After losing mobile gaming to iOS and Android, Facebook is making a big push into playing on PC with today’s developer launch of its Gameroom Windows desktop gaming platform. After months of name changes, beta tests and dev solicitation, Facebook opened up the beta build for all developers and officially named it Gameroom. The app is openly available for users to download on Windows 7… Read More
There’s a clear disconnect between what Facebook’s leadership team says about diversity and inclusion and how it plays out in the office. The most recent example is the presence of a series of posters that describe the average characteristics of software engineers, product designers and other tech positions. The photo above, which was posted in Facebook’s Menlo Park office… Read More
Twitter’s former VP of product Michael Sippey seemed to be building a service that might challenge his former employer: his Talkshow app allowed anyone to exchange text messages in front of an audience; the idea was to get other people talking. Now it’s gone quiet. In a letter to users sent earlier today, the company writes: “Six months ago, we launched Talkshow in the App… Read More
Roku’s rolling out an update to its TV streaming operating system that brings a pair of important updates to its entire line of streaming players and TVs. Most notable for Roku OS 7.5 is the long-awaited addition of live TV pausing. So long as a Roku TV is connected to an antenna and a USB storage device with 16GB or more, users can pause live digital TV broadcasts to their… Read More
Even if self-driving cars aren’t part of our daily lives yet, vehicles are becoming internet-connected at a rapid pace. Gartner predicts that one-fifth of all autos on the road, and a great majority of new vehicles being produced worldwide, will have wireless network connectivity by 2020. Yet, few organizations have access to use the data generated by these vehicles today. That’s… Read More
The new series “The Down Round” is a six-episode look at what many are considering the burst of the Silicon Valley bubble. While Silicon Valley has boomed for most of the past decade, funding has become harder to come by and unicorns are having trouble proving their worth. Companies that have raised huge funds are folding. However, venture funds are richer than ever, but are just… Read More
If you’re like me your inbox is a mess of hundreds of promotional emails from different sites across the web – many of which I’ve only actually shopped at once or twice. But once they have your email address it’s over – you can expect to receive a weekly (or daily!) email ad infinitum. Companies that get your cell phone number are even worse because those are… Read More
Uber has announced that it will be teaming up with GM’s car-sharing company, Maven, allowing drivers to rent GM vehicles on a weekly basis in a 90-day pilot program to see how the arrangement works. This is separate from, but similar to, GM’s Express Drive program, wherein the carmaker makes vehicles available to Lyft drivers on an all-in short-term rental basis when they lack… Read More
The man versus machine dichotomy has been a staple of pop culture for decades. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner to Terminator to The Matrix and beyond, film makers have envisioned what the world would look like if artificial intelligence took over. However, a new mindset is taking shape — the era of AI-human hybrid intelligence. Read More
Score one for the consumer against the indefatigable force of growth hacking. Ever, the photo storage app that we called out in September for spamming SMS contact lists (it rebranded from Everalbum shortly after), has found its way back into Apple’s App Store after getting temporarily banned for its practices. Ever has had a lot of negative feedback — and even a couple of… Read More
The first whole human genome sequencing cost a whopping $2.7 billion. That didn’t bode well for making any breakthroughs on genetic disorders. Luckily, the cost has dropped dramatically since then, leading to a new breed of consumer genetics startups taking a deeper dive into all the double helix’s that make up you.
Genos is one of those startups using a next-generation… Read More
While Jack Dorsey’s other company Twitter might be struggling, Square continues on a roll that’s keeping Wall Street happy. There’s going to, as always, be a big question mark for Square because of Dorsey’s tenure at Twitter — which is hardly going well. While the company’s latest quarter showed a flash of optimism, the company’s efforts to close a… Read More
Roli wouldn’t say much before our demo. Just that the company was showing off something new, and that we would probably want to bring a camera. So when we arrived, expecting the latest take on the company’s flexible Seaboard instrument, we weren’t quite sure what the make of the thing.
It’s a small, wireless square that has little in common with the London-based… Read More
Gigster is launching the Gigster Fund, comprised of $700,000 raised from Bloomberg, Felicis and China’s CSC as LPs, plus 1 percent of Gigster’s own equity. Each month it will invest $50,000 cash in one of Gigster’s top clients in exchange for 1 percent of that company at a $5 million valuation. Gigster will also provide them with advice, connections, fundraising help,… Read More
Facebook, Snapchat, Modcloth–these are just a few of the well-known businesses started in college.
While it may sound terrifying and intimidating, there are a handful of benefits to dipping your toe in the entrepreneurial game while still in college.
If you’re seriously thinking about starting a company in college, here are five crucial things to be prepared for as a young… Read More
While both political parties seem to agree that Congress should spend several hundred billion dollars on infrastructure, their spending plans ignore one of the most woefully out-of-date pieces of American infrastructure.
Taxpayers should fund not just asphalt and concrete but also stimulate a huge increase in private investment for power. And not just power, but renewable power.
No less an… Read More
The Model Sondors 3-wheeled electric vehicle is the latest automotive startup to take advantage of new rules to raise funds. Sondors is using equity crowdfunding, “where a crowd of accredited and nonaccredited investors alike can invest up to $1 million in an early-stage company,” according to Grant Harvey, who is working with the company on this campaign. This particular type… Read More
Google has announced exactly when you’ll be able to get your hands on Daydream View, the new headset it created for Daydream-ready Android phones, including the Pixel and Pixel XL. The View headset will arrive in the Google Store online, and at retailers in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia on November 10 for $79 US. Pricing in the other countries varies, but is mostly in… Read More
Think back to the last time you had to do a corporate training. More likely than not it was a frustrating experience that you simply tried to survive rather than learn from. (If you feel otherwise, I’m genuinely worried about you). With $27 million in fresh funding led by JMI Equity and BDC Capital, Axonify, wants to hack your brain to help everyone get away with doing less while taking… Read More
