Category: Tech news

 The way Facebook processes what the world writes is about to get a bit more cosmopolitan.
As Facebook’s scope continues to grow globally, the way it rolls out features has been complicated by the fact that there are more than 100 languages currently supported on the site. When it comes to building text boxes that users can type status updates into, this isn’t that difficult of a… Read More

 It sounds like a natural fit: Fiverr, an online marketplace where businesses can hire freelancers, is acquiring And Co, a New York City startup building online tools that freelancers can use manage their client relationships. What’s surprising is the new price that Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman plans to charge for And Co’s software — absolutely free. Kaufman explained that many… Read More

 Sphero was ready to conquer the world last year. The company quintupled its product release schedule, flying high with the help of a Disney licensing deal that gave the world several Star Wars droids and talking Spider-Man and Lightning McQueen robots. But following a holiday season that failed to live up to expectations, the company recently laid off 45 staff members globally, TechCrunch… Read More

 California is home to two very different innovation worlds. For the readers of TechCrunch, there is the familiar excitement of the startup world, with startups working on longevity and age extension, rockets to Mars, and cars that drive themselves. Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, engineers, and product managers are building these futures every day, often on shoestring budgets all in… Read More

 “The consensus is that because blockchain is so niche and it’s mostly early adopters who come from tech and finance, that it’s actually less diverse than those industries that are already struggling to be representative of the population at large,” Raine Revere, co-founder of blockchain education startup Maiden, told me on an episode of the CTRL+T podcast. In… Read More

 With WPP’s over 200,000 employees and a $75 billion media book, Sir Martin Sorrell has a uniquely privileged insight into the future of the online advertising industry. And he believes that 2018 might be the year that a third company joins what he calls the Facebook/Google “duopoly” in online advertising and search. Read More

 By now many have heard of Amazon’s most audacious attempt to shake up the retail world, the cashless, cashierless Go store. Walk in, grab what you want, and walk out. I got a chance to do just that recently, as well as pick the brain of one of its chief architects. My intention going in was to try to shoplift something and catch these complacent Amazon types napping. But it became clear… Read More

 “Everything’s a battle,” Cindy Gallop sighs, although it’s clear she relishes those battles. What she means is that the entire Internet has long been divided into two separate, walled fiefdoms: one labelled “pornography,” the other marked with those three dread words “no adult content.” The territory between those two worlds, which she is trying… Read More

Last week, President Trump announced the winners of the Fake News Awards—with a website that was (briefly) not real.

 When Google Arts & Culture’s new selfie-matching feature went viral earlier this week, many people of color found that their results were limited or skewed toward subservient and exoticized figures. In other words, it pretty much captured the experience of exploring most American or European art museums as a minority. Read More

Opinion: Researchers from Yale Privacy Lab argue that the scourge of trackers in Android apps means users should stop using the Google Play store.

For decades Margit Wennmachers has quietly shaped the world’s hottest startups. Now Andreessen Horowitz’s secret weapon must reckon with the era of big tech.

When Aptiv teams up with BMW, it’s like “Intel Inside” but for self-driving cars.

The launch company Rocket Lab sent three small satellites to orbit during a test flight from New Zealand.

 Good news! The great Raw Water Story of 2017 is finally over. Google tells me that searches went up ten-fold over the raw water craze, but thankfully, humans seem to have filtered out any more stories or follow ups. Silicon Valley can rest easy. But wait! There is another crisis brewing, and it isn’t the animal fecal matter in your algae water. Over the past few days, we’ve seen… Read More