Facebook has expanded a test of a Snapchat Stories clone feature, called Messenger Day, to users of its app in Australia. The casual sharing feature lets people send illustrated, filter-enhanced photos and videos to friends which disappear in 24 hours — a la Snapchat. Read More
SafetyCulture, the maker of a b2b inspection checklist app called iAuditor, has pulled in a $23 million Series B funding led by Index Ventures. Also participating Blackbird Ventures and Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, who led its Series A round in 2014. Read More
One of the perks of Amazon Prime membership is free, unlimited photo storage via Prime Photos. Today, Amazon is extending that benefit to the family members of the main account holder, with the launch of a new Prime Photos feature called “Family Vault.” With Family Vault, an Amazon Prime member can invite up to five family members or friends to join their online account, in order… Read More
FoundersCard, the membership-based program that offers perks like discounts on hotels, travel and shopping has inked a new deal with JetSmarter. As a refresher JetSmarter is also a membership-based program that lets members book discounted seats on shuttle flights between pre-determined cities as well as book their own private flights. JetSmarter also offers a program called JetDeals that… Read More
Big changes for the Apple car project, Project Titan, Pro MLB player cuts his finger with drone hobby, Apple hires a director of AI research, Peter Thiel donates $1.25 million to Donald Trump, Netflix stock skyrockets after its earnings report. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
A couple of big, roadmappy pieces of news out the Qualcomm 4G/5G Summit, being held in Hong Kong this week, far away from the component company’s sunny Southern California headquarters. Alongside a number of new chips, the Qualcomm is laying out its plans to support camera functionality across a wide set of different form factors. The new technology portfolio moves well beyond the… Read More
While it’s true we don’t all have the pleasure of hanging at the Hong Kong Ritz Carlton for this week’s 4G/5G Summit, we can still bask in the chipmaker’s news from afar. Arguably most fascinating among the San Diego company’s big announcements for the week are its plans to go big into the future of cross-platform camera hardware, but it wouldn’t be a… Read More
At the end of the day, insurance is all about risk. Whatever keeps people safest leads to the lowest claims — and the happiest people. Insurance technology is getting very popular among founders and investors, yet, as a category, is little understood. Read More
There may be hope for the First Amendment rights of new media journalists― a North Dakota judge has dismissed riot charges against Democracy Now! cofounder and investigative reporter Amy Goodman.
As TechCrunch reported this weekend, Goodman was charged for “participating in a riot” after she reported from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, on the… Read More
The Orbital ATK Antares rocket – the same rocket that exploded on its way to the International Space Station two years ago – returned to flight today with a much-anticipated launch. Lifting off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the Antares rocket is now on its way to deliver the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 5,000 pounds of cargo to crew members aboard… Read More
Lobster, a Startup Battlefield company from 2014, is breathing new life into its AI-powered media licensing platform by partnering with Verizon Cloud. Advertisers, publications, agencies and will now have the means to license images sourced from social media and now, Verizon Cloud. For every image sold, 75% of the profit goes towards the contributor, ranging in skill from pro photographer… Read More
It’s been a weird year for Peter Thiel. The always contrarian investor has managed to stir up quite a bit of ill will with his shadowy support of the lawsuit that brought Gawker to its knees and his vocal — and now financial — support for Donald Trump. Along the way, each of Thiel’s controversies has led to calls for the companies he funded and advised, like Facebook… Read More
Software-defined networking (SDN) has taken center stage in the networking industry for the better part of a decade now. In the spirit of the election season, it’s a great time to ask the question: Is your network better off now than it was before? Read More
Amazon’s AWS cloud computing service today announced launched a region in Ohio. The aptly-named “US East (Ohio) Region” brings Amazon’s total region count to 14. The region will feature three separate availability zones for increased fault tolerance. AWS now offers 38 availability zones across its data centers.
Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels noted in today’s… Read More
Razer, the company that develops hardware and services for gamers and the world of gaming, has made an acquisition to catapult it to more platforms and more people: The company has acquired THX, the legendary audio and video quality assurance company that was originally founded by George Lucas as part of Lucasfilm. Razer’s CEO Min-Liang Tan said in an interview that the terms of… Read More
Netflix is finally breaking off from its slowing subscriber growth trend as it posted a huge quarter that beat both its own, and Wall Street’s, expectations. Here’s the money chart: Shares of Netflix are absolutely blowing up, now up more than 20% in extended trading after the earnings report came out. With today’s crazy jump in its stock, the company added nearly $10 billion… Read More
But a trip along Interstate 5 reveals a different world. Miles of browning grass stretch along the roadside, broken by the green clusters of California’s farms, which provide fruits, vegetables and nuts to most American households.
California is the top farm producer in the U.S. In 2015, the state’s farms and ranches harvested approximately $47 billion for their output, vastly… Read More
Facebook Messenger may have already hit the billion-user club this past summer, but the company is always looking for new ways to increase app usage. The latest attempt is the introduction of “conversation topics” on Messenger – a feature offering suggestions about what to talk about with friends. These conversation starters appear to rely on Messenger’s connection… Read More
Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Mike Rothenberg, the founder of Rothenberg Ventures, which was more recently renamed Frontier Tech Ventures. According to documents obtained by TechCrunch, San Francisco’s Planning Department was notified earlier this month that Rothenberg Ventures has been operating out of two floors in a building that’s not permitted for use as… Read More
HTC really wants VR to happen. For all of their mobile handset woes, the company is keen to grab the next platform shift by the horns and have the ecosystem and infrastructure in place to become an early powerhouse in the space. The company’s VR presence has notably been lacking in the mobile department which has been somewhat confounding given the fact that they seem to understand… Read More
