As our phones become our primary computing devices, major iOS updates affect the workflow and lifestyle of hundreds of millions of people. Even minor changes can have major implications. So let’s dive into iOS 10 with an early look at Apple’s next mobile operating system. iOS 10 will be released this fall as a free update. Every year, a vast majority of iOS users update to the… Read More
Berlin is having a moment. In 2015, the city I live in was the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the world and received the most venture capital investment of any city in Europe. Startups headquartered in Berlin have become global giants, and many startups across the Atlantic run their European operations from here. Seemingly overnight, we have become Europe’s next great tech hub. Read More
The driver death resulting from a Tesla Model S Autopilot crash on May 7 has ramifications that extend well past a federal investigation in the United States. In fact, government officials from the Canadian province of Ontario told Reuters that the fatal accident has further scrutinized its own autonomous driving technology and that it may have set back the development of its overall… Read More
If there is anyone who knows where the future is headed it’s Neal Stephenson. The author of the classic cyberpunk novel, Snow Crash, and, most recently, Seveneves, Stephenson has long been a voyager in lands unexplored by the common mind.
And now he’s going to join us on stage at Disrupt SF 2016, a unique treat. We’ll be talking about his latest book, his vision of the the… Read More
Photography is a more expensive hobby than a recreational drug habit, it is said. Whether that’s true or not I wouldn’t know, but Parachut, launching in beta today, is here to alleviate the burden a bit with a subscription library service for photography and video fans. As long as you keep paying your subscription fee, you’re free to return and check out as much fancy gear as… Read More
Sure the actual Summer Olympics only last for 16 days, but now you can carry your allegiance to the games around in your pocket for the next two or so years until you upgrade your phone (just in time for the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea, no less). To mark the Rio games, Samsung is issuing a commemorative Olympic Games Limited Edition of its Galaxy S7 Edge handset, handing out 12,500 of… Read More
In a blog post this morning, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that long-time COO Kevin Turner would be leaving after 11 years at the company.
At the same time, Citadel Securities announced on its website home page this morning that Turner would be coming on board as CEO.
Nadella gave the expected platitudes in the announcement, while thanking Turner for his service to the… Read More
The HTC Desire 530 is $179 unlocked. That’s the main thing you need to know about it. Everything else about the handset is pretty underwhelming at best – and reviewers haven’t exactly been heaping praise on the thing. But it’s $179 unlocked and it’s arriving this month in the States. The company debuted the phone at Mobile World Congress back in February, leading… Read More
Amazon-owned Audible announced a new service called Channels today, one that differs from its typical audiobook business in offering more bite-size content from original content producers, as well as recordings of news stores from NYT, WSJ, The Washington Post and others. The original programming will be rolling out over time, covering comedy, investigatory journalism (think Serial) and… Read More
Sticking tiny robots into your body sounds fun but what happens when those robots run out of battery and start to explode? While this may not always be the case, it could happen. Luckily researchers at Hokkaido University’s Department of Chemistry have created a crystalline assembly that moves autonomously when exposed to blue light. This means you can simply flash lights at these… Read More
Didi Chuxing, the taxi booking app that is beating Uber in China, has added a number of safety features to its service including an SOS button for its 300 million registered users. Read More
Encrypted comms company Silent Circle is being sued by its former joint venture hardware partner, Geeksphone, for not paying part of a previous agreed sale price for buying out the latter’s share in the joint venture — and lurking at the heart of the dispute are flopped sales of the Blackphone smartphone the pair developed. Read More
This morning, visual learning platform Lifeliqe announced a strategic partnership with HTC to become their provider of educational virtual reality (VR) content for the Vive.
Lifeliqe already has many other interesting, non-VR learning content products in market with over 15,000 schools worldwide. I recently had a chance to try out some of their VR demos and I have to say the content was… Read More
BevSpot has found a problem worth solving: preventing your local bar from running out of your favorite tipple. Raising an $11 million Series B round from Bain Capital Ventures and other select drinking buddies, the company will be upping its product development and global market expansion in the web-based beverage management space. Read More
Security giant Avast has announced it intends to acquire fellow Czech-based antivirus software maker AVG for a purchase price of $25.00 per share in cash — resulting in a transaction that will total around $1.3 billion. Read More
Facebook has denied censoring a viral video taken after a police officer fatally shot a man in his car in Minnesota. Lavish Reynolds pulled out her phone and began a Facebook Live stream after her boyfriend, Philando Castile, was shot by a police officer who, Reynolds said, had pulled their car over for a broken taillight in Minnesota’s Falcon Heights district. Media reported that… Read More
Being first to market with complex technology doesn’t usually make for a simple sales proposition. Nor does trying to pioneer an alternative approach as a small security startup vs established industry practices. Read More
Data science and tech startup Black Swan Data, which has built a platform to let companies improve their business/marketing intelligence by mining and crunching both public and internal consumer data, has closed £6.2 million in Series B funding. Read More
