Marijuana use is a bit of a tricky subject in the United States. While public opinion on the matter may be shifting toward being more open to legalization — a YouGov poll released earlier this month showed that 55 percent of those surveyed supported legalizing marijuana, with more Republicans supporting legalization than not — only 25 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized… Read More
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, really, that mobile phones are becoming an increasing concern among those tasked with policing prison populations. Smuggled in cellulars are being linked to all sorts of decidedly less benign contraband, including drugs, guns and the like. As the Ministry of Justice notes in a release issued today, around 15,000 mobile phones and SIMs were recovered in… Read More
Disrupt SF 2016 is right around the corner. Soon, thousands of tech enthusiasts, investors and entrepreneurs will descend on San Francisco’s Pier 48 for an event best described as the best startup show in the Bay Area.
Will you be among them? Read More
Waze, which has been expanding steadily into the enterprise in recent months, is today unveiling a new program aimed at stadiums, marathons and other event organizers, that will allow partners to add road closures to Waze’s map, monitor traffic conditions in real-time, and inform Waze drivers of closures and other event information. The Waze Global Event Partner Program, as… Read More
BMW isn’t letting off the gas on its electric vehicle program – the company plans replacements for the i3 and i8 by 2022, according to Automobile Magazine, and a new entrant dubbed Project i20 internally (but likely to be known as the i5 or i6 when it hits streets) on track for 2021. The i20 has a fully electric drivetrain, like the i3 before it, and will also offer BMW’s… Read More
Yahoo has been beaten up in the press for so long that it’s hard to remember how untouchable it once appeared. We’d like to think that Yahoo’s failure has made us wiser, less likely to repeat the same mistakes. We’d like to think that having witnessed Yahoo’s demise, we would be better able to spot a company that was at peak valuation and about to begin a… Read More
LeEco’s not just messing around with this whole electric car deal. Back in April, the Chinese electronics company best known for its TVs and smartphone (once named LeTV, if that rings more bells) carted out its self-driving concept car during a big phone unveil in Beijing. The decidedly futuristic LeSEE (pronounced like “lessee”) features a foldaway steering wheel,… Read More
Microsoft looks to have inadvertently made some of its own orphaned devices useful again, after accidentally leaking a debug policy that could allow owners of Windows powered hardware such as earlier iterations of Windows Phones smartphones or ARM-powered Windows RT tablets to install alternative operating systems like Android and Linux. Read More
The first OSVR headset made its debut at last year’s CES. The wearable wasn’t aimed at Oculus or HTC – nor were its creators looking to take on Samsung’s low cost Gear VR. Rather, the prototype represented the first step in a multi-company effort to build a new, non-proprietary paradigm in the burgeoning world of virtual reality.
And Min Liang-Tan helped lead the charge. Read More
CVS Health today is launching its own mobile payments solution that will allow customers to pay for products, pick up prescriptions, earn ExtraCare loyalty rewards, as well as pay – just by scanning the barcode in the CVS mobile app. The idea, the company explains, is to eliminate the number of steps it takes today to complete a checkout, which today is a very manual process.… Read More
The Fisker Karma is back, reborn as the Karma Revero, with a familiar look, along with a new name and some design tweaks and feature additions that mark a departure from its origins. Today marks the first time we’ve seen the Revero, revealed via images shared by Karma detailing the car’s exterior, as well as its unique solar roof and redesigned infotainment system. Karma is a… Read More
Don’t expect Spotify’s lackluster attempt at original video to help it defeat Apple Music or YouTube. The three-minute clips produced in partnership with new media company ATTN are no more compelling than any freely available videos on the web. Spotify’s first series called “Deconstructed” features animated shorts about outdated national anthems, LGBT rappers,… Read More
Mondo, the U.K. mobile banking startup and probably the noisiest of the new breed of British challenger banks, is now officially, well, a bank. Read More
Alibaba saw record revenue growth in Q2 2016 as the company’s Chinese retail marketplaces surged and revenue from its users on mobile overtook that of desktops for the first time. Read More
Arianna Huffington, the cofounder and Editor-in-Chief at the Huffington Post, is today stepping down from her role at the HuffPost to focus on a new startup called Thrive Global. Huffington announced the news in a tweet this morning. I thought HuffPost would be my last act. But I’ve decided to step down as HuffPost’s editor-in-chief to run my new venture, Thrive Global. —… Read More
Another traditional media company has invested in an online property to help expand its digital footprint and capture the next generation of consumers. Refinery29 — the online publisher that, in its own words, is aimed at “a modern woman’s destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life” — has raised $45 million in funding led by Turner, the Time… Read More
Jibo, a cutesy social robot pitched to crowdfunders in mid 2014 as ‘the world’s first social robot’ but since delayed and yet to arrive in the market some nine months after its original due date, is now only going to ship to backers in the U.S. and Canada. Read More
Logitech has a new device called the Pop Home Switch, and it’s a bit different from their usual offerings. A company known for Universal Remotes encrusted with physical keys, touchscreen displays and all manner of interaction options is instead going for single-button simplicity. The Pop is a broad button about the size of your palm, which connects to a hub that plugs directly into an… Read More
The latest on-demand delivery startup to pick up backing is Barcelona-headquartered Glovo. The company operates a local on-demand delivery service similar to Postmates in the U.S. or the U.K.’s Jinn, and is disclosing €5 million in Series A funding. Read More
