprise, then, that the company’s been angling to make progress in the booming consumer wearable space – or that it’s… Read More

 Pundits are painting a picture of doom and gloom for startups, saying it will be harder to raise money. What do you think? I think the next several months and possibly years will be challenging for raising capital. There has definitely been a reset. The market was over extended in an unhealthy way and we are seeing the impact across the board. The catalyst for this reset has been the collapse… Read More

 This week on Technotopia I talk to Rob Anderson, founder of Convergent Media Group and a former founding team member at MTV Russia. Anderson has some interesting ideas on education and the necessity for a true way to assess and hire based on personality types and skills. Anderson is constantly hiring for his media company and he’s looking forward to a future when we will all be working a… Read More

 The Israeli startup scene has dramatically changed within a couple of years because of the significant increase in investment prospects, events, meet-ups, competitions, lectures, academic programs and more. Especially interesting are the recent alterations in the diversity of the entrepreneurs, with more and more women entering the previously male-dominated startup habitat. Read More

So what will a Clinton presidency mean to Silicon Valley? And does she actually have a plan on innovation and technology? Read More

 In the mid-2000s, everyone was talking about 3D, the “next big thing” in video. It required people to buy expensive new gadgets and wear goofy eyewear, but we were told consumers would flock to this new 3D world. Unless you’re James Cameron, you likely missed the entire 3D revolution. So perhaps we should look at the new “next big thing” in video, virtual… Read More

 Consider BlackBerry. Think about the company, its products, its most iconic features. What comes to mind? Business apps? A QWERTY keyboard? BBM? The once-mighty Canadian smartphone maker is banking on one word standing above all the rest: security. You see, BBM is no longer solely the realm of BlackBerry devices, and the keyboard hasn’t been ubiquitous since the company belatedly… Read More

 The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Frank Radice, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, July 29, 2016. In 1972, the Firesign Theatre documented the National Surrealist Light Peoples Party convention for president. George Papoon’s campaign rallying cry, Not Insane, has never been more appropriate. Plus, G3 w/ Kristie Wells, Elisa Camahort Page, Francine Hardaway,… Read More

 In years to come, conversations will breathe new life into software — particularly the boring enterprise tools millions of knowledge workers begrudgingly use every day. Conversational user interfaces (CUIs) work because of our familiarity with messaging. Even the most technically complex interactions can look as simple as getting an SMS text when presented as a conversation. Read More

 Imagine being part of the BBC’s natural history unit, traveling the world to create some of the world’s most beautiful documentaries. Sounds like a dream job, right? I sat down with Huw Cordey, the producer on a ton of the Beeb’s best-loved shows, to find out more about the technology and gadgets the team deploys to capture the beasties in action. Read More

 Chrisfino Kenyatta Leal never thought he would end up in prison, let alone the tech industry. What he did envision, he tells me, was dying before the age of 25 or 30. “I saw so many people around me dying at such a young age that my long-term vision just wasn’t in focus,” Leal tells me. “I was just focused on what was right in front me.” Read More

 Millions who downloaded the new Pokémon Go app are living in a brave, new, augmented reality world. For the early adopters (meaning apparently everyone you know) on iOS devices, it meant unknowingly granting Pokémon Go the permission to fully access their Google accounts. You’ve got to risk it all to catch ‘em all, right? Read More

 The current messaging hype is overstated. There are certainly some interesting and unique opportunities for messaging as an interface, but I contend the number of practical use cases is a fraction of what the current hype cycle suggests. Read More

 There are scores of startups making fertility tracker and family planning apps today, but a Consumer Reports investigation has singled out Glow Inc. for serious security and privacy flaws. First, Consumer Reports’ team was able to access very personal information including data and comments about users’ sex lives, history of miscarriages, abortions and more, through a privacy… Read More

 Word started spreading early this morning of an update rolling out to Pokemon Go — version 0.31.0, if you’re keeping track. The update is reportedly rolling out now, but it’s only gone out to a handful of Android users thus far. I’d imagine that a comparable iOS update is right around the corner, just making its way through Apple’s approval process. Don’t… Read More