Some Sprig customers might be bitter about getting guilt-tripped into tipping, but at least the startup is being sweet to its on-demand food servers. TechCrunch spotted that Sprig added a tipping feature to its freshly made meal-delivery app this week. Now Sprig has confirmed this is part of a wide-range of not-yet-announced perks for its servers, including a $1/hour wage increase, to $14.50,… Read More
LEGO has long offered the Mindstorms platform for big kids (and adults) to make cool robotic projects. Now, however, they’ve launched the Boost platform, a robotics and programming system aimed at 7 year olds. The Boost kit comes with everything you need to make five projects including Vernie and Frankie, a funny robot and robotic cat, respectively. The kit includes a battery-powered… Read More
Not a week goes by and it seems like we hear more bad news about Silicon Valley’s darling turned cautionary tale Theranos. The latest bit is a whopping 155 layoffs at the company today. The one drop blood test company once worth $9 billion took a quite the tumble from grace after an intense series of investigations from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Food… Read More
I was lucky to speak with Michelle K. Lee, current director of the US Patent Office and a great proponent of small startups and innovation. Lee said that the patent office has a number of free resources available for entrepreneurs who may find themselves with a cool new invention but aren’t sure what to do with it. Patenting should be proactive, said Lee. “Don’t sell… Read More
Munro Motor is about to make a big splash in the world of small electric motorcycles. The Chinese company has developed one of the coolest-looking e-bikes around, called the Munro 2.0. The bike is styled after the iconic Indian motorbikes, and its name is in honor of Burt Munro, who set a land speed record on an Indian motorcycle. Read More
Design, sourcing, miniaturization and manufacturing of a product as complicated as a fitness tracker is all ludicrously complicated, and often isn’t core to its functionality. Suunto has shoved the sensors from its heart rate tracking strap into a developer-friendly package. Dubbed Movesense, it is designed to empower the next generation of fitness tracker creators to get started. Read More
Instead of tracking your health with a little band that’s on your wrist, Ran Ma thinks that the future is keeping track of your health — or at least parts of it — with technology that’s woven into the fabric of your clothes. That’s the target of Siren Care, a wearable company that looks to weave electronic sensors into its clothing in order to track changes in… Read More
The healthcare market represents $3 trillion, almost 20 percent, of the U.S. economy. This market also is plagued by a level of gross inefficiency and under-performance largely unseen in any other industries in our post-internet world. The paradigm, however, is shifting dramatically. Read More
Say you want to create the next generation of voice recognition-enabled, AI-ensmartened, buzzword-laden gadget. The fist thing you need to do is pick a platform. Arduino isn’t powerful enough. The Raspberry Pi works great for prototyping, but going from Pi to production is a many-step process. Next Thing’s Chip Pro is stepping up to fill the gap with a smart development kit for… Read More
Facebook has tapped Campbell Brown, a former television news anchor and a charter school advocate, to lead its news partnerships team. Brown will be charged with easing tension between the media and Facebook, which have clashed over the social media giant’s role in disseminating the news, its censorship of news photos, and its proliferation of false and misleading stories. Brown… Read More
After sifting through thousands of applications since May of 2015, Hyperloop One announced today it has whittled its competitors in its Global Challenge down to 35 semifinalist teams from all over the world. According to H1, these teams come from 17 countries and represent every continent but Antarctica — 11 teams hail from the U.S., 5 from India and 4 are in the U.K. The company has… Read More
If these black marks on the industry are slowing down 31-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy in any way, you wouldn’t know it. He thinks his company, Roivant, will one day be a giant holding company for dozens of independent biopharmaceutical companies — both by developing drugs as well as focusing squarely on reducing the time and cost of the drug development process.
It all sounds rather lofty. Read More
Was that space walk or climb of a massive antenna tower really shot on Facebook Live? No. Is the point of Facebook Live to show a virtual clock counting down to the new year? No. Yet these are some of the videos that have crookedly taken advantage of the notifications and extra News Feed visibility of Facebook Live posts. Read More
Boy, do we have a show for you today!
We’ve got a fireside chat with FitBit’s James Park, as well as a fireside with the French conservative presidential candidate (who is leading in the polls) and former Prime Minister François Fillon.
And if that’s not enough French for you, we’re also holding a panel on the resurgence of French startups — did you know… Read More
Toyota revealed a new concept vehicle with a virtual companion named Yui built-in at CES this year. The Concept-i goes beyond the average concept car, with an in-car experience that gives the driver an AI partner that acts as part copilot, part travel guide and part spa attendant, all the while getting to know you better over time. I took a ride with Yui via Toyota’s CES show floor… Read More
Since its launch in 2008, you’ve been able to back crowdfunding projects on Indiegogo in exchange for “perks.” Last year, the company added JOBS act equity crowdfunding to the mix. Later this year, it’s set to combine the two, in campaigns that let backers get both perks for their money, plus an equity stake in the company, at the same time. Read More
At first glance, the GeniCan is completely ridiculous. At second, it’s actually kind of brilliant. The scanner clips onto the side of a trash can, an always present reminder to scan items when you run out. Before throwing an object out, you hold it up to the IR scanner and it adds it to your list. If an item can’t be scanned – like, say, a piece of fruit — the… Read More
The rise of apps like Instagram and Snapchat has put photo effects front and center in the world of picture messaging, giving users not only the ability to send images to each other, but to personalise them with little doodles, lurid colors, bunny ears. Now, an app maker that has built a bunch of these is launching an SDK that will let any app add these kinds of effects to their… Read More
Peloton has seen great success with its exercise bikes for home use. Today, the company is doubling its product range (to two), with a bike aimed at commercial users. It’s more rugged to stand up to the “don’t be gentle, it’s a rental” hotel and gym crowd, and comes with software that’s more suitable for gym use. Read More
Finnish IoT device startup The Button Corporation has launched a lower cost version of its Internet-connected button (aka, bttn), aiming to expand its appeal to US small businesses. Read More
