Category: Tech news

 These are what Facebook calls “VR emoji,” and they’re the company’s vision for how we’ll convey emotion in virtual reality. We’re not talking about yellow illustrated emoticons popping up over your head. Instead, your avatar’s eyes, eye brows, mouth and other facial features will change to mimic how we exhibit body language in the real… Read More

 Zenvolution doesn’t really roll off the tongue. But hey, you come for the gadgets – the clever word play is really just a bonus, at best. And the company certainly has a lot to showcase on that front, covering all of the requisite bases with a new laptop, phone, tablet and watch. Let’s start with the notebook and go from there, shall we? The company’s got a new version… Read More

 There are subscription services for clothes, shoes, accessories, makeup, and even tampons, so why not one for handbags? That’s the premise, at least, behind a new startup called Ivory Clasp, which is promising to offer quality, stylish handbags that retail for over $100 for just $45 per month. The service sends name-brand bags, not knock-offs, and allows you to keep the purses you… Read More

 RYOT, the Culver City California-based virtual reality outfit snapped up by the Huffington Post last year, works on the cutting edge of the news business, bringing audiences straight to the scene. That’s an unusual use of the new medium – most VR startups focus on sports and gaming empires. But RYOT took its VR team to the Rio 2016 Olympics, was there for the Democrat and… Read More

 Coupa was off to the races when it went public on Thursday. The “spend management” software company priced its IPO at $18 and saw its shares almost double during its first day of trading. With clients like Nike and Toyota, Coupa helps companies keep tabs on everyday expenditures and competes with divisions of Oracle and SAP. Founded a decade ago, they claim they’ve saved… Read More

 Sony has a pair of new cameras for sale — though perhaps “new” isn’t the word, since they’re more like upgrades to existing devices. The price is upgraded, too. You’re not getting away for under a grand, though you’ll be getting a lot of camera for your money. The RX100 V is, as you might guess, the fifth iteration of this pocket-size powerhouse.… Read More

 Flex, the tampon alternative you can wear during sex, has raised a $3 million seed round led by Vivek Ranadive’s new fund, Better Our World Ventures Fund, with participation from Cyan Banister of Founders Fund, Ellen Pao and others. This comes just a couple of months after Flex raised $1 million from Y Combinator, Amplify.LA and others. Flex plans to use the funding to fine-tune… Read More

 Oculus co-founder and Trump troll financier Palmer Luckey was conspicuously missing from the keynote stage at today’s Oculus Connect 3 conference in San Jose, CA. That likely related to the backlash against news that Luckey donated $10,000 to Nimble America, a pro-Trump non-profit dedicated to bashing Hillary Clinton with offensive memes. Luckey typically dispenses high-level thoughts… Read More

 Nike announced earlier this week that it will be releasing a new edition of the Nike Mags, its self-lacing shoes inspired by Back to the Future — but only 89 pairs, which will be raffled off (tickets cost $10), with proceeds benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation‘s research on Parkinson’s disease. I got a chance to (briefly) try on a pair of Mags and discuss the… Read More

 Kodak accidentally teased an upcoming phone today in a now-deleted tweet. Fortunately, the image accompanying the tweet is also easily found at Kodakphones.com. Read More

 A group of Democratic senators asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate cell site simulators like Stingrays to determine if the surveillance devices used by local law enforcement agencies are disrupting cellphone service for ordinary consumers and 911 calls. The senators are also asking the FCC to look into whether Stingray use disproportionately affects people of color.… Read More

 The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Snap — the now-parent company of Snapchat — is working on an initial public offering for as early as March that could value the company at $25 billion or higher. The company most recently raised $1.8 billion in a financing round in May this year. The company has around 150 million daily active users, and leaked documents reported by… Read More

 Oculus wants to make sure the next computing platform isn’t dominated by white males like the last ones. The company has announced it will put $10 million toward supporting VR app and video creators of diverse backgrounds, including women and people of color. This comes alongside Facebook and Oculus committing to invest another $250 million to help developers accelerate the proliferation… Read More

 VR has been pretty expensive to get going with, but it’s slowly getting cheaper. Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe announced some changes to the minimum PC spec requirements required for Rift at the company’s developers conference, a move that will likely open up the platform to a much wider audience. Now, a PC with an Nvidia 960 graphics card and an Intel i3-6100 CPU will be able to… Read More

 Art filter photo app Prisma is adding a big new feature to its iOS app in an update landing today: support for videos. Read More