Category: Tech news

 Kind of like the TV series Person of Interest but somehow with even less humor. Watch Dogs 2 is luckily nothing like that, with a bright, vividly accurate San Francisco backdrop, a hero you actually like and jokes throughout the plot that actually land. Oh, and all the hacking stuff that was good in the first one is here, too – but better.
Silicon Valley and the Bay area are your… Read More

 When startups go looking for executive talent, they want someone with some experience working for a successful organization. When it comes to the cloud, there is a dearth of expertise — with one notable exception — Salesforce. Perhaps, that’s why Salesforce, by far the most successful pure SaaS company ever, has become a pipeline for executive talent. The company launched… Read More

 Though PC and console VR are the sexier formats we’re all excited about, is mobile where VR will really scale in the near term? This is a question I’ve been posing to investors and innovators. Read More

 Japan is reportedly eyeing a return to the top of the supercomputer ranks. The county’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to spend 19.5 billion yen ($173 million) on a new supercomputer, according to budget filings reported by Reuters, with aims of developing a machine capable of 130 petaflops.
That number would put the company in the top spot, moving the AI Bridging Cloud… Read More

 Peter Thiel is famously loyal to his employees, and vice versa. Many of the dozens of people employed by his venture firm, Founders Fund, once worked for Thiel at his hedge fund, Clarium Capital. He even co-founded a late-stage venture firm, Mithril Capital, with one former Clarium managing director, Ajay Royan. Little wonder then that Thiel is reportedly pulling one principal at Founders… Read More

 There’s no shortage of startup incubators and accelerators, but there’s always room for improvement and iterations on an old operating model. Expa Labs, a six-month program for startups that spun out of Uber co-founder Garrett Camp’s Expa Studios, has a different take on the startup accelerator/incubator model. Last week, it wrapped up its first batch of startups. Launched… Read More

 At the time of its inception some two centuries ago, the supply chain was a revolutionary idea that would improve visibility and control on goods and products as they moved from point A to point B. But the old concept and technology can no longer support today’s production and supply cycles. Hopefully, the supply chain problem can be remedied with blockchain. Read More

 This summer saw the inevitable controversy arise when a Tesla automobile was involved in a fatal traffic accident while operating in its headline-grabbing Autopilot mode. While early reports seem to point toward human error by both parties involved, many people are debating what responsibility falls onto Tesla and its autonomous-driving functions. Read More

 Electric vehicle maker Faraday Future may not be able to make its first cars in time to hits its 2017 shipping deadlines, according to a new report by the Financial Times on Thursday. It’s hard to ship a car when your factory itself isn’t finished, is the main issue – FF’s Nevada-based manufacturing facility broke ground in April, but construction has since been… Read More

 When TechCrunch went to Beijing recently, I got the chance to try out KatVR’s Kat Walk virtual reality walking simulation rig. The setup encircles the player’s waist, keeping them upright no matter what’s going on in virtual space, while the special shoes and a slick plastic pad, both laden with sensors, help translate your perambulation into virtual action.
The VR setup… Read More

 Welcome to the 2016 TechCrunch Holiday Gift Guide! We’ll be rolling out a bunch of guides leading up to Christmas, hopefully making your holiday shopping a little easier. Looking for gifts for others on your list? Check out our full 2016 Gift Guide Hub. Your home could probably stand to be more connected, and it’s finally getting to the point where gadgets around the house add… Read More

 Despite ongoing uncertainty for business about the impact of the UK Brexit vote to leave the European Union, London-based fintech startup GoCardless reckons the government is now signaling it recognizes the “high growth” potential of the sector. Read More

 With Thanksgiving Day in full swing, many are turning to the internet to get their holiday shopping started. Adobe is tracking e-commerce transactions in real time, and it said that by 5pm Eastern time online retailers had clocked up $1.15 billion in sales, up 13.6% on a year ago. Of that, $449 million was spent on mobile devices ($322 million smartphones; $127 million tablets), a… Read More

 Every big company was a lean and mean startup at one time. Now, confronted with digital disruption all around us, we’re all rushing to rekindle the entrepreneurial flame that first put our businesses on the map. Every company wants to be “innovative,” but “innovation” has become an overused buzzword that has lost its meaning. Companies should focus more on the… Read More

 Virata Watches is the brain-child of Patrick Wacks from Canton, Ohio. Wacks was inspired by his favorite Formula 1 cars to create a watch as streamlined and sexy as a race car. He’s finally shipping his watches and he’s running a Kickstarter to get them out the door.
The feature I find interesting is the clever, highly-engineered case. The watches look like chunks of crystalized… Read More