Category: Tech news

 With significant stakes in U.S. operator Sprint and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba — not to mention its own domestic empire in Japan — SoftBank is already one of the world’s most influential companies. On top of that, however, SoftBank is also making some of the largest investments in tech companies on the planet — making it a key player in the global tech space. Read More

 It was a simple premise during the height of the selfie hype: take a photo of yourself as well as what’s in front of you. It was called a “frontback.” We launched Frontback two years ago, it’s been the highlight of our lives! Sadly, we're winding down on August 15th http://t.co/7Vb7IZuoyo — F. della Faille (@fredd) July 23, 2015 Now it’s called… Read More

 “Hi, My name is Melissa and also i’m calling on behalf of terribly a meeting a technology company at the forefront of, and both the city of entertainment. I wanted to follow up with you to make sure you saw love to hear announcement about their new H T M R html 5.” That gibberish is what Google Voice showed me as the written transcript of a recent voicemail. Given how good… Read More

 Nuclear fusion. Soylent. And now coffee stands?! Y Combinator is backing Wheelys, a European startup that has built an entire, compact cafe contained upon a bicycle. For $2,999, you can get a coffee stand with three built-in burners, running water, a loudspeaker and a high-powered electrical engine. They’re running an Indiegogo campaign for a new version of it today. “It’s… Read More

 Expensify is taking another step toward making expense reports easier by announcing integrations with a bunch of travel-related services.
So instead of forwarding travel receipts to [email protected], users can just make their bookings in the partner service of their choice, and the information will automatically be sent to Expensify for reporting. Read More

 In the last couple of years, it’s become the conventional wisdom that the hottest, fastest-growing tech companies benefit from steering clear of public market investors as long as possible.
The trend toward staying private is a pretty lousy development for employees looking to move on with their lives, though. They have to exercise their options within 90 days of leaving or else lose them. Read More

 After the bell, digital radio service Pandora reported its second quarter performance, generating an adjusted $0.05 per share on revenue of $285.6 million. The street had expected Pandora to generate a slim $0.02 per-share profit on top line of $283 million. Following its earnings beat, shares of Pandora are up around 5 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s equity spiked higher… Read More

 Troy Carter, talent manager to the stars (and successful VC), has announced that his company is launching SMASHD LABS, a new startup accelerator. The program will be based out of Atom Factory’s LA office, and invest $50,000 in five to seven startups in exchange for a three percent stake in the companies. Accepted startups will participate in a 10-week curriculum designed to teach… Read More

 Following the cessation of regular trading today, Amazon announced that it earned $0.19 per share in its second quarter, on revenue of $23.18 billion. The street had expected Amazon to lose $0.14 per share on revenue of $22.39 billion. Following its earnings smash, Amazon is up more than 14 percent after-hours. The company shed more than one percent of its value in regular trading, amidst… Read More

 Amazon released its latest quarterly earnings report today and for only the second time since it launched its AWS cloud computing service, the company broke out earnings for that business unit. The company reported that AWS now accounts for $1.824 billion of its total revenue. Read More

 AT&T reported its second-quarter financial performance following the bell, including revenue of $33.02 billion and earnings per share of $0.69. The street had expected the company to earn $0.63 per share on revenue of $33.06 billion.
Down in regular trading, AT&T is up 1 percent after-hours after its earnings announcement. Read More

 Popular Pays, a Y Combinator-backed startup connecting Instagram users with marketers, has raised $2 million in funding. Under the Popular Pays model, businesses describe the kind of campaign they’re looking to create, then Instagrammers can apply and list how much money they’d want to participate. The marketer chooses the users they want to work with, those users start posting… Read More

 Apple launched its 2015 Back to School deal today, offering those who purchase a new Mac, under education pricing, a free pair of Beats Solo 2 on-ear headphones. Users will also be able to upgrade to a pair of wireless Beats Solo 2 headphones for $100.
The education deal is open to qualifying students, parents of students, faculty and staff that purchase a Mac between now and September 18. Read More

 Kamcord, the YC-backed company that enables game recording on mobile, is the latest company to jump on the mobile live-streaming bandwagon after it added the feature to its Android and iOS apps. Read More

 Flickr announced today it’s bringing back its “Pro” subscription plan aimed at power users of Yahoo’s photo-sharing service, which will introduce a variety of new features, including access to improved analytics, software discounts, and more, as well as allow for an ad-free experience. Pro users will also again receive a “Pro” badge highlighted on their… Read More