Apple legalizes and taxes in-app tipping for content creators

 Apple’s newly published update to its App Store policies officially designates voluntary tipping via virtual currency as in-app purchases that Apple taxes 30 percent. By taking tipping out of the grey area, more app developers might institute digital tip jars as an alternative way to get creators paid without having to offer ad revenue sharing. Read More

GoFundMe, now with $4B in donations from 40M donors, plots Euro expansion

 If you’ve ever contributed to a charitable fundraising campaign online in the last seven years, chances are that one of those campaigns have been through GoFundMe, a web platform where people can set up and donate to campaigns for charitable causes. The site and the company that created it have been on a long-term growth tear — and now it’s gearing up for the next step. Read More

Cortana can now do price comparisons when you’re shopping online

 Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana will now be able to save you money when you’re shopping online. The company announced today that it will begin a pilot test of a new Cortana feature that will pop up the best price and availability of similar products, when you’re shopping the websites of over a dozen top retailers in the U.S., including Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Best Buy,… Read More

Chill out — Russia’s Skolkovo project attempts a re-boot with a new venture fund

 “Everyone should take a chill pill” raged Russian President Vladimir Putin during his session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week. He was of course referring to the storm of controversy surrounding the alleged ties between Russia and the Trump Whitehouse. But Putin’s outburst reflects a wider Russian frustration. The narrative about Russia’s… Read More

OwnLocal acquires Wanderful, a local deal startup backed by newspaper giants

OwnLocal team OwnLocal has acquired Wanderful Media, bringing together two companies focused on local advertising and deals. OwnLocal works with local newspapers to turn traditional print ads into digital campaigns. Wanderful, meanwhile, operates Find&Save, a website and app that brings the newspaper deals and coupons online. Read More

Future of Sex podcast creator Bryony Cole talks the future of funbots and New York’s first sextech hackathon

 In what turned out to be a surprising SFW podcast Future of Sex podcast creator Bryony Cole joined us to talk about the future of sex, teledilonics and sex robots. Not content to let the media and the world stay squeamish about the topic of sex robots Cole expects many of us to have had sex with a robot by 2047 and believes many of our children will first experience sex with a robot before… Read More

Target and Cartwheel apps to merge starting this summer, mobile payments and improved maps to follow

 Target’s mobile app strategy will undergo a significant change, starting this summer. The retailer announced this week it will soon combine the functionality of its Cartwheel savings app with its main shopping app, in preparation for an eventual Cartwheel shutdown. The Target app will also receive a notable upgrade this year, adding support for an indoor map that shows your location in… Read More

Educating the next generation of robotics engineers, a workshop at TC Sessions: Robotics

 TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics will feature the industry’s best roboticists, technologists and investors. But what about the next generation? Everyone knows that there are not enough robotics engineers to go around, and the demand will only increase. We’ve enlisted the help of three amazing educators at the forefront of STEM and engineering education who will discuss their views on… Read More

Now that it owns SlideShare, Microsoft is closing its own file-sharing service Docs.com

 Microsoft announced today it will retire its older file-sharing site Docs.com on December 15, 2017, as a result of its LinkedIn acquisition. With LinkedIn, Microsoft also gained access to SlideShare, a top file-sharing network on the web – and one’s that’s now far more heavily used than Microsoft’s own Docs.com. SlideShare “represents the ideal platform for… Read More

For DeRay McKesson, the social justice movement needs to move from the streets to the statehouse

 DeRay McKesson has a plan. The man who became one of the most recognizable faces (and social media voices through his over 800,000 person strong Twitter feed) for the campaign for social justice that launched in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014, is thinking about what’s next for the increasingly large community of people in the United States advocating for change… Read More