Category: Tech news

 NASA has been doing some really amazing stuff lately, including in-depth and vivid photography (in case you missed it, check out its recent Pluto fly-by). This particular photo, which I feel like is the mother of all Earth photos, was taken from its DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) Satellite from over a million miles away. The entire sunlit side of the Earth and it’s… Read More

 Ebay is expanding its investment in eBay Valet, its assisted selling service which connects consumers with merchants who will sell items on their behalf for a split of the proceeds, with the acquisition of online clothing resale store Twice. With the deal, eBay says it will gain access to Twice’s technology and customer list, and it will be making offers to 10 members of Twice’s team. Read More

 Instagram revolutionized how we searched for pics of celebrities getting wasted on yachts on mobile, and now they’re bringing that same experience to the web. Today, Instagram is adding search to its desktop experience. Users can now search hashtags, profiles and locations on instagram.com in a viewing experience that is beginning to grow much more congruous with the Instagram mobile… Read More

 For better or worse, Y Combinator is putting the pedal to the metal. On the heels of some of its biggest classes to date, the well-known accelerator is today introducing yet another new program. That initiative? The YC Fellowship program. The broad strokes are as follows: About 20 teams that are “very, very early” and haven’t yet received funding elsewhere will be chosen by… Read More

 Getting apparel made in other countries is like playing a game of telephone. As designers and manufacturers ship prototypes back and forth for weeks, problems ranging from poor quality control to logistic headaches often arise. More seriously, it’s difficult for companies in the U.S. to make sure factories treat workers fairly. Maderight, which recently launched out of Y Combinator, wants… Read More

 Apple has launched a new advertising campaign last week with an aggressive tagline — “if it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone.” Today, the company released a third ad. This new campaign focuses on the unique features behind an iPhone, things that you won’t find if you opted for an Android phone. Read More

 Survata is a three-year-old, 10-person, San Francisco-based startup that creates consumer surveys for ad agencies, hedge funds, consumer packaged goods companies, and many others that are looking for feedback about their offerings. If Chipotle is thinking of introducing a new salsa concept, for example, Survata — which works with a network of publishers, from blogs to online magazines… Read More

 Following an apparent leak of Cortana for the Android platform, Microsoft released comment indicating that it is in fact testing its digital assistant for the Google platform, and will cut it live in short order. The full quote is as follows: In the spirit of the Windows Insider Program, we’re testing the Cortana for Android beta with a limited number of users in the U.S. and China… Read More

 Today’s one of those completely useless internet fake holiday days. It’s World Emoji Day!
Anyways, emojis can be serious business, or in the case of Twitter…should be serious business.
My colleague Jon Russell pointed out that Twitter might be missing the boat on charging for cool emoji packs like messaging service Line and others do.

Twitter is missing a trick not… Read More

 Hello my friend, and welcome back to another episode of CrunchWeek. This time ’round Drew Olanoff, Sarah Lane, and your humble servant discussed three of the week’s largest stories: The massive spike in technology earnings, Reddit’s never-ending issues regarding content and Internet trolling, and, of course, the current carnage among some of Uber For X startups. All that and… Read More

 Well, that went fast! Because of high demand, we’re releasing more tickets for the TechCrunch annual summer soirée at August Capital today. But act quickly because they won’t be available long. Read More

 Yahoo has been rumored to be working on a revamped messenger app for a while now, and it looks like that new app may be taking its first step into the wild. Yahoo has quietly released the next version of its Yahoo Messenger mobile application, which is available under the name “Yahoo Livetext – Video Messenger” in the Hong Kong iTunes App Store. The app went live earlier… Read More

 Yahoo is moving forward with plans to spin off its Alibaba assets, as outlined in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Basically, Yahoo is tossing its Alibaba stock and a minor part of its operations into a new corporate entity. The spinoff will be a public company called Aabaco Holdings, and it will own 384 million shares of Alibaba, which is about 15 percent of the total.… Read More

 For most of us, and certainly for most of your team, meetings are the least productive part of our day. Yet too many brilliant people are stuck in too many meetings. Meeting cultures begat more meetings, and the downward cycle continues, crippling productivity and crushing psyches. Read More

 Freak out, everyone, Microsoft intends to update its software. That it said it would update. That it said it would update on a continuous basis. Because it’s trying to build and release Windows 10 as a service. So it’s going to push new code. LOSE YOUR SHIT. Kidding. But really, I’m slightly confused. I had to spend the morning on trains to meet an unelected political… Read More