Category: Tech news

Verizon is finally buying Yahoo, Jay Z is planning a VC fund, Uber investigates sexual harassment claims, Boeing doubles down on satellites and Skurt offers on-demand rental cars. All this on Crunch Report. Read More

 This week, Uber has taken steps to let employees — and the broader world — know that it plans to address its cultural failings as a company. Read More

 Consumer VR has been around for a nearly a year and there are a ton of questions floating around that still boggle even the sharper minds in the industry. One that’s been answered (to some degree), however, is how on earth developers can show consumers what VR is actually like without needing them to experience it in person. Researchers have made pretty quick work of answering… Read More

 If you were lucky enough to get your hands on an NES Classic Edition this last holiday season, you were probably impressed (as was I) with the quality of the emulation — so much so you wished it had a few more games, or maybe even that there was an SNES version. Well, your dream is coming true — kind of, anyway. Read More

 It looks like Apple has finally picked up one of the last remaining pieces of internet property linked to one of its key service brands: the iPhone and Mac giant has quietly taken over ownership of iCloud.net, TechCrunch has learned. Subsequent to that, the small-time Asian social network that existed at the site has informed its users that it will be shutting down by the end of this… Read More

 Android Wear 2.0 was bound to be a disappointment. There was just too much hanging on the second generation of the wearable operating system. After all, a significant chunk of declining smartwatch shipments was laid at the feet of the OS’s ongoing delay and, as last year drew to a close, studies like this report from IDC pointed to a dismal end to the year for a space so many were once… Read More

 As the TV show Silicon Valley has shown, the tech community there is ripe for satire. So it’s not surprising that the next “product” to be born into this satirical “vertical” is a board game where you must go through the sometimes tortuous process of raising money. Read More

 Stanford University is regularly credited for playing a key role in the economic and technological success story that is Silicon Valley. So what should universities elsewhere be doing to emulate that same success? One academic says the schools of the future should be great, big incubators. Read More

 Following a scathing report of sexual harassment at Uber over the weekend, CEO Travis Kalanick hosted an all-hands meeting today, along with board member Arianna Huffington and Chief Human Resources Officer Liane Hornsey, to discuss the company’s next steps. Read More

 One of the remarkable things about the roadshow presentations for hotly-anticipated IPOs — where they’ll make a pitch to investors and answer questions — is that they are often unremarkable.
That seemed about the same case for Snap, which was presenting to potential investors at the Mandarin Hotel in New York this afternoon. Over lunch, a packed ballroom 30 stories up at… Read More

 Uber pinned hopes on running its self-driving fleet in San Francisco but motored off to Arizona two months ago when that plan ran up against some local red tape. Now, just as Uber is dealing with an explosive report of sexual harassment within its engineering team, the company has officially rolled out its self-driving cars in the Grand Canyon state. Starting today, those in Tempe, Arizona… Read More

 A startup called Exyn Technologies Inc. today revealed AI software that enables drones to fly autonomously, even in dark, obstacle-filled environments or beyond the reaches of GPS. Read More

 Aerospace company Boeing is in the process of changing the way satellites are built and made operational, according to the Wall Street Journal, with an eye toward automating much of the process and making it easier to ramp production while also increasing overall efficiency. Boeing’s efforts reflect the general transformation of the private space industry, driven by pressure put on… Read More

 A Swiss startup, Terpon SA, is making virtual reality webcams specifically for the adult entertainment industry. The cameras aren’t available for purchase, but customers can rent them for about $30 a month, a price that includes around the clock technical support. Terpon Chief Executive Jean-Claude Artonne said he wants to empower adult performers around the world to create immersive… Read More

 As our society continues to devalue facts and statistics, Data.world, a two year old data collaboration startup out of Austin, Texas, is fighting back with its passionate community of data nerds. Today the company is announcing a $18.7 million Series B led by Pat Ryan’s family investment group to further build out its platform for aggregating and analyzing data.
CEO Brett Hurt and… Read More