Category: Tech news

 Somewhere, somehow, maybe less than a year after I got the latest version of my iPhone, its battery would mysteriously deplete in about half a day. I wasn’t really sure why. But now I can find out. There’s a new app called ‘Normal’ out from a pair of Stanford Ph.Ds in computer science named Adam Oliner and Jacob Leverich, who are turning some postdoctoral research into… Read More

 As you might have heard, Samsung loosened up the purse strings yesterday with a ~$200 million acquisition of SmartThings, a platform that sells starter kits for entirely personalized smart home customization. For a few hundred dollars, SmartThings can help pretty much anyone get started building out a smart, connected home, with more than 100,000 different devices (from light switches to… Read More

 This week, Amazon announced a Square competitor in the form of the Amazon Local Register, undercutting Square’s transaction fee. Meanwhile, the makers of the Skully smart motorcycle helmet finally opened up the pre-order, setting the Indiegogo record for the fastest funded company to hit $1 million in pre-orders. But as August permits us a bit too much time for introspection, we also take… Read More

 Earlier this summer, we saw Uber experiment with UberRUSH, a courier service in New York City. The car service seems to be testing the waters for another service, announcing it will move Atlanta college students and Nashville residents this weekend. Read More

 Israel-based ad startup ClarityRay announced on its website that it has been acquired by Yahoo.
A Yahoo spokesperson sent me the following statement confirming the deal: Read More

 Nearly every network administrator has been on night duty when their pager buzzes or they get a smartphone alert of a network issue, one they’ve fixed a hundred times before, yet still forcing them to get out of bed to deal with it. YC backed startup, Neptune.io wants to change that by providing automated fixes for common networking problems, allowing those on-call admins to sleep just… Read More

 Oh, you thought Bill Gates wouldn’t be up to Zuck’s challenge to dump a bucket of icewater on his head for ALS awareness?
You thought wrong. And because it’s Bill Gates, the video involves blowtorches and engineering. Read More

 BurritoCannon is real, and you can use it. At least for the next few hours. Hella.
After I published my truly revolutionary post yesterday calling for a new burrito-delivery service that I tentatively named BurritoCannon, I trotted over to Postmates’ digs after its CEO Bastian Lehmann asked if I could drop by. Our offices are next door, so I slipped over to say what for. Read More

 The stories of Silicon Valley millennials competing, succeeding, and failing spill out of the region faster than most journalists can type. The region excels in the churning out of startups, thanks to the abundance of venture capitalists, the plethora of reporters, and the proximity of like-minded techies. Read More

 Yesterday’s launch of Spring, a fashion-focused mobile shopping app, is a testament that the mobile commerce space is growing. House Account, a mobile shopping app that launched a year and a half ago has the numbers to prove it. Read More

The relatively low weight and long battery life of Toshiba’s Satellite Radius P55W come at the expense of power.

 Over the last few years, technology has steadily worked its way into the concert-going experience. Apps make the ticket purchasing experience a simple affair, while the endless flood of social data gives promoters and bands the ability to target their marketing efforts at those most likely to enjoy their particular style. Read More

 If you want to get more women involved in your community, throwing the equivalent of a sketchy online beauty contest and labeling it “chivalry” probably isn’t the way to do it. Fledgling smartphone maker OnePlus learned that lesson this morning. Just hours after launching a contest that encouraged women to draw the company’s logo on themselves and snap a picture so… Read More

 Candy crushed. King, maker and purveyor of Candy Crush, reported earnings today and was whacked by investors after detailing revenue that disappointed, and lowering its top line guidance. The company also announced a $150 million dividend. The company earned $0.59 per share on a non-GAAP basis on revenue of $594 million. Investors had expected the company to report $0.59 per share in… Read More

 As with many companies, the two founders of PersistIQ, a YC-backed startup had a problem they saw needed fixing and they decided to build a product to take care of it. In this case, they found themselves coordinating their cold-call drip marketing campaigns in an Excel spreadsheet and they thought there had to be a better way. That’s how their new company PersistIQ was born —… Read More