Imagine a much better world — the people-centered economy — where three billion workers have jobs tailored to fit their unique sets of skills, talents, passions, where they work with people they are inspired by and productive together with, where they engage in the most meaningfu … | Continue reading
It’s dumbfounding how an industry as huge as live music still relies on a patchwork of backwards, outdated technologies. Word document offer letters, PDF riders, endless back-and-forth emails, spreadsheets, physical checks. Fax! It makes the whole process a headache that takes fo … | Continue reading
By all accounts, the London startup scene was abuzz with Entrepreneur First‘s latest Demo Day today, as 25 startups — up from 9! — took to the stage to pitch their wares. The so-called ‘talent first’ investor targets the best technical graduates in Europe and beyond to put them t … | Continue reading
Happy International Women’s Day. This year, the theme is “Pledge For Parity,” meaning committing to achieving equality around status and pay. Last year, the World Economic Forum predicted that it would take until 2133 to achieve worldwide gender parity. Meanwhile, many tech compa … | Continue reading
Using your hand to grasp a pen that’s lying on your desk doesn’t exactly feel like a chore, but for robots, that’s still a really hard thing to do. So to teach robots how to better grasp random objects, Google’s research team dedicated 14 robots to the task. Read More | Continue reading
Peeple, the controversial people-rating application that lets its users rate and review anyone, is not a hoax or vaporware, as many suspected following the media backlash surrounding the unveiling of the company’s intentions last fall. The Washington Post even called the app “ter … | Continue reading
New mediums mint new rock stars, and for virtual reality it’s Chris Milk. From surreal dreamscapes to #BlackLivesMatter protests to Jordanian refugee camps, he’s created some of most mind bending and inspiring VR experiences yet. I knew he was the real deal when I got hit by a tr … | Continue reading
Veritas Genetics was one of the first companies to sequence the entire human genome for under $1,000 in 2015. It’s now taken that technology a step further by delivering the results of your entire genome in an app. To put in context just how radical this is, consider the first at … | Continue reading
The nation relies on systemically important market infrastructures. As you may have guessed, these engines of economy are designed to resist change. That’s not a bad thing. A certain amount of insulation protects us from the whims of fads and provides the cornerstones of the econ … | Continue reading
Don’t just drunkenly wander around SXSW. Meet amazing people and catch an unforgettable concert at TechCrunch’s SXSW party. Between 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday March 12, join us at Deloitte Digital’s Interplay Lab at The Palm Door at 508 E. 6th St. Only 2 blocks from the … | Continue reading
We are big fans of LittleBits here at TechCrunch. The company, which raised $44.2 million last year, offers a number of different sets that teach kids (and grown-ups) about programming and electronics — and lets them get creative with their new skills. Today, the company introduc … | Continue reading
Pinterest today is releasing a set of new advertising management tools that were previously unavailable for smaller businesses as its portfolio of advertising products — and revenue potential — continues to grow. All these tools continue to give smaller and medium-sized businesse … | Continue reading
Google today announced that it is renaming Skybox Imaging, the satellite startup it acquired in 2014, to Terra Bella. More than just a name change, though, the company says this switch is also about showing that Skybox Imaging Terra Bella is not only about putting small imaging s … | Continue reading
In January, office rents in San Francisco eclipsed those of New York to become the most expensive in the country. Two months later, there are signs the San Francisco may not maintain its dubious position for long. The biggest indicator? There’s suddenly 1.7 million square feet of … | Continue reading
Vessel, the video subscription startup headed by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, announced today that it’s moving in a new direction in terms of the advertising displayed on its service. In a move that recalls YouTube’s venture into ad-free viewing with the debut of YouTube Red, Ves … | Continue reading
No one else ever sees most of your camera roll. But if you’re brave enough, your close friends might enjoy peeking at every photo, video, and screenshot, not just the best ones. So call it creepy or the next frontier in social media, but that’s what Shorts does. It’s the new iOS … | Continue reading
Atlassian, the enterprise software company behind HipChat and JIRA that went public back in December, just released its first-ever diversity report. There’s really nothing surprising nor commendable about it, but I’m all about releasing these reports for the sake of transparency. … | Continue reading
Mobile security firm Lookout has introduced today what may be one of the more practical applications for Apple Watch. Its new smartwatch app will help you to not lose your phone, by alerting you if you’re about to leave your phone behind, as well as help you locate a lost or stol … | Continue reading
London-based health startup Yomp, which raised $315,000 (£200,000) from five angel investors last year, set out to be a heath and wellness platform which ‘gamified’ company employees into healthy habits, thus increasing productivity, reducing absenteeism, you know the drill. It’s … | Continue reading
“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” — H.L. Mencken “The supreme … | Continue reading
Amazon’s foray into fashion continues today with the launch of what will be the company’s first daily live show, called Style Code Live, which will feature fashion and beauty tips and advice from style experts and viewers. However, the more interesting aspects to the new program … | Continue reading
Tired of watching (relatively) lengthy online videos when there’s only 10, 30 or 60 seconds that you really care about? Well, viral publisher and publishing toolmaker Playbuzz has a solution called Video Snaps. Basically, the Snaps product makes it easy for a publisher or anyone … | Continue reading
As well as it’s biggest ever Demo Day, Entrepreneur First, the UK accelerator which has designs on becoming the ‘Y Combinator of Europe’ today added former serial entrepreneurs Wendy Tan White and Joe White as General Partners. It’s understood that the husband and wife team — who … | Continue reading
Wunder Capital, a provider of solar financing for medium-sized businesses, has raised $3.6 million in a new round of financing. In all, the company has raised $4.7 million from Techstars Ventures, Fenway Summer Ventures, and FinTech Collective, alongside existing seed investors. … | Continue reading
Microsoft today announced that it is joining the Eclipse Foundation — the open source group that’s probably best known for its Eclipse IDE, but which also offers a number of other developer tools.With this, Microsoft is joining other Eclipse sponsors like Google, Novell, IBM, Deb … | Continue reading
It’s a new year and we have some fresh faces for TechCrunch — faces whose interests run the gamut from robotics to venture to gadgets and photography to science to transportation and beyond.First up, Lora Kolodny joins us as Emerging Technologies Editor later this month. Lora was … | Continue reading
Last year we reported that Truecaller — the popular, smart phonebook app and startup — was looking to raise $100 million at a $1 billion valuation. But while there has been no development on that front, the startup has been on a consolidation kick as it aims to become cash-flow p … | Continue reading
Always be shipping: Hot on the heels of Zeeqo acquiring London-based delivery startup ParcelBright, another company helping online sellers ship their wares has picked up funding.Bristol, U.K.-based Zenstores, which offers cloud-based shipping software targeting the ‘long tail’ of … | Continue reading
Mexico is one of Uber’s largest and most profitable markets. Read More | Continue reading
While Spotify is acquiring startups expand its messaging and social features, Pandora is also raising its game in the artist-to-fan communications sphere for musicians to better target Pandora’s 80 million users. Today, the music streaming company is launching a service called AM … | Continue reading
As we approach the inevitable rise of VR we’re going to need some better cameras. The $109 Panoporter might be just the thing. This 1080p device features a single camera and a clever lens system that takes a 360-degree view without multiple cameras. It includes videoconferencing … | Continue reading
The first generation of Google Glass may have fizzled out, but the idea of a headset that connects you to the online world is still kind of sexy (and maybe a little unsettling), as shown by this new clip from the upcoming film Creative Control. Directed by Benjamin Dickinson, Cre … | Continue reading
Spot instances on AWS can help you save quite a bit of money over paying for a regular virtual machine on EC2. In return, though, these machines may shut down at any time when demand for regular machines increases. Spotinst helps business manage both the cost and management of th … | Continue reading
The Internet is awash with gloom-and-doom predictions about the death of many unicorns, a down market for investing in startups, falling public company multiples and a massive disconnect between private and public valuations. Read More | Continue reading
Their feature sets don’t necessarily speak to a grandiose vision from Samsung regarding the company’s future. They don’t offer solutions to problems users weren’t aware they had. They don’t shed grams and millimeters in exchange for compromised battery life. In many ways, the S7 … | Continue reading
You can now use Apple Pay to buy gas at 6,000 ExxonMobil locations across the U.S. The transactions can be made through the free Speedpass app, meaning that customers won’t have to get out of the car to fill their tank, if they’re at a full-service station. Even if you have to le … | Continue reading
Seoul-based Polaris Office is launching its cloud-based software suite in the United States with the very ambitious goal (some might say quixotic) of challenging Microsoft Office and Google for Work’s dominance. The company makes desktop and mobile apps that let users create new … | Continue reading
It’s been almost two years since Square expanded its mobile payments service into a new country — it most recently hit Japan, its first foray outside of North America, in May 2013 — but this week it went Down Under with a long-awaited launch in Australia. Read More | Continue reading
The director of UK spy agency, GCHQ, has urged closer co-operation between governments and the tech sector to end what he dubbed the “abuse of encryption”, describing it as a “moral problem” which democratic societies must grapple with in order to strike a balance between securit … | Continue reading
500 Startups is continuing its efforts to tap on Asia’s fast-growing startup scene after the U.S.-headquartered VC firm announced a $10 million fund in Vietnam. Read More | Continue reading
A day after Finnish oline bank Holvi got acquired by BBVA, here comes yet more consolidation in Europe’s fintech landscape. Today, Atom Bank — a still stealth, online-only startup, coincidentally also backed by BBVA — announced its first acquisition: Grasp, a design and developme … | Continue reading
Veeqo, the Wales-headquartered company that offers e-commerce inventory software, has acquired London-based parcel delivery startup ParcelBright to bolster its shipping features. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, though I understand the acquisition includes ParcelBright’s tec … | Continue reading
Google is currently talking with several Indian telecoms to help launch Project Loon, which uses balloons instead of cellular towers to provide affordable Internet access in remote areas. According to an article in the Economic Times, the company is in discussions with BSNL and o … | Continue reading
Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate that manages hugely popular payments service Alipay, is raising a new round of financing that could value the company as high as $60 billion ahead of a much-speculated public listing. Read More | Continue reading
Microsoft’s Skype introduced launched its real-time translation feature out of beta about half a year ago and today it is adding Arabic — and more specifically, Modern Standard Arabic — as its eighth supported language. As the Skype team told a small group of reporters at a press … | Continue reading
Authorities in New York have taken the first step to appealing a judge’s ruling last month that denied a request for information held on an iPhone. Read More | Continue reading
A New York City startup called Hero plans to replace those plastic pill organizers with a high-tech home appliance.As demonstrated for me by the Hero team, it’s easy to load your medicines, vitamins and other health supplements into the machine, then indicate the dosage you’ll ne … | Continue reading
Crimson Hexagon is announcing that it has raised $20 million in additional equity funding. Founded in 2007, the Boston-headquartered company helps brands and ad agencies track conversations across social media. It says its customer base has grown by more than 65 percent in the la … | Continue reading