PayPal is deepening its relationship with Facebook, and will now become one of the payment options within Messenger, among other integrations. That means customers who shop via the growing number of chatbots from online merchants will be able to transact on Messenger using PayPal’s payment service. In addition, as part of this deal, PayPal says it will make it easier to link your… Read More
The US finance industry might finally be getting its ducks in order to compete with the likes of PayPal-owned social payments platform Venmo. Today bank network operator Early Warning announced it has 19 US financial institutions signed up to a forthcoming payments network called Zelle, due to launch in early 2017. Read More
Henrik Fisker is back with a new electric car company, Fisker, Inc., which has emerged from two years of operating in stealth mode. Now, we have our first teasing look at the new Fisker electric vehicle, thanks to a shadowy image of the car’s front end. The image shows a car that’s quite different looking from the original Karma created by the original Fisker Automotive, which… Read More
Apple has just released iOS 10.1 with a Portrait mode for the iPhone 7 Plus. This feature takes advantage of the two lenses to generate background blur and make your photos look more like photos coming from a DSLR camera. While the feature is still in beta even after the release of iOS 10.1, it already works quite well. Our own Yashad Kulkarni (Romain is writing this) has been playing with… Read More
Apple has just released the first significant update for iOS 10. As expected, the main focus of iOS 10.1 is that insane Portrait mode for the iPhone 7 Plus. The update is rolling out and is available both over-the-air in the Settings app, and by plugging your device into iTunes for a wired update.
If you have an iPhone 7 Plus and can’t wait, navigate to ‘Settings,’ then… Read More
Seeing as how Samsung’s primary S Pen delivery device has been killed off due to a number of exploding devices (you didn’t think we’d be able to get through a Samsung story with mentioning that, did you?), its become a fair bit tougher for fans to get their hands on the company’s stylus (just don’t call it a stylus). While it’s sure not to spark (sorry)… Read More
The New York Times just announced that it has acquired The Wirecutter and its sister publication The Sweethome. The sites were founded by former Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, who The Times says will stay involved in an advisory role. Ben French of The Times’ Beta development team will serve as interim general manager, while Jacqui Cheng and Christopher Mascari will remain on-board as editor… Read More
Google announced this morning two strategic partnerships with Visa and MasterCard aimed at expanding the reach of its mobile payments service, Android Pay. The company says that Android Pay users who are shopping online from their smartphones will soon be able to make payments on hundreds of thousands of new sites where either Visa Checkout or Masterpass are accepted at checkout. Visa… Read More
Connected thermostat maker ecobee is launching a new program that lets users of its devices opt-in to sharing their anonymized usage data as part of a large-scale study regarding home energy efficiency. The program will share info like home age, size and occupancy numbers as well as temperature outside the home and within academic, government and non-profit research groups to help them… Read More
Maybe not everyone is convinced they need a smartwatch? According to a new industry report from IDC out this morning, smartwatch shipments experienced “significant” declines in the third quarter, as total shipments were down 51.6 percent from the same time last year. Just 2.7 million units were shipped in Q3 2016 versus 5.6 million in Q3 2015. While IDC offers several explanations… Read More
Soon your security camera will be able to tell whether it’s the mailman at the door or a thief. Computer vision is opening up the capabilities of video surveillance technologies that give sensors the ability to understand what they are looking at in the world around them. Today, Movidius announced an expansive deal with Hikvision, the world’s leading video surveillance company,… Read More
TechCrunch Disrupt in London is fast coming up on December 5-6, and the speakers just keep coming. Today we’re delighted to say Taavet Hinrikus is also joining. Hinrikus is co-founder and CEO of TransferWise, the international money transfer platform. At TransferWise, he looks after marketing, product development, PR, and investor relations. Hinrikus also serves as an Advisor at… Read More
Dyn said last week it identified “10s of millions” of unique IP addresses involved in the massive botnet DDoS attack on its managed DNS services, which knocked out Twitter, Amazon and others sites for many users. At least some of those devices are now subject to a recall, with Chinese electronics company Hangzhou Xiongmai recalling web cameras using its components that were… Read More
Identity theft protection company LifeLock is back today with the launch of a new mobile app designed for better credit card management, called Identity. The goal with the app is to offer consumers a single place where they can view the online accounts for their various credit cards, as well as update those accounts with new information, like their new address or credit card number, for… Read More
Pokémon Go players will get the chance to participate in the game’s first ever in-game event this Halloween, starting Wednesday October 26 and running through November 1. The event will feature higher encounter rates for spooky Pokémon, including Drowzee, Zubat, Gastly, Gengar, Golbat, Haunter and Hypno, and trainers will also get more candy for catching, buddy training and… Read More
As Facebook, the social network with 1.7 billion users, has come under fire for how it has handled its editorial role as a “media” company, it is also trying to launch more ways for people to control their experience on the platform. Today the company unveiled a redesigned Safety Center, now localised into 50 languages, aimed at helping people set their privacy controls on… Read More
Co-managed by Turner and the NBA, NBA League pass is the league’s product that lets users live stream every game all season long. The product costs $199.99 for every team or $119.99 for one team, and games can be watched on most connected devices including your phone, tablet or smart TV. But here’s the thing: the stream that League Pass gives you to watch on your 5-inch phone is… Read More
A coordinated botnet attack effectively choked internet access to a large number of popular sites last week, and the attack itself was made possible in large part due to the spread of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Yet a new survey just released by IT security firm ESET and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that a good portion of Americans are not conformable with said… Read More
Netflix has proposed a new offering of $800 million in senior notes, the company announced today. The proposed $800 debt raise follows a similar $1.5 billion senior notes raise priced in February, 2015. Netflix’s stated aim in raising the new funding is to provide liquid assets it can use to acquire content, make investments, acquire targets and engage in strategic transactions, as well… Read More
Driverless technology moved closer to becoming an everyday reality last week in the U.S. thanks to Tesla, but in Singapore it’s already expanding from testing with taxis to testing with full-size city buses in real-world situations. The new bus program will see two electric hybrid buses begin to ferry passengers between Nanyang Technological University and CleanTech Park, and… Read More
