Normally, if the creators of an app claimed that it could look inside things and tell you their constituent parts, I would tell you to go peddle your snake oil elsewhere. But this app is from veteran R&D group Fraunhofer — so it may very well be the real thing. Read More
The 10th Annual Crunchies Awards show is less than a week away, and it’s finally time to formally introduce you to the companies vying for Best Startup in 2016. Obviously, with these companies attacking a variety of verticals and sectors, it’s quite difficult to determine which one of them is “best.” But that’s why we have our lovely Crunchies Board, comprised of… Read More
As the dust settles from yesterday’s $500 million verdict against Oculus VR and Facebook, Oculus CTO John Carmack still has some things he wants to get off his chest. “Being sued sucks,” he said in a Facebook post he published this morning. Though Carmack avoided paying any damages in the final verdict, unlike Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and former-CEO Brendan Iribe, he was… Read More
Elemeno Health started building something akin to a personal assistant for hospital staff while in Y Combinator last summer. It helps hospitals gather best practices, checklists and videos doctors and nurses need to reference in a snap, all in one place. Often these materials are locked in binders and papers that staff must find and then make copies of if they want to share with colleagues.… Read More
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently published a proposed rule to require all new vehicles to have vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capabilities. It’s not an official requirement yet, but if it goes into effect in 2019 — a likely timeline for rules like this — manufacturers would be able to phase the technology into their fleets over a… Read More
Startup ecosystems are taking root across the country, and they’re all looking to copy the formula Silicon Valley made so successful. While these startup ecosystems are growing, nothing compares to Silicon Valley. So the question these cities must ask themselves is, “How can we tap into Silicon Valley’s resources to improve our economy?” Read More
Plex is getting voice-activated. The popular media player software maker just launched voice control through a new Plex Skill for Alexa-powered devices. That means you can ask Alexa via your connected Echo speaker, Fire tablet or Fire TV to play your favorite content from your Plex media library, without having to use a remote control. For example, you could say, “Alexa, ask Plex to… Read More
Maybe you enjoy sketching as a hobby, but you’re not so crazy about the work that goes into colouring in your work, or you’re just lacking in the talent department when it comes to that side of the digital art equation. Check out this tool based on Chainer, a flexible neural network framework that can support a number of different uses. The so-called PaintsChainer project can take… Read More
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban spoke on stage at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles on Thursday, where he voiced concern about the lack of tech IPOs recently. “I don’t understand the reticence to going public,” he said. “It’s just plain stupid.” After a slow 2016, there have yet to be any tech IPOs in 2017. AppDynamics was supposed to debut in January… Read More
Applications for Startup Battlefield at Disrupt NY are now open and due on February 18. That’s just over two weeks away. We’re searching for new, up-and-coming startups to launch and compete on the TechCrunch Disrupt NY stage. Why Apply? Your team will get to pitch for six minutes and then face Q&A from an all-star list of judges. Past Battlefield judges have… Read More
Mozilla’s push to grow beyond browsers hit a major hurdle this week as the Firefox-maker dissolved its Connected Devices initiative, laying off what CNET reports as around 50 people in the process.
The nonprofit org confirmed the layoffs with TechCrunch, though won’t comment on specific numbers. The move is a further sign of struggle for Mozilla, whose Firefox browser has seen a… Read More
UK-based indie free-to-play mobile games developer studio, Hutch, is gearing up to step on the gas and strap a bunch more players into its clutch of racing themed titles, fueled by a $5.5M expansion round of seed funding… The cash injection is co-led by Index Ventures and early stage London-based fund Backed VC. Read More
Spotify — the music streaming company with over 100 million users (40 million of them paying) — has long been seen as one of the more likely candidates among larger tech startups to go public in 2017, but it looks like this plan may be shifting.
TechCrunch has heard from multiple sources that the company is now weighing a plan to delay an IPO until 2018. The delay would give… Read More
Microsoft launched a major update to Outlook for iOS today that, for the first time, brings add-ins to a mobile version of Outlook. While Microsoft prefers the word “add-ins,” these are essentially third-party extensions for Outlook. Microsoft worked with the likes of Evernote, Giphy (yay!), Nimble, Trello and Smartsheet to connect their services with Outlook and integrate them… Read More
Apple shareholder Tony Maldonado is calling on Apple again to implement an “accelerated recruitment policy” in order to increase diversity at the senior management level and board of directors, according to Apple’s latest proxy statement. The proposal, co-written by shareholder Zevin Asset Management, specifically calls for an increase in the number of Hispanic, black,… Read More
Clarifai — a startup that gives companies and developers a way to implement visual search into their products — said today it was hiring former Google Brain developer Andrea Frome as the company’s new head of research. Frome received her Ph. D. from Berkeley and worked at Google for more than seven years — 3 years of which were working on street view figuring out how… Read More
Some Snap Inc stats have leaked ahead of its expected IPO filing today, and they show strong progress in earning money, but slowed user growth. The Information (paywalled) reports that Snapchat has 160 million daily users, up from 130 million at the end of Q1 2016, and the 150 million number Bloomberg reported in June. Their source indicated user growth slowed in the second half of 2016.… Read More
What’s the best way to get on the new president’s good side if you’re a tech company? Open a manufacturing plant in the States. Or at the very least, have someone report that you’re considering it. Samsung’s pretty noncommittal about a new Reuters report that the South Korean electronics giant is looking to open a new US-based plant for manufacturing… Read More
Propulse Analytics is launching today with $1.4 million in seed financing to equip retailers with deep learning for product recommendations. Backed by Wobemail Online Services LLP and Stradigi Ventures, the Canadian startup is leveraging the features of product images to better grasp customers’ tastes and ultimately increase sales for retailers. The inspiration for Propulse came… Read More
Microsoft isn’t ending its general opposition to Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration from last week, but it is more formally requesting the granting of immediate exceptions that would help its own employees, as well as the employees of other tech companies who are lawful visa holders but still affected by the ban. In a blog post, Microsoft President and Chief Legal… Read More
