You likely haven’t been convinced that you need a 360-degree camera in your life yet, but the Theta SC isn’t designed to revolutionize the space so much as it is designed to help mainstream it, offering up a mid-tier for the company’s line. Mid-tier in 360-degree camera land means $300, which isn’t all that much lower than the top-of-the-line Theta S’s $350… Read More
Google Photos was already one of the smartest cloud photo services available today, thanks to its search technology and built-in assistant that automatically creates collages, animations and more from your uploads. Now, the company is upgrading its service again, with a bevy of new features aimed at helping you revisit your memories and generally better enjoy your photos. This update… Read More
The digestive tract of the ‘future of food’ does not always run smooth… The startup behind drink-your-dinner powder Soylent has issued a product recall. Not for its mainstay meal replacement powder — but rather for a $2 snack bar which you do still have to chew. Read More
A year or so ago a new type of drone hit the (preorder) market. It was the self-flying camera drone – a device that promised to combine camera and AI technology to create a drone that you could essentially throw in the air to follow you around and take photos and videos. Some of these drones include Snap, Lily, Staaker and Hover. Most of these companies have raised tens of millions… Read More
Four digital media organizations are coming together to form a new holding company — and they’ve also raised $100 million in additional funding from Discovery Communications. Those four companies are Thrillist (lifestyle), NowThis Media (video news), The Dodo (animals) and Discovery’s digital network Seeker (including its production studio SourceFed). Thrillist’s Ben… Read More
The European Competition Commission has given Google another three weeks to file a response to formal charges that its Shopping price comparison service unfairly demotes rival services in search results. Read More
Pluto TV, a video streaming service targeting cord cutters by offering a TV-guide like experience that connects you to hundreds of online channels, has raised $30 million in Series B funding, valuing the business at $140 million. The new funding comes from ProSieben of Germany, one of Europe’s largest independent media companies, and lifestyle media company Scripps Networks Interactive.… Read More
New Kinpo Group is an odd company. Its CEO popped into our New York City offices the other week ostensibly to speak about its XYZ brand, whose budget 3D printers have shot to the top of the top spot in global market share. Then it busted out the HiMirror. It’s a smart bathroom mirror. It examines your skin, gives you metrics, tells you what you can do to improve. I will happily… Read More
TechCrunch Disrupt London is happening once again this December and we have some of the most iconic entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the tech industry lined up to speak. The two-day conference runs December 5 to 6 in the Olympic Village’s Copper Box Arena and features Startup Alley and Startup Battlefield where one startup will take home £30,000. You can buy early-bird tickets… Read More
When we detailed the brief ascent and prolonged decline of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 saga the other day, we noted that there were still some loose ends to tie up. One of the bigger threads was the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s protracted investigation of the whole mess, which started a couple of months back when the fist incidents of exploding devices first surfaced. Two… Read More
At the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh today, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced new funds that will help it roll out smart city technologies in places across the U.S., as part of the White House’s Smart Cities Initiative. $165 million in funding, including $65 million in public funding made available through two new grants, and $100 million in matching… Read More
Song identifying app Shazam is rolling out music video channels to all of its 120 million monthly active users in a partnership with Vadio, a Portland-based startup. Through their partnership, whenever a user taps on the Shazam icon to identify a song, a thumbnail of the official music video for that track will display on the song’s Shazam page. As we recently reported, the Shazam app… Read More
Tucked away inside Pandora’s rebranded app, launched yesterday, the company was hiding its first iMessage app, too. In fact, it’s the first third-party party streaming music service to launch its own iMessage extension, the company says. That’s not to say it’s the only music-focused iMessage app, of course. Apple Music already lets you share your favorite songs… Read More
The Obama Administration is kicking off the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh this week, and as part of that it’s announcing a number of new initiatives in civic technology. These investments and programs include space, as well as America’s terrestrial concerns. It’s announcing over $50 million in new Federal investments in small satellite tech, which… Read More
Flipboard, the mobile and web app that lets you aggregate, discover and read content from around the web in a magazine-style format, is unveiling its latest “native” product to court more advertising (and hence, revenue) on its platform. Today the startup is launching Storyboard, an ad unit that lets brands bring in video, photo and other multimedia assets into bigger ad… Read More
Renault-Nissan is the fourth largest car maker in the world. And yet, Tesla seems to be getting more headlines. I got the chance to interview Renault-Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn to talk about self-driving cars, electric cars and the company’s recent partnership with Microsoft. This interview was slightly edited for clarity. TechCrunch: What are you going to unveil at the Paris Motor… Read More
The latest trailer for the newest Star Wars movie is here – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s second trailer emphasizes the father/daughter relationship between hero Jyn Erso and a character who seems like he’s a key architect behind the Death Star (Mads Mikkelsen) even more than in the last trailer. Otherwise it really provides a lot more time for Erso herself to speak, and… Read More
This weekend Lebara — the mobile network business which has become a universally recognised brand for the world’s migrant community — is to enter the international money transfer market, potentially putting the squeeze on tech newcomers like Transferwise and Azimo. Given that migrants are the primary market for international money transfers, this could hinder the growth of… Read More
Ever wonder which of your selfies is best? Tinder wants to help you figure it out, with the launch of a new feature called Smart Photos. And Smart Photos, in turn, show us just how much Tinder is a big data company, meticulously collecting information about what (and who) you like and don’t like. Smart Photos is a single toggle in the Profile section of the app. When toggled on,… Read More
Fformer Etsy chief technology officer Kellan Elliott-McCrea, is heading over to Blink Health, a company that’s using technology to create a marketplace for cheap prescription medications. Read More
