When work is intense, it’s easy to beat yourself up for letting things slip at the office or at home. But doing so can make the stress worse. Have self-compassion instead: Accept that you’re in an acute period of work stress and notice — don’t suppress or deny — your emotions. Assigning a word to […]
Nissan and DeNA will begin testing a self-driving taxi service in Japan next month
Nissan Motor and DeNA announced today that field tests of Easy Ride, the self-driving taxi service they developed together, will begin next month in Japan. This means that Nissan and DeNA now rank among Uber, Lyft, GM, Didi Chuxing and other companies pioneering self-driving taxi pilots, with the goal of launching commercially within the next […]
Angry Birds maker craters on bad guidance, losing half its market value
Angry Birds maker Rovio’s stock price tanked cratered after their latest quarterly earnings report painted a dismal future for the game maker. The stock is down 50 percent after the company sent investors a warning in their latest earnings report that revenues were likely to suffer in 2018. Despite a strong over reliance on the Angry […]
Apple devices are butt dialing 911 from its refurbishing facility – 20 times per day
Since October, emergency responders in Elk Grove and Sacramento County, California have received over 1,600 false alarm 911 calls coming from an Apple repair and refurbishing site in the area. It’s not clear if the calls are coming from Apple’s iPhones or Watches but each time a call originates out of the Elk Grove facility, […]
Split raises $17M for its product experimentation platform
Split announced this morning that it’s raised $17 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Accel Partners and new investor Harmony Partners. Split has now raised a total of $26.8 million. The startup allows companies to test out new features and deliver them in a targeted […]
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel got a $637 million bonus last year
Snap’s stock investors haven’t made much money since the company went public last year, but CEO Evan Spiegel still got a hefty payday. According to an SEC filing, he was granted an RSU of 37,447,817, which vested at the time of the IPO. In other words, that was worth nearly $636.6 million. His salary for […]
Visualizing the slave insurance industry
Similar to the way people insure their cars, houses and lives, slave-owners would sometimes insure their slaves. Fearful of not getting their money’s worth from their slaves, owners would sometimes take out insurance policies on them. In the 1800s, for example, some slave-owners who rented out their slaves would insure them so that, in the […]
Announcing TC Sessions: Robotics with UC Berkeley, May 11 at Zellerbach Hall
Robotics is an incredibly demanding field because robots demand the best of everything technology has to offer, from machine learning, to sensors and GPUs, to materials technology and of course the “robot” itself. For that reason, there is no better subject for one of TechCrunch’s single-day, single-topic events, and we’re excited to announce that TechCrunch […]
Bump is a peer-to-peer marketplace for streetwear
As the streetwear and sneaker industry continues to explode in popularity we’re seeing more and more startups popping up to service the industry, all from slightly different angles. Meet Bump, a peer-to-peer take on a streetwear marketplace. Founded six months ago in the U.K and now part of Y Combinator’s Winter ’18 batch, the startup […]
Facebook says it’s clarifying its ad metrics
Facebook is looking to clean up and clarify the way advertisers measure their campaign performance. Over the past couple of years, the company has had to acknowledge multiple mistakes in its ad metrics. Last fall, researchers even pointed out that Facebook’s purported reach was greater than the US Census population in every state. So making […]
Snap stock sinks as Kylie Jenner says she doesn’t use Snapchat anymore
At this point, if you haven’t accepted the celebrity influence of the Kardashian/Jenner machine, you probably haven’t been paying attention to pop culture at large. Nevertheless, when a reality star can seemingly affect the value of your publicly-traded tech company, you’re in a bit of trouble. Yesterday, Kylie Jenner tweeted a pretty brutal takedown of Snapchat […]
Amazon’s latest Prime perk is free shipping on its deals site Woot!
Eight years after Amazon snatched up the daily deals site Woot!, the retailer is now leveraging the site to serve as another perk for Prime members. Woot! this morning announced that it will begin offering free shipping on purchases from its site to all Amazon Prime members. Woot!, which was founded in 2004, is no […]
Snips brings its privacy-focused voice assistant to cars
French startup Snips is announcing two things for its voice assistant SDK. First, the company is showing off an interesting use case in Nuremberg with a Snips-powered voice assistant in a car. Second, you can now build voice assistants in German. Snips isn’t technically competing with Alexa Voice Service or Google Assistant SDK as they’re not designed […]
MyBagCheck lets you drop off your bags anywhere
MyBagCheck is a clever system that ensures that you’ll be able to spend that extra few hours in a foreign city without having to lug around fifty pounds of Samsonite. The founder, Micah B. Lewis, created the app to allow people who have bags to get those bags picked up and stored during the day, […]
Google says more than 40 carriers and device manufacturers now use its platform for RCS, the next generation of SMS
Rich Communication Services (RCS) is basically the standard for the next generation of text messaging, with apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, LINE and others now offering features that go far beyond the standard SMS-based messaging apps that tend to ship with your phone — unless, of course, you are an Apple and iMessage user. Read […]
Airbnb is rolling out a new tier aimed at higher-end travelers
Airbnb today is rolling out a few new additions to their home-booking system, including new tiers that are aimed at higher-end customers called Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb. The new Airbnb Plus tier has homes that are verified for “quality and comfort,” rolling out with around 2,000 homes to start that have been inspected […]
Stealth space catapult startup SpinLaunch is raising $30M
What if instead of blasting cargo into space on a rocket, we could fling it into space using a catapult? That’s the big, possibly crazy, possibly genius idea behind SpinLaunch. It was secretly founded in 2014 by Jonathan Yaney, who built solar-powered drone startup Titan Aerospace and sold it to Google. Now TechCrunch has learned […]
Honcker raises at least $15M from IAC as it takes on the car-leasing-on-demand market
The car leasing and rental market is forecast to be worth $124 billion in 2022, and today a startup that is hoping to get a piece of that action by making the process of leasing a car easier is announcing a Series A in its effort to get there. Honcker — a New York-based startup […]
Esports teams need more data about their fans, and FanAI wants to give it to them
It turns out that while e-sports may be growing in popularity, the fans of different video games don’t spend the same way as fans for traditional sports. To try and figure out ways to part fans from their hard earned money, teams are beginning to turn to the types of data monitoring tools that are […]
Customer service bot startup Agent IQ announces $6.3 million Series A led by Sierra Ventures
If you’ve tried to deal with a bot before you can speak to a human customer service rep, you know how frustrating that process can sometimes be. Sure, there are basic tasks that can free up a human rep to handle the more difficult matters, but it can be exasperating when there is no easy […]
UPS is working on a fleet of 50 custom-built electric delivery trucks
UPS will work with partner Workhorse, a battery-electric transportation technology company, to develop and deploy a fleet of 50 custom-built plug-in electric delivery trucks with zero emissions. The goal is to make trucks that cost as much to buy as do traditional fuel-based delivery vehicles – even without taking into account subsidies. The Workhorse designed-vehicles, will […]
Indigo Fair raises $12M to connect wholesalers with smaller retail outlets with a smarter service
Max Rhodes was walking around that weird little parklet in Hayes Valley in San Francisco after taking a break from a five-year stint at Square to figure out what he wanted to do next — and he kept seeing Square registers everywhere. It was spotting them over and over again in smaller retail shops dotted […]
Robinhood rolls out zero-fee crypto trading as it hits 4M users
Coinbase has some serious competition. Today Robinhood starts rolling out its no-commission cryptocurrency trading feature in California, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana and New Hampshire. Users can buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum with no extra fees, and track those and 14 other coins in its sleek app. That’s compared to paying 1.5 to 4 percent fees […]
SpaceX misses catching Falcon 9 rocket fairing with a giant net on a big ship
SpaceX nearly succeeded in catching the fairing used in its PAZ Falcon 9 mission on Thursday, using a barge called ‘Mr. Steven’ that uses four giant arms with a net strung between them to secure the used nosecone once it floats back from space. The fairing missed the boat by just a few hundred meters, […]
Ford names Kumar Galhotra president of Ford North America
Ford today announced key changes in the company’s leadership ranks after yesterday’s abrupt departure of Raj Nair, former Ford President of North America. Kumar Galhorta will take over Nair’s position effective on March 1. In this post he will be responsible for all of Ford’s North American business and report to Jim Farley, Ford EVP […]
SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9 carrying Starlink demo satellites
SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base today, its first launch since its successful Falcon Heavy test earlier this month. The launch took off early Wednesday morning, after being rescheduled a couple of times from an initial target of this past weekend. The launch was primarily designed to […]
Sports stars, franchises and Hollywood agencies are betting $38 million on an esports revolution
What started with an esports team is now quickly becoming an esports empire, backed by some of the biggest names in sports and money managers for entertainment family dynasties and Hollywood power brokers. Vision Esports LP, the esports conglomerate launched by Stratton Sclavos, Rick Fox and Amit Raizada has just closed on a $38 million […]
Anchor’s new app offers everything you need to podcast
Broadcasting app Anchor, which helps anyone record and share audio, is relaunching its app today with a new focus on serving the larger podcaster community. While in the past, Anchor was carving out a niche for itself in the short-form, social audio space, the new version – Anchor 3.0 – aims to be everything you […]
Feature Labs launches out of MIT to accelerate the development of machine learning algorithms
Feature Labs, a startup with roots in research begun at MIT, officially launched today with a set of tools to help data scientists build machine learning algorithms more quickly. Co-founder and CEO Max Kantor says the company has developed a way to automate “feature engineering,” which is often a time consuming and manual process for […]
Teampay raises $4m so you don’t have to steal your CEO’s credit card anymore
Few problems are as much of a headache for the modern corporate worker as buying things on the company’s dime. Companies are loathe to hand out credit cards to everyone in the building, but they also want their employees to do your job without having to fill out six forms in triplicate to requisition a […]
What ever happened to optichannel?
A few years ago, the digital world was abuzz with talk about optichannel. Marketers traded decks full of hub-and-spoke graphics. Marketing software vendors added integrations, and everyone talked about being wherever the customer was, whenever they were. Yet here it’s 2018 and 9 in 10 of marketers are still primarily reliant on email. What gives? […]
Lighthouse’s 3D sensing, AI-powered camera is now available for $299
What happens if you take a home security camera, throw it out, and head back to the drawing board with engineers from the world of self-driving cars behind the wheel? That’s the basic premise behind Lighthouse. They’re trying to build a camera that, thanks to its 3D-sensing lasers and a mountain of machine learning chops, […]
Watch SpaceX launch its first broadband internet satellites to space live here
[embedded content] SpaceX is making a second attempt to launch its PAZ mission today, which includes the PAZ satellite from client Hisdesat, and is set for launch during an instantaneous window at 6:17 AM PST, or 9:17 AM EST. The mission was scrubbed on Wednesday due to high upper level winds, and reset for this […]
Travel activities platform KKDay raises $10.5M led by Japanese travel firm H.I.S.
KKDay, a startup from Taiwan that operates a platform that helps travelers to Asia find local activities, has raised $10.5 million. The funding round was led by Japanese travel operator H.I.S. with participation from existing backer MindWorks Ventures, the Hong Kong-based VC. KKDay is one of a number of services that cater to Asia’s burgeoning […]
Falcon.io buys Komfo from Sitecore as social media management consolidates
Falcon.io, a startup out of Denmark that helps businesses manage their presence across social media and messaging platforms, has acquired a competitor in a wider trend of consolidation in the market for such services. It is buying Komfo from customer experience software developer Sitecore, which itself was acquired by EQT for $1.1 billion in 2016. […]
Apple said to debut voice-activated Siri AirPods in 2018, water-resistant model in 2019
Apple is preparing a couple of updating models of AirPods, according to Bloomberg. The popular fully wireless earbud-style headphones that Apple introduced last year are currently on track for a refresh in 2018 with the addition of a new version of the “W” line of chips that Apple created specifically to manage and improve Bluetooth-based […]
Pitching a wearable to make cattle farming more sustainable, Vence raises $2.7 million
A new startup called Vence from sunny San Diego is aiming to make cattle farming more sustainable with a wearable device to create virtual fences for livestock. The company has raised $2.7 million in new funding to bring its product to market and develop new services for farmers in a round led by Eniac Ventures […]
Watch the Airbus Project Vahana prototype autonomous air taxi take flight
[embedded content] Airbus recently had the first ever successful flight of its Vahana autonomous air vehicle, and now it’s released video of that pivotal moment in the aircraft’s development. The flight took place at the end of January in Pendleton, Oregon, when the flying, passenger-capable drone took off and hovered off the ground about 16 […]
Harley Davidson’s EV debut could electrify the motorcycle industry
Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor: Africa Roundup: Partech Ventures launches $70M fund, TPG Growth acquires TRACE, Rensource raises $3.5M Want to learn about African immigrants? Mr. President, meet Africa’s tech sector Harley Davidson will launch its […]
Uber CEO plans to ‘invest aggressively’ to compete with rivals Southeast Asia
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has distanced the company from reports that it might exit Southeast Asia and India. Currently in India on his maiden visit to Asia as Uber boss, Khosrowshahi told an audience that the company plans to continue to invest in Southeast Asia, where Uber has slipped behind Grab and Indonesia-based Go-Jek. “We expect to […]
Pop star turned entrepreneur Starshell raises $1 million for her Birthday Girl World
For the singer-songwriter Starshell, a one-time protege of Mary J. Blige, success comes in many guises — and the latest is startup entrepreneur. Her song “Birthday Girl“, resonated so strongly with fans, says the singer born LaNeah Menzies, that it became something of an anthem. And Menzies has turned that anthem into a business. Her […]
Your Email Strategy Needs a Facebook Messenger Strategy
As of late, it feels like an arms race between email marketing or Messenger marketing. A world where marketers have to pick: the workhorse of today or the most exciting channel of tomorrow? At first glance, I can see why. We’ve seen audiences engage an insane amount on Messenger — 619% more than email. There’s […]
Tel Aviv, TechCrunch is coming back, this time with a conference
The third time is a charm, Tel Aviv. After holding a Meetup + Pitch-off the last two years in Israel, TechCrunch is returning on 7 June 2017 for a day-long conference. As much fun as networking on a roof facing the Mediterranean Sea is, we’re ready to dig deeper into the tech that is coming […]
Tinyclues, the AI-driven campaign marketing solution, scores $18M Series B
Tinyclues, the French startup that offers an intelligent campaign marketing solution that uses AI to help push the right products to the right customers, has closed $18 million in Series B investment. Leading the round is EQT Ventures, with participation from existing backers Alven, Elaia Partners, and ISAI. Using what it describes as “Deep AI […]
Pandora’s improving financials help it recover from a bad day
Pandora tumbled almost 9% on the stock market Wednesday. And then it bounced back over 6% after the day ended. The music streaming business, which has had a terrible past year on the stock market, surprised investors when it revealed a 63% rise in subscription revenue, totaling $97.7 million. Subscribers also jumped 25%, to 5.48 million. […]
ParkBee closes €5M funding to open up private car parks to public bookings
ParkBee, a Netherlands-founded startup that lets private car parks monetize underutilized spaces by making them bookable to the public, has picked up €5 million in new funding The round is led by German-based Statkraft Ventures, with participation from existing investors. Statkraft Ventures is backed by the Statkraft Group, which claims to be Europe’s largest generator […]
On Vacation? Stop Checking Email
Going on vacation? To get the most out of your time away, keep your phone out of sight and mind. Research shows the mere presence of a phone stresses us out, even if we aren’t using it. (Plus, moving your job from an office to a beach is no holiday at all.) Set clear boundaries […]
India’s Capillary Technologies raises $20M from Warburg Pincus and Sequoia
Capillary Technologies, an India-based startup that helps e-commerce businesses manage their marketing and customer engagement, has pulled in $20 million in fresh funding from existing investors Warburg Pincus and Sequoia. The company said it plans to use the capital to develop its products and R&D, including a new focus on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space […]
Walmart launches a new home shopping site for furniture and home décor
Following a slowdown in e-commerce sales over the holidays, Walmart today is readying a new strategy to attract online shoppers with an increased focus on home goods. The retailer is now launching a redesigned Home shopping experience on the web which will better highlight home products, like furniture, accessories, and other decorative items. The new […]
How to Manage Your Entire Marketing Budget [Free Budget Tracker Templates]
“As the media and digital landscape evolves at breakneck speed, continually reassessing the tools, services, and programs you’re employing is a great way to determine real-time ROI of your overall spend. Today’s measurement tool may be worthless to you tomorrow.”With the 8 Free Budget Planner Templates to Manage Your Marketing Spend, you’ll be able to […]
Intel ships update for newest Spectre-affected chips
Intel has announced that the fix is out for its latest chips affected by Spectre, the memory-leakage flaw affecting practically all computing hardware. The patch is for the Skylake generation (late 2015) and newer, though most users will still have to wait for the code to be implemented by whoever manufactured their computer (specifically, their […]
Startup that sells your salary data to VCs gets bought by Solium
Investors don’t want their portfolio companies to pay you too much, or too little. So they pay Advanced-HR for its compensation data pulled from 2,500 startups. With a generic name, the service has flown somewhat under the radar since launching 20 years ago. As startups grow more professional while staying private longer, they’re getting serious […]
Peer-to-peer camera rental startup KitSplit raises $2.1M
KitSplit, which operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for creative equipment, is announcing that it’s raised $2.1 million in seed funding. The equipment available for rental can include cameras, lights and lenses, but also VR gear and drones. Renters get access to this equipment for a lower price (CEO Lisbeth Kaufman estimated said KitSplit usually costs 30 […]
Ford’s President of North America exits the company due to “inappropriate behavior”
Ford today announced the departure of the Raj Nair, Ford’s President of North America and former executive vice president, Product Development, and chief technical officer. According to a press release, he is leaving the company following a recent internal investigation that found certain behavior by Nair was “inconsistent with the company’s code of conduct.” Nair […]
Roku stock tanks 18% after sharing financials, outlook
Despite surpassing analyst expectations for the quarter, Roku disappointed Wall Street when it shared its fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. The digital streaming business fell about 18% in after-hours trading, in the minutes following the news release. Roku posted$188.3 million revenue, when Yahoo! Finance estimates showed $182.5 million. Earnings per share was 6 […]
A system to tell good fake bokeh from bad
The pixel-peepers over at DxOMark have shared some of the interesting metrics and techniques they use to judge the quality of a smartphone’s artificial bokeh, or background blur in photos. Not only is it difficult to do in the first place, but they have to systematize it! Their guide should provide even seasoned shooters with […]
Signal expands into the Signal Foundation with $50M from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton
Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned about Signal when I spoke with Moxie Marlinspike, the encrypted chat service’s creator, last year at Disrupt, was that it was essentially running on a shoestring budget. An indispensable tool used by millions and feared by governments worldwide, barely getting by! But $50 million from WhatsApp co-founder Brian […]
Blockchain is entering the valley of despair phase, and that’s a mistake
I’ve had a number of conversations with blockchain-focused people over the past few weeks. In some of those conversations — particularly with engineers — there is a palpable excitement and a belief that this technology is going to end up being their life’s work. As one blockchain hacker told me this past week, “It’s going […]
The Atlantic says it will hire up to 100 new staffers
It’s a gloomy time in media, with frequent announcements of layoffs and shutdowns (it even happened today). That’s why it seems remarkable for an established publication to announce ambitious plans for newsroom expansion. The publication in question is The Atlantic, the magazine that Lauren Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective bought a majority stake in last year. The magazine […]
UpWest Labs just raised $18 million more to bring Israeli founders to the U.S.
The micro venture firm UpWest Labs was founded nearly six years ago in Palo Alto with one mission in mind: to bring Israeli founders to the U.S. when their companies are still nascent and provide them with enough financial and other resources to get going. Why do this? UpWest’s founders, Shuly Galili and Gil Ben-Artzy, say […]
Onward helps businesses automate their customer service
How much can customer service be automated? Onward has some straightforward targets — 40 percent of tickets and 40 percent of messages should be automated, and average response times should be 40 seconds on average. Founders Rémi Cossart and Pramod Thammaiah describe this as Automate40 — basically, a set of goals for businesses looking to […]
Gabi gets $9.5M to help car and home owners find better insurance once it’s available
If you own a car or home, one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is finding the right insurance plan that’ll cover everything you need and save you some money — but those plans are always changing, and consumers are getting stuck footing a bill they don’t necessarily need, according to Hanno Fichter. That’s why […]
Google tries to make Android more enterprise-friendly with new recommendation program
With so many Android devices out there to choose from, it’s not always easy to find one that’s enterprise-friendly. To help alleviate that problem, Google announced the Android Enterprise Recommended program today. As the name implies, it’s designed to point enterprise IT departments at devices that Google has deemed to be enterprise-ready. This involves a number […]
Raisin, the European savings deposit marketplace backed by PayPal, gets dedicated UK launch
Raisin, the Paypal-backed savings deposit marketplace that lets you shop for a better interest rate across Europe, has launched a dedicated U.K. site, meaning that savers can now access deposit accounts in Sterling. The first partner bank on the British version of the platform is BACB, which is offering a range of fixed term savings […]
Facebook opens registration for its annual F8 developer conference
Facebook has just opened up registration for its annual F8 developer conference. Last year, Zuck and company talked about augmented reality, brain-computer interfaces and a complete rewrite of its React framework. Facebook has had turbulent year in the news, and the company has made some significant moves to restructure how its users are interacting with […]
Apple could be buying cobalt from mining companies directly
Cobalt is the new oil. Car companies and battery manufacturers are all rushing to secure multiyear contracts with mining companies for their lithium-ion batteries. According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is also participating in this game as the company wants to secure its long-term supplies. The company has never done this before with cobalt. Apple […]
Qualcomm shares details on its vision for the near-future of mobile VR
Qualcomm is ready to show off more about what its Snapdragon 845 system architecture can do for the future of VR. Even as headsets based on the Snapdragon 835 reference design — like Lenovo’s positionally tracked Daydream headset — are just gearing up for their stateside release, we’re already looking to what the future of […]
Google’s Cloud IoT Core is now generally available
Cloud IoT Core, Google’s fully managed service for connecting, managing and ingesting data from IoT devices, is now out of beta and generally available. Google envisions the service, which launched in public beta last September, as the first entry point for IoT data into its cloud. Once the data has been ingested, users can use Cloud […]
Nest rolls out a $5 cloud recording plan for its cameras
Just a quick bit of news for those with Nest cams around the house: a new, cheaper Nest Aware (read: the cloud recording service that also gives the camera a bit more smarts) plan is on the way. Nest has long offered two plans: a $10/month plan that lets you store the last 10 days […]
One of Nest’s cameras can now double as a Google Assistant
After Google announced earlier this month that it was going to wrap Nest back into Google’s hardware operation, everyone figured we’d see a bit more overlap between the two. Sure enough, just two weeks later: the Nest Cam IQ Indoor is getting support for Google Assistant. Nest says the app update that lets users toggle […]
SharpestMinds wants to help startups find AI talent before Google and Facebook snatch them
Google and other tech giants often have huge recruiting efforts that can target students — but startups might not have those kinds of resources to find or grab them before they head off to those huge companies. The biggest tech companies in the world can offer a lot of resources and bigger compensation packages, but […]
Snapchat responds to the Change.org petition complaining about the app’s redesign
Snapchat has posted an official response to users who signed a petition on Change.org asking the company to reverse its controversial update, which people say makes the app more difficult to use. In the response, Snapchat promises to make a few more changes to the Friends and Discover section in order to address user complaints. […]
Snapchat responds to the Change.org petition complaining about the app’s redesign
Snapchat has posted an official response to users who signed a petition on Change.org asking the company to reverse its controversial update, which people say makes the app more difficult to use. In the response, Snapchat promises to make a few more changes to the Friends and Discover section in order to address user complaints. […]
This is the tech that NFL players are excited about in 2018
With the NFL season now over, players finally have time to focus on their passions and side projects, which can be anything from an externship on Capital Hill to angel investing in startups. Some of these activities are facilitated through the NFL Player’s Association, which actually runs a tech accelerator designed to trade player licensing […]
This is the tech that NFL players are excited about in 2018
With the NFL season now over, players finally have time to focus on their passions and side projects, which can be anything from an externship on Capital Hill to angel investing in startups. Some of these activities are facilitated through the NFL Player’s Association, which actually runs a tech accelerator designed to trade player licensing […]
‘Alto’s Odyssey’ is now available on iOS and it’s wonderful
Alto’s Adventure could be my most-played game on iOS. I spent countless hours on flights getting lost in the serene landscape offered in the game. To me it’s a satisfying mix of adventure and mindless pleasure. The sequel is now available on iOS and it’s even better than the first. As Darrell explains here, the […]
‘Alto’s Odyssey’ is now available on iOS and it’s wonderful
Alto’s Adventure could be my most-played game on iOS. I spent countless hours on flights getting lost in the serene landscape offered in the game. To me it’s a satisfying mix of adventure and mindless pleasure. The sequel is now available on iOS and it’s even better than the first. As Darrell explains here, the […]
Outsourcing management startup 4me announces $1.65 million seed investment led by Storm Ventures
4me, a startup that helps companies organize and track their IT outsourcing projects, announced a $1.65 million seed investment led by Storm Ventures. The company, which launched in 2010, would seem to be a bit long in the tooth to warrant a seed investment round, but co-founder and CEO Cor Winkler Prins explained that the […]
Here’s how to make Alexa control a toilet — because why not?
[embedded content] Alexa-controlled toilets are a thing in 2018, but cost thousands. An enterprising person can make their own by following these instructions. It takes a bit of work, multiple components and about $750 (plus the cost of the toilet), but the end result is a voice-controlled toilet — and everyone needs that in their […]
How to Create the Perfect Instagram Images to Sell Your Brand
Photographs are emotional time machines: they transport us to places of which we’ve only dreamed, remind us of past experiences we long to recreate, and spark inspiration for future adventures. It is not the photographs themselves that stir up these emotions, but rather the memories and aspirations we associate with them. Instagram is a visual […]
Don’t Let Stress Turn You into a Jerk
When you’re under intense stress, it’s normal to have a short fuse. But don’t take your stress out on whoever happens to be nearby — whether it’s your assistant, family members, or direct reports. Making them bear the brunt of your frustrations will strain your relationships and hinder your resilience. Even if what’s stressing you […]
Introducing Multi-Touch Attribution in B2B Marketing Analytics
Editor’s Note: We’re so pleased to announce two new features today! Don’t forget to find out more about Customizable Business Hours as well! With B2B Marketing Analytics, Marketers can visualize campaign ROI across the funnel to prioritize channels and programs that work best. With first, even, and last touch attribution offered in a new out-of-the-box dashboard, marketers […]
Introducing Customizable Business Hours & Enhancements to Engagement Studio CSV Export
Editor’s Note: We’re so pleased to announce two new features today! Don’t forget to find out more about multi-touch attribution as well! We’re excited to announce two new, frequently requested feature enhancements for Engagement Studio: the ability to customize business hours on Engagement programs! The ability to send emails during business hours only has always […]
This Simple Diagram Will Help You Tell Better Brand Stories
Tell someone to write a poem, and chances are, they’ll freeze up. Tell someone to write a haiku, however, and we bet they’ll bang one out in less than 10 minutes. The reason: constraints unleash our creativity. But how can you translate that to the complex world of content marketing? The below diagram will help […]
Encourage Your Team to Bring You Problems — Just Not Complaints
“Bring me solutions, not problems.” Many well-meaning managers have said it, intending to keep employees from simply complaining about work issues. But employees can take it to mean they should cover up an issue if they don’t have a way to fix it. So it’s better to tell your team to bring you problem statements. […]
Interview for the Write Blog: Authority Writer & Content Strategist Austin
Today for the Write Blog, we interviewed one of our full-time writers, Austin. Austin first began his career as a pro writer when he left his hometown of Los Angeles, California to travel the world and document his experiences along the way. He has toured with rock bands in Europe, written technical documentation for Australian […]
Interview for the Write Blog: Copywriter & Content Strategist Diana
Today for the Write Blog, we interviewed one of our full-time writers, Diana. Diana is a journalism graduate, award-winning filmmaker and online content specialist. She dedicates her work to crafting content that connects people with stories and ideas that matter. When she’s away from the laptop, you can find her navigating through South America’s mountain […]
We Read 9 Self-Help Books So You Don’t Have To
This summer, I decided to really give the whole “be-present-in-the-moment” thing a shot. I wanted to take this seriously, so I decided to check out a couple self-help books dedicated to the idea of “living in the now.” And here’s the thing: some of the ideas, I could really, really get behind. But others didn’t […]
Unplug from Work by Focusing Your Brain on Something Else
Most of us know that staying productive in the office requires recharging away from it. The hard part is doing it. Even if you go home at a decent hour, you may find yourself checking email or reading one last report. To forget about what’s happening at work, focus on what you’ll do instead. Framing […]
5 Creative Strategies to Stay Inspired to Write All Year [Infographic]
If there’s one thing we know about inspiration, it’s that it’s not very good at giving advance notice of anything.
The Story Funnel-Matrix: Create Better Content With This Simple Diagram
Storytelling Tell someone to write a poem, and chances are they’ll freeze up. Tell someone to write a haiku, however, and we bet they’ll bang one out in less than 10 minutes. The reason: Constraints unleash our creativity. But how can you translate that to the complex world of content marketing? The diagram below will […]
We Need to Talk… About Building Customer Relationships
February always gets me, and I’m sure many others, thinking about relationships. February 14, depending on your relationship status, is either Singles Awareness Day or it’s Oh No Did We Make Reservations At That One Restaurant day. In thinking through that, I realized we say “relationship” a lot in a corporate setting. “We value our […]
Why Every Public Speaker Should be Using Messenger Bots
A few weeks ago, I gave a talk at the Multifamily Social Media Summit in Napa, CA. It was my second consecutive year attending the event, and I wanted to give the audience something fresh — my talk was going to be about Facebook Messenger. A few days before the talk, a member of the […]
Enlist Your Team in Solving an Intractable Problem
If you and your team are facing a chronic challenge, you might be tempted to take control and vehemently argue for the solution you think will work, or to offer ideas indirectly and let your team take ownership of the issue. Neither of these extremes is optimal. Instead, try an approach that combines conviction and […]
#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Create Amazing Online Video Content for Your Brand
It’s was our monthly Community Chat during this week’s #ContentWritingChat! That means we gave our audience the chance to vote on which topic they were most interested in dicussing. And the one that came out on top? Video creation tips! It’s no surprise this was the chosen topic, considering video continues to be the HOT […]
15 of the Best Lifestyle Mobile Apps You Need in Your Pocket
Want to track your packages with the swipe of your finger? Now you can. Need to split a complicated dinner bill? It’s no longer a 10-minute math problem. Lifestyle apps constanly appear in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and at least attempt to make our lives easier. Not only have some of […]
I Used Three Smart Speakers at the Same Time. Here's What Happened.
“OK, Google. Good morning.” My name is Amanda, and these are the words I use to start my day. And no later do I utter them, it seems, than a smart home speaker responds with, “Good morning, Amanda,” followed by a brief weather report, and tech news briefings from a handful of sources. For many […]
Your Google Rank Doesn’t Matter Anymore
For a long time, keyword rankings were a staple part of any SEO campaign. In a lot of cases they were a primary metric used to judge performance. Go back five or six years and we had so much more information on the keywords that users were searching for to reach our web content. All […]
How to Lead Projects Even When You're Not the Boss
This past summer I managed the largest acquisition campaign in my company’s history. I work at HubSpot, a marketing software company that popularized lead-gen campaigns and the whole idea of “inbound marketing,” so this is no small feat (we’ve run massive campaigns over the years). The campaign, Four Days of Facebook, drove 10x the number […]
The Storytelling Strategy That BuzzFeed and Star Wars Have in Common
10 Projects to Improve Your Design Skills
Design is — and always will be — a big part of marketing. But that doesn’t mean every single marketer needs to be an expert designer. After all, the skills needed to be an effective marketer cover a wide breadth of expertise areas. Taking a note from Rand Fishkin’s T-Shaped Marketer concept, marketers need to […]
Make Sure You and Your Partner Are Aligned on Professional Goals
Research shows that women are far more likely to achieve their professional ambitions if their partner supports them (or if they stay single). But even for women whose partner is committed to equality, it’s difficult to navigate the challenges of a dual-career life. To make sure both people are aligned on what they want and […]
The State of Content Marketing Today. Why We Just Launched New & Improved Content Strategy Services at Express Writers
Let’s talk a little about the state of content marketing as it stands today. 91% of content marketers are using content marketing. That’s higher than all previous years to date. Content creation is the #1 activity in content marketing that gets outsourced. 45% of content marketers are more successful than they were the previous year: And […]
Find Commonalities with Coworkers from Different Cultures
When working on a global team, it’s easy to focus on the ways that you and your colleagues are different. But rather than thinking about what sets you apart, emphasize what you have in common. This will draw you closer to your colleagues and make you more receptive to — and less frustrated by — […]
Stop Measuring These Vanity Metrics in Your Marketing Campaign
There is without a doubt no shortage of data for each action you take in your marketing campaigns, nor is there a lack of tools…
Stop Measuring These Vanity Metrics in Your Marketing Campaign
There is without a doubt no shortage of data for each action you take in your marketing campaigns, nor is there a lack of tools to help you measure them. The problem is, some metrics aren’t as important as they look. They stick out right in front of you as soon as you log into […]
11 Storytelling Lessons That Will Transform Your Content Marketing
Storytelling I was a wide-eyed, frizzy-haired 25-year-old when I first got the offer of a lifetime: to be in charge of content for a small tech company called Contently. When I asked my new boss for direction, he pointed to the freshly painted mural on the office wall. It read: “Those who tell the stories […]
Powered-up Pardot Admin: a new breed of Salesforce Marketing Specialist
The increasing influence that Digital Marketers have across organizations is no freak occurrence. The rise is even more stark in B2B Marketing, where trends such as Account-based Marketing, Social Selling, and Analytics are demanding more from B2B Marketers. When it comes to Pardot Specialists, we’re kept hot on our toes with marketing KPIs, campaign optimization, […]
SSL for Vanity Domains Now Available
SSL for Vanity Domains is now available for all our customers! You may have heard recently that a secure web is here to stay, and that more sites will get a “Not Secure” warning. The good news is that you can now use your own domain with https for your Pardot landing pages and forms. Not […]
No, You're Not Getting a Facebook Dislike Button (Yet)
If you use Facebook, you’re likely no stranger to the widespread clamor for a “dislike” button.
Tesla in Space and Uber in Court. It's Your Monday Morning Briefing.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Monday. I need coffee. You need coffee. And we all could use a little refresher on what happened in tech last…
Tesla in Space and Uber in Court. It's Your Monday Morning Briefing.
The event didn’t go off entirely without a hitch. While the itself is impressive — considering the Falcon Heavy’s high bandwidth for cargo (140,000 pounds, which is about 2X the capacity of any other functioning rocket in history) and high engine capacity (27 of them) — some things didn’t go as planned. First, the ship’s […]
The 8 Best Movies to Inspire Modern Marketers
Most people watch movies to escape the real world, especially as a way to unwind after work. But some of the best movies can actually…
How to Get Through to a Bad Listener
It’s frustrating to work with someone who doesn’t listen. Whether your colleague interrupts you, rambles on, or seems distracted, the impact is the same: You feel ignored, and the chances of misunderstandings increase. But you can encourage your colleague to listen better by emphasizing the importance of your message up front. Before starting a conversation, […]
The 10 Most Watched YouTube Ads of 2017 (And the Agencies Behind Them)
Most pre-roll ads on YouTube are something to be endured, muted, and skipped immediately after the mandatory five seconds have passed. It’s nothing personal –…
The 10 Most Watched YouTube Ads of 2017 (And the Agencies Behind Them)
Most pre-roll ads on YouTube are something to be endured, muted, and skipped immediately after the mandatory five seconds have passed. It’s nothing personal — people just want to get to their video. So how can advertisers create branded videos that users actually want to watch? For an ad to be sought out and consumed […]
The Big Difference Between the Ads People Love and Ads People Hate
What Pardot Users Should Know About Accessibility in Email Marketing & Web Design
Accessibility of digital content is something that hasn’t really been on my radar before. Like, at all. Didn’t even know it was a thing. I first heard about it when a client mentioned some corporate requirements related to accessibility for a new website they were building. Cue the lightbulb with the blinding flash of the […]
#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Find Your Writing Speciality & Pitch Services to Your Dream Clients with Kaleigh Moore
If you’ve ever joined us for #ContentWritingChat, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed that we have a lot of writers joining us each week. It’s amazing having an incredible group of content creators come together for our chat. But sometimes writers need a little help when it comes to niching down and sending out those […]
Future-Proofing for Growth in the Age of AI
AI is all the rage on tech websites, but it can still seem like a pretty obscure, inaccessible tactic for B2B companies.
Future-Proofing for Growth in the Age of AI
AI is all the rage on tech websites, but it can still seem like a pretty obscure, inaccessible tactic for B2B companies. The hype and expectations of AI are astronomical, yet the actual business impact it can have on B2B companies at this moment is still relatively uncertain. However, one thing I can assure you […]
Are Webinars Dead? How to Make a Webinar that Works in 2018
As an acquisition marketer, I hear questions like this all the time: “Is the PDF dead? Is the webinar dead now too? How should we…
Are Webinars Dead? How to Make a Webinar that Works in 2018
As an acquisition marketer, I hear questions like this all the time: “Is the PDF dead? Is the webinar dead now too? How should we continue generating leads for our sales team while continuing to innovate on the content formats we produce and gate behind a form?” It’s 2018, and the way our prospects and […]
Managers, Make Sure Your Team Takes Vacation
It’s important to encourage your employees to take time off. Make it clear to them that this is a business issue — not just a personal one. Use a few minutes in a team meeting to share some of the research on the benefits of vacation, such as higher productivity and less stress. Then keep […]
FAQ This! What Is PGP?
We live in an age where it seems like privacy comes at a premium.
FAQ This! What Is PGP?
We live in an age where it seems like privacy comes at a premium. It feels like the number of headlines we see about data breaches, for example, come at a higher (and troubling) frequency every year. Many of us wonder what we need to do to protect ourselves. Freeze our credit? Use a different […]