We are a nation of immigrants, and we must not forget that is a key reason this country has been so successful. The Immigration Act of 1965, which re-oriented U.S. immigration policy to focus on reuniting families and attracting skilled labor, has had a tremendous impact on the technology industry and our country as a whole. To ignore its impact would be a shame. Read More
Elon Musk is asking for people to recommend “specific amendments” Trump and the White House should make to the executive order issues on Friday regarding immigration and barring entry for people seeking refugee status. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is a member of Trump’s economic advisory council, and he said via Twitter that he will be looking to build consensus within that… Read More
Uber says it will create $3 million defense fund to help cover legal, immigration and translation costs for drivers affected by Trump’s immigration and travel ban, which Uber CEO and founder Travis Kalanick calls “wrong and unjust” in a new note shared to Facebook and Uber’s newsroom. The post outlines in more detail Uber’s commitment to assist drivers impacted by… Read More
In the midst of chaos caused by President Donald Trump’s executive order, which stranded refugees, students and green card holders in American airports, Airbnb is offering housing to those affected. The executive order was countered with legal action and protests, which allowed some of the people detained in airports to be released. But it’s still not clear how Customs and… Read More
Every Sunday, our daily newsletter features a piece of analysis and opinion regarding the biggest stories of the week in tech. This Sunday, we’re republishing this week’s daily newsletter column here in its entirety. Resistance and reluctance: Trump’s most controversial act yet is a sweeping immigration order that bars refugees and even legitimate visa holders from a list… Read More
L.A. is getting a star turn, with the most iconic of its local startups — Snap — on the cusp of going public. Locals expect much more than an endless string of headlines about its IPO performance, too. “The initial performance of the stock will be almost irrelevant,” says Paul Bricault, cofounder of the L.A.-based accelerator and seed-stage venture fund Amplify.… Read More
Health tech investments have been red hot the last few years, but Rob Coppedge, the CEO of Echo Health Ventures says while the industry isn’t going to pop, it is a slowly deflating bubble. Echo Health is the recent creation of Cambia Health and Mosaic Health, the investment arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield and has a long-term strategy in the health investment space. Coppedge has been in… Read More
One of the most popular shows on television 30 years ago was “The A-Team” — the story of five rogue military commandos who teamed together to form an elite fighting unit. Now, a generation later, DARPA and the U.S. military are in search of a new “A-Team” — only this team won’t be comprised of just humans, it will include a few machines, as well. Read More
After a spending while on a sort of technological ‘walkabout’, Australia is experiencing something of a mini-tech boom. For a long time the biggest thing you could name out of the country was Atlassian. Now other startups are joining the roster, and VC investment is ticking up. The latest sign of this is the news that local VC AirTree Ventures has added UK-based VC James… Read More
If we can find a way to automate listening itself, we would be able to more intelligently monitor our world and its machines day and night. We could predict the failure of engines, rail infrastructure, oil drills and power plants in real time — notifying humans the moment of an acoustical anomaly. This has the potential to save lives, but despite advances in machine learning, we… Read More
Reports coming out of Iran suggest that Apple has allegedly started removing iOS apps originating from the country’s startups and developers. Prior to this, Apple had, in a limited manner, opened up its App Store to Iranians in September 2016 and appeared to be gradually lifting some of the limitations, periodically, since then. According to credible tech news site Techrasa, the… Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Keith Teare, Frank Radice, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Saturday, January 28, 2017. As Frank Radice says: The word “media” comes from “mediate” which is something in between what this guy says and this guy hears. In this gulf lies the vast stew of fake news and wrist supercomputers; now what? @stevegillmor, @kevinmarks,… Read More
Ride hailing provider Lyft has taken a strong stance against Trump’s new immigration actions and ban on Muslim refugees (which Rudy Giuliani admitted is exactly what it was intended to be on Fox News on Sunday morning). In an email sent to users, Lyft noted that it is “firmly against these actions, and will not be silent to issues that threat the value of the community.” This… Read More
In the wake of President Trump’s ludicrous lies about illegal votes in November’s election — immediately after the lies about the size of the audience for his inauguration — it’s tempting to just point and laugh at his apparent insecurity and fears of illegitimacy. He does, though, inadvertently raise a point worth considering: how can we strengthen the integrity… Read More
In the July 1924 issue of Popular Science, “Ace of Aces” fighter pilot E.V. Rickenbacker told readers to expect “Flying Autos in 20 Years.” Rickenbacker’s flying car would have retractable 12.5-foot wings, a sea-worthy hull and wheels to cruise America’s growing network of highways. Ninety-three years later, personal cars remain land-bound. Read More
While Tim Cook has yet to publicly address the immigration ban that’s beginning to rile a restive tech industry into speaking out against newly elected President Donald J. Trump, he did send an email to staff explaining Apple’s position. Read More
Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick added his voice today to a growing chorus of tech executives troubled by President Donald Trump’s recent immigration order banning the entry of US residents from seven countries.
Echoing the sentiments of Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Kalanick wrote a letter to Uber staff, also posting to his Facebook wall. Read More
Like most consumers, I continue to be frustrated by what feels like the slow progress of innovation in the traditional healthcare system. And yet, I’m eternally optimistic about the early-stage innovation I’m seeing today in the digital health sector. Read More
