The record-setting score that settled the Donkey Kong arcade rivalry, made famous by the documentary The King of Kong, has been invalidated by Twin Galaxies, the de facto arbiter of arcade world records. What’s more, Billy Mitchell, the occasionally controversial player who set the scores, has been permanently banned from consideration for future records. It’s […]
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Tesla is no longer working with NTSB in fatal Model X crash investigation
In light of Tesla going a bit rogue and disclosing details of the fatal crash that involved Autopilot, the National Transportation Safety Board is removing Tesla as a party in the investigation. “The NTSB took this action because Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the […]
Lyft breaks down how much drivers can make
How much drivers can make working for Lyft and Uber has long been a topic of conversation and third-party studies. Now, Lyft is providing some more clarity around how much people can make driving for its platform. “Understandably, we’ve seen a few external groups take their own guesses at what Lyft drivers make, usually as […]
Amazon officially owns Ring, so let’s talk product integration
Amazon’s acquisition of Ring officially closed today. Now the companies (or company, rather) are marking the occasion by discounting the Ring Video Doorbell $30, down to $100 — because what better way to celebrate scalability and maximum distribution than a price drop? Amazon is quick to note in its press material that the Ring name […]
Uber expands privacy settlement with FTC
Uber is expanding the proposed settlement it made with the Federal Trade Commission last August pertaining to data mishandling, privacy and security complaints that dated back to 2014 and 2015. In August, Uber agreed to 20 years of privacy audits. That proposed settlement happened prior to Uber’s disclosure of the massive 2016 data breach that […]
Impossible Foods goes to White Castle
Impossible Foods is taking another bite out of the meat supply chain, with the announcement that it’s meatless burger substitute is coming to America’s first fast food burger chain — White Castle. That’s right, now stoned vegan hippies can join stoned slackers in their quest for cheap, delicious burger-y goodness. The “Impossible Slider” which is […]
Dutch uni spinout gets $1.2M for its zero ink printing tech
Tocano, a spinout from Delft Technology University in the Netherlands which is working on an inkless printing technology, has closed a €1 million angel round to fund the next stage of its tech development and move a step closer to building its first commercial product. The startup began as the graduate student project of co-founder Venkatesh Chandrasekar […]
Introducing: Emoji!
No doubt that you’ve seen emoji living in various subject lines inside your inbox lately. Fun fact: Did you know emoji have been shown to increase email open rates? And, as more of our communication becomes text based, emoji are one of the key ways you can express emotions that words may not quite capture. […]
Applications for Startup Battlefield at Disrupt SF are now open
Listen up startup fans — the moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived. Applications to Startup Battlefield are finally open! Now, we told you that Disrupt San Francisco 2018 is going to be our biggest, boldest, most ambitious Disrupt ever: triple the floor space, 12 technology tracks, four unique stages and more than 10,000 […]
SpaceX has authorized new shares that could va
SpaceX has authorized a new Series I round for 3 million shares in a new round that will be worth up to $507 million, according to a certificate of incorporation document filed in Delaware. If all shares in this round are issued, the new round would value SpaceX at around $23.7 billion, according to the […]
Sophia Amoruso, Carbon’s Joseph DeSimone, and Adidas’ Eric Liedtke to crash Disrupt SF
Disrupt lands in San Francisco this September, and the agenda is shaping up to be absolutely amazing. With new digs at Moscone West and expanded capacity, we expect Disrupt SF (September 5-7) to be the biggest and best conference TechCrunch has ever had. And, in large part, that’s credited to our incredible guests. Today, we’re […]
Foundation is a touching documentary series on tech entrepreneurs
Follow four startups through all the ups and downs Romain Dillet @ / 7 hours A year and a half ago, Station F and Le Studio Next teamed up for a documentary series about building a startup — and the result is called Foundation. It’s a personal and honest documentary series and I had a […]
ServiceTitan is LA’s least likely contender to be the next billion dollar startup
The city of Glendale, Calif. seems like an unlikely place to grow one of the next billion dollar startups in the booming Los Angeles tech ecosystem. Located at the southeastern tip of the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles suburb counts its biggest employers as the adhesive manufacturer Avery Dennison; the Los Angeles industrial team […]
Bubblz lets you collaborate on painful processes
Meet Bubblz, a French startup that wants to optimize all the boring processes that slow you down. If you’re trying to hire someone, if you need to collect information from many people, if you regularly put together marketing campaigns, you can use Bubblz to automate all the steps and collaborate with your coworkers. Many people […]
Uber introduces a bunch of new safety features
In a post today, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced a slew of new features for the app, designed to address growing concerns over rider safety. A majority of the additions are contained within a handy Safety Center landing page inside the app. The section features a bunch of insight into the company’s process for screening […]
Last call on Early Bird tickets for TC Robotics at UC Berkeley, May 11
After tomorrow, April 13, ticket prices for TC Sessions: Robotics will jump $100 for the May 11 event hosted at UC Berkeley. Buy your early bird $249 tickets today before these savings fly the coop! You’ll get full access to the conference, workshops and closing networking reception. Lunch and breakfast are included. The event’s stage […]
Investing app Stash partners with Green Dot to expand into banking
Stash, the finance app favored by first-time investors who are just learning the market, is getting into banking. The company announced this morning it will roll out a set of mobile-first banking services aimed at those left behind by traditional banks. The services include bank accounts with debit cards, no overdraft fees, access to a network of […]
Marketing platform Punchh raises $20M Series B to give brick-and-mortar retailers better data analytics
Founded in 2010 as an online loyalty card service, Punchh has since grown into a marketing platform serving more than 115 restaurant chains, including Pizza Hut and Quiznos. Now it’s raised a $20 million Series B to expand into more retail verticals and increase the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in its cloud […]
Firefox updates its iOS web browser to turn Tracking Protection on by default
At a time when web users are becoming more concerned about their online privacy and personal data, Mozilla today is launching a new version of its Firefox for iOS web browser that includes Tracking Protection turned on by default. That means when you use the browser, websites won’t be able to track your activity and capture […]
Here’s what the new Gmail looks like
Yesterday, Google pressed the Send button too quickly and informed G Suite customers that a new Gmail was coming soon. TechCrunch obtained a few screenshots of the new interface from a tipster called Chaim. I confirmed the authenticity of those screenshots with another person who saw the new design. So here’s what you can expect. […]
Tastemade executive team is getting a Goop makeover with new COO pick
Tastemade is getting a Goop makeover with the announcement that the former president of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle empire, Geraldine Martin-Coppola, is coming on board as Tastemade’s new chief operating officer. Martin brings a wealth of experience in lifestyle branding to Tastemade’s online video and pictorial food, travel, and home design channel. At Tastemade, Martin-Coppola will […]
Revue, the newsletter publishing tool, now lets you charge subscribers
Dutch startup Revue, which is now positioning itself as an “editorial newsletter platform,” is adding the option to charge subscribers. This means that newsletters can be monetized directly, rather than relying on sponsorship or ads. The new feature requires signing up for a Stripe account, which you connect to Revue. You then write a description […]
Background checks pay for Checkr, which just rang up $100 million in new funding
Criminal records, driving records, employment verifications. Companies that use on-demand employees need to know that all the boxes have been checked before they send workers into the world on their behalf, and they often need those boxes checked quickly. A growing number of them use Checkr, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company says that it now […]
Cloudflare launches Spectrum to protect the internet beyond the web
When it launched back in 2010, Cloudflare was all about speeding up websites and protecting them from hackers. Today, with the launch of Spectrum, it’s taking a major step to move beyond the web and into protecting — and potentially speeding up — other parts of the internet. While Cloudflare’s regular services work well for […]
Einstein Account-Based Marketing Just Got Even Smarter
If you’re new to Einstein Account-Based Marketing it’s built on Salesforce and gives marketers the ability to leverage Salesforce platform features like AI, and Analytics. To extend the power of the solution, we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Demandbase. Demandbase will be the newest addition to our amazing suite of AppExchange partners who […]
Covering “Virtual Insanity” in virtual reality
[embedded content] A musician from Raleigh, North Carolina named Chase Holfelder, recorded a cover of Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity,” a stonerific acid jazz anthem that should be familiar to ’90s kids. This version, however, is recorded entirely inside a virtual reality rig with the help of the HTC Vive and VRScout. Holfelder used the SoundScape VR […]
Zaius raises $30M to help marketers unify their customer data
Zaius, a customer data company working with consumer brands like Tea Forte and Burt’s Bees Baby, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. CEO Mark Gally said that while business-to-business marketing revolves around the CRM, there’s a “hodgepodge” on the consumer marketing side. More specifically, he said consumer marketers have a “swivel chair problem” […]
Dating service East Meet East raises $4M to develop AI matching and expand into Asia
East Meet East, a New York-based matchmaking service focused on connecting Asian people in the U.S., is expanding its focus to go after dating opportunities in Asia after it raised a $4 million Series A funding round. The money comes from existing backer 500 Startups and new investors Asahi Medialab Ventures, DG Lab Fund (a joint effort […]
Casper, Warby Parker, & Dollar Shave Club: How Direct-to-Consumer Brands Are Changing Ecommerce Forever
Direct-to-consumer companies cater to people’s desire for simplicity. They eliminate the hassle of researching brands and choosing from hundreds of options, making shopping practically effortless. D2C brands manufacture, market, and distribute their own products without using middlemen, which enables them to reduce costs, interact directly with consumers, and provide a seamless start-to-finish buyer’s experience. For […]
Luminar puts its lidar tech into production through acquisitions and smart engineering
When Luminar came out of stealth last year with its built-from-scratch lidar system, it seemed to beat established players like Velodyne at their own game — but at great expense and with no capability to build at scale. After the tech proved itself on the road, however, Luminar got to work making its device better, […]
All Raise taps Stitch Fix’s Katrina Lake and others to mentor female founders
As part of All Raise’s mission to increase the number of female founders who receive venture funding in the next five years, All Raise has tapped more than 120 successful female founders to provide one-on-one mentorship to other women building companies. Currently, female founders receive just 15 percent of all venture funding, according to All […]
Tradeshift’s Gert Sylvest and Bancor’s Galia Benartzi sign on for TC Sessions: Blockchain in July
We are excited to announce two more top-quality speakers for our forthcoming TC Sessions: Blockchain event which takes place on July 6. Gert Sylvest, co-founder of Tradeshift and GM of Tradeshift Frontiers, and Galia Benartzi, co-founder and head of business development for Bancor, join our growing list of confirmed speakers. In case you missed those, they include Brian Behlendorf, […]
Billie, which wants to eliminate the “pink tax,” closes a $6M seed round for its razor subscription service
Billie, a New York-based startup that wants to fight the “pink tax” on goods marketed to women, announced today that it has closed a $6 million seed round. The funding was led by Silverton Partners, with participation from returning investors including Female Founders Fund and Lakehouse Ventures, and will be used to grow Billie’s team […]
How to Edit a PDF [Easy Guide]
If you regularly send PDF files over the internet, the guide below will make your life a lot easier. PDF, short for portable document format, is a type of digital file that allows you to send content that is readable by other users regardless of what software they use to view the file. And in […]
LG promises to speed up bringing Android updates to its smartphones
LG is making efforts to improve the user experience on its devices after it opened a “Software Upgrade Center” in its native Korea. The new lab will be focused on “providing customers worldwide with faster, timelier, smartphone operating system and software updates,” the company explained in a brief statement. The idea is to help get […]
WeWork confirms deal to buy Naked Hub, one of its main competitors in China
WeWork is buying up one of its largest competitors in China after it announced a deal to acquire Naked Hub. The deal was widely reported by Chinese media yesterday, but WeWork has now confirmed it through a blog post from its CEO Adam Neumann. Terms of the transaction are not disclosed but Bloomberg reported that it […]
Cluno, the Munich-based ‘car subscription’ service, raises €7M Series A
Cluno, a startup operating out of Munich that offers what it calls a “car subscription” service, has raised €7 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Acton Capital Partners, with participation from previous investor Atlantic Labs. Founded in 2017 by the same team behind easyautosale, which exited to Autoscout24 in 2015, Cluno […]
DroneShield is keeping hostile UAVs away from NASCAR events
If you were hoping to get some sweet drone footage of a NASCAR race in progress, you may find your quadcopter grounded unceremoniously by a mysterious force: DroneShield is bringing its anti-drone tech to NASCAR events at the Texas Motor Speedway. The company makes a handful of products, all aimed at detecting and safely intercepting […]
Apple starting to alert users that it will end 32-bit app support on the Mac
Tomorrow at noon PT, Apple will begin issuing an alert box when you open a 32-bit app in MacOS 10.13.4. It’s a one-time (per app) alert, designed to help MacOS make the full transition to 64-bit. At some unspecified time in the future, the operating system will end its support for 32-bit technology… meaning those […]
Fantasy sports platforms could have a big future in blockchain
With the number of fantasy sports players in North America heading past 60m, and the industry said to be worth over $7 billion, fantasy sports games are clearly on the rise. On the web, the two biggest players are FanDuel and DraftKings, which between them control 90% of the market. But translating that kind of […]
Cruise, GM’s self-driving car unit, brings on Zippy team
Cruise recently brought on seven team members from Zippy.ai, which develops robots for last-mile grocery and package delivery, for an undisclosed amount of money. The deal did not include any of Zippy’s product or intellectual property. Instead, it seems Cruise was more interested in the skillsets of the co-founders, Gabe Sibley, Alex Flint, and Chris […]
Tentrr is turning private land into glampgrounds, with the help of VCs
If you’ve ever gone camping and found yourself thinking it kind of sucks, likely because you’re too close to other campers, you might be interested in learn about Tentrr, a three-year-old, 47-person company that’s promising to make it “dirt simple” to enjoy the great outdoors. How: by striking deals with private landowners who are willing […]
Apply to TechCrunch’s startup programs for Disrupt and Startup Battlefield with a single application
At TechCrunch’s flagship Disrupt events, there are three ways for startups to get in the limelight. One is to win a spot in the prestigious Startup Battlefield competition. Another is to be selected as one of the editor-selected TC Top Picks to exhibit in one of the featured tracks in Startup Alley. Both of those opportunities […]
New wearable hardware interface, Tap Systems, opens SDK to developers
Tap Systems, the developer of the Tap wearable keyboard and mouse, is releasing a developer SDK for interested programmers. The software kit will let developers design applications that can integrate with the Tap wearable which answers the once unanswerable question: what’s the result of one hand tapping? Resting on the fingertips of one hand, the […]
How artificial intelligence will take over the supermarket produce aisles
Joseph Byrum Contributor Joseph Byrum is chief data scientist at Principal Financial Group. He holds a PhD in genetics. Artificial intelligence is about more than asking Alexa or Siri to turn on the lights at home and add a reminder to the calendar about getting some milk at the store later in the afternoon. The […]
FTC warns companies that void warranties over using 3rd party services
The days of reading the small print to see whether a repair or new part for your ailing laptop will void its warranty may be coming to an end. The FTC has officially warned several companies that their policies of ceasing support when a user attempts “non-approved” repairs or servicing are likely illegal. It’s the […]
Microsoft partners with Lightstream Studio to bring customization tools to Mixer streamers
Microsoft’s Twitch competitor, Mixer, is giving streamers a new way to customize their channels. The company has entered into a partnership with Lightstream Studio to allow Mixer streamers to add images, overlays, transitions, and text to their streams, or to switch between scenes. The goal is to make it easier for creators to give their […]
Former Google CFO Patrick Pichette just joined the world of venture capital
Almost exactly three years ago, Patrick Pichette surprised industry observers when he left his powerful job as the CFO of Google to, well, enjoy his life. As he described the decision at the time, he wanted to “enjoy a perfectly fine midlife crisis full of bliss and beauty.” Now, Pichette is back in a role […]
Instagram will let you download your content after criticism about portability
Yesterday we reported that Instagram lacked data portability, knocking the app for the absence of an equivalent to Facebook’s Download Your Information too. Now an Instagram spokesperson tells me “We are building a new data portability tool. You’ll soon be able to download a copy of what you’ve shared on Instagram, including your photos, videos […]
Apple Music hits 40 million subscribers as it accelerates towards surpassing Spotify, report says
Apple Music is continuing its upward climb in subscriber count, quickening its pace as it seeks to overtake Spotify in the battle for users’ ears. The music streaming service now has 40 million subscribers, a report today from Variety claims. We have reached out to Apple for confirmation. The service still has a ways to go […]
Amazon Aurora with PostgreSQL Compatibility Supports Fast Database Cloning
Users of the PostgreSQL-compatible edition of Amazon Aurora users can now create quick, efficient database clones. Cloning is useful for a number of purposes including application development, testing, database updates, and running analytical queries.
Cambridge Analytica’s acting CEO steps down
Welp. While Mark Zuckerberg gets the grilling of a lifetime on Capitol Hill, the firm at the center of all of this is losing its top (if temporary) executive. As day two of the Facebook testimony was unfolding, Cambridge Analytica sent out a brief statement from its Board of Directors, noting that acting CEO Alexander […]
Uber CEO outlines mobility plans
Uber is done being solely a ride-hailing company. Under the leadership of CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company is well on its way to becoming a multi-modal transportation platform. At a future of mobility event in Washington D.C. today, Khosrowshahi announced Uber’s foray into car rentals, shared bikes in D.C. and public transportation. Khosrowshahi also sat on a […]
What happened to the Windows 10 Spring Creators Update?
Are you still waiting for the Windows 10 Spring Creators Update, which many expected to be released yesterday? You may be in for a long wait. According to the latest report from Windows Central’s Zac Bowden, Microsoft found a major bug in the latest release of its operating system that could push the release back […]
Element wants to give identity to the whole world, raising $12m series A
Who are you? That’s both an existential question, and also a very practical administrative concern. Today, identity is often exchanged through the use of government ID cards and official paperwork, but what happens when someone loses that paperwork or it is destroyed? Or, as is often the case in many countries around the world, a […]
GIF search is coming to LinkedIn messaging through Google’s GIF engine Tenor
Tenor is now going to exclusively power GIF searches in LinkedIn messaging after Google a few weeks ago, adding yet another service to its already pretty large portfolio of messaging platforms. Tenor has long positioned itself as a GIF search tool working across a number of different platforms, ranging from its own keyboard to Facebook […]
Google Sheets gets macros
Google is launching a major update to Google Sheets today that’ll make the life of spreadsheet jockeys just a little bit easier — and may just make the switch from Microsoft Excel a bit more tempting for some. That’s because with this update, Sheets users can now finally record macros. That’s a feature that has […]
With Fargate, AWS wants to make containers more cloud native
At its re:Invent developer conference, AWS made so many announcements that even some of the company’s biggest launches only got a small amount of attention. While the company’s long-awaited Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes got quite a bit of press, the launch of the far more novel Fargate container service stayed under the radar. When […]
Snapchat’s second-gen Spectacles hit the FCC
After a huge early buzz, Snapchat’s wearables ultimately bellyflopped. The company says it lost $40 million on the device. But that failure wasn’t enough to dissuade the company from giving things another go — and from the sound of it, the second version of Spectacles find the company taking hardware a bit more seriously this […]
Google is about to launch a Gmail web redesign
Google sent an email to G Suite customers to tell them that the company has been working on a brand new version of Gmail for the web. In addition to a fresh design, the company also listed some of the new features. You can expect to be able to access Google Calendar from the Gmail […]
Uber gets into car rentals and public transit
Uber is officially a multi-modal transportation platform. On the heels of its acquisition of bike-share startup JUMP, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi today announced Uber Bike‘s expansion into Washington D.C., along with two key partnerships in car rentals and public transit. The first is with instant car-booking service Getaround, which launched at TechCrunch Disrupt NY in […]
ICOs like to move fast and break (lots of) things
Startup life is full of quick, lateral thinking. “Move fast and break things” is the mantra. However, with the rise of token sales – essentially vehicles for untested startups to raise millions in a few minutes – lots of stuff gets broken and little gets fixed. Take BCT – the Blockchain Terminal – for example. […]
Bloglovin’ becomes Activate and names Kamiu Lee as its new CEO
Bloglovin’ has a new name, new funding and a new CEO: Kamiu Lee, who previously served as the company’s vice president of strategy and business development. It sounds the rebrand and Lee’s promotion are both part of a growing emphasis on the company’s influencer marketing business, where it helps advertisers find influencers who can promote […]
Here Technologies and Argus join our Tel Aviv lineup
Let’s share a bit more about our agenda for TechCrunch’s Tel Aviv event. This year, the event will focus on mobility and everything around it, from autonomous vehicles, to sensors, drones and security. That’s why I’m incredibly excited to announce two great speakers. Argus Cyber Security co-founder and CEO Ofer Ben Noon and Here Technologies […]
Spotify and Hulu launch a discounted entertainment bundle for $12.99 per month
Last fall, Hulu and Spotify teamed up to offer students a bundle including both of their services for a discounted price, compared with paying for each subscription separately. Today, the companies are announcing a similar discounted bundle will be available to all users. Spotify’s 71 million-plus existing Premium users will get the first shot at […]
UK-based vTime raises $7.6 million to get people to create memories inside VR
After a few years of hype, a lot of the noise within the VR industry has died down, but with so many pushing social experiences as one of the platform’s most endearing user cases, there has still managed to be a feverish amount of activity to own the social networking space. One such startup, Liverpool-based […]
Qualcomm launches its new vision intelligence platform for IoT devices
Qualcomm’s chips already power virtually every Android smartphone on the market, but the company has long set its sights beyond this core market and is increasingly looking at IoT as one of its next major growth areas. Earlier this year it launched its new embedded platform for IoT developers; today, it’s introducing two new systems-on-a-chip […]
TravelPerk grabs $21M to make booking business trips suck less
TravelPerk, a Barcelona-based SaaS startup that’s built an end-to-end business travel platform, has closed a $21 million Series B round, led by Berlin-based Target Global and London’s Felix Capital. Earlier investors Spark Capital and Sunstone also participated in the round, alongside new investor Amplo. When we last spoke to the startup back in June 2016 — as it […]
Tandem adds fixed savings accounts
Tandem, the U.K. challenger bank founded by fintech veteran Ricky Knox, has rolled out its second banking product today with the addition of fixed term savings accounts. The new offering enables customers to get a guaranteed interest rate if they deposit their money with Tandem over one, two or three years, and follows the launch […]
Alibaba’s Ant Financial is reportedly raising billions more at a valuation of at least $100B
Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate that looks after the firm’s hugely popular Alipay service, is reportedly gearing up for an enormous funding round that could take its valuation to $100-$150 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ant is in talks to raise upwards of $9 billion at the $100 billion mark, while Bloomberg suggested […]
Koio, a direct-to-consumer leather sneaker brand, picks up $3 million
Retail has been revolutionized over the last decade, with brands like Casper and Warby Parker offering high-quality goods at lower costs simply by selling them through the internet. Koio, a relatively new high-end sneaker brand, is looking to get in on the new retail wave, and the company has some fresh cash to do it. […]
How to Write a Cover Letter for an Internship [Examples & Template]
Writing a cover letter can feel like a daunting task, particularly if you don’t have a lot of “real world” experience. Fortunately, a cover letter is actually an exceptional chance to explain how your extracurriculars or classes taught you leadership and time management skills. To really stand out, it’s important to personalize your cover letter […]
Contribution Margin Explained in 200 Words (& How to Calculate It)
When you first start a business, you’re laser-focused on the quality of your product — polish the idea, build it, rebuild it, test it, go to market. Money doesn’t matter much yet. You might have initial funding, but all of it goes to research and development. But when that product begins to sell, and funding […]
Lyft is considering entering Japan’s challenging ride-hailing market for some reason
Lyft, Uber’s chief nemesis in the U.S., is thinking of entering the fiercely competitive Japanese ride-hailing space, according to comments from one of its founders. “We would love to be in Japan, and we also will be looking at that possibility,” John Zimmer, Lyft co-founder and president, said at the New Economy Summit 2018 in Tokyo. […]
Insurance giant Allianz confirms $35M investment in Asian ride-sharing unicorn Go-Jek
German insurance giant Allianz is following Google and Tencent by backing Go-Jek, the Indonesia-based ride-hailing and local services company valued at over $4.5 billion, after it announced an investment. The money comes from Allianz X, the firm’s digital investment arm, which confirmed it put in $35 million in what is its first deal in Southeast Asia. The […]
Liberis raises £57.5M to offer finance for small businesses paid back via customer card transactions
Liberis, the London-based fintech that provides finance for small businesses, has raised £57.5 million in new funding to help support the company’s growth. The alternative finance provider makes loans against a company’s future credit and debit card sales. The majority of the new capital being raised by Liberis is debt, which in turn will enable […]
A peace plan to end the wireless wars
Boris Teksler Contributor Boris Teksler is the former licensing chief at Apple and current chief executive of the patent licensing company Conversant IP. Joe Silino Contributor Joseph Siino is the former intellectual property chief at Yahoo and the current president of Via Licensing. Ira Blumberg Contributor Ira Blumberg is the vice president of IP at […]
How to understand the financial levers in your business
How can an electric scooter ride-sharing company like Bird possibly make money? If you live in a select number of cities in the U.S., it’s hard not to see electric scooters appearing on sidewalks all over the place. Electric scooter ride-sharing services are also remarkably cheap: $1 to start a ride and another $0.15 per […]
Support for Spark 2.3.0 on Amazon EMR Release 5.13.0
You can now use Apache Spark 2.3.0, Apache HBase 1.4.2, and Presto 0.194 on Amazon EMR release 5.13.0. Spark 2.3.0 adds several new features and updates, including continuous processing mode in Structured Streaming for lower end-to-end latency, an improved ORC file format reader that supports vectorized reads and improves scan throughput, PySpark and Pandas interoperability […]
AWS Deep Learning AMIs Now Include Optimized TensorFlow 1.7 for Faster Training on Amazon EC2 C5 and P3 Instances
For CPU-based training scenarios, the AMIs now include TensorFlow 1.7 built with Intel’s Advanced Vector Instructions (AVX), SSE, and FMA instruction sets, to accelerate vector and floating point computations. The AMIs are also fully configured with Intel MKL-DNN to accelerate math routines used in neural network training on Intel Xeon Platinum processors powering Amazon EC2 […]
Cambridge Analytica may have accessed some Facebook users’ messages
The app permissions that led to 87 million Facebook users’ data being harvested and sold to Cambridge Analytica may have also allowed access to those users’ inboxes, the company confirmed today. This wasn’t achieved by any underhanded means, exactly, but people might not have realized that they were granting permission to read and record their […]
AWS Glue now supports Timeout Values for ETL jobs
Runaway ETL jobs may occur due to coding errors or data anomalies, and they can continue to consume resources without making progress. AWS Glue gives you the ability to set a timeout value on any new ETL job that you create, and edit existing jobs to specify a timeout value or use the default value. […]
Apple is making a series based Isaac Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series
Okay, Apple, now you’ve got my attention. Not content with landing an Amazing Stories reboot from Steven Spielberg, multiple series from Reese Witherspoon, a space opera from Ron Moore and much more for its upcoming original TV initiative (which might launch next March), Apple is also developing a series based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation books. […]
A revamped version of Spotify’s free service is reportedly in the works
Spotify’s got something big up its sleeve, that much we know for sure. The music streaming service has a big event in the works for April 24 in New York — though it hasn’t really offered up anything useful beyond that. A revamped version of the company’s free tier could certainly make sense for the […]
Mark Zuckerberg: “We do not sell data to advertisers”
While many of us in the tech world are familiar with Facebook’s business model, there is a common misconception among people that Facebook collects information about you and then sells that information to advertisers. Zuckerberg wants everyone (especially the U.S. Senate) to know that’s not the case, and has laid forth the most simple example […]
Theranos reportedly lays off most of its remaining employees as it tries to avoid bankruptcy
The death spiral of blood-testing startup Theranos just became even more real today for the bulk of its remaining employees. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has laid off the majority of its staff as part of a “last-ditch effort” to save cash and avoid bankruptcy. The layoffs have taken the staff from […]
The entire Myst series will be re-released for Windows 10
Myst holds a special place in the hearts of many. Released in 1993, it was unlike any video game most had seen at the time — and yet, its DNA lingers in countless games released today. It was also the game that made tens of thousands of kids beg their parents for a CD drive. […]
‘You don’t think you have a monopoly?’ Read Sen. Graham’s delightful grilling of Zuckerberg
Today’s testimony by Mark Zuckerberg in front of a Senate joint committee was often boring or redundant with previous statements. But there was an exchange near the two hour mark that was pleasantly refreshing: Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) doggedly pursuing a common-sense answer from Zuckerberg on the question of whether it had any real competition. […]
Zuckerberg urges privacy carve outs to compete with China
Facebook’s founder said last month that the company is open to being regulated. But today he got asked by the US senate what sort of legislative changes he would (and wouldn’t) like to see as a fix for the problems that the Cambridge Analytica data scandal has revealed. Zuckerberg’s response on this — and on […]
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) now Supports AWS PrivateLink
Amazon SNS is a reliable, scalable, and fully-managed pub/sub messaging service. With AWS PrivateLink, you can provision and use VPC endpoints to access SNS and other supported services hosted in the AWS Cloud. AWS PrivateLink provides a highly available and scalable way to access AWS services while keeping all the network traffic within the AWS […]
AWS CloudFormation StackSet Supports Multiple User Roles and Stack Set Level Access Controls
You can also now use the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of a stack set in Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies to create resource level permissions for StackSets. Previously, you could not create an IAM policy for a specific stack set. Now, you can set the access control of specific stack sets to specific roles […]
New research shows successful founders are far older than the Valley stereotype
There is a classic stereotype of the Silicon Valley entrepreneur: often a computer science nerd, almost certainly male, ambitious, and most importantly, young — very young. Founders who have been covered extensively by the media, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg, started their companies still glimpsing their teenage years, and that reputation has […]
AWS Glue now supports Apache Spark 2.2.1
AWS Glue is a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service that makes it easy for you to prepare and load your data for analytics. With this release, your ETL jobs and development endpoints will now run on a serverless, fully managed Apache Spark 2.2.1 environment. AWS Glue is available in the AWS Regions […]
‘Unicorn’ price tags aren’t all they’re cracked up to be
Ilya Strebulaev Contributor An expert in corporate finance, venture and angel capital, innovation financing, corporate innovation and financial decision-making, Ilya Strebulaev is the David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity and Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A $1 billion valuation was until recently a significant badge of honor for a […]
Amazon ECS provides ECS-Optimized AMI metadata via SSM Parameters
It is a best practice to use the latest version of the ECS-Optimized AMI when you create a new EC2 cluster for Amazon ECS, as new releases include bug fixes and feature updates. Previously, to ensure you were using the latest AMI meant checking the AWS Documentation or subscribing to the ECS-AMI SNS topic. You […]
Facebook did not inform the FTC about initial Cambridge Analytica leak
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce, Science, and Transportation committees, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that his company did not notify the Federal Trade Commission about the initial user data leak that triggered its most recent privacy scandal. “They considered it a ‘closed case’,”Zuckerberg said in response to a question over whether […]
How ad-free subscriptions could save Facebook
At the core of Facebook’s “well-being” problem is that its business is directly coupled with total time spent on its apps. The more hours you pass on the social network, the more ads you see and click, the more money it earns. That puts its plan to make using Facebook healthier at odds with its […]
Sen. Thune says Cambridge Analytica and ‘similar firms’ to be subject of a future hearing
In his opening statement in today’s Senate hearing with Mark Zuckerberg, Senator Thune (R-SD) noted that Cambridge Analytica, the company most associated with the ongoing privacy debacle, will be examined separately at another time. “There are plenty of questions about the behavior of Cambridge Analytica and we expect to hold a future hearing on Cambridge […]
Uber suffers further setback from Europe’s top court
This isn’t really surprising if you’ve been following Uber’s legal woes. But the Court of Justice of the European Union has confirmed to Uber France that Uber is operating a transportation company. Member countries can prohibit or punish Uber in their own countries without involving the European Union. Over the past few years, Uber has […]
A new app called Garden helps you stay in touch with friends and family without Facebook
Facebook has become the de facto way people today keep up with their friends and family and, at times, their wider network of professional acquaintances and colleagues. But its inattention to user data protection is leading some people looking for an out. A new app called Garden, officially launching today, wants to offer people a […]
Instagram traps data without a Download Your Information tool
It’s hard to #DeleteFacebook with no viable alternative, but at least you can export all your data. There’s no such option on Instagram. That lack of data portability puts users at the mercy of Instagram’s product and policy decisions. And it could even put users at risk as those who seek to backup their accounts […]
Security shop Carbon Black files to go public
Alex Wilhelm Contributor Alex Wilhelm is the editor-in-chief of Crunchbase News and co-host of Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast. More posts by this contributor Spotify steadies, DocuSign’s big year, and scooters are the new blockchain Live from Disrupt SF: Equity talks Slack, Lyft and flying cars Today Carbon Black filed to go public, publishing its S-1 […]
The Chasing Grace Project chronicles the joys and challenges of being a woman in tech
It’s Equal Pay Day today — that is, the day women had to work full-time this year to make up the difference between what men made working full-time last year. The actual date is mostly symbolic, but while it’s been narrowing, the gender pay gap is real. Earlier this month, I had a chance to […]
DFS Lab is helping the developing world bootstrap itself with fintech
Entrepreneurs have it rough in Africa, India, Pakistan — places where VC cash doesn’t fall from the sky and necessary infrastructure like reliable banking and broadband can be hard to come by. But companies grow and thrive nevertheless in these rugged environments, and DFS Lab is an incubator focused on connecting them with the resources […]
Uber’s new driver app identifies areas with the best fares
Uber is rolling out a new app for drivers starting today. The hope with the redesign is to make it easier for drivers to access the information they need the most, while ensuring the app is not a distraction while behind the wheel, three Uber driver app product leads told TechCrunch last week. Earnings and […]
Check out SpotMini, Cassie and more at TC Sessions: Robotics May 11 at UC Berkeley
So far we’ve been telling you about all of the awesome humans we’re going to have at TC Sessions Robotics next month in Berkeley — humans like Boston Dynamics’ Mark Raibert, Playground’s Andy Rubin, Fetch’s Melonee Wise and Pieter Abbeel, Ken Goldberg and Robert Full from U.C. Berkeley. But what of the robots? Don’t worry, […]
b8ta unveils Shopify-like solution for retail stores
b8ta, the store founded by Nest alums to sell trendy gadgets, is entering new territory. Today, the startup is launching “Built by b8ta,” which functions as a retail-as-a-service platform for brands that want a physical presence. Building off the success of its own retail stores, b8ta is confident it can provide an easy, cost-effective solution […]
Vimeo debuts a Mac app for Final Cut Pro users
Vimeo today announced the launch of a new Mac app that will give video creators using Final Cut Pro more control over their file formats and video codecs. The app expands upon the existing integration with Final Cut Pro, which already offered the ability to upload to Vimeo. With the new app, creators can upload […]
Sesame Street turns to Kickstarter to fund autism book
Julia is Sesame Street’s first autistic character and her mission is to make neuroatypical kids feel more comfortable and understand that there are kids out there just like them. She’s a sweet little muppet and now she’s getting her own Kickstarter campaign. The campaign is raising $75,000 to produce content and a free book featuring […]
Spectral Edge’s image enhancing tech pulls in $5.3M
Cambridge, U.K.-based startup Spectral Edge has closed a $5.3M Series A funding round from existing investors Parkwalk Advisors and IQ Capital. The team, which in 2014 spun the business out of academic research at the University of East Anglia, has developed a mathematical technique for improving photographic imagery in real-time, also using machine learning technology. As we’ve reported […]
Conductive Ventures launches $100 million enterprise fund
There’s a new venture fund in town from some familiar faces. Carey Lai, who previously worked at Intel Capital and IVP, is joining forces with Paul Yeh, formerly of Kleiner Perkins. They’re calling it Conductive Ventures and it’s launching with $100 million under management. They’ll be investing in “expansion stage” companies across enterprise software and […]
Lucidity uses the blockchain to bring more transparency to online ads
Sam Kim, co-founder and CEO of Lucidity, said blockchain technology offers a solution to cut down on fraud and bring more transparency to digital advertising. Kim was previously chief operating officer at The Mobile Majority, a mobile ad company where he said he saw the challenges of reconciling the data used by different parts of […]
FIDO Alliance and W3C have a plan to kill the password
By now it’s crystal clear to just about everyone that the password is a weak and frankly meaningless form of authentication, yet most of us still live under the tyranny of the password. This, despite the fact it places a burden on the user, is easily stolen and mostly ineffective. Today, two standards bodies, FIDO […]
Instapage raises $15M to make landing pages smarter
Landing pages might not sound like the most exciting problem for a startup to tackle, but Tyson Quick, founder and CEO of Instapage, said that they’re a real issue for marketers. Quick was previously working on a marketing product called Jounce, where he was frustrated by the fact that even after someone had clicked on […]
Walmart partners with Postmates on grocery delivery
Walmart is expanding its grocery delivering business with the help from new partner, Postmates, the retailer announced this morning. Postmates will initially begin Walmart Online Grocery Delivery in Charlotte, North Carolina with plans to reach other markets in the months ahead. Postmates joins Walmart’s existing delivery partners Uber and Deliv, who have been helping Walmart […]
Google and Netflix team up to launch a new open source canary analysis tool
Google and Netflix today announced the launch of Kayenta, a new open source project that aims bring the canary analysis tools Netflix developed internally to a wider audience. Kayenta is integrated into the Netflix-incubated Spinnaker continuous delivery platform, which works across virtually every public and private cloud. While Spinnaker is the focus of this release, though, […]
Join me at the amazing Blue Lacuna space in Chicago
Some folks I met in Chicago are holding an amazing event at a great place on South Canalport Avenue. This former macaroni factory now builds startups and I’ll be helping judge their pitch-off alongside some Chicago luminaries. You can RSVP here and sign up for a spot to pitch here. We’ll choose eight startups to […]
Splunk turns data processing chops to Industrial IoT
Splunk has always been known as a company that can sift through oodles of log or security data and help customers surface the important bits. Today, it announced it was going to try to apply that same skill set to Industrial Internet of Things data. IIoT is data found in manufacturing settings, typically come from […]
The Ecommerce Guide to Flash Sales (With Examples)
In 2012, J.C. Penney stopped promoting sales and offering coupons. Instead, they advertised new “everyday low prices” — which seems like a pretty good idea, right? Except, in 2012, sales for J. C. Penney actually dropped 25%. J.C. Penney found they actually made more money when they raised the prices of their products and then […]
Fleetsmith secures $7.7M investment to manage Apple devices
Fleetsmith, a startup that wants to make it easier for companies to manage their Apple devices, announced a $7.7 million Series A round today led by Upfront Ventures. Seed investors Index Ventures and Harrison Meta also participated in the round. The company has raised a total of $11 million. They also announced that Luke Kanies, […]
TPH raises a Seed round to ride the vintage clothing wave
A report by US reseller ThredUP estimates that second-hand fashion will soon overtake “fast fashion”, with an expected market worth of $41 billion USD by 2022. According to the site, in 2017 resale equated to six percent of the fashion market, with fast fashion at nine percent. By 2027 however, it’s projected to sit at […]
The Beginner's Guide to Product Photography [Tutorial + Examples]
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a stunning product picture is worth a thousand website visits. I don’t have data to back up that statement (yet). Nevertheless, product photography can become this valuable to your ecommerce website strategy. According to Trellis, 51% of Americans with internet access prefer to shop online, and that […]
Google Home and Google Home Mini smart speakers go on sale in India
Google’s two smart speaker products — the Google Home and Google Home Mini — and its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones are now available in India following a launch event in the country. The devices are priced at Rs 9,999 ($154), and Rs 4,499 ($69), respectively, and Google confirmed that they are available for purchase online via […]
Alan raises $28.3 million for its health insurance of the future
French startup Alan closed a $28.3 million Series A round a few months ago. Index Ventures is leading the round, Xavier Niel is participating as well as existing investors CNP Assurances, Partech and Portag3 Ventures LP. Alan wants to make health insurance as simple as subscribing to a software-as-a-service product. It starts with clear pricing […]
Stringify relaunches to automate the Comcast smart home
Stringify, an IFTTT-like app that lets consumers control and automate their smart home devices, was quietly snatched up by Comcast last fall to join the company’s larger efforts involving the smart home and the Internet of Things. Today, in its first major update post-acquisition, Stringify is relaunching its app with a new look-and-feel, deeper integrations with Comcast’s […]
Tribe combines arcade games with group video chat
Sick of chatting but want to stay connected? Tribe‘s app lets you play clones of Space Invaders, Flappy Bird, Fruit Ninja, Name That Tune and more while video chatting with up to 7 friends or strangers. Originally a video messaging app, Tribe failed to gain traction in the face of Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. But […]
Department of Energy hosts competition to train cyber defense warriors
From leaked passwords to identity theft, cybersecurity issues are constantly in the news. Few issues though are as important — or as under-reported by the media — as the security of America’s industrial control infrastructure. Oil rigs, power plants, water treatment facilities and other critical infrastructure are increasingly connecting to the internet, but often without […]