Category: Tech news

 Episode 1 has been a stalwart of the early-stage funding scene in London for the last few years, investing in successful startups like Carwow, Triptease and AimBrain. It’s now closed its second U.K. “seed-to-Series A” fund, which generally aims to lead rounds of £500,000 to £2 million. The fund is a £60 million ($81 million) Enterprise Capital Fund (ECF). Read More

 Amid record amounts of capital raised by VCs worldwide, and a sharp rise in the number of private “unicorns,” there has been a quiet, barely noticed implosion in early-stage VC activity worldwide. This is now a three-year trend, so cannot be “blamed” on macro or short-term factors. More worryingly, it comes at a time of unprecedented stock market valuations worldwide. Read More

 Shortly after the announcement of the iPhone X in September, my colleague Natasha Lomas noted the similarities between the phone and how WebOS operated on the Palm Pre. She ended her article, noting “in the iPhone X it’s clear you’re looking at a little ghost of the Pre.” It seems that Qualcomm’s legal team was taking note. Read More

 Google’s smart speaker got a little smarter this week, with the addition of a multitasking feature. The new capability makes it possible for the device to accomplish two different missions at the same time. It was rolled out with little fanfare and first noted by CNET. We’ve since confirmed the addition with Google. It’s a bit surprising that the company rolled it out to… Read More

The redesigned crossover is the first car you can buy with a very clever variable compression engine.

 After raising $160 million for the Global fund as part of its partnership with (RED), Apple is marking tomorrow’s World AIDS Day by offering up a bunch of opportunities to donate. The easiest of the bunch is the company’s promise to donate $1 to the fund for every transaction made with Apple Pay at the company’s retail stores, on its site or in-app. In honor of the occasion,… Read More

 Blue Apron founder Matt Salzberg is stepping aside as the company’s CEO, the company announced Thursday. CFO Brad Dickerson has been promoted to take his place. It’s been a volatile past few months for the cooking kit company, which went public in June. Shares closed Thursday at just $2.99 (Blue Apron went public at $10 per share). Read More

 SpaceX had been planning to launch its huge Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time this year, with a time frame set most recently for sometime in November. Here on the last day of November, we know that’s not happening — but now we also know we won’t see a Falcon Heavy launch before early 2018, at least. Read More

 As rumors build that the Trump administration plans to boot Rex Tillerson from his post atop the State Department in order to replace him with Mike Pompeo, it’s worth examining who would lead the CIA in Pompeo’s absence. Trump is reportedly considering Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton. Here’s a bit of background on Cotton in case the rumors come to pass. Read More

 The wearable space seems to still be figuring itself out — though in spite of some reports about the death of the category, overall growth remains one of the few constants. According to the latest numbers from IDC, the global bump was pretty modest for Q3 of this year, at about 7.3-percent, year over year. More interestingly, the numbers point to a larger overall trend of consumers… Read More

 Amazon Fire TV owners will now be able to control more video apps using Alexa and their voice, the company announced today. This feature lets you ask Alexa to “watch,” “play,” “pause,” “rewind,” “fast forward,” and more. It can also take you to an individual show, network, or specific genre of programming. Before, Alexa could… Read More

The latest version of the famed off-roader comes with upgraded performance, along with creature comforts.

 There are now two Dianes running the show at Google Cloud. The company announced that Diane Bryant has been hired as the COO of the division. She joins Diane Greene, who came on board as Senior VP of Google Cloud in November 2015. Greene appeared to be excited about the prospect of her joining the team. “I can’t think of a person with more relevant experience and talents. She is… Read More

 The last time Mario had a breakfast cereal, he had to split the billing with Link. I bet that’s what it felt like being in the Beatles at the end. Flying high from a recent string of high profile titles — including Mario Run and Odyssey — the cartoon plumber is finally getting a cereal box to call his own, joining the elite ranks of Steve Urkel and Gizmo from Gremlins.… Read More

 GoFundMe, the popular fundraising juggernaut that now has 50 million users and has raised over $5 billion in funding for causes to date, is making an interesting change today that could see those numbers getting a boost — or at least help it fend off competition from other fundraising platforms like Facebook’s. GoFundMe is dropping the five percent Platform Fee that it charges… Read More