Voice-focused messaging app Voxer has added an end-to-end encrypted ‘private chats’ feature on its Android and iOS apps — powered by Open Whisper Systems’ Signal Protocol. So all content shared within a private chat, including live voice, text, videos, images, GIFs, and document sharing, is fully e2e encrypted. Read More
After a long stint as a closed ecosystem, Samsung’s wearables are now opening up to make some new friends. The Korean tech giant today announced, on the heels of CES 2017, that Samsung wearables would now come with iOS compatibility, allowing iPhone owners to use the smart watches and fitness bands whether or not they have a Samsung smartphone. The news includes iOS compatibility for… Read More
Ford CEO Mark Fields was at CES this year, and I got some time to talk to him about what Ford’s doing with its Smart Mobility business, why it made sense to acquire Chariot, to partner with Amazon for in-car Alexa integration, and to generally build out its services portfolio. Fields told us how Ford evaluates when it makes more sense to own something itself, and when it makes sense to… Read More
Top streaming services including Netflix, Amazon and HBO didn’t fare as well as in previous years at last night’s Golden Globes. Despite entering the race with 14 nominations, HBO – which streams for cord cutters via HBO NOW and various internet TV services like Sling TV and DirecTV Now – walked away without a single win. Meanwhile, Netflix and Amazon didn’t rack… Read More
Cloud Elements, a company that builds API integration tools aimed at developers, announced $13 million in Series B financing today. The round was led by Harbert Partners with participation from Rally Ventures, Access Ventures and Grotech Ventures. Tom Roberts, who is a general partner at Harbert, will become a member of the Cloud Elements board when the deal closes. Today’s funding brings… Read More
Ford-owned Chariot, the on-demand commute ridesharing service it acquired through Ford Smart Mobility last September, is going to expand to eight new cities in 2017, including one outside the U.S., Ford announced at the North American International Auto Show this year in Detroit. Chariot currently operates in its home city of San Francisco, and in Austin, TX, with a pilot project launched… Read More
Volkswagen’s new I.D. Buzz electric vehicle concept is a futuristic take on the microbus that revives the family camper for an era when we’ll spent just as much of our time on the road relaxing or hanging out with our fellow passengers as we will driving. The new EV design, Volkswagen’s second concept car in the I.D. line, was revealed at this year’s North American… Read More
Atlassian today announced that it has acquired project management service Trello for $425 million. The vast majority of the transaction is in cash ($360 million), with the remainder being paid out in restricted shares and options. The acquisition is expected to close before March 31, 2017. This marks Atlassian’s 18th acquisition and, as Atlassian president Jay Simons noted when I talked… Read More
Tesla will begin rolling out its Autopilot features for vehicles with second-generation in-car computing and sensing hardware on Monday, Elon Musk announced via Twitter. The new revision will be deployed a to small test group of 1,000 initial testers, as well as all other Tesla vehicles equipped with the new hardware. Initially the update will be in shadow mode for those beyond the test pool,… Read More
Nvidia had a strong showing overall at CES this year, but its most impressive demo had to be the self-driving vehicles it was showing off in a cordoned course built in a parking lot. The demo wasn’t on city streets, as were others like the Delphi ride, but it was impressive in a different way; mostly because no human sat in the driver’s seat of Nvidia’s cars. Two cars were… Read More
It seems clear that job rejections are headed for the nostalgia pile, alongside Pop Rocks, big hair, Fanta and hockey fights. Before too long, we’ll look back on the era of rejection letters as “the good old days.” Read More
Nokia fans hankering to get their hands on a new smartphone with their beloved brand name — and without Microsoft’s unloved mobile OS — will need to go to China if they want to buy the first Android-powered from the Finnish phone maker that’s now licensing Nokia’s IP for phones. Read More
British online fashion retailer boohoo.com is a step closer to acquiring the brand and customer database of US fashion retailer Nasty Gal, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in November. Read More
MyTomorrows, the Netherlands-headquartered startup that has built a platform to help physicians and patients access drugs that are still in development, has raised €10 million in further funding. Leading the round is EQT Ventures, and Octopus Ventures, with participation from existing backers Balderton Capital, and Sofinnova Partners. Read More
Most of the attendees I spoke with walked away a little underwhelmed, struggling to put together a solid list of the things that truly wowed them at this year’s show. Even a cab driver or two, in all of their infinite Las Vegas wisdom, perceived a palpable decrease in excitement among their passengers and the city at large. Not every year can be one for the record books. That’s… Read More
You see it on TechCrunch all the time: company X raised $X million at $X valuation. But if you don’t work in venture capital or finance, you might not know what all this means. So, we’ll break it down for you. Why are startups getting the money? Investors are giving the startup money in exchange for an ownership stake. They are hoping that the share price will go up as… Read More
In a world with many blockchains and hundreds of tradable tokens built on top of them, entire industries are automated through software, venture capital and stock markets are circumvented, entrepreneurship is streamlined and networks gain sovereignty through their own digital currency. This is the next phase of the internet. Read More
Waymo CEO John Krafcik is delivering the keynote address at the North American Auto Show’s Automobili-D conference Sunday, and he’s revealing a lot about the new Alphabet company’s progress and tech. Waymo, which began life as Google’s self-driving car project, has built all of its own sensors for use on its latest test vehicles, self-driving Pacifica minivans. Use… Read More
Uber is opening up in an area where it might make sense competitively for it to stay more closed off: The ride-hailing company’s new Movement website will offer up access to its data around traffic flow in scores where it operates, intended for use by city planners and researchers looking into ways to improve urban mobility. The basic idea is that Uber has a lot of insight into how… Read More
According to Ben Jealous the former CEO of the NCAAP, a partner at Kapor Capital and a surrogate for Bernie Sanders during the election, the correct response is to “resist” Trump. That’s because, Jealous argues, Trump is “all over the place” and thus, like other “fickle” dictators in history, definitively untrustworthy. Read More
