Snap, Inc. is working on an updated version of its in-app Snapchat lenses that would be able to recognize landscapes as well as faces, according to The Information, and intelligently overlay augmented reality animations and objects overtop of scenes captured through your camera. This is different from its existing smart Lenses, which can add features like snowfall to scenes, because it can… Read More
Twitter’s employee resource group for African-Americans, Blackbirds, is launching a Twitter bot for Black History Month. The group is the first ERG at Twitter to use the tool, which Twitter launched in November. To chat with the bot, all you have to do is direct message @Blackbirds. From there, the bot will tell you one of four things: a today in #BlackHistory fact, a community event… Read More
Reserve, a startup offering table and customer management tools for restaurants, is announcing that it has raised $10 million in Series B funding. When the company first launched in 2014, it billed itself as a “digital concierge” that would make it easier for diners to get reservations at top restaurants. Last year, it launched a new product called Reserve for Restaurants,… Read More
Facebook is rolling out a new section on mobile called “Discover People,” which encourages users to introduce themselves by updating their profile, then scroll through a list of upcoming events to see who else may also be going, as well as browse through lists of people in their city or who share the same employer. The feature, designed to facilitate connections between people… Read More
Now that we’ve collectively signed up for billions of dollars of unused SaaS subscriptions it’s time to subscribed to a tool that helps us manage those subscriptions. Enter Cardlife, another player in the exciting world of SaaS management. “SaaS management,” you say. “Isn’t that just for the rich and famous?” No! The company manages over $4.7 million… Read More
Emojis — not just a fun way to avoid writing actual words, but also an opportunity for ?
Well, Inmoji, a startup that creates emoji-focused marketing campaigns, is announcing that it has raised an additional $1.5 million, bringing its total funding to $9 million. This comes a week after announcing a self-serve platform that should make these emoji campaigns accessible to a… Read More
For most, wearables are little more than pedometers – ways of gauging how much one’s moved during the day and, hopefully, challenging them to do more in the future. It’s one of the factors in the space’s seeming plateau of late. But a wrist full of sensors can do a heck of a lot more than what they’re currently be utilized for. Researchers at MIT’s… Read More
WinkBeds, a direct-to-consumer mattress company that competes with other mattress startups like Casper and Tufts & Needle, is launching a mattress with built-in heating and cooling functionality. The device is called CoolControl, and is actually sits below WinkBeds’ mattress in lieu of a box spring. Each base contains four fans that work to suck in air from your bedroom. These… Read More
The GoPro Karma drone is now available for purchase. The camera maker today announced the general availability of the drone and at writing, it’s available from GoPro.com, and other retailers like Best Buy, B&H Photo Video and Amazon. Buyers can opt for the Karma drone bundled with a GoPro Hero 5 for $1099 or $799 without a camera. This is GoPro’s second try at the Karma drone.… Read More
Amazon is building one of the largest internal logistics and shipping businesses in the world, and if you needed any more evidence this was the case, the company just revealed that it’s investing $1.5 billion in a new air cargo hub, which will occupy a spot that crosses the Cincinnati and Kentucky border, and eventually result in around 2,000 total new jobs, according to the Wall… Read More
Tesla has officially changed its name to Tesla, Inc., from its previous official corporate title of Tesla Motors, Inc. The name change likely reflects the expanded nature of its business now that it own SolarCity, and creates battery packs for both home and commercial use, aspects of the company which Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said previously will take on growing importance to its business… Read More
Teens and Snapchat? Instagram earning money finally? The impact of the fake news scandal? These are what we wish Facebook would talk about on today’s Q4 earnings call. Facebook’s business is expanding in every direction, but it breaks out very little of that, keeping investors and the public in the dark about its newer revenue streams. Meanwhile, controversies and competition can… Read More
Popular video app Flipagram is getting acquired by Chinese company Toutiao for an undisclosed amount. Flipagram was once a social media darling but the startup has been quiet recently. Flipagram will remain an independent product for the time being and the team will stay in its own office in the U.S. Recode first reported that Flipagram was looking for a buyer. Flipagram had raised a big… Read More
Ripple. To some it’s delicious fortified wine. To others, one of the more accessible Grateful Dead tracks. To others still, it’s a Silicon Valley startup that makes milk out of peas. You can add yet another name to the list — Ripple Network Technology, which shares little more than a vaguely evocative name with those other parties. This Florida-based team has designed a… Read More
SpaceX just shared some promising news for those eager to see the private space company achieve its goal of re-flying a rocket it recovered from an earlier mission: It has succeeded in running a static test firing of a recovered Falcon 9 first-stage, a key step towards actually using the rocket component again in another mission for an actual paying customer. The company tweeted a photo of… Read More
Facebook is working on a video-focused app aimed at set-top boxes including Apple TV (and different entirely from its existing offering on Roku, which is essentially a variation on its current mobile app), according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The plans focus on helping turn Facebook’s wellspring of video content into a destination on a platform that’s almost… Read More
The abolition of mobile roaming charges across the European Union by the middle of this year looks almost certain now, after the region’s executive body, parliament and representatives of the 28 Member States agreed a deal on wholesale charges. Read More
Some more consolidation is afoot in the gaming industry. Take-Two Interactive, the games maker behind big titles like Grand Theft Auto, Civilization and BioShock that once rebuffed a $2 billion acquisition offer from EA, has made a definitive move into the world of mobile gaming: it has acquired Social Point, a publisher based out of Barcelona, for $250 million with additional earn-outs of… Read More
Pinterest is adding another piece to its arsenal of advertising services, opening up search advertising to its partners and with companies advertising through the Kenshoo marketing suite. With Pinterest looking to continue to grow into a must-have tool for advertisers, it’s begun building more and more products to capture all parts of a person’s buying behavior. Pinterest users… Read More
Couple of pieces of news out of Kickstarter headquarters this morning. First, the crowdfunding service has announced the acquisition of Canadian video streaming startup Huzza. The purchase follows a close collaboration between the two parties that led to the launch of Kickstarter Live back in November, a live streaming feature with real time feedback designed to give creators a direct channel… Read More
