As a fan of banks – I like the lollipops they give out – I’m slightly disturbed by services like TalkBank. This Russian company replaces one-on-one teller interaction with a chatbot that can tell you your balance, offer on the spot advice, and even send you cool deals related to your credit cards. Founded by Mikhail Popov, Alexander Popov, and Vladimir Kozhevnikov the company… Read More
The right wing of Facebook’s solar-powered drone Aquila failed, causing a crash landing of its first test flight, according to a new report on the incident from the National Transportation Safety Board. In response, Facebook says the next version of its Internet access-spreading drone will have a spoiler or airbrake, and will prioritize safe airspeed over altitude tracking. The crash… Read More
For better or worse, 2016 was another year of bots. I probably got more pitches for bot startups than anything else. And yet, bots are far from hitting their stride. If we hope to break beyond the rigid functionality of today’s tools, a prerequisite is going to be giving bot developers a bit more open source love.
RASA NLU, a new open source API from… Read More
Wire, the Skype co-founder Janus Friis-backed end-to-end encrypted mobile messaging app, has added a username option — allowing people to communicate with others via the app without having to share their mobile phone number or email to do so. Read More
Amazon infiltrated the home when no one was looking with a smart assistant loaded on some low-price hardware, and now the competition has a whole lot of catching up to do. In this last push ahead of the holidays, Google is certainly making a valiant effort. The company’s Home hub has been available at retail since October, offering the promise of a whole lot of functionality on the way.… Read More
Ready for your Fire TV to get a makeover? Amazon says it will today begin to roll out an update that will bring new user interface, described as a “more cinematic experience” to Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. The revamped interface, which makes Fire TV look more like Netflix, was previewed earlier this fall, when Amazon released its latest Fire TV Stick. Where before, navigation was… Read More
Twitter last year ditched its iconic star button in favor of hearts for favorites, and now it is considering a revamp for its famous retweet button. Read More
It’s become a well-trod refrain, but carmakers are looking at what comes after ownership, and car-sharing between individual owners and renters is one of those models. Mercedes-Benz has begun its own car-share service that adopts that approach – Croove, a platform that has now launched as a pilot in Munich, Germany. Croove is pure peer-to-peer car rental model, where renters use an… Read More
This week is the perfect opportunity for technology executives and investors to lead an open, public conversation about how we can innovate for all Americans, many of whom feel threatened by automation and technological progress. Read More
Super Mario Run is now in the App Store, Instagram passes 600 million users, Facebook hits fake news where it hurts, Facebook releases a bunch of overlays and stickers for Messenger and Tom Wheeler is stepping down from the FCC in January. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Yahoo shares tumbled 6% on Thursday as investors feared that the latest Yahoo hack could spell bad news for its sale to Verizon. This is the second major hack revelation in recent months and there’s speculation that Verizon could be spooked. Some are wondering if Verizon will ask for a discount on the $4.8 billion deal or scrap it altogether. TechCrunch is owned by Verizon, but we do… Read More
Everyone is excited about the Nintendo Switch, but the company continues to be cagey about critical details like the resolution, the presence or absence of a touchscreen and so on. Well, speculation will certainly heat up with the appearance of a nearly 150-page patent application that gamers are still poring through for hidden info. Read More
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which is responsible for testing and certifying voting systems, among other things, was hacked around the time of the election, security outfit Recorded Future reports. The EAC confirmed a “potential intrusion” in a statement issued to TechCrunch. Read More
The 3D Runners aren’t going to change the sneaker world. Not yet, at least. For now, the technology isn’t affordable or scalable enough for the mainstream shoe-buying public. The $333 price tag is simultaneously a nod to the technology that gave the shoes life and a reminder of its still prohibitive nature. But unlike the $700+ self-lacing Nike HyperAdapts that launched earlier… Read More
Wires don’t really exist in anyone’s conception of the future. Often they’re just needed for powering devices, but in the case of high-quality VR, the headsets rely on wires to connect to high-end PCs that provide the brains. Rivvr is looking to cut the cords with its hardware solution that will provide wireless play to both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. I had a chance to take… Read More
A Taiwan-based startup called Next Entertainment has raised $25 million in an outsized Series A round of funding for apps that make it possible to live stream for a living. The company’s founder and CEO, Andy Zhong, is no stranger to tech and new media. He previously started FunPlus, a social gaming company acquired by a Chinese conglomerate, Zhongji, in 2014 for $960 million. In… Read More
For something like a century, car makers have sold one car to one person one time and then waited for them to wear out that car and come back to the dealership for another one. Increasingly, that model is outmoded, and Mercedes-Benz is putting another nail in that model’s coffin with Croove.
The car-sharing service launched in Munich this month with a couple of twists. Croove is a… Read More
