Nerdly News Curated from Interesting Sites
We are still searching for innovative startups that want to launch on our Disrupt SF stage and aren’t afraid to get a little competitive! The winning company takes home the legendary Disrupt Cup and an equity-free check for $50,000 — not to mention a place in the startup history books. Read More
The Echo Show isn’t a great piece of hardware. It’s beefy and clunky, and kind of looks like something that fell off the back of a RadioShack truck in the late-80s. The display isn’t great (there’s a reason the company’s not talking specs) and sure, the speaker gets loud, but if you’re looking for music playback, there are thousands of better Bluetooth… Read More
It’s easy to see machine learning as a creativity-killing, bubble-inducing agent invading our Facebook News Feeds and dumbing-down our Netflix habits. But increasingly machine learning is finding a home helping humans break their own internal biases to enhance rather than subjugate creativity. Autodesk’s Generative Design tool in Netfabb 2018 is the latest example of this. The… Read More
Slated for a launch on September 29th, the Super NES Classic Edition is a console kit similar to the original console that launched more than 20 years ago. Like the NES Classic edition that came before it, the new Super NES allows you to play retro Nintendo games in high-definition, over HDMI with two included wired controllers. Nintendo will pre-install the following 21 classic games:… Read More
Oars + Alps, the men’s grooming line for fellas too fancy to buy their organic soaps and moisturizing supplies from Dr. Bronner’s bar soaps, Tom’s of Maine and/or Kiehl’s, has raised $1.3 million in a seed round of financing. Read More
You can’t throw a rock without hitting a coding toy these days. In just the last couple of weeks both Apple and Sony have announced new initiatives, and now Overdrive-maker Anki is getting in on the action with Code Lab, a simple and free programming language designed to teach kids to code with its Pixar-inspired robot, Cozmo.
The move is no-brainer on Anki’s part. The hardware… Read More
In April, Google introduced a revamped, reimagined version of Google Earth, which included a number of new features that go beyond visualizing the planet through the use of maps and satellite imagery, to also allow users to explore the world through tours, and learn about its many wonders. Today, Google announced it’s bringing Google Earth to the classroom. The new version of Google… Read More
Facebook is bringing a ton of new filters, masks and video reactions to video chats in Messenger, aiming to deliver a more fun experience to younger users on the app and shore up the service against competing video chat apps. The update is centered all around fun, visual filters. Video reactions will allow you to choose one of the Facebook reaction emojis and bring up custom video filters… Read More
YouTube’s experimental app Uptime, which lets you watch videos with friends while reacting and commenting, has now opened up to all users. The app was first launched in March of this year, from Google’s internal incubator, Area 120, as a means of testing a more interactive and social way to watch YouTube. However, it initially required an invite to use it. That requirement was… Read More
Spanish startup Fintonic has closed a 25 million Series B funding round to expand into new markets in Latin America and continue developing the product. Investors in the round include banking and financial services giant the ING Group and insurance group PSN. Read More
Waymo has entered into an agreement with rental car company Avis that will see Avis manage its autonomous vehicle fleet in Phoenix. Phoenix is the site of Waymo’s first commercial self-driving car service, with the Alphabet-owned company launching an on-demand ride pilot in the Arizona city earlier this year.
The agreement, first reported by Bloomberg, will see Avis service and house… Read More
London! If you missed the news, here’s your reminder that we’re returning for a TechCrunch Meetup + Pitch-off on 19 July, in conjunction with the incredibly fun conference, Unbound.
Looking to pitch your startup to the TechCrunch team, local VCs and the local tech community? This is the moment you’ve been waiting for, but hurry because applications close in one week.
Ten… Read More
OMG Digital, the Ghana-based media startup dubbed the “BuzzFeed of Africa,” announced today that it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding. Its main site, OMG Voice, already has versions for Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, and the new capital will be used to expand into more countries. Read More
Google Home is now available to buy in Canada, making it the first of the major virtual assistant speaker devices to land in the country. The expansion follows pre-orders kicking off at Google and other retailers earlier this month, and beats Amazon’s Echo to the punch in America’s northern neighbor. Home’s launch in Canada comes with some caveats: Unlike in the U.S., only… Read More
The grocery delivery wars look set to get cooking… UK supermarket chain Tesco has announced the launch today of a one-hour delivery service in central London called Tesco Now — echoing Amazon’s Prime Now delivery branding. Read More
Now kids can potentially take a class to find out how to get to Sesame Street, thanks to a fresh $1.4 million in new funding for Outschool and its online learning marketplace from Sesame Street’s venture partnership with Collaborative Fund. Outschool, which graduated from the 2016 Winter batch of YCombinator, has pivoted a bit from its original pitch as a go-to shop for homeschooled kids… Read More
Dictionary app Reverso is getting a major update with a focus on voice features. In particular, you can now say a phrase to translate it. This might be particularly useful if you can’t spell a word or when you don’t know anything about a language and you can ask the other person to repeat a phrase to get a translation. Conversely, when you press the tiny speaker icon, the… Read More
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has pledged to continue to invest in India as it bids to keep pace with rivals in the country that have landed large investments from big name backers. SoftBank and Alibaba have pumped close to $2 billion into Paytm lately while India’s original online retailer, Flipkart, won the backing of prestigious trio Microsoft, eBay and China’s Tencent via a recent… Read More
Alright European startup fans, we’ve got quite the deal for you — we’ll soon be releasing a batch of 50 Disrupt Berlin 2017 tickets at the deeply discounted rate of two for the price of one. Yes, you read that right. This event is best described as the hottest startup show in Europe — you’re definitely not going to want to miss it. Read More
The race to digitise the loyalty card just got a shot in the arm with the news that Yoyo Wallet, the European-based mobile payment and customer loyalty platform, has raised a £12 million Series B round, led by the US wholesale and food retail giant Metro Group. The round is joined by the UK-based Woodford Investment Management and Touchstone Innovations. The deal is subject to FCA approval.… Read More