Tesla has provided another update to last week’s fatal crash. As it turns out, Tesla said the driver had Autopilot on with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum. However, it seems the driver ignored the vehicle’s warnings to take back control. “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier […]
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UberRUSH is shutting down
Uber is closing the doors on its on-demand package delivery service, RUSH, in New York City, San Francisco and Chicago, TechCrunch has learned. In an email to users, Uber said it plans to close RUSH operations June 30, 2018. “At Uber, we believe in making big bold bets, and while ending UberRUSH comes with some […]
Niantic to settle Pokémon GO Fest lawsuit for over $1.5M
Back in July of last year, Niantic organized an outdoor festival all focusing on its augmented reality game, Pokémon GO. In theory, players would come from all around for a day of wandering Chicago’s Grant Park, meeting other players, and catching new/rare Pokémon. It… did not go as planned. Widespread cellular connectivity and logistical issues […]
Chinese police foil drone-flying phone smugglers at Hong Kong border
Dozens of high-tech phone smugglers have been apprehended by Chinese police, who caught onto their scheme to send refurbished iPhones into the country from Hong Kong via drone — but not the way you might think. China’s Legal Daily reported the news (and Reuters noted shortly after) following a police press conference; it’s apparently the […]
Alexa gets a DVR recording skill
Slowly but surely, Alexa’s becoming a more competent catchall video assistant. Back in January, Amazon launched its Video Skill API designed to offer more control over apps from cable and satellite companies. An update this week brings the ever-important ability to use the smart assistant to start recoding. The skill joins a number of functions […]
Clipisode launches a ‘talk show in a box’
A company called Clipisode is today launching a new service that’s essentially a “talk show in a box,” as founder Brian Alvey describes it. Similar to how Anchor now allows anyone to build a professional podcast using simple mobile and web tools, Clipisode does this for video content. With Clipisode, you can record a video […]
Veriff wants to make it simple to present identification online
Whenever you are doing something online that requires you to present an official ID like a passport or driver’s license to complete the transaction, it presents risk to both parties. Consumers want to know they are secure and brands want to know the person is using valid credentials. That’s where Veriff comes in. Kaarel Kotkas, […]
Amazon Chime Provides Service Usage Reporting for Admins
Amazon Chime now provides admins with usage reports in the Amazon Chime console. These reports provide visibility into how users are using Amazon Chime, as well as information about their experience with the service. With this update, you can view data such as the total number of registered and active users, meetings and meeting feedback […]
Google’s on-by-default ‘Articles for You’ leverage browser dominance for 2,100 percent growth
When you’ve got leverage, don’t be afraid to use it. That’s been Google’s modus operandi in the news and publishing world over the last year or so as it has pushed its AMP platform, funding various news-related ventures that may put it ahead, and nourished its personalized Chrome tabs on mobile. The latter, as Nieman […]
Moment lenses — the DSLR killer? A Review
I travel with a Canon DSLR and two primes, a 35mm f1.4 and an 85mm f1.2 (endearingly nicknamed, “the fat kid”). Switching lenses is cumbersome and not ideal in certain environments, like a Saigon street market, densely crowded with vendors, tourists and thieves. After lugging this camera kit through six countries last year, I upgraded […]
ClearVoice helps freelance writers show off their portfolios
ClearVoice recently launched a new feature to give freelancers a better way to show off their work and get new jobs. CV Portfolios offer an easier alternative to personal websites that are often sparsely populated, out-of-date or otherwise neglected. Thanks a technology that the company is calling VoiceGraph, writers no longer have to keep the […]
Amazon Connect Automated Outbound Calling is Now Generally Available
The Amazon Connect outbound contact API for automating calls to customers is now generally available. You can schedule automated calls for appointment reminders, like doctor appointments and payment due notifications. You can also trigger automated notification calls in response to events, like notifying a customer about credit card fraud on their account. In addition, you […]
Amazon Connect Federated Single Sign-On Using SAML 2.0 is Generally Available
Amazon Connect federated single sign-on using SAML 2.0 is now generally available. This allows contact center agents and managers to access Amazon Connect using their existing corporate credentials. As an administrator, you can enforce password policies, and use your existing SAML 2.0 user directory to control access to Amazon Connect, based on your agents’ location, […]
Twitch lays off some employees as part of ‘team adjustments’
Twitch, the Amazon-owned live-streaming platform for gaming, laid off “several” people yesterday, Polygon first reported. It’s not clear how many people were let go, but according to Polygon, probably no more than 30 people were let go. Twitch has since confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch. “Coming off the record-setting numbers shared in our 2017 Retrospective, […]
Huawei says it’s still committed to the U.S., in spite of, well, everything
A funny thing happened the last couple of times I was briefed on a Huawei flagship product: news was breaking about some major roadblock for the company’s U.S. distribution plans. First it was AT&T backing out in the midst of CES and then it was Best Buy’s decision to drop the company just ahead of […]
Uber and Taxify are going head-to-head to digitize Africa’s two-wheeled taxis
Global ride-hailing rivals Taxify and Uber have launched motorcycle passenger service in East Africa. Customers of both companies in Uganda and Taxify riders in Kenya can now order up two-wheel transit by app. uberBoda, as its branded, is Uber’s first motorcycle service offering in Africa, and second globally after Asia. For Taxify, it’s the first two-wheel launch […]
Email Marketing: A Study in What Not to Do
Recently, I took my car to the dealership to get my window fixed. As part of this transaction, I gave my email address to be contacted with a price quote and get updates about where my car is in the maintenance process. Okay, cool, I’m completely fine with that. What I was later not so […]
Google will make real-time Final Four predictions this weekend, air them as halftime TV ads
Google wants to put its data science chops to the test – in real-time. This weekend, the company is going use data analytics techniques and machine learning during the Final Four in San Antonio to figure out what it thinks will happen next in the live games. And after doing so, it will hand off […]
Singapore says Uber-Grab deal may violate competition laws
Uber’s exit from Southeast Asia is under scrutiny from regulators in Singapore who believe that Grab’s purchase of the U.S. firm’s business in the region may violates competition laws. Singapore-based Grab, Uber’s chief rival in the region, announced the acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asian business on Monday. In return, Uber is taking 27.5 percent of the Grab […]
SpaceX successfully launches Iridium-5 Falcon 9 mission
SpaceX has successfully launched its Iridium-5 mission, which carries 10 satellites to add to Iridium’s NEXT global communications constellation. This is the fifth set of 10, out of a total of 75 that SpaceX is launching for client Iridium, and today’s launch used a first stage Falcon 9 booster originally employed last October for the […]
MailChimp clarifies its anti-ICO policy
Nobody wants to deal with ICOs. MailChimp, the popular mass mailing platform, has officially banned users who want to send emails about ICOs/token sales in its terms of use. They write in their legal policies page: Also, we cannot allow businesses involved in any aspect of the sale, transaction, exchange, storage, marketing or production of […]
The SteelSeries Arctis Pro lineup is a new high-water mark in comfort and quality
SteelSeries has two new Arctis Pro gaming headsets out, and they pack a lot of tech and versatility into a comfortable, visually attractive package. The SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless and Arctis Pro + GameDAC are both incredibly capable headsets that deliver terrific sound, and depending on your system needs, should probably be your first choice […]
Azure’s availability zones are now generally available
No matter what cloud you build on, if you want to build something that’s highly available, you’re always going to opt to put your applications and data in at least two physically separated regions. Otherwise, if a region goes down, your app goes down, too. All of the big clouds also offer a concept called […]
Walmart may be acquiring Humana, says report
Walmart is in early stage talks to acquire health insurer Humana, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Terms of the deal are unknown, but Humana is valued at $37 billion and reported net income of $2.4 billion on $53.8 billion in revenues during 2017. The deal would allow the retailer to strengthen […]
Asana introduces Timeline, lays groundwork for AI-based monitoring as the “team brain” for productivity
When workflow management platform Asana announced a $75 million round of funding in January led by former Vice President Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management, the startup didn’t give much of an indication of what it planned to do with the money, or what it was that won over investors to a new $900 million valuation […]
IoT devices could be next customer data frontier
At the Adobe Summit this week in Las Vegas, the company introduced what could be the ultimate customer experience construct, a customer experience system of record that pulls in information, not just from Adobe tools, but wherever it lives. In many ways it marked a new period in the notion of customer experience management, putting […]
MacOS finally gains external GPU support
The latest update to macOS provides support for external graphics card. Apple announced this would hit the OS last June at WWDC and now it’s finally here. The update allows Mac users to increase the graphical processing power through an external graphics card connected through Thunderbolt 3. Perviously users had to buy an eGPU dev […]
Watch SpaceX launch Iridium-5 aboard a re-used Falcon 9 rocket live
[embedded content] SpaceX is launching its next mission for client Iridium this morning, with an instantaneous launch window for the mission opening at 7:13 AM PDT (10:13 AM EDT). The Iridium-5 mission will take off from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and there’s a backup window set for March 31 at 7:08 […]
AWS CloudFormation Now Supports Launch Templates
Launch templates simplify launch management and give you access to the latest EC2 features, including Amazon EC2 T2 Unlimited, in your Auto Scaling groups. Launch templates enable you to centrally make changes to launch parameters and control the roll out of those changes to Auto Scaling groups and Spot Fleet. To learn more, read the […]
AWS Systems Manager Adds Patch Management for CentOS Linux
Previously, you could automatically patch Linux instances running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu Server, Amazon Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) through Systems Manager. Now you can also patch instances running CentOS Linux, giving you more patching options for your mixed Linux environment. This feature is available in all AWS Regions where AWS […]
Baidu’s streaming video service iQiyi falls 13.6% in Nasdaq debut
The streaming video service iQiyi, a business owned by China’s online search giant Baidu, dropped 13.6% in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq — closing at $15.55, or down $2.45 from its opening price of $18. The company still managed to pull off one of the largest public offerings by a Chinese tech […]
Roam debuts a robotic exoskeleton for skiers
Roam, a San Francisco-based robotics startup, has just debuted a lower body robotic exoskeleton aimed firmly at skiers. The company’s first product doesn’t stray too far from nearby Ekso Bionics, where CEO and founder Tim Swift worked perviously. Though the simply titled Robotic Ski Exoskeleton trades warehouse work and mobility assistance for the admittedly more […]
Resume Format Tips You Need to Know in 2018 [Sample Formats Included]
Think of a really good print advertisement you’ve seen lately. What did you like about it? Chances are that while the content of that ad was important, the design played a big role in drawing you in. It’s important to think of your resume like an advertisement to job recruiters. Writing a standout resume goes […]
Tesla voluntarily recalls 123,000 Model S vehicles
If you own a Model S built before April 2016, you’re probably going to want to swing by a dealer and get it checked out.. Tesla has just issued a voluntary recall for 123,000 Model S vehicles, having found that the power steering bolts in some were displaying “excessive corrosion”. Model X and Model 3 […]
University of Michigan opens up its M-Air UAV testing facility to students
Companies and students who want to test an autonomous vehicle at the University of Michigan have the excellent Mcity simulated urban environment. But if you wanted to test a drone, your options were extremely limited — think “at night in a deserted lecture hall.” Not anymore: the school has just opened up its M-Air facility, […]
Uber has settled with the family of the homeless victim killed last week
Uber has reportedly come to a fast settlement with the family of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, who was fatally struck last week by one of the company’s self-driving vehicles as she crossed a darkened street, pushing a bicycle. Terms of the settlement are not being disclosed; Uber declined to comment when we asked the company for further […]
FCC approves SpaceX plan for 4,425-satellite broadband network
SpaceX has a green light from the FCC to launch a network of thousands of satellites blanketing the globe with broadband. And you won’t have too long to wait — on a cosmic scale, anyway. Part of the agreement is that SpaceX launch half of its proposed 4,425 satellites within six years. The approval of […]
Alexa for Business now lets you create address books for easier calling from shared Echo devices
Alexa for Business now lets you create address books that make it easier for users to place phone calls from shared Echo devices. With Alexa for Business, you can place Echo devices in common areas like conference rooms, shared workspaces, or hotel rooms. These are called shared Echo devices, and you can make phone calls […]
Enable Trusted Organization Access in AWS Organizations
Starting today, AWS Organizations enables you to use the console to view and control which AWS services have trusted access to your organization. AWS services for which you enable trusted access can now access your organization information and perform actions in multiple AWS accounts within your organization.
Quick Start Update: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on the AWS Cloud
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform uses Docker containers, Google Kubernetes orchestration, and the container-optimized Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system to help developers and IT create and deploy their apps. This latest update includes the following enhancements: Support for OpenShift Container Platform version 3.7 Auto Scaling Option to use AWS Service Broker for direct […]
Making Easier to Track Your Amazon EBS Volume State
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) has added new Amazon CloudWatch Events to notify customers when volume creation or deletion is accomplished. Instead of having to continuously poll describe-volume API to determine whether the volume has been created or deleted after issuing the command, customers can use these events to track the volume state.
New York City is launching public cybersecurity tools to keep residents from getting hacked
In a week of harrowing city-level cyber attacks, New York is taking some precautions. While the timing is coincidental, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio just announced that the city will introduce the first tools in its suite of cybersecurity offerings to protect residents against malicious online activity, particularly on mobile devices. When it […]
Under Armour says MyFitnessPal data breach affected 150 million users
Under Armour, the fitness company that owns MyFitnessPal, disclosed today a data breach that affected about 150 million users. MyFitnessPal, a food and nutrition application, became aware of the breach, which took place late last month, earlier this week. The breached data did not include any social security numbers, driver’s license numbers of any other […]
Resource Groups Tagging API Now Supports 13 Additional AWS Services
Tagging AWS resources simplifies the way you organize and discover resources, allocate costs, and control resource access across AWS services. With the Resource Groups Tagging API, you can programmatically use AWS Resource Groups and Tag Editor functionality. This makes it easier for you to implement automated tools to manage, search, and filter tags and resources […]
AWS Config Notifications Are Now Integrated with Amazon CloudWatch Events
You can now use Amazon CloudWatch Events to react to resource configuration and compliance change notifications from AWS Config. AWS Config records configuration changes to your AWS resources and evaluates those changes with respect to best practices and internal guidelines according to AWS Config rules. With this launch, you can now use the native capabilities […]
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Supports New Minor Versions 10.3, 9.6.8, 9.5.12, 9.4.17, and 9.3.22 for Commercial Regions
Following the recent announcement of updates to the PostgreSQL database, we have updated Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL to support PostgreSQL minor versions 10.3, 9.6.8, 9.5.12, 9.4.17, and 9.3.22. This release fixes PostgreSQL security vulnerabilities included in current and previous minor releases by PostgreSQL community and contains additional bug fixes and improvements. With this update, we […]
Here's What Facebook Says It's Doing to Protect Election Security
Earlier today, members of Facebook’s staff held a small press event with a status update on efforts to prevent its platform from being weaponized to influence major national events like elections. Last year, Facebook came under fire when it was revealed that it had been weaponized by foreign actors to spread misinformation and divisive content in hopes of […]
Wondery wants to become Hollywood’s podcast dream factory
When Hernan Lopez, the former chief executive of Fox International, started the podcast network Wondery roughly two years ago with a seed investment from his former bosses at Fox Networks Group, podcasting was still emerging as a media platform. Now, with voice ascendant, and podcasting proving to be a breeding ground for new narratives that […]
Tim Cook hits Facebook again over privacy concerns
Tim Cook took a break from criticizing Facebook on Tuesday to present the next step in Apple’s big education plans. But the CEO is back at it. Sitting down with MSNBC and Recode at a town hall event, Cook was once again asked about consumer privacy in the wake of fallout over Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica quagmire. […]
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop raises another $50 million
Actress-turned-entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow is getting more capital to accelerate her startup’s growth. Goop, the lifestyle brand which she founded ten years ago, is announcing a $50 million Series C round from NEA, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Felix Capital. It brings the total outside investment to $82 million. A source close to the situation tells us […]
NASA’s beautiful snowflake simulations could help predict inclement weather
There’s a lot about snow we don’t know. Where does it come from? Where does it go? What does it taste like? Admittedly there are tentative answers to these questions. But there are yet more complex ones like how exactly, on a microscopic level, snow melts in mid-air. That’s the focus of one project at […]
HBO’s new trailer for Westworld season 2 showcases robot-induced chaos
[embedded content] As HBO prepares itself to end Game of Thrones, it’s apparent that they’re putting weight on Westworld to take over as the dominant fantasy epic. A new trailer dropped today for the show’s second season and it’s clear that the robot uprising is going to take the brutal, violent spirit of the season […]
The CW goes live on Hulu with Live TV
Hulu has added the live, linear version of the CW to its Hulu with Live TV platform. Hulu has had a deal with the CW to offer streaming on-demand content from the network, but this is the first time that the CW will be available live on Hulu. The company first launched Hulu with Live […]
Facebook Will Limit Data Available to Advertisers
Facebook announced yesterday that it will be shuttering Partner Categories: the product that allows third-party data providers to supplement advertisers with targeting information directly through Facebook. In the announcement, Facebook noted that “this is common industry practice,” but will still shutter the product to “help improve people’s privacy on Facebook.” Source: Facebook For Facebook and marketers […]
Tesla reportedly wants Model 3 factory workers to prove the ‘haters’ wrong
Tesla has reportedly asked its Model 3 factory workers to prove the “haters” wrong by stepping up car production. In a memo obtained by Bloomberg, Tesla engineering chief Doug Field told staff it would be an “incredible victory” to exceed the production of 300 Model 3 vehicles a day. Field’s memo, reportedly sent on March […]
Increase User Logon Performance in AWS Managed Microsoft AD
You can now match your AWS Managed Microsoft AD and existing Microsoft Active Directory (AD) site names. This makes it faster for AWS Managed Microsoft AD to find and authenticate your existing AD users in your on-premises directory. This results in a better experience when users logon to AWS resources such as Amazon EC2 and […]
AWS WAF and Shield Advanced Now Available in US East (Ohio) Region
AWS Shield is a managed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection service that safeguards web applications running on AWS. There are two tiers of AWS Shield – Standard and Advanced. AWS Shield Standard is available on all AWS Regions and Amazon CloudFront edge locations. It is also enabled by default for all AWS customers to […]
Disney’s ultra-realistic Millennium Falcon flight simulator will need 8 GPUs to run
Disney is building a real-time, ultra-high-res flight simulator for the Millennium Falcon and they’re powering it with eight daisy-chained high-end Nvidia GPUs. The experience, which is destined to arrive at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts next year, was done in partnership with Nvidia, Epic Games and Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB. When it’s finished, guests at the […]
African VC TLcom Capital invests $5M in Nigerian data analytics firm Terragon Group
Jake Bright Contributor More posts by this contributor Africa Roundup: Uber says it’s staying, Konga could be epic startup fail Harley Davidson’s EV debut could electrify the motorcycle industry The African venture firm TLcom Capital is betting on Africa’s data analytics markets with a $5M investment in Nigerian based Terragon Group, the developer of a software analytics service for […]
Instagram reenables GIF sharing after GIPHY promises no more racism
A racial slur GIF slipped into GIPHY’s sticker library earlier this month, prompting Instagram and Snapchat to drop their GIPHY integrations. Now Instagram is reactivating after GIPHY confirmed its reviewed its GIF library four times and will preemptively review any new GIFs it adds. We’re awaiting a response from Snapchat about whether it too will […]
Introducing Salesforce User Sync
We are excited to announce the launch of Salesforce User Sync! With Salesforce User Sync, Pardot Admins can better align and manage users in Pardot and Salesforce. By making Salesforce the system of record for synced users, admins can save time on user management, enhance security, and eliminate user redundancy. Salesforce User Sync is a […]
Apple releases iOS 11.3 with new Animojis
Apple just released an iOS update for your iPhone and iPad. 11.3 introduces a ton of bug fixes but also a bunch of new features. If you forgot about Animjois, today is your lucky day as Apple is adding four new Animojis — a dragon, a bear, a lion and a skull. But that’s not […]
Twitter makes it easier to share the right part of a live video with launch of ‘Timestamps’
Twitter today is introducing a new feature that will make it easier to share a key moment from a live video, so those viewing the tweet don’t have to scroll to the part of the broadcast you want to talk about. The feature, called “Timestamps,” is something Twitter says it built in response to existing […]
Tesla will probably miss Model 3 production targets, analyst Gene Munster says
Analyst Gene Munster is predicting Tesla will likely miss its Model 3 production targets Bloomberg reports. In an interview with Bloomberg, Munster said investors expected to see Tesla produce 2,500 to 3,000 cars per week, but it’ll more likely be 1,500 to 2,000 a week. Despite this predicted miss, Munster says he’s still optimistic about […]
Senior living services startup raises $4.5 million, partners with Lyft
Cubigo, a tech startup aimed at addressing the senior living market, recently closed a $4.5 million Series A round led by Urbain Vandeurzen with participation from Transvision. Cubigo is also rolling out its services in five senior living communities in Florida, California and Ohio. Across those five communities, Cubigo’s platform will reach 100,000 residents. To […]
Polish bank begins using a blockchain-based document management system
A blockchain company called Coinfirm has announced a partnership with PKO BP, a major Polish bank, to provide blockchain-based document verification using a tool called Trudatum. The project is a an actual implementation of one of the primary benefits of blockchain-based tools, namely its ability to permanently and immutably store data. This announcement brings blockchain […]
Wild Type raises $3.5m to reinvent meat for the 21st century
Food security is one of the grand problems facing the planet this century. The UN has estimated that food supplies need to increase by 50% to cover the population growth expected over the coming decades, while climate change is expected to cut crop yields by a quarter. Nearly a billion people today lack sufficient food. […]
Excel is getting smarter
Excel is the workhorse of many industries and if you love your spreadsheets, the following news will likely make you unreasonably happy: Excel is getting smarter, thanks to a fresh infusion of artificial intelligence. As we previously reported, the Excel team has spent the last few months adding new machine learning-powered features to the application […]
Amazon may launch a bank account aimed at teens, says report
Amazon has been in discussions with banks to create a product aimed at teens and other younger users who don’t have their own credit cards, or an interest in applying for one, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The company reportedly has held early stage talks with banks including JP Morgan Chase and Capital […]
AWS IoT Core Increases Default Limits for Customers
AWS IoT Core is pleased to announce increased default service limits for all customers in all regions. Customers will now be granted 10,000 inbound and 20,000 outbound publish requests per second, increased from 3,000 and 6,000 respectively. In addition, customers will now be granted 500 connect requests per second, up from 300. The full list […]
TuneIn launches a discounted audio subscription for Alexa owners and Prime members
TuneIn, the free radio service that allows you to stream news, sports, music and podcasts, is today rolling out a new subscription offering for Alexa customers in the U.S. TuneIn Live, as the premium live audio subscription is called, will offer play-by-play calls from thousands of live sporting events, plus access to premium news stations, talk […]
Terry Myerson, EVP of Windows and Devices, is leaving Microsoft, prompting a big AI, Azure and devices reorganization
Big changes are afoot at Microsoft. The company has announced that Terry Myerson, the longtime Microsoftie who headed up the company’s Windows and Devices businesses, is leaving the company, and along with that the company changing up its executive management. The full memo from Satya Nadella is below, but here are the basics: Terry Myerson […]
Pinterest is adding a new tab focused on your followers
As Pinterest tries to double down on becoming as sticky as possible for users, it’s going to be making a pretty significant design change by adding a tab focused on who a user is following that will exist in addition to the basic discovery feed. The tab will fall on the bottom of the app’s […]
France wants to become an artificial intelligence hub
Emmanuel Macron and his government are launching a big initiative around artificial intelligence today. They want to turn France into one of the leading countries when it comes to artificial intelligence. “[Artificial intelligence] is a technological, economical, social and obviously ethical revolution,” Macron said in a speech. “This revolution won’t happen in 50 or 60 […]
Snap goes through second round of layoffs this month
Snap Inc is laying off around 100 employees within the advertising and sales department, according to CNBC. This is the second reported round of layoffs this month, with the company laying off around 100 people from the engineering department in early March. Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan told CNBC the following: Over the past two […]
Chemi Peres of Pitango VC joins us at TechCrunch Tel Aviv, June 7
TechCrunch is returning to Tel Aviv on 7 June 2018 for a day-long conference, where we will be digging into one of Irael’s biggest tech strengths: mobility and everything that implies, from computer vision to autonomous driving. Israeli tech is at the forefront of this new industry and we plan to bring industry leaders together […]
14 Ways to Get Free Advertising for Your Business
When you work at a small business with a limited budget, it’s not really possible to shell out $340,000 for a 30-second TV commercial, or $10,000 for an email marketing campaign. It can be frustrating when your budget dictates how many people your business can reach. Surprisingly, there are a lot of free ways to […]
As UK fires-up private space industry, Space Camp Accelerator launches
The UK government recently passed the Space Industry Bill, covering the basics like spaceflight licensing, insurance requirements and safety commitments. It didn’t make much of a splash when it was announced, but it’s a huge move for the UK as it laid the regulatory groundwork that will be needed to create an operational spaceport, potentially […]
1Password nets partnership with ‘Have I Been Pwned’
A little over a month since 1Password incorporated a pwned password check feature developed by Have I Been Pwned‘s Troy Hunt, the password manager service has now netted what’s being described as “a partnership” with the popular breach monitoring service. Essentially this boils down to a commercial arrangement between 1Password and the free-to-use breach check service, […]
LinkedIn is introducing auto-playing video ads
In a move that was probably inevitable, LinkedIn is introducing video advertising as one its Sponsored Content formats. Although my LinkedIn newsfeed already includes plenty of video, Abhishek Shrivastava, director of product for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, explained for advertisers, the only way to incorporate videos was to link to other websites. Now, the Microsoft-owned professional […]
SoftBank Group and Saudi Arabia plan to spend $200 billion building the world’s biggest solar power plant
SoftBank Group Corp., known for splashy deals involving billions of dollars (see: its Vision Fund and investments in Uber and Didi), has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia to build a $200 billion solar power plant. Expected to reach its full capacity of 200 gigawatts by 2030, the development will be the largest […]
SF Motors reveals first two EVs, aims to ship its first SUV by next year
SF Motors has revealed its first two models, electric vehicles aiming for 2018 production and 2019 street dates. The electric vehicle technology company with a headquarters in Silicon Valley, as well as a globe-spanning R&D footprint and manufacturing facilities in both China and the U.S., and it’s aiming to distinguish itself rom the established market […]
Amazon AppStream 2.0 is Now Available in the AWS Germany (Frankfurt) Region
AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, secure application streaming service that allows you to stream desktop applications from AWS to a web browser without rewriting applications. AppStream 2.0 can provide users with instant-on access to the applications they need with a responsive, fluid user experience on the device of their choice.
Longer Sessions For IAM Roles
With the increased duration of federated access, your applications and federated users can complete longer running workloads in the AWS cloud using a single session. You can easily extend the maximum session duration for an IAM role to up to 12 hours using the IAM console or CLI. This capability saves developer time and effort […]
Amazon Workspaces is now Available in the Asia Pacfic (Seoul) Region
WorkSpaces is a fully managed, secure Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution which runs on AWS. With WorkSpaces, you can provision virtual, cloud-based desktops for your users, providing them access to the documents, applications, and resources they need, anywhere, anytime, from any supported device. You can pay either monthly or hourly, just for the WorkSpaces you launch, which […]
San Francisco will regulate electric scooter sharing
Electric push scooters have recently hit the streets of San Francisco. Over the last couple of weeks, LimeBike deployed some scooters in conjunction with local festivities in the city. And just yesterday, Bird launched its scooters in San Francisco. Spin has also deployed some scooters in the city. As it stands today, these scooters from […]
Festo’s latest bio-inspired creations are a robo-bat and rolling robo-spider
Festo’s flashy biomimetic robots are more or less glorified tech demos, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t cool. The engineering is still something to behold, although these robot critters likely won’t be doing any serious work. Its latest units move in imitation of two unusual animals: a tumbling spider and a flying fox (think big […]
AWS CodeBuild Now Available in South America (São Paulo), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), and Europe (Paris) Regions
AWS CodeBuild, a fully managed build service that compiles source code, runs tests, and produces software packages that are ready to deploy, is now available in the South America (São Paulo), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), and Europe (Paris) Regions. With CodeBuild, you don’t need to provision, manage, and scale your own build servers.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang clarifies Uber is not using its Drive platform
While Uber makes use of Nvidia hardware in its own self-driving automotive technology, it does not employ Nvidia’s Drive autonomous computing platform, which includes the GPU-makers own real-time sensor fusion, HD mapping and path planning. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shared this information today during a Q&A session attended by reporters at the company’s GPU Technology […]
The Las Vegas strip’s first legit esports arena just opened for business
On the south end of the Vegas strip, a different kind of gaming is taking root. At the Luxor casino, the Esports Arena Las Vegas just opened its doors, occupying the former home of the LAX nightclub. Following a special event on March 22, the arena, owned by Allied Esports, opened for regular operations on Monday, […]
AWS Storage Gateway Available in GovCloud (US)
Customers can now use AWS Storage Gateway to migrate, store and access data in the AWS GovCloud (US) Region from on-premises or AWS GovCloud (US) environments. Storage Gateway connects applications to AWS storage, enabling hybrid cloud architectures used for data migration, processing and analytics, file services, backup, and disaster recovery. With Storage Gateway, you can […]
Hewlett Packard Enterprise to move HQ to San Jose
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is moving north from Palo Alto to San Jose. The company will relocate 1,000 employees to a 220,000 square feet space in late 2018. HPE is was spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 2015 and is focused on servers and storage. This news comes months after HPE announced a different plan in which […]
Boeing reportedly hit by Wannacry ransomware
Boeing has reportedly been struck in a major way by Wannacry, the ransomware that spread like wildfire last year. The Seattle Times obtained a memo from Mike VanderWel, of the company’s commercial airliner division, describing the malware as “metastasizing rapidly.” Wannacry, you may remember, spread using a Windows exploit leaked from NSA files, demanded a […]
Tesla is overusing automation in Model 3 final assembly, analysts say
Bernstein analysts Max Warburton and Toni Sacconaghi argue Elon Musk is overusing automation, Business Insider reports, and that’s why Tesla is unable to scale as fast as it would like. “Tesla has tried to hyper-automate final assembly,” the report states. “We believe Tesla has been too ambitious with automation on the Model 3 line. Few have […]
Review: 2018 Lincoln Navigator
Michigan saw a historic amount of snowfall in 2018. And it’s not done. It’s snowing as I write this and it snowed nearly every day since I took delivery of this burgundy 2018 Lincoln Navigator. Excuse the dirty car shown in the photos. That’s life in the Midwest: half the year it’s impossible to keep […]
This Company Has a Perfect Ecommerce Website Design for Inbound Marketing
There’s more to ecommerce website design than you might think. Everyone gets it sort of right, but not every site out there does it all — except perhaps ModCloth. I may not shop there personally, but I’m a huge fan of the ModCloth ecommerce inbound marketing model. When breaking down the anatomy of an amazing […]
Uber Freight lead, Lior Ron, has left the company
Lior Ron, Uber’s head of freight operations, has left the company, a source familiar with the situation told TechCrunch. “We remain fully invested in and excited about the future of Uber Freight,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. “Since launching in Texas, we have introduced Freight to all states in the continental […]
DocuSign unveils IPO filing
DocuSign has unveiled its IPO filing, confirming our scoop from last week. The company had previously filed confidentially and the timing of the filing revelation implies that DocuSign is hoping to go public in late April. Founded in 2003, the San Francisco-based e-signature company has been an anticipated IPO for a while. It’s raised over […]
New Loss functions and automatic early stopping now in the Linear Learner Algorithm in Amazon SageMaker
As part of enhancing Linear Learner, Amazon SageMaker has added automatic early stopping with or without a validation dataset during model tuning. If you provide the Linear Learner algorithm with a validation data set, your model training will stop early once validation loss stops improving. If no validation set is available, model training will stop […]
Hide 3D paintings anywhere with AR app Artopia
Public places may soon be filled with secret pieces of art unlocked by looking through the lens of AR, if Artopia’s cheerily creative app catches on. It essentially lets you geocache your 3D scribbles so anyone else can find, appreciate, and share them. Artopia, currently in beta for Android and iOS, is a straightforward combination […]
Scotty Labs raises $6 million for remote-controlled autonomous car platform
Scotty Labs, a tele-operations company that is working on technology to enable people to remotely control self-driving cars, has raised a $6 million seed round from Gradient Ventures with participation from Horizon Ventures and Hemi Ventures. Gradient Ventures is an early-stage venture fund housed within Google. “Usman and I founded Scotty on the belief that […]
Microsoft can ban you for using offensive language
A report by CSOOnline presented the possibility that Microsoft would be able to ban “offensive language” from Skype, Xbox, and, inexplicably, Office. The post, which cites Microsoft’s new terms of use, said that the company would not allow users to “publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, […]
Your Google Home can now stream music to any Bluetooth speaker
Google today announced a small but important update for its Google Home devices: you will now be able to control all of your Bluetooth speakers and stream music to them right from your Google Home devices. Until now, you could only use your Google Home’s Bluetooth capabilities to stream music to them (from your phone, […]
Equifax taps former GE exec Mark Begor as its new CEO
It’s been seven months since a major data breach sent shares of Equifax tumbling, and the company is still pulling itself together. On Wednesday, the credit bureau announced it was appointing former GE exec Mark Begor to take over the troubled company’s affairs. The hire comes six months after Equifax’s former CEO Richard Smith resigned and […]
GoDaddy to move most of its infrastructure to AWS, not including domain management for its 75M domains
It really is Go Time for GoDaddy. Amazon’s cloud services provider AWS and GoDaddy, the domain registration and management giant, may have competed in the past when it comes to working with small businesses to provide them with web services, but today the two took a step closer together. AWS said that GoDaddy is now […]
Hulu releases a new trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2
We’re exactly 28 days away from the premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2. That may seem like a long time, but Hulu has mercifully released a new trailer. The first season ended on the same note as Margaret Atwood’s novel by the same name, with Ofred in a van not knowing whether she was […]
Sony cuts PlayStation VR bundle price by $100
Diving into VR on PS4 is continuing to get cheaper and cheaper. Sony has slashed the prices of PSVR bundles by $100. The Camera bundle and the Doom VFR bundle now stand at $299 while the Skyrim VR bundle which also includes the Move controllers retails for just $349. It hasn’t really been too difficult […]
Solomon Hykes leaves Docker, the company he founded
Docker founder Solomon Hykes today announced that he is leaving the company he started. Docker, the open source project and eponymous company that kickstarted today’s container hype, was founded by Hykes in 2010 (at the time, it was called dotCloud). Hykes quickly hired a CEO and for the longest time, he remained the company’s CTO. […]
Neighbor, a p2p self-storage marketplace, bags $2.5M seed
Neighbor is another startup with designs on your spare space. Not for letting to guests to bed down in, like Airbnb, but for self-storage. The 2017 founded, Salt Lake City based startup is announcing $2.5 million in seed funding today, raised from Peak Ventures and Pelion Ventures. The core business idea is to build a […]
Hire by Google makes it easier to find the right job candidates
Hire by Google, the company’s service for recruiters and hiring managers, is getting a couple of new features today that’ll make it easier to find the right candidates among the pool of potential employees who previously applied to a position at a company. The idea here is to make better use of a company’s existing […]
Spoke looks to create a simpler workplace requests management tool
When Jay Srinivasan’s last company got acquired by Google, he and his co-founders were ready to get going right away — but they couldn’t figure out how to get ramped up or where things were. That’s sometimes a refrain you’ll hear from employees of companies that are acquired, or any employees really, who suddenly have to […]
Siren raises $3.4 million for smart socks that track diabetic health
Siren, a startup that has develops fabric with embedded microsensors, has unveiled its product, a sock for people with diabetes. Siren also announced a $3.4 million investment from DCM, Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. Powered by its Neurofabric technology, the diabetic sock can monitor foot temperatures with the idea that those with diabetes will be […]
Silver Lake is buying a $500M stake in Credit Karma in a massive secondary round
Credit Karma, which once started as a simple credit report system and is now looking to expand into a true financial assistant, announced today it is getting a massive $500 million secondary investment from Silver Lake. As part of the investment, Credit Karma says it is getting a 23% bump in the valuation from its […]
Salesforce introduces Integration Cloud on heels of Mulesoft acquisition
Salesforce hasn’t wasted any time turning the MuleSoft acquisition into a product of its own, announcing the Salesforce Integration Cloud this morning. While in reality it’s too soon to really take advantage of the MuleSoft product set, the company is laying the groundwork for the eventual integration into the Salesforce family with this announcement, which […]
It was not consent, it was concealment
Facebook’s response to the clutch of users who are suddenly woke — triggered to delve into their settings by the Facebook data misuse scandal and #DeleteFacebook backlash — to the fact the social behemoth is, quietly and continuously, harvesting sensitive personal data about them and their friends tells you everything you need to know about the rotten state […]
ARKit-only apps top 13 million installs, nearly half from games
Over 13 million augmented reality apps built using Apple’s ARKit have been downloaded since the release of iOS 11 on September 19, 2017, according to new data from app intelligence firm, Sensor Tower, which took a look at the state of the AR app ecosystem, now that it’s had time to become more established. It […]
Volkswagen’s Atlas Tanoak concept is a short-bed pickup truck dream
Volkswagen debuted a concept pickup truck at the New York Auto Show this week, and the Atlas-based design features a short bed design, based on VW’s MQB platform. It’s basically the Atlas 7-seater SUV with the back cut off and a small (but versatile) truck bed in place of the SUV’s cargo storage and third […]
Einride’s autonomous trucks will be Nvidia-powered, and deliveries start this fall
Einride’s T-pod all-electric, self-driving transport vehicle will use the Nvidia Drive AI platform to provide its autonomous smarts, the Swedish technology company revealed today. Einride also announced that the very first customer deliveries of its production T-pod truck will begin this fall, meaning it could be making actual deliveries sooner rather than later. The Nvidia […]
Ubiquity6 nabs $10.5 million from top investors to build a deeper augmented reality
Smartphone AR is available on hundreds of millions of devices but it doesn’t really seem like many of those devices are making regular use of the feature. A lot of people in the industry see this as a shortcoming of the platform’s technical shortcomings especially in regards to enabling social experiences. Ubiquity6 is approaching some […]
This young lending startup just secured $70 million to lend $2 at a time
You don’t hear of many $2 loans in the United States, where $2 won’t buy you more than a chocolate bar. But in cities like Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, $2 has the buying power of roughly $40, making such “micro” loans useful when you’re running a small business. And borrowing $2 from a startup […]
Google Cloud tackles applications performance monitoring
As Google builds out its cloud platform, it has been continually taking tools and services it has created in-house for its own team and putting them out in the world for its customers as products. Today, it added a key ingredient for developers building applications on the Google Cloud Platform when it announced a suite […]
Waze officially launches its ad program for small businesses
With the launch of Waze Local, Google-owned navigation app Waze is offering small businesses a way to market themselves to consumers on the road. Waze has allowed larger brands to buy ads for years, and it’s been beta testing Waze Local since 2016. “It’s been a gradual strategy,” said Matt Phillips, who leads the Waze […]
BMW and Daimler agree to merge mobility service businesses
It’s been hinted at, but Daimler and BMW are officially bringing together their mobility services business groups into one combined company, with a 50 percent stake owned by each automaker. That means tying up all their on-demand mobility offerings, including care share services Car2Go and DriveNow; ride-hailing like myTaxi, Chauffeur Privé and Clever Taxi; parking […]
7 of the Best Free Apps for Startups to Kickstart Growth
Chances are, at this very moment, you have more then one application open on your computer or phone. The question today is not if you should use tools, but which ones should you be using. There’s no shortage of options. With over 5,300 marketing tools alone, how does someone choose the best solution? In the […]
Facebook Won't Unveil a Smart Speaker This Spring
Facebook has reportedly suspended its plans to debut a new smart speaker at its annual F8 developer conference in May. The decision comes amidst ongoing scrutiny and backlash from the alleged misuse of its users’ personal data by analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. The postponement, first reported by Bloomberg, comes at a time when user trust in Facebook […]
How to Add a Link to Your Instagram Bio
Every social network makes it clear how to put a link in your bio on their platform — except Instagram. Twitter lets you tag other handles in your bio. LinkedIn gives you the ability to link yourself to your employer’s official page. Facebook allows you to tag a number of different businesses, interest pages, and […]
Refugee charity turns to crypto with $1M donation from Ethereum’s founder and OmiseGo
The crypto industry is often criticized from the outline for creating wealth that exists only in digital form, is unstable and driven by greed. That’s why a new charity initiative from top figures inside the Ethereum community might make a few non-believers sit up for a moment. GiveDirectly, a charity that provides no-strings-attached grants to […]