It’s important to encourage your employees to take time off. Make it clear to them that this is a business issue — not just a personal one. Use a few minutes in a team meeting to share some of the research on the benefits of vacation, such as higher productivity and less stress. Then keep […]
February 8, 2018
Toyota invests $69M in Japanese Uber rival backed by the taxi industry via @TechCrunch
This week isn’t turning out to be great one for Uber in Japan. Two of its investors — Didi and SoftBank — are teaming up to launch a rival service, while one of its existing competitors has just landed a big cash infusion and highly influential backer after Toyota backed JapanTaxi. The auto giant said it will invest 7.5 billion JPY ($69 billion) into JapanTaxi, an… Read More
Xiaomi’s wearable device partner Huami raises $110M in NYSE IPO via @TechCrunch
China’s top wearable firm Huami has raised $110 million after it listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Fresh from launching iits Apple Watch-like Amazfit Blip this week, Huami sold 10 million shares at $11 a pop, the mid-point of its price range. The company joined the NYSE under the ‘HMI’ ticker symbol. It potentially raised up to $16.5 million more if… Read More
There’s no App Store ’emoji apocalypse,’ just inconsistent policy enforcement via @TechCrunch
A number of iOS app developers have been mystified by a new wave of app rejections related to their use of Apple’s emojis. They’ve suspected that a new App Store crackdown is underway. However, the company hasn’t changed its policy on Apple emoji usage in apps, nor its enforcement, according to sources familiar with the App Store review team’s processes. The policy… Read More
China’s Didi partners with SoftBank to launch taxi-hailing services in Japan via @TechCrunch
Uber’s tangled relationship with investors Didi and SoftBank is about to get more complicated after the duo inked an agreement to introduce taxi-hailing services that will compete directly with Uber in Japan. Didi dominates the Chinese market — thanks in no small amount to its acquisition of second-placed Uber China — but this year it has expanded to Brazil via an acquisition… Read More
Waymo gets to the heart of its case via @TechCrunch
Attorneys for Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle spinout, are nearing the end of their plaintiffs presentation against Uber in a trial that is likely to have broad ramifications for the common Valley practice of acqui-hiring talent. The case hinges on whether the jury believes Uber’s assertion that the technology used in its autonomous car project was developed and acquired… Read More
Facebook confirms test of a downvote button for flagging comments via @TechCrunch
How can Facebook promote meaningful interaction between users? Apparently by letting them downvote inappropriate, offensive, or misleading comments to hide them. Facebook is now testing a downvote button on a limited set of public Page post comment reels, the company confirms to TechCrunch. A Facebook spokesperson tells us “We are not testing a dislike button. We are exploring a feature… Read More
‘Pod Save America’ is coming to HBO via @TechCrunch
HBO is bringing the popular left-wing podcast Pod Save America to TV this fall with a series of hour-long specials. The podcast is hosted Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Tommy Vietor and Jon Lovett, all alums of the Obama administration. They started out by hosting the podcast Keepin’ it 1600 for The Ringer (a site backed by HBO), before launching a new podcast in January from their new… Read More
Why Amazon’s Grocery Store May Not Be the Future of Retail
Harry Haysom/Getty Images When Amazon opened its cashier-less concept grocery store to the public in Seattle on January 22, the company’s stock rose 2.5% – slightly more than the 2.4% increase after Amazon announced that it was buying Whole Foods this past June. Does Amazon Go signal that smartphone apps and virtual carts will replace […]
How Cloud Computing Is Changing Management
yagi studio/Getty Images Theories and practices of management often spring from the opportunities created by new technologies. Interchangeable parts spurred ideas about structuring assembly lines and logistics. The complex calculations of the field known as Operations Research were enabled by mainframe computing. Client-server technology begat enterprise resource planning systems, and the consequent system-wide visibility that was […]
Nvidia up 10% after Q4 earnings beat, says cryptocurrency demand ‘exceeded expectations’ via @TechCrunch
Nvidia’s successes are continuing to pile on as the company’s gaming and data center businesses drove revenues up 34 percent year-over-year. Nvidia shares were up around 10 percent after-hours following the company’s release of its fourth-quarter earnings report. The company reported EPS of $1.78 on revenue of $2.91 billion, beating analyst expectations of $1.17 per share… Read More
Nest co-founder Matt Rogers announces exit from Google via @TechCrunch
A day after Alphabet announced plans to roll Nest into its hardware team, co-founder Matt Rogers has announced that he’s exiting the company. The story was first noted by CNET and quickly confirmed by Rogers on Twitter. Read More
Qualcomm rejects Broadcom’s $121 billion bid via @TechCrunch
The largest tech acquisition offer in history wasn’t enough. Qualcomm’s board of directors issued a statement on Thursday saying that they are turning down Broadcom’s $121 billion bid to buy the competing chipmaker. According to the release, Qualcomm “unanimously rejected” an “unsolicited proposal” to buy all of its shares at $82 each, of which $60… Read More
This Old House launches its DIY website House One via @TechCrunch
Media executives sometimes say that their companies are like a startup — but in the case of This Old House, that’s actually kind of true, since Time Inc. sold the 40-year-old brand (best known for the home improvement TV show of the same name) to Eric Thorkilsen and TZP Growth Partners less than two years ago. Read More
Judge rules GrubHub properly classified delivery driver as independent contractor via @TechCrunch
A few months after hearing closing arguments in the Lawson v. GrubHub case, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has ruled Raef Lawson, the plaintiff, was indeed an independent contractor while driving and delivering food for GrubHub. “We’re extremely satisfied with today’s ruling in Lawson v. Grubhub, which validates the freedom our delivery partners enjoy from deciding when, where… Read More
Same-day delivery service Deliv launches Deliv Rx for same-day prescriptions via @TechCrunch
Deliv, the crowdsourced same-day delivery service which today partners with retailers like Macy’s, Best Buy, Petsmart and Walmart on various initiatives, today announced a new service to offer same-day delivery of prescription medications. At launch, Deliv Rx, as the service is being called, will power same-day delivery of prescriptions for select Walgreens, as well as Kay Pharmacy,… Read More
What’s needed to unlock the real power of blockchain and distributed apps via @TechCrunch
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about the future of blockchain lately. With cryptocurrency prices reaching all-time highs and total market capitalization topping $800 billion recently, everyone wants to know if we’re witnessing the second coming of the internet or the craziest bubble of all time. If you ask me, it’s a bit of both. Read More
Now you can use Alexa to create music playlists via @TechCrunch
The recent arrival of the Apple HomePod and Google Home Max have demonstrated, if nothing else, what a smart speaker can be when it’s music first. On the other hand, audio’s never been as much of a driver on Amazon’s Echo line, though the company did take a small step in that direction with its recent refresh. This week, the company’s adding another small but useful… Read More
Scribd’s new unlimited plan for audiobooks and ebooks might be an avid reader’s dream via @TechCrunch
Avid audiobook nerds tired of dealing with Audible’s nonsense or long library queues now have a new way to get get a steady stream of the good stuff. Scribd just announced that it will be reinstating an unlimited plan offering relatively unfettered access to ebooks, audiobooks, news, magazines, documents and sheet music. Unfortunately, the service sounds like it won’t be truly… Read More
How Cloud Computing Is Changing Management
yagi studio/Getty Images Theories and practices of management often spring from the opportunities created by new technologies. Interchangeable parts spurred ideas about structuring assembly lines and logistics. The complex calculations of the field known as Operations Research were enabled by mainframe computing. Client-server technology begat enterprise resource planning systems, and the consequent system-wide visibility that was […]
Human sequencing pioneer George Church wants to give you the power to sell your DNA on the blockchain via @TechCrunch
The blockchain is the buzziest thing on the internet these days and now MIT professor and godfather of the Human Genome Project George Church wants to put your genes on it. His new startup Nebula Genomics plans to sequence your genome for under $1,000 (the current going rate of whole genome sequencing) and then add your data to the blockchain through the purchase of a “Nebula… Read More
Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing: What’s the Difference?
Content marketing is a marketing strategy in which a company specifically develops content (i.e. blog posts, social media posts, white papers, newsletters, eBooks, etc.) that people will find valuable and want to consume. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, sums up content marketing: “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating […]
Peeling Back the Layers with Artist @chebmoha To see more of… via #Instagram Blog
Peeling Back the Layers with Artist @chebmoha To see more of his work, follow @chebmoha on Instagram. Twenty-five-year-old Cheb Moha (@chebmoha) was born in Iraq, raised in Libya and Canada, then couch-surfed his way across Europe and the Middle East. He’s settled (for a moment) in the United Arab Emirates. “I have never encountered a place that was boring to me,” says Moha, whose first photos were made with an old film camera and a roll of expired film. “The pictures were really bad,” he admits. But he’d found a way of connecting with people around the world. “It’s a very intimate thing to ask someone, ‘Can I take your picture?’ It created a lot of friendships, a lot of relationships and opportunities.” From those…
Apple addresses iOS source code leak, says it appears to be tied to three-year-old software via @TechCrunch
Earlier this week, iOS source code showed up on GitHub, raising concerns that hackers could find a way to comb the material for vulnerabilities. Apple has yet to confirm or deny the legitimacy of the posted material, but all signs point to it being the real deal — a fact seemingly confirmed by a DMCA takedown notice issued to the platform. Read More
Microsoft Build will run from May 7 to 9 in Seattle, will overlap with Google I/O via @TechCrunch
Scheduling tech conferences is hard, especially in May, when seemingly every company wants to hold a major event, including Google and Microsoft. Typically, Google I/O and Microsoft Build, the flagship developer conferences for both companies, happen within a week or two of each other in May. But not this year. Microsoft today announced that its Build conference in Seattle will run from May 7… Read More
Get ready for a bunch of new emojis (yes, including a partying face) via @TechCrunch
The world needs more emojis. Ever since emojis became a cultural phenomenon, tech companies have been working together to add new smileys, animals and objects. And the Unicode consortium just published this year’s list of new emojis. While many glaring omissions have been fixed in recent years, the Unicode consortium has accepted 157 new emojis. But who are these people who get to… Read More
Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing: What’s the Difference?
Content marketing is a marketing strategy in which a company specifically develops content (i.e. blog posts, social media posts, white papers, newsletters, eBooks, etc.) that people will find valuable and want to consume. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, sums up content marketing: “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating […]
YC-backed Sketchbox is a tool for designing AR/VR environments without code via @TechCrunch
Designing VR and AR products is a challenge that’s not particularly well-suited for this reality. Unity and Epic Games have made great strides in adapting their workflows to allow users to edit virtual reality content in a very precise way, but at the same time, they’re both still very technical programs tailored towards people who are technically skilled. Today, Sketchbox is… Read More
Facebook brings animation tools to its Quill VR painting app via @TechCrunch
After having declared last year that the app would receive no future updates, Facebook is delivering a big update to its VR painting tool Quill. The update expands on Quill’s initial promise, expanding it from being a platform for designing static scenes to one that can handle dynamic animated ones. The new updates adds the ability for artists to craft and edit frame-by-frame… Read More
Chrome will soon mark all unencrypted pages as ‘not secure’ via @TechCrunch
Google’s Chrome browser will soon flag every site that doesn’t use HTTPS encryption. Starting in July, with the launch of Chrome 68, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as ‘not secure’ and prominently highlight this in its URL bar. Over the course of the last few years, Google has strongly advocated for the use of HTTPS to help keep your browsing data safe from anybody… Read More
Sylabs launches Singularity Pro, a container platform for high performance computing via @TechCrunch
Sylabs, the commercial company behind the open source Singularity container engine, announced its first commercial product today, Singularity Pro. Sylabs was launched in 2015 to create a container platform specifically designed for scientific and high performance computing use cases, two areas that founder and CEO Gregory Kurtzer, says were left behind in the containerization movement over… Read More
When it comes to the crypto wealthy, wealth managers may be out of luck via @TechCrunch
It’s a half-serious joke among people who bet early on cryptocurrencies and have watched their values soar. At some point, it’s time to buy a Lamborghini, as did Peter Saddington, an Atlanta-based coder and self-described serial entrepreneur who says he cashed out 45 bitcoins last fall to purchase a $200,000 Lamborghini with race exhaust features. Saddington tells CNBC that he… Read More
How Cloud Computing Is Changing Management
yagi studio/Getty Images Theories and practices of management often spring from the opportunities created by new technologies. Interchangeable parts spurred ideas about structuring assembly lines and logistics. The complex calculations of the field known as Operations Research were enabled by mainframe computing. Client-server technology begat enterprise resource planning systems, and the consequent system-wide visibility that was […]
WhatsApp has launched person-to-person payments into beta in India via @TechCrunch
WhatsApp has begun testing a new payments feature in India that will allow people to send money to other WhatsApp users, excluding merchant accounts. The feature is currently in beta, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans, but hasn’t been publicly announced because it’s not widely available at this time. The company has been working on support for a… Read More
The real consequences of fake porn and news via @TechCrunch
There is a movement underway to ban involuntary pornography, videos that use machine learning libraries like TensorFlow to superimpose faces of unwilling participants onto porn actors’ bodies. Yesterday as TC’s Taylor Hatmaker noted, Reddit published a content policy banning such images and video, while also shutting down a series of subreddits devoted to the practice. Pornhub… Read More
Black people in tech are still paid less than white people, according to Hired via @TechCrunch
Pay discrimination and discrepancies based on gender and race are nothing new. Unfortunately, it seems that little has changed over the years. In the tech industry, white people on average make $136,000 a year, which is about $6,000 more than black people with the same level of expertise. It also turns out white tech workers ask for more money, according to Hired’s data. Hired’s… Read More
Registration is now open for Disrupt SF 2018 via @TechCrunch
Hey startup world, get ready for the biggest, most ambitious TechCrunch Disrupt event ever. Disrupt, the world’s top technology and startup event, will take place in San Francisco on September 5-7, 2018, and it’s about to level-up in a big way. This is the one tech event you do not want to miss, and tickets are on sale now. For starters, as we mentioned late last year,… Read More
Twitter’s fourth-quarter results: The TechCrunch Review via @TechCrunch
Here at TechCrunch, we cover company earnings on a pretty regular basis. And we promise it’s for a good reason: The success and failure of these publicly-traded companies tends to give us at least one more data point when it comes to calibrating which technologies are exciting to investors, as well as the trajectory of those technologies. One of our favorite companies to cover,… Read More
Snapchat starts selling $10+ captionable AR masks for events via @TechCrunch
By combining augmented reality with your customizable captions, Snapchat hopes you’ll share more from birthdays and weddings while earning it a little money. Today Snapchat launches Custom Lenses, expanding its 2016–launched on-demand geofilter program so you can make temporary, geofenced AR effects that people can add to their Snaps at a special event. Users choose from 150… Read More
Disney has begun populating its parks with autonomous, personality-driven robots via @TechCrunch
The process of making a Disney park feel alive is most easily encapsulated in animatronic figures. These hydraulic, pneumatic and now electric figures have been a fixture at Disneyland since the 60s. Since then, massive advancements have been made in control systems, movement architecture and programming. The most advanced animatronic figures like the Na’Vi Shaman in Disney… Read More
Hulu rolls out support for 60fps, a top request from sports fans via @TechCrunch
Hulu announced on Wednesday it has begun to rollout 60fps (frames per second) to its Live TV service – something that’s been one of the most-requested features, especially from those who stream live sports. These higher-quality streams are initially coming to a select number of channels and devices as the first phase of a larger rollout. One of the troubles with switching from… Read More
Apple’s HomePod pre-orders sell out ahead of launch via @TechCrunch
The HomePod was never preordained to be a blockbuster for Apple. Sure, the smart speaker has received overwhelmingly positive marks for sound quality, but the product is a bit late to the game, after both Amazon and Google have launched major offensives. The company also got dinged for its relatively limited Siri functionality at launch. By one metric, however, Apple’s first… Read More
The Curious Case of Blendtec’s Viral “Will It Blend” Videos
Infomercials are no longer in the realm of late night network TV that you leave on just so the house isn’t quiet anymore. They’ve found…
How Cloud Computing Is Changing Management
yagi studio/Getty Images Theories and practices of management often spring from the opportunities created by new technologies. Interchangeable parts spurred ideas about structuring assembly lines and logistics. The complex calculations of the field known as Operations Research were enabled by mainframe computing. Client-server technology begat enterprise resource planning systems, and the consequent system-wide visibility that was […]
The first teaser trailer for ‘Venom’ has plenty of Tom Hardy, not much Venom via @TechCrunch
If you’ve been waiting to see what the new movie version of Venom will look like — well, keep waiting. Venom stars Tom Hardy (!) as Eddie Brock/Venom, and the film’s first teaser trailer has plenty of Hardy as Brock, plus glimpses of fellow cast members Michelle Williams (!!) and Riz Ahmed. Sadly, though, it lacks any footage of Venom in-costume. For those of you who… Read More
Amazon launches a Polly WordPress plugin that turns blog posts into audio, including podcasts via @TechCrunch
Amazon today is launching a new Amazon Polly WordPress plugin that gives your blog a voice by creating audio versions of your posts. The resulting audio can be played from within the blog post itself, or accessed in podcast form using a feature called Amazon Pollycast, the company says. The plugin itself was jointly designed by Amazon’s AWS team and managed WordPress platform… Read More
PAX Labs brings on Bharat Vasan as new CEO via @TechCrunch
PAX Labs has a new CEO. The company, which makes loose-leaf vaporizers, has brought on Bharat Vasan as Chief Executive Officer. Vasan has spent the last 15 years in consumer hardware, serving as the President and COO of August Home, which was acquired by Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy in 2017. Before August, Vasan was the cofounder of Basis (a fitness-based wearable company), which was acquired… Read More
Bike-sharing startup Spin is getting into scooter-sharing via @TechCrunch
Because there are not enough ways to get around major cities and campuses, Spin is working to launch stationless electric scooter-sharing. These aren’t the electric scooters you see in San Francisco, operated by Scoot Networks. These are essentially electrified Razor-like scooters that can go up to 15 mph and cover 18 miles on a single charge. “Spin’s mission is to… Read More
Twitter is now worth more than Snap via @TechCrunch
Adding to what’s already a Very Weird 2018, Twitter now has a bigger market cap than Snapchat maker Snap after posting a thoroughly interesting earnings beat for its fourth quarter this morning. Shares of Twitter rocketed more than 25% this morning following the report, which showed the service is actually able to generate a profit on a GAAP basis. Twitter already wrapped up 2017 with a… Read More
New credit card skimmer worked in plain sight at Aldi stores via @TechCrunch
Police in Lower Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania have spotted a group of thieves who are placing completely camouflaged skimmers on top of credit card terminals in Aldi stores. The skimmers, which the gang placed in plain sight of surveillance video cameras, look exactly like the original credit card terminals but would store debit card numbers and PINs of unsuspecting shoppers. “While Aldi… Read More
Equity live from SaaStr: The market loses its mind, bitcoin tanks, and when will Slack go public via @TechCrunch
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week was a treat. Not only did venture capitalist Annie Lamont join our own Katie Roof, Matthew Lynley, and Alex Wilhelm, we also recorded this episode live at SaaStr, a yearly SaaS-focused confab in San Francisco. (SaaStr is the brainchild of venture… Read More
Apple partners with NBC on a new Winter Olympics section in Apple News via @TechCrunch
While Apple continues to focus its eye on how to step up its game in the area of original content, it’s also striking some partnerships that could help put its name on the map specifically in sports coverage. The company is adding a new section in Apple News that will be dedicated to the Winder Olympics in Pyeongchang. The Olympics section will appear in the “For You”… Read More
Adobe brings more AI smarts to its Experience Manager via @TechCrunch
Unless you’ve ever used it, chances are you’ve never heard of Adobe’s Experience Manager. Inside of large enterprises, though, it’s among the most popular cross-platform content management systems for marketing teams and those who have to manage large online stores. Today, the company is launching an update to the Experience Manager that brings a number of new… Read More
3 Emerging Market Risks Companies Should Watch for in 2018
miragec/Getty Images Top leaders tend to focus more on status updates than on contingency planning. They devote far more time to internal execution and competitive risks than to external risks that can change the playing field. This means that many emerging market risks get cut from the senior leadership agenda. At Frontier Strategy Group, we […]
LogMeIn is buying Jive Communications for up to $357M to step up in enterprise unified comms via @TechCrunch
Yet more consolidation in the enterprise collaboration software market. Today LogMeIn, the company that offers conferencing services like GoToMeeting and join.me as well as authentication and other online services to businesses and others, announced that it would acquire Jive Communications for $342 million in cash plus up to $15 million based on reaching specific milestones in the next two… Read More
Top 50 Local Citation Sites for USA, UK, Canada & Australia
Top 50 Citation Sites – Updated 2018 We originally published this list of top local citation sites in 2013. In February 2018 we reviewed all the local directories included and updated each of the country lists to ensure that this is the most complete and fresh citation-building resource available online for anyone looking for business listings or local directories. […]
GOAT is merging with legendary sneaker retailer Flight Club and raising $60 million via @TechCrunch
Sneaker marketplace GOAT is merging with Flight Club, essentially the first name in after market sneaker retail. It’s also raising a $60M series C led by Danny Rimer at Index with previous investors Accel, Matrix, Upfront and Network participating. The raise is significant, putting the total just shy of $98M raised, but it’s the merger with Flight Club that will cause this news to… Read More
Twitter is suddenly making money and Wall Street likes it a whole lot via @TechCrunch
Despite flat user numbers and a nominal beat in revenue, Twitter’s fortune-reversal over the past several months is still going as the company said it actually posted a GAAP net income — sending the stock jumping more than 12%. Twitter’s overall user numbers were flat, but the company was still able to post a surprising profit and fell above what Wall Street expected for… Read More
TapCommerce’s founders are back with Attentive, a messaging startup that’s raised $13M via @TechCrunch
Attentive is coming out of stealth today with the announcement that it’s raised $13 million in Series A funding. The company was founded by Brian Long and Andrew Jones. They previously founded TapCommerce, a mobile ad startup that was acquired by Twitter for a reported price of $100 million. Long and Jones both worked at Twitter for a couple of years before leaving to start something… Read More
FAQ This! What Is PGP?
We live in an age where it seems like privacy comes at a premium. It feels like the number of headlines we see about data breaches, for example, come at a higher (and troubling) frequency every year. Many of us wonder what we need to do to protect ourselves. Freeze our credit? Use a different […]
FAQ This! What Is PGP?
We live in an age where it seems like privacy comes at a premium.
Chinese police are using smart glasses to identify potential suspects via @TechCrunch
China already operates the world’s largest surveillance state with some 170 CCTV cameras at work, but its line of sight is about to get a new angle thanks to new smart eyewear that is being piloted by police officers. The smart specs look a lot like Google Glass, but they are used for identifying potential suspects. The device connects to a feed which taps into China’s state… Read More