It has never been more clear that transformational change to one of the world’s largest industries is just around the corner. Car ownership is supposed to change — and when it does, it is predicted to be one of the most monumental displacements of wealth the world economy has ever seen. But there are a lot of conflicting opinions out there. What is unequivocal is that there’s… Read More
The Skype team today announced that anyone using a Chromebook or Chrome on Linux can visit web.skype.com to make one-to-one and group voice calls on top of the messaging features they get today.
The Alpha version of Skype based on WebRTC inherits the same features as the Alpha version of the Skype for Linux client. Thanks to ORTC, users were able to make free voice and video calls on Skype… Read More
In the early morning hours I pad down the hallway in my grandmother’s ranch-style home in Martins Ferry, Ohio. It’s June 1986. I’m eleven years old and still in my pajamas. The house has cooled overnight and it’s even a bit chilly but as the sun rises the dark roof will warm up and grandma will send me into the basement or to the library across town. Until then I can… Read More
Pokémon Go has quickly become one of the most viral mobile applications of all time. The game is now the biggest ever in the U.S.; it has now topped Twitter’s daily users, and it sees people spending more time in its app than in Facebook, according to reports from various tracking firms. Read More
When you’re Land Rover, you can’t just test connected and autonomous vehicles on regular roads. You have to live up to your rugged, but polished brand, simultaneously. That’s precisely why the automaker is testing off-road connected convoy research vehicles. It’s all a part of the company’s ambitious plan to create a fleet of 100-plus research vehicles over the… Read More
The RT81 is a higher end, entry-level turntable. It will cost you a little bit more than some of the $100 plastic entry-level turntables out there, but it’s much higher quality both in terms of appearance and sound quality. Read More
Earlier this week, Facebook gave a small group of reporters a tour of its Prineville, OR data center. In the process, the company also showed off its mobile device lab for testing on physical devices new iOS and Android versions of the Facebook app, Messenger and Instagram. The mobile device lab currently occupies 60 racks in the data center. Each rack holds 32 phones, for a total of… Read More
Apple has been working on an unscripted TV series for a few months now. The TV show should be about the app economy, but it’s unclear how Apple is going to distribute it. Apple just announced an open casting call. Read More
A San Francisco startup called Trace Genomics wants to help farmers diagnose and improve the health of the soil where they want to raise crops before it’s harvest time and too late to change course.
So the startup has developed a soil testing kit and “pathogen panel,” that tells the growers of high-value crops, like berries or lettuce, whether or not their soil has harmful… Read More
Over the last few years, Unity Technologies has grown to become indispensable to the gaming industry and much of the entertainment industry as an engine for building experiences in one place and distributing them across a swath of platforms. Now, with the rise of augmented and virtual reality, we are rapidly approaching the likelihood that the future will be built on Unity.
To do that, the… Read More
Nobody loves change, especially when it hits our most beloved digital services like Gmail, Facebook, Spotify, or Instagram. The majority of the time we get over these changes and suddenly forget what these services were like before. It’s like seeing a friend’s new haircut — shocking at first, but eventually that haircut is the only one you’ve ever known. Remember… Read More
Ants are really good at lots of things. Lifting, communicating, ruining picnics. Turns out they’ve got the whole voting thing down to a science, too. When time comes to move nests, the plucky little insects vote by quorum. The democratic process is determined, at least in part, by how often they bump into one another.
Scientists believe that ants have a knack for determining their own… Read More
Yesterday’s checkout glitches didn’t impact Amazon’s ability to pull off another successful Prime Day sales event, as it turns out. The online retailer announced this morning, without giving specific figures, that its Prime Day 2016 was the “biggest ever.” Not just in terms of other Prime Days, either, but the “biggest day in the history of Amazon.”… Read More
Even though TechCrunch readers can get really busy with their jobs, their side hustles and everything else in their lives, you’ll probably still have a few moments of downtime today — maybe when you’re driving home from work. A new startup called SpareMin aims to help you fill that time with phone calls. The app, which is available for both iOS and Android, was created by… Read More
ABC this morning has relaunched its streaming service in an effort to better target cord cutters, with an expanded lineup of shows, including dozens of “throwback” series as well as seven, new digital short-form series and over 40 more in development. The app, which features a redesigned interface for iOS and Apple TV devices, also offers exclusive content for pay TV… Read More
The transportation industry is associated with high maintenance costs, disasters, accidents, injuries and loss of life. Hundreds of thousands of people across the world are losing their lives to car accidents and road disasters every year. Hopefully, this problem can be addressed by the Internet of Things and machine learning, two technologies that are taking the world by storm. Read More
In coordination with Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium, TechCrunch partnered with Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and the National Football League on 1st & Future, a competition for startups looking to advance the stadium experience, enhance how fans enjoy the game at home and improve the performance and safety of athletes.
Radd3, one of the startups competing in the… Read More
As platforms like Apple TV, Android TV and others pick up traction, it’s worth wondering about the evolution of the biggest advertising industry in the world: TV advertising.
$176 billion is spent globally to an audience that is rapidly switching over to connected TV, where they can play games, watch streaming content, etc.
When it comes to marketing to this audience, ColorTV has a… Read More
Tesla is doing its part to slash the sticker prices on its vehicles. On Wednesday, the electric-vehicle automaker introduced its Model X 60D, which carries a starting price tag of $64,500 (after incentives), compared to the original Model X’s $80,000 starting price. We guess that’s more affordable to Tesla…sigh. According to Tesla’s website, the Model X 60D has a… Read More
Probably could have seen this one coming from a mile away. XYZprinting, the Taiwanese company that’s made a name for itself with its user-friendly and reasonably priced da Vinci line, is branching out into the free-drawing 3D pen space popularized by the Wobbleworks, the company behind the 3Doodler. The simply named da Vinci 3D Pen features push-button in-air drawing, using PLA… Read More
