I was excited by the promise of Xnor.ai and its technique that drastically reduces the computing power necessary to perform complex operations like computer vision. Seems I wasn’t the only one: the company, just officially spun off from the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), has attracted $2.6 million in funding from its parent company and Madrona Venture Group. Read More
While messaging app watchers are waiting for Snap Inc. to announce its IPO, another app has appointed a new CEO. Viber — the messaging app that was acquired by Rakuten in 2014 — has announced Djamel Agaoua as its new CEO. This is significant because Viber — which has had a promising 800 million downloads but has seen active user growth stall as others like… Read More
Sony’s PlayStation business was one of a few bright spots from its latest financial report, which was overshadowed by a near billion-dollar write-down for its film business. The Japanese tech giant posted a 19.6 billion JPY ($169 million) profit on revenue of 2,397.5 billion JPY ($20.7 billion) for Q3. Revenue was down seven percent year-on-year, but net profit sunk by 84 percent… Read More
Uber is suspending its service in Taiwan following an ongoing stand-off with the government. The ride-sharing firm confirmed in a blog post that its service will be “paused” from February 12. Uber isn’t saying when it will resume in the country, where it is present in four cities, but it hopes that the move will “reset the conversation” and help push through… Read More
Twitter is the primary communication platform for U.S. President Trump, but that hasn’t stopped staff of the social media company from donating to one of the most prominent organizations opposing him. Nearly 1,000 employees made a $1.59 million donation to ACLU, which fought Trump’s recent executive order banning citizens of seven countries from entering the U.S. and is… Read More
Grab is upping its battle against Uber in Southeast Asia by announcing a flurry of new initiatives in Indonesia, the region’s largest economy and world’s fourth most populous country, which include setting aside $100 million to invest in startups. Today the Singapore-based company, which is valued at $3 billion and claims 33 million downloads, announced what it is dubbing… Read More
Kickstarter acquires video streaming company Huzza, Amazon is planning to build a $1.5 billion air cargo hub and MIT creates a robot with a soft touch. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Pokémon Go was 2016’s rocket ship — it broke download records and it raced to $500 million in revenue quicker than any app in history. Now it won yet another accolade, the fastest game to reach $1 billion. That’s according to a new report from app analytics firm Sensor Tower. To give the record some context, a recent App Annie report estimated that iOS and Android… Read More
Salesforce has made another acquisition that underscores how the CRM and cloud software giant is looking to sell more services to its customers that complement the software they are already buying. It has acquired Sequence, a user experience design agency based out of San Francisco and New York that works with brands like Best Buy, Peets, Apple, Google and many more. The news was announced… Read More
If you ask a mapping app for walking directions from point A to point B, it’ll do its best, but what if you happen to be in a wheelchair? The apps don’t have information on curb cuts, safe crossings, construction sites that interrupt sidewalks and so on. AccessMap attempts to address this shortcoming, and now offers route-finding in Seattle that takes into account the… Read More
GoldenKey, which was previously known as SoloPro, wants to change how real estate agents and their clients do business. Typically, as a buyer or seller, you work with one agent, who then gets a 3 percent commission once you buy or sell your home. GoldenKey puts a different spin on this. Instead of a commission, you pay an agent a flat fee for the services you need and get a 3 percent rebate… Read More
Getting your taxes done is miserable. It’s complicated, time-consuming and costly — particularly for people whose financial situation requires them to seek help from tax professionals. The process is such a mess, even for said professionals, that H&R Block, one of the largest tax services providers, is partnering with IBM Watson to help make the process go more smoothly.… Read More
Sometimes when you’re looking at your Instagram selects and you can’t quite decide between a few options, or when you want to post something from your trip but also don’t want to overwhelm your followers with a bunch of different pictures in a row, you feel keenly the absence of the ability to post a gallery as a single update. Especially if you’ve seen ads that feature… Read More
If you’ve ever seen a bat in flight, you know how impressive their aerial acrobatics can be — so impressive that we have yet to successfully imitate it the way we have with locomotion or even bird flight. This impressive new flying robot is the best attempt yet, though it’s still a long way from the “unrivaled agility” of the real thing. Read More
“We’re focusing more on shorter form content to start” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on today’s Q4 earnings call, where he was repeatedly questioned about Facebook’s video strategy. One thing’s clear, Facebook will invest heavily. “I see video as a mega trend,” said Zuckerberg. Facebook will both pay video makers up front and through ad… Read More
Reddit has banned the r/altright subreddit for “the proliferation of personal and confidential information.” That’s a rather clinical way of describing what’s often called doxing: posting details (docs) like the home phone number and address of someone a community wishes to harass. Read More
Facebook’s push for video goes well beyond the News Feed. On today’s earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said 400 million people are making audio and video calls each month, up swiftly from 300 million in just September. That’s partly thanks to the December launch of multi-screen group video chat that looks similar to fast-rising startup Houseparty. Messenger is starting to become… Read More
One of the biggest misconceptions about artificial intelligence is the belief that today’s AIs possess generalized intelligence. We are really good at leveraging large data sets to accomplish specific tasks, but fall flat at replicating the breadth of human intelligence. If we’re going to move toward generalized intelligence, Facebook wants to make sure we know how to… Read More
ClearMotion, a company that’s building an alternative chassis for vehicle makers that replaces traditional physical shock absorbers with digital, software-driven adaptive actuators, has readied $100 million in a Series C round, led by a group of clients advised by J.P. Morgan’s asset management wing and with participation from NEA, Qualcomm Ventures and more. The company claims to… Read More
Facebook had another strong quarter in Q4 2016, earning $8.81 billion in revenue and $1.41 EPS. It pulled that from 1.86 billion monthly users, up 3.91 percent this quarter, or 70 million users, from 1.79 billion, but at a slower pace than its 4.67 percent growth last quarter. Mobile now makes up 84 percent of its ad revenue, the same as last quarter, accounting for $7.248 billion,… Read More
