Ford opened a location that it’s calling the FordHub in the Westfield World Trade Center mall this week — but you won’t be able to buy any cars there. Instead, the location includes a large screen highlighting different ways (bike, subway and otherwise) to reach New York City landmarks, a ramp-and-marble model that illustrates the idea of traffic congestion and another… Read More
Conductor is launching a new mobile app that co-founder and CEO Seth Besmertnik described as a way to get quick access to “the voice of the customer.” The New York-based company started with a focus on search engine optimization before broadening to offer a broader range of marketing tools. Now, Besmertnik said, “The core of what we do is understand your customers and… Read More
Unlike the decline of the media in the west brought about by smartphones and the internet, the situation in India could not be more different. The value of the Indian newspaper industry has grown by two-thirds in the past six years. The growth of print media is a perfect example of the Indian digital paradox, a phenomenon where India is developing in a distinctly different manner than the west. Read More
Snap Inc. files for its +$25 billion IPO, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quits Trump’s advisory council and the tech industry reacts to Trump’s immigration ban. These are the biggest tech stories of the week.
1. Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, officially filed publicly for its massive IPO. It will be listed on the NYSE as SNAP. While this is just another small step in the… Read More
Google will sell its Terra Bella business, which includes a group of SkySat Earth imaging satellites, to Planet Labs, the companies confirmed on Friday after TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden first reported that a deal was going down on January 25. Google’s space-high view of the world in its mapping software isn’t going anywhere, however – Google will continue to license… Read More
Good riddance to one of the worst places to socialize on the internet. Amazon-owned IMDb announced today it will be closing down its discussion board later this month, and turning off the ability for users to private message each other. The company claimed the decision was made because the boards were “no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more… Read More
While any Mac user can play with GarageBand and iMovie for free, it has been quite expensive if you wanted to move to pro apps — especially if you’re a student. Apple released a new app bundle with five different pro apps. It costs $199.99 and it’s just for students and people working in education. The five apps include Apple’s two most important pro apps — Final… Read More
If you’re worried about the dissolution of western democracy as we know it, worry no more. There’s no safer place to be than by the side of Peter Thiel, the entrepreneurial scamp who will likely outlive us all in more ways than one! Lucky for you, Thiel Capital just posted an open position for a personal assistant to the man himself. The job listing, available on LinkedIn,… Read More
Slowing growth, huge losses and no shareholder control could make Snap Inc.’s IPO a perilous gamble for investors. What it does have going for it is an addicted user base, fast-growing revenues and a visionary CEO. Read More
Facebook may be distancing itself from location-sharing between friends in its own app, but Facebook-owned WhatsApp appears to moving in this direction. A new feature spotted in the beta version of the popular mobile messaging software shows that WhatsApp has developed a real-time location-tracking option that could be used among the app’s friends. The addition was spotted this week… Read More
I’ve been reading a lot of Neil Postman lately. It’s been one of those years and I’m writing a book about fake news. Postman, the nicest guy in cultural criticism, was a folksy, friendly thinker who imagined the future in which we now live. One of his most important points, made in 1992 before the true data deluge that now befuddles us, is that information has become garbage.… Read More
Hulu just released a trailer for its adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a science fiction tale in which the U.S. Government has been toppled by a theocratic authoritarian dictatorship and women suffer a horrible revocation of rights. So yeah it’s a little too on the nose right now. Maybe the hope is that showing this during America’s leather ball smash… Read More
Domino’s is about to put its ordering bot, Dom, to a big test. Just ahead of Super Bowl weekend, the pizza chain is rolling out the ability to order off its full menu via Facebook Messenger – even if you haven’t already set up a pre-configured “pizza profile.” The update means it will be easier for more casual Domino’s customers to give the bot a try, as… Read More
Car makers are increasingly making data connections the default in new vehicles, and it’s having an impact in terms of usage: Chevrolet released numbers today that show in-car use of its OnStar 4G LTE data connection grew by around 200 percent in 2016 vs. 2015. Among its best-selling full-size SUV Tahoe and Suburban drivers specifically, the usage spike was even greater, rising 260… Read More
Earlier this week, word got out that LG’s fancy new UltraFine 5K display was having some serious issues, becoming “become unstable” and “unusable” when placed near a router. At the time, 9to5Mac spoke to an LG support rep, who confirmed that it was a known issue and advised keeping the screen at least two meters away from a wireless router. Today the company… Read More
PlayStation 4’s next big software update is going out now to beta testers, and it adds a lot for owners of the console to get excited about. There’s support for external USB HDDs, which means regardless of how much internal storage you have on your PS4, you can add up to 8TB of additional space via external drives, ensuring you’ll never run out of room for games and saves.… Read More
The dating game sure is tough to maintain. Zurich-based dating app Blinq has been acquired by a Swiss outdoor advertising firm, APG|SGA, with the latter coveting the team’s experience in rolling out beacon networks for a new division that will be developing interactive ads. Read More
Snap files publicly for its massive IPO, Uber will pause its service in Taiwan starting February 12th, Pokémon GO crosses $1 billion in revenue, Facebook lets you search images by content and Licking County government gets its offices shut down by ransomware. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
Medium CEO Ev Williams announced today at Upfront Summit that his company will launch a consumer subscription product, with the first version coming this quarter. This could help develop an additional revenue stream apart from advertisements. Finding a strong revenue source is critical, since Medium decided to lay off 50 staff, close its New York office, and announce a new direction last… Read More
Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued a statement about his participation in Donald Trump’s economic advisory council, and a scheduled meeting of the group tomorrow. Musk said that he and others on the council will take the opportunity to voice their opposition to the president’s executive order on immigration and suggest how it might be changed. Musk took the opportunity to specifically… Read More
