Next time you open the YouTube app on your iOS or Android phone, you’ll be greeted by a new homepage experience.YouTube brings a new homepage with improved recommendations to its iOS and Android appsBefore, YouTube would show you a list of recommended items with small thumbnails, … | Continue reading
Have you ever tried to capture close-up video of yourself or others with a traditional drone? It’s nearly impossible.To solve this problem China-based Zero Zero Robotics has raised $25M to build Hover, a small self-flying drone. The funding is composed mainly of a $23M Series A r … | Continue reading
Google, Uber and Lyft have joined forces with automakers Volvo and Ford, creating a coalition to influence lawmakers, regulators and the public, Automotive News reported on Tuesday. The new lobby, dubbed The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, will be led by David Stricklan … | Continue reading
If you’re a web developer who wants to make a big impact on TechCrunch, here’s your chance! In preparation for tackling some ambitious projects, our product team has grown rapidly in recent months and we are still looking for one more. There couldn’t be a more exciting time to jo … | Continue reading
Wattpad, a popular site where authors can share stories with readers, is announcing its broader ambitions with the launch of a new division called Wattpad Studios. The company describes Studios as a way for Wattpad to partner with the entertainment industry, and it said the new d … | Continue reading
Hey all you investors out there, we’re excited to announce the companies that will be on display in the Startup Alley at Disrupt NY, and you can check out every single one of them on our brand-new Startup Alley Hub. In addition to all sorts of great information on Startup Alley c … | Continue reading
Last quarter, Twitter’s user base (excluding SMS fast-followers) actually shrank — and this was a huge moment for the company. While there were whispers of peak Twitter circling for some time now, that looming theory was finally confirmed in the company’s fourth-quarter results. … | Continue reading
Amazon is continuing its efforts to crack down on fake, paid-for reviews of the products it sells on its website, by filing yet another lawsuit against those who offer glowing reviews in exchange for cash. In this latest suit, filed on Friday, the company is targeting the operato … | Continue reading
There are dozens of task-management and to-do apps in the market today, with some like Any.do, Wunderlist (now owned by Microsoft) and Todoist already used by tens of millions of people to organise their lives and coordinate that with people they know. Now, make way for a new one … | Continue reading
Apple will report its second-quarter earnings, and all eyes are going to be on the company’s iPhone sales. That’s because the big question for Apple is going to be whether or not iPhone sales have hit a wall and that the company will see a year-over-year decline in revenue, marki … | Continue reading
I’m going to drop some science on you — social science — about how to recruit a diverse team of high performers. In 1973, Stanford sociology professor Mark Granovetter published an empirical paper called The Strength of Weak Ties. If you’re wondering about the validity of a 40-ye … | Continue reading
Apple released a couple of new iPhone ads on its YouTube channel. While the second one called ‘Fingerprint’ is in the same vein as previous ads, the first one called ‘Onions’ is a quirky ad and stands out from many Apple ads. Read More | Continue reading
New video streaming services are launching left and right these days, and now Time Warner-owned Turner is looking to get a piece of the action for itself, too. The company announced this morning plans to debut an on-demand service focused on films, including both indie titles and … | Continue reading
With the recent announcement of Expa Labs, New York-based Expa has also appointed a new General Manager for the incubator in the form of Eric Friedman. Friedman has been an entrepreneur in residence at Expa Labs since July of last year. Previously, he held BisDev positions at Fou … | Continue reading
CoreOS today announced Stackanetes at the OpenStack Summit in Austin. Stackanetes (and yes, that name probably isn’t ideal) brings together OpenStack, the open source cloud computing platform that allows enterprises to run their own AWS-style cloud computing services in their pri … | Continue reading
About.com, the IAC-owned media giant, has today unveiled its first standalone brand in the form of Verywell, a site for information around health. Verywell will launch with more than 50,000 pieces of content ranging from common medical conditions like diabetes and rheumatoid arth … | Continue reading
Electrification, sharing and autonomous drive are reshaping the future of transportation, with huge implications for the ecosystem and the world. Read More | Continue reading
Amazon is ramping up the competition with other restaurant delivery services starting today by announcing that it will not mark up the menu prices of the items it offers on-demand via Prime Now Restaurant Delivery, and it will, in fact, refund customers the difference if they dis … | Continue reading
Insurance isn’t necessarily an inviting word, especially for millennials. Not only do young people have less items to insure, but the process of getting insurance for those items is entirely foreign to folks who order their cars, food, cleaning services and more from an iPhone ap … | Continue reading
YouTube announced a new ad format today that’s all about brevity. In a blog post, Product Manager Zach Lupei said YouTube has been exploring formats that are better-suited for smartphone video watchers. Hence the creation of Bumper ads — video ads that are only six seconds long. … | Continue reading
Meet Melomind, a pair of headphones with some special powers. Melomind doesn’t just play your music, it also comes with four electroencephalographic sensors to track the activity of your brain. Melomind is a hardware and software product that will guide you and teach you how to r … | Continue reading
Remittances are a huge business, with $582 billion transferred in 2015 and $432 billion of that sent specifically to emerging markets, according to the World Bank. Today, one of the bigger startups in the field has raised some funds of its own to help it better tap the opportunit … | Continue reading
Well-known broadcast journalist turned media production startup founder Soledad O’Brien will join us on stage in just a few weeks at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC. O’Brien is a powerhouse of a TV personality and has built a solid career over the last 25+ years as a television anchor, pr … | Continue reading
Why wait for the bus when you can hail a cab? That’s the idea behind a new commercial spaceflight startup founded by SpaceX founding team members Jim Cantrell and John Garvey. Vector Space Systems wants to shake up to the commercial space market by providing not tens, but hundred … | Continue reading
Marketers have a complicated time of it. They have to combine user generated content with branded content in a way that doesn’t leave the brand looking utterly foolish. StoryStream has a platform for figuring this out, and has now raised a $2.6M (£1.8M)Series A funding to address … | Continue reading
French startup Trusk is like Uber, but for moving things. This isn’t a mover startup, and it isn’t a transporter. It’s something more flexible. And the company has had a weekly growth rate of 15 percent recently. But first, let me start with a story. I’ve used UberXL multiple tim … | Continue reading
Automakers Jaguar LandRover Ltd. today announced a partnership with Silicon Valley startup Tile Inc. to prevent drivers from leaving home, or any other place, without their essential, personal items.Tile, which has raised $13 million in venture funding to-date, makes small, water … | Continue reading
One of the problems with Dropbox and indeed all cloud storage is the way they have implemented how you view your cloud storage on your local drive. If you want to access your cloud file system in your local file management tool, you literally need to have it stored on your drive, … | Continue reading
Munich-based Tado, maker of smart thermostat and AC control products, has raised another $23 million for further international expansion. The new investment is led by Inven Capital, the venture capital arm of the Čez Group, a multinational energy conglomerate based in the Czech R … | Continue reading
The proposed merger of Time Warner and Charter Communications is set for approval by government regulators, who want the combined company to follow restrictions designed to prevent it from stifling the growth of streaming video services. Read More | Continue reading
Earlier this week I jumped on a call with Mark Tluszcz, co-founder and CEO of Mangrove Capital Partners, one of Europe’s older VC funds and perhaps most notably the first institutional investor in Skype. Read More | Continue reading
Nokia’s history as the world’s biggest mobile phone maker is becoming a distant memory, but it’s not out of the gadget business just yet. To build out its health technology business, the company today announced that it has acquired Withings, makers of smart scales, activity track … | Continue reading
Shortly after acquiring its competitor Finsquare, Lendix is back with more news. The French startup has just raised $13.5 million (€12 million) and now wants to become one of the leading European peer-to-peer lending platforms. Read More | Continue reading
Last month we reported that Rakuten is testing drone deliveries at a golf course in Japan, and now the company has released more information and video footage of how the system will work. Read More | Continue reading
Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate that runs Alipay and other financial services, has announced a truly huge round of funding today. The company said it has completed its Series B, which weighs in at a staggering $4.5 billion. Read More | Continue reading
TranServ, one of several companies digitizing payments in India, said today that it has secured a Series C of $15 million to develop new financial products. The round was led by IDFC Spice Fund and Micromax Informatics. Returning investors Nirvana and Faering Capital India also p … | Continue reading
Postmates, the delivery app, has almost become the poster child for struggling on-demand businesses. Countless venture capitalists have told TechCrunch that the company, despite its popularity with consumers, is doomed because its unit economics don’t add up. The costs of paying … | Continue reading
Adobe is launching an update to its Document Cloud service today that will bring support for both Box and Microsoft OneDrive to the company’s PDF-centric digital document solution. Adobe previously announced a similar partnership with Dropbox. Thanks to this partnership, Document … | Continue reading
Good independent workers are hard to find and even harder to keep if the cost of doing of doing business doesn’t make sense. So Uber is adding a new goody bag of rewards in hopes of retaining its workforce. One of those perks is Fuel Finder, a new feature inside the driver-side a … | Continue reading
Redwood City-based Naya Health has raised $3.9 million in seed funding to make a breast pump that is sleeker, quieter and more comfortable for moms than the devices already on the market. Investors co-leading the round were Tandem Capital and Bojiang Capital who were joined by S- … | Continue reading
A convoy of self-driving trucks recently drove across Europe and arrived at the Port of Rotterdam. No technology will automate away more jobs — or drive more economic efficiency — than the driverless truck. Read More | Continue reading
In an age when completely driverless cars (probably electric) seem to be only just around the corner, the idea of starting a brand new online community aimed at petrolheads seems like an ill-timed one. But that’s not about to stop Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, b … | Continue reading
We now know the full extent of the concern over compliance issues at Theranos’ Newark, California lab thanks to new documents TechCrunch has obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began a federal investigation int … | Continue reading
A judge today officially put an end to the fight between the Justice Department and Apple over unlocking the iPhone of a New York man convicted of selling drugs. U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie denied as moot the government’s request to force Apple to help extract data from the … | Continue reading
Lionsgate has just added over 100 movies, including the Hunger Games films and Kill Bill (both volumes) to, of all things, Steam. That’s Valve’s digital content delivery platform, of course, used by millions of PC gamers. Why did Lionsgate add over 100 movies to a gaming platform … | Continue reading
Goldman Sachs has traditionally functioned like a run-of-the-mill investment bank. Minimums to open an account were in the range of $10M, and returns were not guaranteed. While that will still remain true for the firm’s wealth management arm, Goldman is opening its doors to the m … | Continue reading
Honda announced it’s going to expand its Clarity line to include an all-electric version and a plug-in hybrid next year. The latest version of the Honda Clarity will be available later this year any way you want it, as along as you want a fuel-cell vehicle. The other two variants … | Continue reading
The iXpand is an odd thing to behold, a strange Frankensteinian amalgam of adapters fused together and folded over for good measure. It’s another interesting concept out of SanDisk as the company attempts to stay nimble in a world of rapidly dropping storage costs and increasing … | Continue reading