Category: Tech news

 Looking to harness the flood of data streaming from every networked and sensor-enabled smart device, computer, and machine that circumscribe our modern world, FuturePerfect Ventures has launched a small venture fund to focus on the bedeviling problem of big data. Read More

 Blink and you’ll still see it. Google’s strategy to spin the European Court of Justice’s right to be forgotten ruling as ‘unworkable’ is in full swing. Google started de-indexing links at the end of last month, to comply with European law. But this week it’s clear the advertising giant is outsourcing a public campaign of ‘censorship outrage’ to… Read More

 Apple has hired another luxury brand exec away from an established brand. Patrick Pruniaux, VP of sales for watch company Tag Heuer, will join Apple on Monday after seven years in the world of luxury timepieces. Pruniaux, second from the right in the above photograph, joins the company just as talk of an iWatch has risen to a dull roar. Read More

 This man is very happy. He’s Tomas Soukup, one of the contestants in last night’s PragueCrunch pitch-off and a proud drinker of fine Czech beer. He is just one of the cool people we met in Prague last night. The pitch-off, judged by Yao Huang of the Hatchery, our own Natasha Lomas, and Andrej Kiska of Credo Ventures, also made this man very happy. We listened to eight startup… Read More

 Here’s a novel idea for watching the fireworks: use your eyes. See, the Fourth Of July is when we celebrate the birth of our nation by blowing up a small part of it. But when the urge to pull out your camera phone strikes you, instead, leave it in your pocket, throw your arm around the person next to you, and just be present in the moment. You’re never going to look at those… Read More

 What are American holidays without shopping deals, right? A new kind of site has launched out of Y Combinator just in time for the most American holiday of them all.
Founders Andrew Kurland and Joe Marrapodi created their e-commerce negotiation site, Greentoe, out of frustration. The two were spending too much time trying to find the best deals online. That was proving time-consuming and… Read More

 If you’re in the U.S., you’re probably taking a well-deserved break from work and all the accompanying email today for the July 4th holiday. But when you return, your inbox is going to be a nightmare. An unsorted, unfiltered, unorganized mess. A new startup called Teller wants to help with that. The company also has a small round of funding as one of the first investments from… Read More

 Just two weeks after Fab.com announced the acquisition of One Nordic — a Helsinki, Finland-based maker of furniture, lights and other home deco products — the online design store is moving swiftly to the next stage of its new strategy to focus more on original goods: it’s launching Hem, a new line of customizable, “affordable” furniture and products, designed… Read More

 When I held the first PragueCrunch in 2008 I didn’t expect much. I loved the city but I wasn’t sure what sort of start-up ecosystem it had. But, in those strange days when live streaming was still a clever trick (don’t try finding those streams. Technology changed so fast that they essentially evaporated) and money was contracting, I found everything about the Czech… Read More

 Last month, I received an invitation to participate in the “Startup Global Design Workshop” hosted by the White House Business Council and Business Forward. The organizations are working on bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and Washington. Currently, small-to-medium-sized enterprises are responsible for 98 percent of U.S. exports. As part of the President’s Nation… Read More

 “Go disr*pt yourself” is what I have to say to founders of startups like ReservationHop and Parking Monkey. They’re emblematic of a compassionless new wave of self-serving startups that exploit small businesses and public infrastructure to make a buck and aid the wealthy. Let’s call these parasites #JerkTech. It’s one thing to outcompete a big, stagnant company… Read More

 The vacation rental marketplace HomeAway is pondering a move into backing startup companies.
As it passes a recent milestone of breaking more than 1 million listings on its service, one of the first online marketplaces to challenge the hotel industry may begin making minority investments in companies that would add value to its service. Read More

 So … have you heard about ReservationHop? I mean, it’s not quite the hottest topic on Twitter, but among the folks who have heard about it, the idea seems to have unleashed an impressive torrent of malevolent creativity. The idea, basically, is that Reservation Hop will help users get a table at in-demand restaurants. How? The company will make reservations in advance, and then… Read More

 Gillmor Gang – Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, Dan Farber, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session has concluded for today. Find our Facebook page here click. Read More

 Samsung is one of the first to market with an Android Wear smartwatch, and the company arguably has a head start since it’s been making its own smartwatches since last year. The Gear Live owes much to its predecessors, which have run both a modified version of Android and Samsung’s own Tizen, but it manages to feel like much more than an older sibling’s hand-me-downs.… Read More